Well here we are back in another Hotel with a beautiful view of the beach - this time Copacabana!
What did we do in the last two weeks?
Pat flew to Tomsk for 5 teaching days and then to Edinburgh for two days. It was a great time to bring colleagues up to speed on Brazil and to find out about their latest work. We had two great evenings in London with family and saw a number of great friends in Edinburgh. Thanks for all the hospitality!
Kate spent the week I was in Tomsk visiting family within easy reach of London and making a trip to Dorset where she tried to deal with exciting things like getting the car MOT'd and the digital switchover. She very much enjoyed feeling cool, walking in the Dorset countryside, the trip to the Nicholson/Mondrian exhibition & a tour round the DCA offices @ Waterloo with the kids followed by a delicious, if damp, al fresco lunch from the wonderful food stalls nearby. Maybe we just haven't discovered it yet but so far Brazilian food doesn't remotely compare.
Coming back to Rio was interesting. All very familiar! We must be settling in. I mixed with a Scottish delegation for two evenings - and reengaged with Uni and BG. David and Val Davies and Khafiz Muradov are in town for an SPE ATW and we will meet up with them. Flat hunting resumed on Wednesday - without immediate success - too small, too dark, too low...We're getting fed-up with looking at photos of washing machines, the insides of wardrobes & bathroom suites which is how, oddly, Brazilian flats are advertised. I'm sure our flat is out there somewhere. We're determined to try to remain optimistic for the time being at least. Working on an apart-hotel as we speak!
Kate's been encouraged to have more going on coming back this time than she did on our arrival in January. She's met some interesting people through the International Club & went on a course last week about teaching English to kids from favelas.