What do we do on weekends in Rio? Last one - August Bank Holiday in the UK, was rather quiet. On Saturday we went into Centro and the Banco de Brasil for the Anthony Gormley retrospective. Seeing his work here is like having an old friend turning up unannounced at the party - Angel of the North, Event Horizon, Hayward Gallery, Stavanger Beach - and now Rio. The appearance of building-top metal mannekins signalled we had come to the right place. The interior - that lovely cool space - was a mixture of lifeless forms and children running around - in a typical Brazilian relaxed way. The hangings - see pictures - very 3-dimensional from below and alongside on the second floor balcony. His Amazonian Field of little terracotta owlet-like figures - all 24,000 of them made in Brazil - fitted the location and Brazil to a tee. Watching a video of the making and installation of the Angel of the North seemed a little incongrous.

In the evening we had two thick pork chops done to a crisp on the new BBQ on the roof - legal or otherwise - it makes a useful extension to the kitchen.

Sunday was unexpectedly cool and dull. Patrick watched Liverpool draw with Manchester City in Belmontes with camarao e caturpiry and carne Seca pasteis and batatas Belmontes (too much!!). Kate was back in the flat working on the Ben Barnes saga (and lunching on a lettuce leaf!)

Afterwards we sat in and watched the last two episodes of The Bridge - our third Nordic Noir season since coming to Brasil. Cold Scandanavian weather and people couldn't be much further from what we're experiencing here in Rio. We're well and truly gripped though and glad that living in a foreign country has given us the opportunity/leisure time to watch for the hours that these type of things demand.

With the weekend ritual of breakfast in the sun on the roof terrace, the Guardian/Observer to read, Scrabble on the iphone, emails, blogs, etc saturdays and sundays just shoot by!

This week Kate finally started with her english teaching and this is now her tale! On monday I went out to the uni and had 1.5 hrs with 5 of Patrick's students discussing a blog article I'd read about a forthcoming Affirmative Action law that was going to introduce quotas for black/indigenous students in federal universities such as UFRJ. Federal universities don't charge fees over here but are much harder to get into than private unis and are more highly regarded, academically speaking. Only one of the 5 students in the group had been to school in the state sector - and he had then chosen geology over a professional football career - so we had some lively debate. Nothing like a current political issue for getting stuck-in in Round One!

Later in the week I went to a church hall near the Santa Marta favela (I've probably already mentioned it as being of Michael Jackson fame) with Jill (American) and Tanya (Latvian). We were going to be teaching english to a group of supposedly 12-16 year olds from the favela but one of the group must have been at least 20 and two six year olds turned up as well who we didn't have the heart to turn away! They're a nice, well-behaved bunch of kids and the 1st lesson seemed to go ok - the test will be how many turn up next week.

Just to finish with yet another instance of the joys of Brazilian bureaucracy. Patrick has 2 colleagues at UFRJ whose driving licences have expired (they're only in their 40's...) and because the relevant authority is on strike, they can't get their licences renewed so can't drive for the duration of the strike which is creating all sorts of problems re getting to work etc
At least we know it isn't just foreigners who fall foul of Brazilian bureaucracy, even if we don't understand why they need to renew their driving licences when they're only in their forties.