It's been some time since we last posted. Life Down Under has been exceedingly busy on both the personal and professional levels. Charlie/Chuck is working on a graduate degree in military history at the University of New South Wales, finishing in December this year (lots of research and writing of essays). It's funded by the Australian Department of Defence (yes, with a "c") which is very nice of the Aussie Government (otherwise as an international student the cost is prohibitive - given that the Aussie Dollar costs U.S. $1.07!). Debbie now has a Federal job working here. She just finished working overtime for several months in preparation for a successful 4th of July celebration for nearly 2,000 invited guests (that's a lot of RSVPs to deal with, not to mention the hard-copy invitation which had about 23 different attachments to it...it is THE event of the diplomatic community's year - everyone wants to come and neither of us were lonely in the month or so preceding July 4 - everyone asks for an invite). It may sound glamorous, but it isn't. However, Debbie was called to the stage and presented a bouquet of flowers in appreciation of her effort.
We also just had Debbie's brother and three children visit for 10 days, which required a lot of planning, logistics, coordination (and cooking and driving). We all had a great time and enjoyed seeing Scott and the kids.
While we were on the family trip we learned of the marriage of our good friends Bill Kleinert and his partner (as they say here in Oz), Leslie Johnson. Bill's son John Christian (soon to be dubbed an Eagle Scout) and Leslie's son Erik co-served as Best Men. Congratulations and good luck to Bill on his work on his documentary film.
Also attached is a selection of photos that have been taken on various trips around Australia and New Zealand over the past year. I like to enter the Post's annual travel photo contest in the hope of winning a valuable coffee mug or a tote bag (my last prize in 2003). Anyway, since I have been so remiss in posting (not that anyone is waiting with bated breath) I though some of you might be interested in the photos I picked out as possible entries. Let me know which one you like the best. Hopefully it coincides with the one I entered.
Things in Oz are going well; we are inside our last 6 months Down Under and looking into options regarding our future. Our best to all of our friends and family.
