Shoulder update. Shoulder is getting better, is out of a sling and is performing small tasks - thank God. Strangely, a dislocated shoulder has affected my ability to speak Portuguese. I've found that physical ailments that have knocked my confidence (including being ill before) cause me to retreat into myself a bit and reduce my propensity to take risks. Hence, not speaking Portuguese. Rach says that psychologically this has something to do with my Mum being a nurse... don't quite understand but you can email her for more details.

Nelsinho nearly graduating from Baby Uni. N is practicing at great length the three major baby skills he has not mastered - walking, crawling and talking. He's turned into quite a beafcake and is already in hulk-like fashion out-stripping his 9-12 month outfits when he is only 8 months old. He loves his playgroup Primeiro Passos (First Steps) and I reckon he is being challenged by his peers to learn to crawl - thus, all the practicing on our floor in the house when he gets home.

Church in Natal. Natal, being a slightly sleepier and smaller city than Recife, shuts down from about 2pm on Saturday to 5pm on Sunday. Most shops close, and importantly no churches have Sunday morning services! Mark and I tried to go last Sunday to visit Fernando's church. F is a teacher at Cultura who lives a little way out the city. Mark and I set off at 6pm and tried to follow the signs to his town but ended up "Macluring" it out of Natal, through some villages in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black until 1 hour later we made it back to Natal from the opposite side. We had done a huge Uey and wasted a lot of gas. As Mark pointedly asked: "When we were playing football in the playground aged 11, did you expect us, 15 years later, to be driving together at night, lost, through the Brazilian outback?" No, Mev, can't say that I did. So still no church yet but we're working on it.