Welcome to Brazil

Oi gente!

Today marks the end of my fourth full day in Brazil. I have been extremely busy (and tired) during the last few days but I've finally found a bit of free time to update the blog. Now, where do i even begin?

I arrived in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday night after short layovers in Lima and Sao Paulo. As soon as I set foot in Brazil, the salty smell of pão de queijo (OMG so good---delicious little pillows of cheese bread made from tapioca flour and lightly crunchy on the outside but super doughy and warm on the inside) filled the air and I knew I had arrived. After I got through customs I made my way through the crowded and dirty arrivals section of the airport clumsily pushing the cart holding my two massive suitcases and found the poorly indicated drop-off counter for luggage for domestic connections. The rest of the airport was even more confusing, but somehow I made my flight and had a perfectly Brazilian cultural experience along the way.

Here's what I mean: So I'm waiting in line at the gate to get onto the bus that will take the passengers to the plane, and the woman behind me taps on my shoulder and asks if i can do her a favor, or to use her diminutive term, a favorzinho. Brazilians, women especially, like to use diminutive versions of words (so adding -inho and -inha to the end) as a form of endearment. The woman had two carry-on suitcases, so she wanted me to take one until we got onto the bus so that she wouldn't have to check one of them in. Of course I obliged and it was no big deal at all. In the U.S., if this situation happened, the woman would probably simply have thanked me and left it at that. However, this woman eagerly came up right next to me on the bus and said with a huge smile "Hi my name is Karen! What's your name?" And thus began a lengthy conversation in which she interviewed me about who I was, what I was doing in Brazil, etc. Once she found out I was going to live in Rio, she offered to give me her e-mail so that I could contact her if I ever had any questions or doubts.

In past Portuguese classes I have frequently been told how  implying that an interaction will pick up where it left off sometime in the future is quintessential Brazilian conversational etiquette. For this reason, Brazilians frequently end conversations or chance encounters saying "Me liga!" (call me) or, "A gente se ve!" (We'll see each other soon) without ever actually meaning what they say. Likewise, Karen probably never actually intended or wanted me to contact her in the future, but as a form of politeness and as a way of saying thank you for what I had done for her she felt obliged to say so.

Karen disappeared once I got on the plane and she never actually gave me her e-mail address, but of course I was not offended. How could I be? I am in Brazil now, and she was simply being friendly. Which brings me to my next point. I'm in Brazil now!!!!!!! Next Stop, RIO!