Notes on Culture

Hello everyone! It's an easygoing Friday here in Brazil, and what could be better than blogging from a hammock on an upstairs terrace? Answer: nothing. Thus, blogging from a hammock.

First of all, I'll let you all know what we're up to this weekend. Last night we had our first party. We did some American games and had some chocolate chip cookies and brownies that Natasha worked very hard on. They were excellent! We had several games going . . . Uno, spoons, Apples to Apples, and more. Apples to Apples was interesting . . . imagine trying to explain plumber's crack or spooning to people who don't know English! It was a very fun party with about 25 people that included our readers, church members, and other friends. Today, Chase and I (I am Kavan) are spending time with a couple friends from church, Jarbas and Lucas. We spent the night at Jarbas' house and went to a restaurant to watch the World Cup game. Natasha has spent the day with one of her readers and is enjoying herself as well, according to a few texts she has sent me. Today's game against Portugal was a 0-0 tie, but it was a fun game to watch. Brazil was very close to scoring a few times. Now Chase and I are lounging around outside with Jarbas and Lucas on a terrace upstairs. The three of us have Fridays and Saturdays off, so we are glad to just enjoy ourselves and recharge after a tiring week.

Now it's time for the educational component of the blog. I've always found that when you immerse yourself in another culture, you're not only learning about the host culture, but also your own culture as well. It's a fascinating experience. Here's just some things that I have noticed about Brazilian culture.

As we have mentioned before, Brazilians are very friendly. You pretty much hug everyone. Meeting people is very easy. It makes it a bit difficult to remember names, but it's very genuine. Along with being genuine, they are a very passionate people. Some would call it loud, but I call it passionate. This goes for lots of things - worship, watching soccer, and more. I've noticed in church that they just sing it out with all they have. With soccer games, each game is an event. Imagine taking the Super Bowl, subtract it by commercials, divide by enemy goals, add triple Brazil goals, and multiply by the Fourth of July. That's kind of what it's like. The game today was at 11:00 AM. They started celebrating at 9 AM with horns in the street and the like. It's amazing. They shut down everything. They cancel school and most businesses shut down. Too bad the Cup only happens every four years . . .

Moving on . . . in America, it's very common for people to move out of the house during or after college and to not return back. In Brazil, it's quite common to live with your parents until you get married. Family ties seem quite strong here. I guess this goes with the whole genuine/friendly culture portion. Also, they don't really have divisions between residential and commercial areas. You see a lot of small shops everywhere. You don't have one big store for everything - you go to the bakery, the fruit store, the food market, etc. There are some big stores with everything, but they're not as common. We did go a Walmart the other day . . .

Speaking of food . . . Brazilian food has been great. I've noticed a few things. We eat a lot of rice, beans, and chicken, along with lots of other things. Food is much fresher here. People here often go food shopping on a daily basis. You get what you need for the next couple days. This leads to much healthier and fresher foods. Overall, I think Brazilians eat much healthier. They certainly are not as overweight as us Americans. When we drive or walk around, I can't help but feel that my own culture is lazy and unhealthy. Also, since they don't buy huge quantities of food as often, they have smaller freezers/refrigerators. This leads to less energy use . . . I think . . .

On to cars . . . I was surprised that most of the cars here are very new. The vast majority of cars on the road are only ten years old. I found out that insurance companies here stop insuring cars that are over ten years old as they start to get more expensive. As a result, you see very few old cars. Cars are also smaller here than back home, making them more agile, which is useful as the roads are tight. Also notable is that Brazil is (I think) 95% energy independent as far as gas for cars goes. I found that pretty impressive. Apparently Brazil's economy is doing quite well and is growing quickly, unlike in the US. I've been told that income has been steadily rising.

Well, that's about all I have time for now. We would like to encourage you to send us questions if you have any! Please continue to keep us in your prayers. God bless! Ciao!