Hey guys, We now have two sets of friends overseas that are publishing their updates through "blogspots," so we thought we'd give it a shot. Bear with us as we're new at this.

Our last journeys was written as we were going two very different directions. We survived our month apart, where Mel moved us into our new apartment (see below), while I was away “working” on my masters degree in England. I had a wonderful time re-connecting with my MSU classmates, and we were quite happy that the second summer was less gruelling than the first!

Mel and I met up again at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, from where we flew to Tunisia (North Africa) for a week of holiday. Both exhausted at that point, we chose to only visit 4 cities in 8 days, and catch up on some much needed rest. We spent a couple afternoons in this teahouse which was located in the ramparts of an old city wall.

Here are a couple of other photos from our time in Tunisia. Although it was extremely hot, we enjoyed being back in the Middle East. We also enjoyed being back in a country that produced beautiful rugs (refer back to the picture of our apartment)!

Here's a small street in old Sfax, just outside the teashop.

This was taken just outside the old city in Tunis.

This was at the great mosque in Kairoun, the fouth most holy city of Islam.

A week or so after we got back, we were blessed to have Chris and Phileena come to visit! We had a great time of catching up and just spending time together! By the way - that is our bird, Datchy (friend in Japanese), ignoring the camera.

We arrived back here in early August, and we both hit the ground running. We had a number of new staff arriving at the same time, so a lot of time was spent helping them get settled into their new school and home. We have a great staff this year, and we’ve gotten off to a wonderful start! The school year is flying by once again. We just completed our first quarter last Friday, and the second quarter is so busy that we’ll be in a sprint to Christmas.

Along with the every day work at school, we have begun the search for a new school director. Our current director, David, has been at the school since they broke ground 10 years ago. David and his wife, Diane, will be greatly missed, but at the same time, we are excited for them to be able to leave the school at a high point, and move on to their home in the States, where they will stay for at least a couple of weeks before wandering off again. Mel and I have committed to being here through at least one more school year. We will be able to help with the new director’s transition to the school. The future direction of the school, and my relationship with the new director (not to mention our own wanderlust) will impact our plans after that.

Although I have successfully procrastinated through a Sunday afternoon, I am on pace to complete my thesis by Christmas! Hopefully I can tie it all up in mid-november during our week Water Festival Holiday. My next “project” will be a 4-course certification program in international counseling, which I plan to start either in January or June… depending on a few factors.

This is our new apartment... we're loving it!

A few weeks ago we had a four-day weekend, and spent it with Stuart, Sherie and Grace Kent, friends from school. We spent our time in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, and enjoyed a couple days of strawberries, cool weather and great food!