seekingmygreaterperhaps

In a pause from our (not very regularly) scheduled travel programming, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my first year of living abroad. Whenever asked, my immediate answer is “I love living in Brazil and I will probably not work in America again if I can help it.” I’m not lying. I love it here and I love the lifestyle of being in international education. I’ve been thinking about writing a post like this for a while with just some things that are different culturally about living here in Brazil. If you would ask other members of my cohort, our list would be different. This is also my first time living and working abroad, so I definitely still have my rose colored glasses on, but I also am growing as a person and seeking out the positives in life and situations. Keep in mind that, like with any list like this, there will always be exceptions. I live in Brasilia, which is a weird city anyways, but this is what I’ve observed. Alas, here we go.

Cultural/ Country-al Differences in Brazil

• The fruit is better. It is tastier, fresher, the juice is divine. There aren’t preservatives really, which means you have to buy fruit and actually eat it and not hoard it and pretend you are healthy when really you just want snacks. Otherwise the fruit will go bad. But the papaya here is dope, the watermelon is awesome, and the fruits that I had never heard of before moving here are very fun.
• Drivers and friends will get mad at you for slamming doors to their car. Or doors in general. They will rate you 1 star on Uber and bring your rating down, or they will tell you to your face that you’re disrespecting them. So I have learned to close that car door in the manner that you would if you were trying to sneak out. Or I’ve just let gravity do it, and if it doesn’t shut all the way the first time, then at least I tried.
• If a Brazilian is in your home, they will not leave unless you open the door. The thought goes that if you open the door, you will never come back. If a guest is lingering by the door, they are waiting for you to open it. Also true in my office at school. Apparently, after the first time, they can open the doors by themselves, but the first time, I always open the door.
• Brazilians want “real food” every day. And by “real food” I mean a meal that is rice, beans, and some kind of meat. If you dine with them for many meals in a row and it is not “real food,” they will grow cranky and say they need “real food.”
• Spices are salt, pepper, and garlic. Yes, there are plenty of spices one can use, but Brazilian food is not very spice heavy. But I would eat an espetinhos everyday if I could.

• Live music is a must if any bar wants to retain customers (in Brasilia*). I love it, because live music is fun. Whether it is a guitar player, full band, or pagode group, there will be music.
• If you are in need of a task/service/something to be done, you must first engage in small talk. It is considered really rude to just ask what you need. This has been an adjustment for me, because at work I just need stuff done, but I definitely don’t want to be the rude American. This is true for doctors, people you work with, servers at a restaurant, everyone. The interaction isn’t always long, but it is always a “how are you?- good, and you?” type of start.
• Many Brazilians will yawn and follow it by “ay-yi.” It’s cute.
• I took a samba dance class with a group my first semester here. The instructor would often answer our questions of how to do part of the dance, or when with “you just have to feel it.” This is how a lot of dances work, you just feel it. This answer didn’t work for our math teachers though.
• Time is a fluid concept for meeting up with people. This vibes with me and my horrible timeliness, but a lot of Brazilians are late to social things… every time. For my birthday party that was on a boat, I set the time half an hour before we had to leave on purpose.
• Birthdays are very big. Some Brazilian families will celebrate babies “month-iversary” and have parties with cake for each month their baby turns until the 1st year. My school loves to celebrate birthdays, and maybe it’s just because everyone is super nice, but people went out of their way to wish me a happy birthday at work. The birthday song is also fire and full of energy and gets louder and louder with lots of clapping.
• Picture a regular circular cake. On a birthday, the birthday-ee will cut the first slice by putting the knife blade side up and starting from the bottom of the cake and cutting upward. Also unique about cakes here, a mini circle is cut in the middle of the cake, and then even slices are cut around it. For a birthday cake, the first slice goes to the person most special to the birthday-ee.
• For obvious reasons, Brazilians are very picky about their coffee, and also drink a ton of it.
• Brazilian people are very warm. You may never learn this if you don’t learn a little bit of Portuguese though, because many do not speak English. I am lucky because I work at the American school, but I am still learning Portuguese on my own. When I am out in the world, a little effort goes a long way. Shockingly, I don’t look like a Brazilian (I know, I know!) and when I speak in Portuguese, within about 3 phrases people usually comment with, “wow your Portuguese is so good, I’m so impressed” even when I’ve said the equivalent of “Hi, how are you? I good too.” If you ask for directions, usually people will tell you, but then also show you or walk with you or go out of their way to help you.
• In Brazilian slang, there are about a million ways to say penis. Be careful how you pronounce certain things. For example, “pão de queijo” is the most famous little cheese bread. Pão is bread… but pao is penis. So that pronunciation becomes real important.
• Breakfasts are very yellow. Including the delightful bread above, Brazilians love all sorts of breads, coxinha, kibe, and cake for breakfast. Throw in some amazing fresh fruit, and you are good to go.

So… as I got to writing, there is actually quite a bit that I’ve learned and this post is getting lengthy. I’m sure as I simmer even more will come to the surface. I’m going to end here (for now) and keep on being a liver of life and observer of people and let you guys know. I ended up mostly just talking about food. Figures.

Kya and I will hold down the fort here in Brasilia in the meantime!