Ciao Famiglia e gli amici! I hope everyone is enjoying the best time of year. The weather is a bit chilly but the days are beautiful. We've had clear skies the past couple weeks, which has been great for Lele and I because we've been out and about. The Christmas lights are up in the city, there is an ice skating rink in the town square, a huge Christmas tree and little wooden shopping stands all around 'em. It's approximately a 15min walk from our apartment to downtown and we get to walk right along the lake. I feel very fortunate to be living in such a great place in Europe. I'm certain there are a lot of players out there who wish they had a place to live like Lugano, Switzerland.
A few days ago I took Lele to Bellinzona to see the castles. After visiting 2 castles in Poland the castles in Bellinzona are as of right now my favorite. Lele loved them too. Although, I think the highlight of her trip was the crepe we had in the square of Bellinzona. Similar to Lugano but a lot more stands, probably because we went on a Sunday, there were tons of merchandise to be had. While looking gifts for family to take home with her we stumbled across a crepes stand served with jelly or Nutella. Good thing we went with Nutella, Man oh man was it delicious. We stopped at a coffee shop to enjoy our crepe with a nice warm cup of coffee. Lele has been practicing her Italian and ordering for us now.
December 13th is my Dad's birthday so I like to do something special if I can. Woke up by playing my favorite song "Just the Two of Us" - Will Smith to get the day started off right. Lele and I decided to hike Mount Bre to get a little closer to him. It felt really good up there too. I shared a story with Lele about him as I do so often with her because she never had the opportunity to meet him but I know she has a pretty good idea of what kind of person he was now. He was and still is the world's greatest husband, Dad, grandfather, friend and person. We had a coffee at the top of the Mountain to warm up because it was a bit chilly. I know my Dad can do a lot of things but making it warmer might have been stretching his strengths haha. On that note, I had practice later that evening and I don't think I could of had a better practice. I knew for a fact Pops was helping me out. RIP Pops. I love and miss you so much. NFA
Last night we had out 5th Euro-challenge game and one convincingly by 22. The team played great and I unfortunately again had to watch from the sidelines. We needed this win to stay in the hunt for advancing to the next round. In order for us to advance we need to win the next game against Lukoil of Bulgaria and we need Benefica of Portugal to lose to T/U Rock of Estonia. Keep your fingers crossed for us. I'm hoping to get some PT in the game against Lukoil, I'll keep you posted. We have 2 more games this week one Thursday and the other on Saturday. One is a League Cup game and the other is a Swiss Cup game. Both games are against my old team SAM Massagno. Our goal for the last five games before Christmas was to go 5-0 and we got two knocked out of the way so far. Wish us luck!
I hope all is well back home. I sure do miss you guys. This time of year is great but being over here makes me really want to be back home with family and friends. Good thing I have Lele here to share the Holidays with. Until next time......................................................... Love
