My tango desert continued thru Dec and January-holiday activities followed by the flu, which took all of January. I began teaching ballroom and tango again at church but haven’t been back to PDX. A week ago Takeshi – a 19 yr old young man from Japan – arrived for a two month homestay. I didn’t know him before -not at all really. But almost three years ago I visited Japan and his boarding school. He remembered me, got my email from his former English teacher and began writing me a few months ago asking “Can I have homestay with you?” I couldn’t think of a reason not to welcome him, having been the recipient of amazing hospitality myself on so many occasions. In the first week we’ve gotten him registered in English class three days a week, found some great jeans at a great price at Ross, and ordered him some cheap dance shoes for when I drag him to Valentango tomorrow. He’s never danced….ever. But he’ll look great because today we got him a nice haircut! We opted out of tango tonight, changing our plans. I think he was a little disappointed but I was tired and really wanted to see the opening of the Olympics and just relax. Tomorrow we’ll spend most of the day at the festival and he’ll be immersed in the tango world, another great adventure which he’s looking forward to. We’ll hook up with family members for dinner at the Observatory in PDX, a favorite place for our family and a real American experience for Takeshi. It’s great having him here, but I confess I’d forgotten how much work and how intense it is to have a young one around all the time, especially if you are working full time. It’s tricky! Now he’s naturally pretty dependent on me…but hopefully that will change by and by. Today he had a good success that way as he rode the bus from school to downtown and found his way to my office. Oh, and he’s made food for himself three times already, and washed his clothes once! He’s a good kid . . .but can he dance? Time will tell.