AN A-Z OF ADVENTURES WITH MUM AND DAD

M is for music. My mother has very strong opinions about what makes good music or not, especially at Christmas time when well-sung carols should be the order of the day. Unfortunately, there weren't too many examples of well-sing anythings during their time in the UK, with the possible exception of Pastor Gerson's church whose power-house worship group were probably heard by (and probably overpowered) Hillsong, Australia. Also, a 5-piece Baptist church group put on a special concert which we all attended too. That was well done.

N is for Nelson. Rach's brother has moved over to the UK. All of us went to the airport to see him off, just after Christmas.

O is for Orphanage. We took Mum and Dad to visit the orphanage briefly where we help out sometimes.

P is for Pipa (meaning "kite" in Portuguese). The beautiful seaside town, an hour south of Natal. We stayed in a chalet as part of a new development and pretty much had the place, and the enormous pool that came with it, to ourselves. Sunday morning, watching the wild parrots in the trees as we prayed and read and slouched on hammocks will be an enduring memory...

Q is for Quiet. That is to say, not much of...

R is for Rummikub. A good way to while away an evening.

S is for Scrabble. Another good way to while away an evening. Mum and Dad's travel edition was never far from hand.

T is for Table Tennis. And another good way to relax. Dad proved to be surprisingly adept around the table despite his many years, beating his son more times than he lost. (T is also for Tennis, played against Pastor Gerson and his friends one morning. Sadly, the Maclures slumped to defeat in that match-up).

U is for unexpected and unplanned. A large majority of what we did fell into these categories.

V is for Variety. As Mum noted toward the end of our stay - we certainly managed to do a host of different things: from the giant puppet fair to sitting next to a poorly baby in hospital, from seeing the city of Natal from the top of Marcelo and Veronica's skyscraper to swimming in the Lagoon near Genipabu, we crammed a lot in...

W is for wedding anniversary - for Rachel and I, it was our fifth on December 27th.

X is for caiXa. Mum and Dad, very helpfully, managed to bring a new car seat for Nelson from the states. It arrived in a huge box (caixa in Portuguese) which was a bit worse for wear by the time it got to Natal. Fortunately, its contents were in good nick and Nelson enjoyed the pleasures of a slightly more grown up seat (with cup holder).

Y is for youth group. Dad spoke to a crew of 90 young people all fired up to do a mission trip. Rachel translated and the whole experience seemed to be a real encouragement to everyone.

Z is for ZZzzzz. Sleep. We managed to get some in, and we hope Mum and Dad did too, getting the rest they deserved.

...and that concludes the A-Z of adventures with Mum and Dad. God was good to us to give us such an unforgettable time together as a family.

AN A-Z OF ADVENTURES WITH MUM AND DAD

L is for Language. With Mum and Dad here, I took the opportunity to "show off" my grasp of Portuguese when Rachel wasn't around by ordering food at restaurants, making enquiries in shops and asking for directions. Most of the time things went smoothly but I still found myself in occasional situations where, as a gringo speaking Portuguese, the assumption from the receiving end was that I could speak no Portuguese at all. In Joao Pessoa on one occasion, I found myself jamming my finger into a menu at the item in question (which was "Apfelstrudel") which clearly so flummoxed one rather pale-looking waitor, that he ran off. Ten minutes later back came a colleague of his who nervously said in very broken English "I help you?". Its funny how something like this can make one frustrated when one has poured out a lot of time and energy into learning a new language. WE DON'T NEED THE WAITOR WHO SPEAKS A BIT OF ENGLISH - WE JUST NEED THE ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS PORTUGUESE!

Another time, we pulled over to ask for directions. All I had to ask was "Sir, do you know where Marco Zero is?". So this is what I said to the security guard by a builing: "O senhor sabe onde fica Marco Zero?". A blank stare in reply. "Como?"came the tentative reply.

At this point, Rachel reached across the seat and spoke through my window. She said: "O senhor sabe onde fica Marco Zero?". The man smiled, relieved. He then helpfully gave us directions. Now, maybe this has more to do with the Brazilian man wanting to help out a beautiful lady, but in language terms WHAT DID I DO WRONG?

Fortunately, this kind of thing doesn't happen too often. Dad, bless him, actually worked quite hard at picking up some Portuguese (to add to the half a dozen languages he already knows) mainly so he could communicate a bit with Nelson. But, one afternoon we came across a (for these purposes, unnamed) employee of the Cultura Inglesa language school who Dad intended to wish a Happy New Year too. This was the conversation:

Dad (trying his Portuguese): Feliz ano novo!
Mr.X (in Portuguese to me): I don't speak English.
Me (in Portuguese to Mr.X): He said "Feliz ano novo!"
Mr.X (in Portuguese to me): Feliz ano novo? Wow! English is easy. That's exactly the same as it is in Portuguese...

AN A-Z OF ADVENTURES WITH MUM AND DAD

A is for Amusing uses of English. I think I understand what the above helpful messages are saying, or do I... Also, is there anything wrong with this option on a menu: "A chest of backwoods chicken"? My Mum ordered it. We think it means, "A breast of country chicken".

B is for Beautiful. The most uttered adjective when viewing sunsets, sunrises, spectacular views, New Years fireworks, food, wildlife, birds, the swimming pool, the moon and so on... Some pictures of the above are now revolving in the slideshow to the right.