Christ on the Mountain

A Favella in Rio

Some parts of Rio have areas of very crowded housing called favellas.

Fancy a Brazilian Ice cream?

Take your pick!

Sugarloaf

This is called the sugarloaf. Bit different from our one, isn't it? That's a laser on the water in the foreground. Not me unfortunately. Maybe next time!

Rio de Janeiro

Hi Darlings. On the top of Rio. Incredible! One day we´ll come here together. Coming home soon!

Back to School

I have had to go back to school and start again. Some of the other kids in the class laugh at me though.

Florianopolis

I have had a cold the past few days and been feeling a bit miserable. I'm better now and staying in a hotel with a great sea view. This is Florianoplis. Can you find it on Google maps? My hotel is called the Blue Tree Towers.

Embarrassing Daddies

Oxford made one of these for teachers to stick their heads through. Of course I couldn't resist.

Balloonatics!

Dearest children, Apologies for not posting anything yesterday. I was travelling between Sao Paulo and a city in the South of Brazil called Porto Alegre. That means Happy Port. Indeed it seems like a happy place. Yesterday we launched the new series Stars. You would have enjoyed it because there were a huge number of balloons. Check out this picture of Sue!

Oh Dear!

I have been putting on a lot of weight since I came to Brazil.
They have very large beer glasses here!

Old vs New

In amongst all the big buildings you find some old ones. Which do you prefer? Click on them for a good close up. Go on. Don't be shy.

Sao Paulo graffiti

OK so maybe that video wasn't the most interesting in the world but hey. To make up for it I am now going to post you a picture of some graffiti. I know you are very interested in graffiti. I see a lot of strange spindly writing all over the walls here. I don't know anything more about it. It's different from any graffiti I ever saw in Europe. Check it out.

Bom Dia!

As you know, I am now in Brazil. I am in Sao Paulo which is a huge city. I'm staying in the centre of town. There are lots of big avenues and it's really busy. Here's a video for you to get an idea. I went jogging in the park. There were thousands of other joggers. There were een teams of joggers wearing uniforms. People say 'Bom Dia' which I think means good morning. I am going to download a Portuguese app on the ipod and see if I can learn some. The other words I learnt? 'Obrigado' means 'Thanks' and 'Por Favor' means please. Anyway, here's the vid.

Onions! Dome! Onion domes!

Hello my little onions. I'm in Brighton which is a seaside town on the south coast of England. There's a big long beach. It's stony. I am going to bring you a stone back for your collection. This morning, as you asked I jogged to the Royal Brighton. That's a palace built for the king a couple of hundred years ago. He already had several palaces and castles and so on but he wanted one with onions on top.
What do you think? From your loving onion pal and father.

An Exciting Happening

Hi Darlings. Big news! Today I was riding in a taxi which had a huge flower arrangement in the front. Do you know the name of these flowers? They are called Casablanca lilies and they are mummy's favourite flowers so if you ever want to make her really happy, go and buy her a bunch. Anyway I was just thinking what a large bunch it was to have in a taxi and how dangerous when we ran into another car!!! It wasn't a bad crash and nobody was hurt but it's not every day you have a car crash in a lily-filled Taiwanese taxi, is it? Both cars were damaged but they just got out, talked about it and drove off. No police, nothing. That wouldn't happen in Ireland (usually) and certainly not in Japan. I will be leaving this land of lilies tomorrow and returning to be with you! I look forward to seeing the daffodils at home. L&K, Yr. Dad

Tum Diddly Tum Tum

I had a special dinner last night. We went to a restaurant where you can see all the food on the menu outside the restaurant! You choose what you want then go inside and they bring it to you. Can't imagine that working very well at Mister Wong's in Clontarf. I think people would just take the food home with them. Anyway it was a very lavish meal. We had noodles and about different kinds of tofu and fish and beef and duck and shrimps and a bunch of other things too. I had a very full tum indeed. I hope your tums are full but not too full. Overeating is bad. As you know. You may remember how my tum was rather large. I leave this land of delicious food in two days and will soon be home. With love. Your Papa.

Crispy and Crunchy?

I saw this interesting poster and it reminded me of our old friends Rock and Roll the gerbils. But look at what it says! Hamster...CRISPY???? What does it mean? That reminded me of when Toto caught Rock. I wonder was Rock crispy for Toto. I doubt it. Anyway, sad thoughts really. I am going to a night market and will take lots of pictures for you of crispy hamsters and other mysterious things in this colourful land. I hope you are well and eating lots of crispy things like Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and lots of crunchy things like Granola but not rodents, please. Not until I get home anyway. That's only four days off. Can't wait to see you.

The Golden Waving Boy!

At another school I visited there was this inspiring sculpture at the front gate. It shows a giant boy in shorts standing on the world. I guess he must be about twice as tall as the distance between the North Pole and the South Pole. By my calculations that's about 2x12,800 kilometres. That's a 25,600 kilometre tall boy. Wow! I'm not sure which countries you can make out. He is raising his hand to answer a question. What question? Why are you so tall, Golden Boy? I wonder what people would think if you put this sculpture outside the Burrow School. Maybe I should buy one and bring it home. Mmmmm. Maybe not. Anyway, I salute you brave and tall children from a distance of 9954 kilometers. I will be home soon and the distance will be 0 kilometres when I hug you. XXX

Some Proverbs in English and Chinese

I visited a primary school today that had nearly 2,000 students. That's like more than 10 Burrow National Schools. They had these posters on the wall to encourage students to learn English proverbs. I think you will enjoy them. Remember, if you live with a lame person, you will learn to limp. Actually I know you think you live with a lame person (me) because you sometimes tell me that. Miss you. Love from your lame father. XXX

Respect!

Hi There. Today I visited a school and I saw this poster of important things. You'll see that number 1 has the kanji for father 父　and mother 母 Maybe you know these already. But guess what! It says respecting your father and mother is the most important thing. More important than anything else. Wow! The other ones are about respecting your teachers and being brave and so on. Maybe mummy can recognise some of the kanji and help you understand them. So, anyway I expect a huge amount of respect from you two brats when I come home from this trip. In fact I think I will print out this as a poster and hang it where everyone can see it! As you know I will be home soon. I leave here in less than a week. With all love from your respected father in Taiwan. XXX

Great Balls of Fire

Hello again, children. I know you are both interested in architecture so I though this would excite and amaze you so I took a picture of it. It is a shopping centre. 12 storeys of roundness. I went inside and it was just like a regular shopping centre so I left quickly. You know how I hate those places. But the outside was cool anyway. You will be reading this when you get back from school. I imagine you were inspired by the picture of the God of education I sent yesterday and impressed your teacher big time! I will be home in a week's time. Can't wait to see all my darlings again. Pip pip! Your loving father.

Education!

I went to a famous temple today in a place called Tainan. I saw this picture. It's the God of Education. He looks quite ferocious I think. He has some things on his table in front of him. Can you tell what they are. After going to the temple I went to a shop where they sold tea, and tea pots and chairs. While I was in th eshop there was a little earthquake. The lady shopkeeper looked worried. I think all her teapots would break in a big earthquake. I also bought a big bag of ebi senbei but I don't think I can bring them home because they will break into a million pieces in my suitcase. So I will eat them. They will be eaten. Sorry. Maybe I'll keep one or two for you. Bye. Crunch. Munch.

Head Up Chick on a Bed of Lettuce

Hi Chickies! What do you make of this picture? I saw it in a textbook here. I said 'Hey is that chicken alive or dead?' The person laughed and said it's dead but apparently when you cook roast chicken you leave the head on. But it's very unlucky to have it pointing at you. Another thing I learned it that it's unlucky to talk about snakes here. And, like in Japan it's unlucky to whistle after dark. But most of all, the chicken on the giant lettuce leaf. I hope you are well and being helpful to your mother and grandmother. I miss you.

A River Bank?

I was out for a stroll this evening and this caight my eye. It's obviously a bank for fish. Can you see the poster? It has a fish that's pooing money. How cool is that? I want one! I guess it's a GOLD fish. And that's a credit CARP.
You must be glad to know that even though he is many miles away, your father is still very funny indeed and makes the best jokes. Gosh you're lucky. Bye bye. Be good.

Shrimpy Shrimps

Hello shrimples. Last night we went to a restaurant that did mainly shrimps. It was all made of bamboo. Quite a fire risk I imagine. They had lots of tanks with fish in them looking nervous. One fish actually whispered to me 'Get me out of here for goodness sake!'. I didn't know what to do as I didn't have pockets or a plastic bag with me. So I just said 'Evening' as if I hadn't heard.
I saw this sign of a shrimp in a dressing- gown giving us the thumbs up. This is odd bcause as you know, shrimpls don't even have thumbs. I suppose the idea is that the shrimp wants you to eat it. You will see there is an 'R' by the sign. That means registered trade mark so you can't copy this sign. If you see anyone copying this sign please tell the police in Taiwan and they will arrest them and throw away the key.
I hear you had corned beef for lunch. Nice one.

Me and my friend Lucky

Good morning my sweethearts (OK I KNOW you hate me calling you that but I just can't help it).
Today I talked to some teachers about the new books and we sang the Everybody Up song. It was fun. After the presentation I met this guy. What about that for a belly!!! Anyway, the people I was with said it was one of the Chinese Gods and brings you very good luck and lots of money if you touch the belly. So I did! I will soon be able to buy you lots of presents! My hotel has a gym. I'm going there now. Bye...SWEETHEARTS!

A Very Silly Blog Just for YOU!

Hi Darlings! This silly blog is just for you (so if your not one of my darlings it's illegal to look at it).
Happy St. Patrick's Day. I wish I could spend it with you but I have to go around Taiwan making this blog for you so I can't. Anyway, I hope you are having a lovely St. Patrick's morning doing lots of St. Patricky things...Like what? I wonder. Picking shamrock and stuff. Make sure Mummy gives you something green to wear. I suppose you didn't have to go to school today. I am posting this picture for you to marvel at. It's not a shamrock. Or a potato. It's not a tomato either. Big question. What is it? I ate it after taking the picture. It was good. Quite crunchy. If you could find out what it was I'd be very grateful. Maybe one of your friends knows. Must go and do some work now. I miss you! Byee