2007 Begins

January 17, 2007

Well, the new year is here. And what has it brought us??
Firstly, it has brought us to say goodbye to Michelle and Melody, which set me into a couple days of sadness.
But then it brought us our friend Daniel to us from New York for men's fashion week. He has been for castings for the runway shows and we have been so blessed to have another visitor from home. He has been staying with us and making fast friends with Kato. He'll leave this weekend for Hamburg and Paris, and then be back with us at the end of the month.

Secondly, Ben got to do some great cycling in the first week of January (see pictures above). They rode to a place around Bellagio (near Lake Como) where there is a church dedicated to the patron saint of cycling. He had a great time with his friends, Patrizio and Jorge.
Since then, he's started school again, and is happy to find that he has 2 American professors, which seem to have it together. His classes this term include, International Business Law, Business Ethics, Managing People, and Corporate Finance.

Also, this month, I, Melissa, have been dancing everyday with a modern dance company called Corte Sconta. They invited me in December to take company class with them and I started to do that. This week, they invited me to start learning some choreography. They said that they don't have any contracts open right now, but the future is open. So, there is a possibility that I may get to perform while I am here. That was very encouraging, but in reality, so far, working with Italians is such a pain and the language barrier is awkward. But I am grateful to have this opportunity.

The one thing that 2007 hasn't brought has been letters. Our mailbox has been empty, except for one awesome letter from my Mimi. So please send us a letter or a card or something, please. Because we miss our friends and our family a lot and knowing you care means a lot to us.