Time flies and it is already several months since our last post - we are almost finished with March already! After Christmas and New Year in New Zealand we came back to our "real" world.

(remember us in New Zealand)

The second half of the school year started and has been continuing busily for Marc. The school hosted a Cultural Exchange for the eight schools in the conference. Unlike the sports events Marc was only involved on the periphery and we hosted one of the visiting teachers at our house for the 4 days.

A lot of energy has gone into interviewing and choosing a new School Head for next year when David Eaton (who first attracted us to NISC) retires. A new School Head, Mike Kent was chosen and Marc and the staff, students and parents involved in the decision are pleased and looking forward to working with him. Of course next school year Marc's role in admin will decrease slightly as he exchanges his Principal role for that of Counselor. In the meantime Marc uses all his spare time doing an online school guidance counseling course. This will take him to Mexico in July over the school break to do two weeks of intensive study.

Meanwhile, Melanie continues at International SOS. This continues to keep her out of trouble and occasionally doing an evac or two, including one all the way to Melbourne back in December! She stayed long enough to have an Italian meal on Collins St. and then returned. In February she was able to attend the SOS Clinic Managers meeting in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) Vietnam. It was very interesting and inspiring to meet people from all the clinics around the world and get new ideas and inspiration. Part of the conference included an "SOS Amazing Race" which had us, at one point being taught Tai Chi in a park in Vietnamese conical hats and dressed in matching pastel polo shirts with “SOS Amazing Race" on the back. Many locals on their evening walks were quite entertained.

In early March we got away for a weekend to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) with our friends Stewart and Sheree. We had a lovely weekend in the "big" city enjoying the things we don't have here in Phnom Penh (movies, steakhouses and big book shops). We were able to do this due a promotion by one of the new budget airlines popping up here: We got free flights! We're looking forward to going back to Malaysia again for Cambodian New Year in two weeks, spending 2 nights on the beach in Langkawi and 2 nights back in KL catching as many movies as possible.

The "summer" is coming quickly, and we are excited about re-kindling our relationships back in the States. We'll have 3 weeks together in the U.S. with our American family and friends. We love you all and look forward to our next time together. Below is a picture that our friend Val took while giving us a tour of Vienna's highlights two summers ago. Digital cameras just don't have the ability to surprise you with a picture you didn't know you had....