Random things round our way: C&A. I was in the local mall this week and found myself in C&A. The clothing chain store was priced out of the UK market in 2000. But, it's much loved in Brazil where it remains as familiar a fixture in shopping centres as a McDonalds. (Perhaps, you can tell it's a quiet weekend when this is all I have to put up).

Pineapple upside down cake. Tried to bake a cake like my Mum used to do. My first two attempts resulted in a rubbery dough, burnt to a crisp. I only discovered a few days ago that the Betty Crocker cookbook uses Farenheit and not Celcius temperatures. Third time lucky, I baked a better cake but it's still nowhere near as good as my Mum's.

Moving around. This weekend is the calm before the storm. For a change, we're having a quiet night in but then this week Rachel goes to Rio a day after her birthday (which is on the 3rd) for meetings. That leaves me to babysit Nelson who, poor lad, is not suffering gladly (as I write) a tooth coming through. And then, in two weeks time, thanks to cheap tickets with TAM airlines, Rachel and I have a few days away in Chile! The Grandparents will be on babysitting duty and we will pop over to Santiago via Sao Paulo. Roberto, a friend of mine from my MA in York, and his wife Paula are Chileans and live in the capital. Fortunately, they are about and so we will get to see the sites with local tour guides.

Wonderwall. I tried something new in some of my classes this week. I got Advanced level students to write new words to Oasis' song Wonderwall, and then we sang our efforts in class. I wrote the chorus but they wrote the verses. Our version is named Midway Mall after Natal's biggest Shopping Centre. The results are, well, surprising. Oasis lyrics were never the most profound so I feel our effort runs them pretty close... more info on my teacher site here (once there, you need to scroll down to see it).