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brasilll

Posted on Sep 2nd, 2007 by peace bum : peace bum peace bum

Oi blog-readers :)
i have now been living in brasil for 1 month and 2 weeks, since the 14th of July.  Life is so different here.  People live to enjoy life and nothing more.  Everybody I have met is so friendly.  Although i dont understand all of what they say, my portuguese is wayyyy better now then when i first got here.  I didnt know anything when i got here, and now i can understand most of what they say.  and if i dont understand, i just guess. or just answer yes, anyways.  On the weekends, everybody has "churrascos", barbecues,  but they are very very different from an American barbecue.  Everybody grills carne, pork, and chicken, and sometimes cheese too, gets drunk off "Skol", the popular beer here, and has a good time.  Here, all the males play soccer.  Just like football in America, soccer is like the country sport of Brasil. Every body loves it.  The girls dont play soccer, though.  They play another game called handball, which is like a mix between soccer and basketball.  The women here in Brasil are very different too.  Most women are always dressed up.  The myth that all brasilian women have a perfect body is most definitely a myth.  Just like in every country, they have the fat and the skinny.  The way of dressing here is different as well.  Most women show a good portion of their belly, all of the time.  But no one wears very short skirts or shorts.  This is considered slutty.  Also, here is Brasil has a term called "ficar", which is where two people kiss for 10 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, whatever, without dating or some, without even liking each other.  They kiss just for the sake of wanting to kiss someone.  So here, kissing without dating is not considered slutty at all, it is a normal way of life.  Here in Brasil has many other differences too.  Nobody drinks beer or soda out of the can or bottle, everybody pours it into cups, then drinks.  Very few people eat with their hands, most people use silverware to eat everything, even pizza.  To greet people, the women give a "cheek-kiss" to everyone and the men give this to women, but to most man-to-man greetings are a handshake and a hug.  Public transportation here is huge, since people cannot legally drive until they are 18, and almost every city has a bus-station. 

There is also some different things about Brasil that i think are very funny.  Here motels and hotels are very very different.  A hotel is like any normal american hotel.  A place to sleep and stay while you are traveling.  Here the motels, however, are sold by the hour and are strictly sex stops.  So if you ever go to Brasil, and somebody invites you to a motel, make sure you know what you are getting in to. :P  

My city of is in the state of São Paulo and has about 50,000 habitants.  My host family is vary cool, too.  I have a host sister that lives in the city of São Paulo, so I am visiting her right now.  São Paulo is huge, one of the biggest cities in the world, and I am so excited to see it.  I will take lots of pictures and post them when i get back home. 

If anybody has any questions about brasil or anything, just ask.

beijosss (kisses)

Access_public Access: Public 3 Comments Print views (223)  
*Ladybear~ : Human
about 12 hours later
*Ladybear~ said

Hey Sophie!

When i was in Peru, we went to the beach and they were selling these cookie things they called “beijosss”!

They were cookies with marshmallow on them and covered in chocolate! I ate more then my fair share of kisses in Peru!

I'm happy to hear you have a good relationship with your host family.
it's probably easy for you to keep in touch with your home family via the internet.
when we had a foreign exchange student from German, the internet wasn' t invented
so Christian had to write snail mail home and sometimes it got hard for him to communicate.
You are lucky now to have instant hugs from us at Zaadz and from your family at home.

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love in San Francisco!
Here is the article from todays newspaper with photos from Golden Gate Park.
I know you'll like it cause you are one cool hippie chick!

Keep us posted.
 I Love You, Sophie!

XOOX   Ladybear

J.K. : Double 3
about 13 hours later
J.K. said

wow..  I don't think I'd ever get  that from Wikipedia. -  Great post!

ksarf : light bearer
9 months later
ksarf said

hello,
as a Brazilian myself, I found your post very interesting, accurate and funny. I had never thought about our habits from the standpoint of a foreigner. I am now living in Washington, DC (just moved, two months ago), and I tend to make the same comparisons with the american way of doing these little daily things. I'd love to know more about your experience in my country, which I hope is being rewarding for you.

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