[NOTE: The following appeared in the MHS Alumni Newsletter in March 2006. Suhalia Shamsuddin was an exchange student and attended Mishawaka High School during the 1967-68 year, graduating with the MHS Class of '68.]

Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia which is one of the South East Asian countries. Our neighbors are Thailand to the north Singapore to the south, Indonesia to the west, and the Philippines to the east.

As you may be aware, in the last couple of months this part of the world where we live has been challenged by the tsunami disaster. We were all deeply saddened by the tragedy which also affected one of Malaysia's well known resort islands. It's name is Penang (or George Town during the English colonial days), and it is also known as the "Pearl of the Orient."

Malaysia has other beautiful unspoiled holiday destinations, and we have the largest underground cave in the world! I hope someday that you would be able to come here for a visit. You may already kow that Curt Linson ('76) from MHS was working here for a couple of years just prior to his move to the Chicago area. It was really nice to meet up with him and his wife, Nancy.

On the personal side, I am still working with Malaysia's national airline and have been doing quite a bit of traveling since December of last year. My family and I (and there are eight of us altogether) visited London and Glasgow, Scotland, where my daughter is practicing medicine. We then went to Barcelona, Spain, and Frankfort, Germany. Our children enjoyed Frankfort because it was snowing. This was the first time they ever experienced snow. It was a very cold day, but they enjoyed building a snowman and thowing snowballs. It reminded me so much of Mishawaka when I had to walk to school in the blizzard sometimes from the Hess' home!

The next couple of months will be very busy for me. Besides my work, I am helping my fourth child, named Hizami, prepare for his finals at school. The two youngest, a son Hariz and a daughter Nandiah, are still schooling while my second child, a daughter Zaria, is in college and my third child, Arif, works with the international Dutch insurance company, ING. On top of all of this, we are planning to build a new home!

I must say that things have been good, and I am thankful that they have been so. I hope things are good for all of you in Mishawaka.

Warmest regards from all of us in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.