A Taste of Culture

When someone begins to talk about culture, several things can be brought up. First, you can talk about the differences in dress or music/dance. You can talk about if the people are extremely generous, or hospitable, or secluded. However, it almost always begins with food! As you can see by the picture, that is where I would like to begin: with food. The dish you see in the picture is a typical lunch. Lunch is by far the most important meal in the day and sometimes the only meal. Not that someone can't eat breakfast or dinner, but that they just eat lunch: and boy do they eat lunch! If you don't have beans and rice there is something wrong. Also, there is always some sort of meat and vegetable. (chicken, corn, cooked carrots, and pasta in this picture) Also, there is a wonderfully sweet juice everyday. The proportion of the cups and bowls, as you might see with this cup, is about 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a typical American proportion. All the cups and bowls are smaller. The drink is so sweet I'm not sure if we could handle anymore than what can fit in the cup. Secondly, you will notice the fork and knife. Yea, seems normal right? Well, you eat the whole meal with both forearms on the table using the knife to scoop the food onto the fork. Not how mama taught us when we were kids! But, it's proper to do so. It was funny when Ruth and I were first here (only a week and a half ago!) we started trying to notice the norms. The first thing we saw at lunch was all the kids grab their fork and knife and start scooping away. We've actually grown quit fond of the knife and fork routine. It is so much easier and quicker. Plus, it's nice to relax with both forearms on the table and it be proper. :-)

The next picture you see is, of course, some of the kids eating. But, what stands out the most is what is on the table with them. It is a bottle of touthpaste and a toothbrush. Sure, when I was a kid I was supposed to brush my teeth after every meal because I had braces. Here, almost every kid pulls out their toothbrush and toothpaste to use after the meal. That is one of the biggest cultural differences that we have witnessed. The Brazilians are extremely big on hygene. I feel like a bit too much, but I guess that is certainly better than not at all. Also, after lunch Ruth and I started noticing all the kids with wet hair all the time. Kids are encouraged by the family and allowed by the school to take a shower at the beginning of the afternoon. You sweat so much around here I can see why. But can you imagine in American schools, every student allowed to 'hit the showers' after lunch everyday!

Typically, a school day in public schoools are either in the morning or afternoon, but not both. Here, one of the big draws is that the kids have school all day. So, I guess everyone needs to freshin' up to finish the day. I'm not going to lie though. I've taken the shower and brushed the teeth after lunch once or twice and I felt like a champ the rest of the afternoon: And I usually despise afternoons. I think in my first school board experience back in the States I am going to push for early afternoon break time so everyone can shower and relax for a few moments. We'll see how it goes! hahaha