So as many of you know, this is the first time I have lived in an far-away "unfamiliar" country. I am not ethnically Brazilian, I did not really know too much Portuguese before arriving here, and I knew absolutely nobody in Belo Horizonte when I arrived. One of the facets of life in a new country is the existence of cultural differences. At first they are glaringly obvious, but with time you get used to them and may even start practicing them as first nature. I wanted to go through some of the ones I experience pretty often here so you all have a better sense of what life is like in Brazil in respect to where you are from.
1) Personal Hygiene
The other week I gave a speech at the school of medicine at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and when they asked me afterwards what I learned since coming to Brazil, I instantly replied: "Well, I learned to take a shower three times per day!" The whole room found it hilarious - but there IS a lot of truth to this statement.
Personal hygiene is very important in Brazil. One way this idea manifests itself is constant showering. A lot of times when I go to a friend's house, they'll ask immediately if I want to take a shower. In the United States, I am pretty sure most of us are familiar with the phenomenon of taking only one shower a day (whether it be in the morning or at night). A lot of Brazilians take multiple showers per day. For example, one of my friends takes a shower in the morning after waking up, another after coming home from work, and another at night before going to sleep. This is completely normal here, but most people in the United States would be disgusted and call it a waste of water, am I right? When I ask my friends here why they do what they do, they usually mention that it's because Brazil is a pretty hot country.
Another way personal hygiene manifests itself is through brushing teeth. Since coming to Brazil, I have also adopted the practice of brushing my teeth three times a day. Yes, there are people who do this in the United States, but definitely nowhere near as many as here in Brazil. A lot of my friends tend to bring tooth brushes to work in order to brush their teeth on their lunch break. In fact, the other day I was in the library and one of my friends who was studying asked me if I had some spare toothpaste to offer him because he was about to go brush his teeth. I can't say this has ever happened to me in the United States or in Italy.
2) Trays
On my trip when I first came to Brazil in May for a vacation to visit my friend Ricardo in Recife, we ate out quite a few times at mall food courts. The first time I ate at the mall food court, after I finished my spaghetti from Spoleto (an extremely popular "italian" pasta joint here in Brazil), I got up to bring my tray to the trash can to dispose of its contents like I was used to. My friend Ricardo stopped me right away. He told me that it's perfectly fine to leave your tray where it is, people are paid to put them away. I then looked around and noticed tons of trays just sitting on tables. For me this was extremely bizarre because in the United States (at least in my experience), leaving a tray somewhere was extremely rude and I would never think of doing that.
After talking to a lot of my friends here in Belo Horizonte about this, I learned that many people do leave trays on their tables but there are some who also put them away afterwards. Some of my friends even said that people who do leave their trays on tables are extremely rude and that I should not do that. However, there are enough people who do leave there trays to the point where it's pretty obvious to note for someone like me.
3) Staying at Home
I am going to preface this with the fact that NOT ALL Brazilians do this, but it is a lot more common here in Brazil than it is in the United States. Like in Italy, a lot of Brazilians tend to live with their parents until they get married. I tell a lot of my friends here the "North-American" tradition of kicking out your kids when they turn 18 and they think it's purely bizarre. They also think it's bizarre how normal it can be for us to live so far from our family in the United States. I remember when I was back in Recife, my friend Ricardo's cousin asked me if I missed my family since I was here so far away in Brazil. But I told her I do, but again it's pretty normal for us. In fact, at that moment - I was in Brazil, my sister was in New York, my father was in Hawaii, and my mom was in Florida. That's a rather extreme example, but you get the point.
This also leads to some other interesting differences in regards to what people refer to as living. Whenever people ask me here where I am living, I just reply with my neighborhood here in Belo Horizonte. Then they ask me, "No, I mean, where are your parents living?" I mean sure, my parents do live in Hawai'i, but I definitely wouldn't say I'm still living there. I haven't even been back in almost a year and after college I have no plans to move back. I attribute this to the fact that for many people here, they maintain the same residence as their parents until they marry. This question always gets me and now I never really know how to answer. I say I am from Hawai'i, but I am living here in Brazil. I mean I do have residency here at the moment.
4) Juices
Credit: FlavorsOfBrazil
In the United States and in Italy, I never really used to be a big fan of drinking fruit juices. I would always settle for an iced tea or a water with my meal. Although juices are gaining more popularity in the United States, I would say in Brazil it's a lot more normalized and engrained into the culture. For example, a normal restaurant here would have whole menu of juices from lime juice, to guava juice, and even passion fruit juice. I can't really expect a large array of juices when walking into a Denny's, an iHop, an Olive Garden, or a neighborhood Diner in the United States. There are so many fruit juices here that I have never even heard of before coming to Brazil like acerola and graviola. They are also at normal, affordable prices. Back in Boston, I remember passing a fruit juice stand at the Public Market and they were $5-7 each. Nowadays, I generally drink açaí juice every morning and I grab a random fruit juice every afternoon on my way to my second job at the English school. Not only are they really delicious, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something for my health.
5) DMV Culture
This difference is legitimately the bane of my existence here in Brazil. Anyone in the United States who has registered to drive knows the horror that is the Department of Motor Vehicles. You know? That place where you take a number, sit in a chair, and wait to be called for hours on end. In Brazil, you will find this fun model essentially everywhere. I have taken a few pictures to share with you all.
This first one is at a bank. Every time you go to a bank here in Brazil and wish to speak to a teller, you need to go into the depths of their basement and pick a number. Although you don't see many people in this picture, there were about 25 others in the room and I was stuck waiting for a little over an hour. Given that these rooms are also in the basement, it's usually rare to have any form of cell reception or internet connection.
This second example is is a Motorola. Yes, DMV culture has even invaded phone stores. Who would have thought? I did not actually walk in, but I took a picture as I walked by.
Other places I have encountered this phenomenon include Western Union and notary offices. Over time, I've learned to cope with Western Union by walking in, picking a number, walking out, getting lunch at the mall, and then coming back only to wait a few minutes before they call my number. They don't really expect me to wait over an hour doing nothing, right?
6) Personal Space
Brazilians and North Americans have different ideas of personal space. Usually in the United States (Not really so much in Hawaii) we respect personal space more and we value our "personal bubble." In Brazil, this bubble isn't as large and people tend to be a little more "open" and friendly. For example, hugging is a very common form of greeting along with a kiss on one or two cheeks when greeting a woman. In Boston, I am usually a bit more uneasy about hugging someone when I first meet them, let alone kissing them on the cheek. I even remember that in my co-op class, hugging was labeled a possible form of "sexual harassment" (which seriously shocked me). Being from Hawaii and being Italian, the form of greeting here in Brazil comes a lot more natural to me but a lot of Brazilians are shocked when they travel to colder places and people are "terrified" by their forms of greeting.
7) Not saying "No"
This is another aspect of Brazilian culture which I have had a very difficult time getting used to. A lot of Brazilians DO NOT like saying "no." I mean this in the sense of making plans. You can make a plan with someone here to go out later in the week and they will agree to it. Little do you know, they will bail last minute and say they cannot go (or they might not respond at all). This is because here in Brazil, saying "no" is not really something most people like doing. Instead, they say "yes" and go along with it, until they really do need to back out. This has often left me super excited for a fun weekend with tons of plans, but then when the weekend actually comes, I end up stuck at home eating pasta and watching Netflix. Again, this is not all Brazilians, but it is a common trend that is worth noting.
8) Bureaucracy
Another thing I want to touch upon is the Brazilian bureaucracy. Like the Italian bureaucracy, it can be very confusing. When I first arrived here in Brazil, in addition to doing the basic duties such as setting up my phone and finding an apartment, I needed to register with the police and retrieve my social security number (CPF). This required days of me running around the city to get different documents, getting them notarized, getting them copied, doing stuff at the bank, and so on. Even when I got my CPF card, I had to then run to the stationery store and have them laminate it for me. Generally speaking, the bureaucracy here is scary. Did I also mention that to pay my phone bill, I need to go to the lottery store? Now I am getting more used to it, but getting anything done here requires a lot of work.
9) Toilets
Ok this isn't really "cultural" but one thing about Brazil that is very different from the United States is the fact that you generally do not throw toilet paper in the toilet, you throw it into the garbage. This is actually very common throughout Latin America given the fact that the septic systems tend to be very weak. At first, I kept forgetting this, but over time I got used to it. I honestly still do think it is mildly gross, but there really is nothing you can do.
That's all for now everyone. There are definitely a lot more cultural and lifestyle differences I forgot to mention this time around but I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences.
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