10. The people here
in Florianopolis love hotdogs. When I
lived with my host family, it was common to see hotdogs cut up in a prepared salad
or pasta dish. Even around town, it is
common to see popular outside restaurants or stands that solely sell grilled
hot dogs and drinks. What make the
hotdog so popular is the toppings.
Unlike in the US, where the typical hotdog is topped with mustard,
ketchup and relish, the toppings here include things like peas, corn, dried
potatoes that resemble those things typically used in the US on a green bean
salad, fried onions, cheese and a type of pickled peppers. The bread resembles a cross between the
typical hotdog and hamburger buns. The
bun is grilled as well. It is actually a
hearty and tasty sandwich. In the
picture, somewhere, underneath all that stuff is a hotdog.
9. In the US, if a person is hungry,
that person will find a restaurant open somewhere to satisfy that hunger
regardless of the time. Here in
Florianopolis, that is not the case. All
restaurants do not open for lunch and dinner.
Some restaurants open only for lunch and some open only for dinner. Restaurants open for lunch from 11:30 to approximately
3:00, and restaurants open for dinner around 6:30 p.m. and close around 11:30
or so. If a person becomes hungry
between the end of lunch and the beginning of dinner, there are several small
restaurants where people can buy a natural juice drink and have a small
“pastel,” which is usually filled with cheese, chicken or beef.
8. Having a microwave
is a privilege. I recently moved into my
own apartment and decided that I wanted the convenience of a microwave. After all, in the US, the microwave is as
much a part of kitchenware as eating utensils.
To my surprise, the smallest microwave that would cost $50 in the US that
can easily be picked up in Wal-Mart, Target or the General Dollar Store, cost
here in Brazil about $150. Well, I’ve
learned that warming up leftovers in the oven is actually not that bad.
7. Having a clothes
dryer is a luxury. It actually gets cold
here in Florianopolis. Without a clothes
dryer, it can take clothes up to three days to dry using the old method of hanging
clothes outdoors on the clothes line if it’s not raining or indoors on a “rack”
if it is cold. When I lived with my host
family, the home had a washer. Washers
here are small and typically take about 2 hours to wash a load of clothes
regardless of the batch size. There are
no laundry mats similar to what is common in the US. Most laundry is washed by hand or sent out to
a lavaria. A lavaria is similar to our
dry cleaners except they wash everything from underwear to beddings to dry
cleaning. The cost is based on weight
for general daily wear, towels and bedding.
Other items that require special care are priced on a per item basis.
6. You can count on one
or two institutions being on “strike” every month. In the short time that I have been here, four
institutions have been on strike or are currently on strike. The first strike involved the federal
universities and the federal police.
Both were critical because the strike involving the federal universities
prevented undergraduate students from returning to school on time, and without
the federal police working, the streets were unsafe in some of the most
dangerous cities in Brazil, such as Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo. Currently the banks and the post offices are
on strike.
5. Weekends are for
partying, relaxing, going to the beach and enjoying family and friends. This is a wonderful thing, but I have
struggled with it, as have probably many Americans that have spent a great deal
of time in Brazil. As Americans, we are
accustomed to consistently working on something. On the weekends, I have consistently looked
for a library or quiet place to study or read, to no avail. The public library does not open on the
weekends and UNISUL’s library (the university that I am attending) is open from
8:00-12:00 on Saturdays and closed on Sundays.
The library at UFSC, the local federal university, is open until 5:00 on
Saturdays and closed on Sundays.
4. The wash cloth or
“face towel” is not typically used here in Brazil by adults. What is referred to in the US as the “hand
towel” is actually the “face towel” here in Brazil. This is true, even in hotels. The rooms have hand towels and the regular
towels used to dry the body, but they never have the small towels typically
used in the US to wash the body. Even in
stores where towels are sold, it is difficult to find the small wash
cloths. To find a towel small enough to
be used to wash the body, I have had to go to the section of the store that
sells baby items.
3. Drinking beer and other
alcoholic beverages in public, at various times throughout the day, is very
much a part of the culture here in Florianรณpolis. Tables and chairs are setup in the Marcado Publico (the public market) for this purpose
beginning at the lunch period and continuing until about 7:00 p.m., when the
public market closes. The legal drinking
age in Brazil is 18. It is not uncommon
to see persons walking the street or standing in the supermarket drinking a
beer.
2. Under no
circumstance should toilet tissue be thrown in the toilet. It is thrown in the waste paper basket. This was weird at first, but I guess if you
do anything over a period of time, you simply get use to it.
1. Voting is
mandatory. In Brazil, voting is an
obligation. Failure to vote will affect
everything attached to the use of the individual’s social security number. There are pros and cons attached to this
obligation. In some regions, there are
some politicians that hold a lot of power over workers. Because of this power over the workers, the
politicians can demand their votes and remain in office.
