long time no speak

i should really start by apologising for my lack of posting as im sure all of you have been dying to hear how im getting on =p! no, im genuinely sorry as now ive left it so long ive forgotten big chunks of whats gone on this last week or two.
hmm well first things first, im no longer in rio, im now back in sao paulo killing time before jo flys on sunday and after that will, john and i are heading off to guaraja a little surf town where we are gonna lurn to surf and everything! so my last few weeks in rio were pretty good, rio itself id got bored of, its just such a big city and i never felt truly comfortable, although it did have a certain charm. in the last few weeks, i managed to get down to the capoeira academy in copacabana and watch some truly incredible capoeira, ive never seen anyone move like those capoeiristas did! my mouth was wide open the whole time with shock! then there was also lots of street parties dure to the bulid up to carnival, and inbetween these and our capoeira training we tried to do little touristy bits, like visiting a hippy market at ipanema beach. unfortunately the day we chose was also a day of torrential rain and it absoloutely tipped it down on us!! so after wandering around soaking wet for a bit we went back to the hotel and played some cards =D!
oh i also managed to get myself to a church service! we were sitting in a little square in santa teresa one evening when i heard some noise, so went to investigate and what i found absoloutely stunned me. i can only guesse that some pentecostals had stolen a catholic church building, because i never heard of catholics playing what must be a brazilian version of hillsongs! was nice though and everyone was really friendly and smiley. so i joined in.
ive been in sao paulo for 3 days already and its driving me a bit mad, being constantly told i need a definate plan ect from my granma. but as far as i can see im just gonna wing it. so yeah thats kind of vaguelly just about where i am now. tonight is the start of carnival so were off to see the parade which should be pretty incredible.
ive been a bit home sick this past week and im not sure if i´ll get back to england in time for lee abbey this summer. so if you guys could keep praying for me that would be fab!
keep smiling!
god bless!!!

andrew