Life in Rio

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Not much to report. Been living pretty quietly the past few weeks and this is my last week of teaching.

Bingo has been going well................

Was invited to the theatre last Friday with the kids. They were really excited and were all washed and dressed in their best clothes ready to go. However, the bus didn´t turn up and we didn´t get there. They were all gutted. I felt really sorry for them especially Alan as it was his birthday.

They were all really sweet though. As we were walking down for the bus they were fighting over who was going to hold my hand and then who was going to sit beside me at the bus-stop. I felt like the Pied Piper and probably would have had a visit from the social services back home!

To make up for the theatre disappointment I was asked to their gardening class on Saturday. Some guys run a garden on the hill at the back of the favela using recycled bits and pieces. It was a good day although I took a bit of a hammering from the biting ants and I looked like I had the pox. Luckily it was only from mid-calf down though as I had been fairly sensible and wore cropped jeans.

I´ve also done a few touristy things over the past week or so. Been back up Sugar Loaf, Corcovado, visited the Botanic Gardens - so some photos attached.

I visited Jon´s project recently so there´s some photos of that too. He teaches English to both boys and girls and coaches the girls footy team. Not sure how it works but the girls have better facilities. The boys don´t even have a changing room.

Brazil is well an truly gripped in world cup fever. All the streets have streamers, flags and anything blue, yellow and green hanging out. Some of the roads have been painted and there´s lots of seating areas and big screens being put up on the beaches and any spare piece of land. I´m really looking forward to it. I have a feeling it´ll be a month long party...............

Anyway, I´m sure I´ve probably done loads more and have missed things out but it´s just the way of life now - nothing seems out of the oridinary any more. However, I´ll try and have something more exciting to tell you next time.

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Photos

My official hand holders - Alan, Rafael & Leandro
& half of Alexandre!

Gardening
Me and my team planting our seeds.

Gardening
I don´t think anybody noticed I had no clue what was being said!

Me, Jo & the naked ladies
Not entirely sure what this display was all about but thought we´d join in anyway.

Escadaria Selaron
Selaron, a Chilean artist now living in Rio, has been tiling and re-tiling these 215 steps since 1990. It´s pretty impressive.

Favela Rules
A typical Selaron work of art.

Christo
The big man himself.

Campo Grande Boys
Not the best footy pitch you will ever see.

Campo Grande Girls
In contrast the girls´ training session.