Take a shower in the mornings. One thing that I noticed is that American people like to take showers in the morning. I think because they want to smell good around other people. I have never seen so many lotions and body splashes with different scents like in America. Most Brazilians take showers at night before going to bed. We believe that we should clean our body after working the entire day to have a good night of sleep, and to not dirty the sheets (this is what my mother used to say all the time).
Eat sausage and eggs for breakfast. This American habit is very well known in Brazil through the movies. While in Brazil I never ate eggs or sausage. What we generally eat is bread with ham, cheese, sweet bread, crackers, toast, lettuce and lots of native fruit juices. My boyfriend and his parents went to Brazil and my grandmother made eggs especially for them.
Yellow bus still exists. Lots of American movies show the yellow bus. Before coming to America I thought that yellow buses no longer existed. I thought it was something that they used in the past but I was really surprised that they are still around and still very common.
Peanut butter/jelly and the brown bag are real. We do not eat peanut butter especially with jelly but this is definitely Americans’ signature. Most of my international friends do not like peanut butter. I also have to make a comment about the brown bag. When I was an exchange student in Texas, my host mother used to make my lunch and she actually sent it in a brown bag. I was shocked at first but it felt like I was in an American movie. It was great!
Wear clothes inside out. I have never seen anybody literally using clothes inside out. That is very interesting. I do not believe any Brazilian would to that, maybe for the fact that most people worry too much what others are going to think and you can include me in this one too.
Makeup. American females like to use a lot of make up and hair spray. I do not know why Brazilians do not use make up on a daily basis. Maybe this is because Brazil is too hot and wearing make up in such weather makes your face greasy and shiny. The most interesting thing about this is that Americans are more concerned with their face and hair than with their clothing. For example I have seen girls wearing sweat pants, T-shirt, make up and with their hair done. In Brazil I would say the opposite. People are more concerned with their clothing than with their face or hair.
Bubble space (personal space). This is the basic rule that you need to know about American culture. Americans like their space. Being too close means invading their privacy and can make them to feel uncomfortable. In my culture when we see a person for the first time that day, we give 2 kisses on the cheeks. There is lots of touching, and hugging. When my boyfriend went to Brazil I told him about this ritual but I forgot to mention that if you are a guy you do not kiss another guy and indeed he tried and it was a very awkward situation. The guy he kissed did not like that much.
To be honest I like when I go to parties and just shake hands or say hello from a distance. In Brazil I always wanted to arrive early to parties because this way people would have to come up to me and give the 2 kisses. Now imagine that you are in a big party and you have to say good-bye to at least 20 people. We are talking about 40 kisses in one night just to say goodbye, and that’s not counting the hello kisses, which is a lot.
Be punctual. This is a serious topic. Americans hate when you are late and from what I understood about this culture is that if the person takes the time to meet with you show some consideration and respect by being on time or early. “TIME IS MONEY”. People really get offended when you make them wait. In Brazil there is no difference between on time and 5 minutes late. I do not think my mother would fit very well in this matter with American culture. She is always multi tasking, and for this reason she is late sometimes. My parents always argue when they have to go out because my father is a military, so on time for his is 10 minutes prior to the time but for my mother is 5 or 10 minutes later.
Some guys in America shave their legs. WOW. This was very shocking at the beginning. I learned that some guys shave because they are swimmers but others shave because they like it. I had never seen a guy with shaved legs before in my life.
Brazilian wax. Yes we are known for our wax. Most women in Brazil only wax from the thigh down and the top half they dye (blond) so you cannot see anything. Few Brazilians would shave the top part of the leg. My sisters were exchange students in high school and I learned with them to shave the entire leg or wax everything. Last summer I went back home and when I went to a beauty shop to wax the entire leg the lady asked me “Do you shave the top part of your legs?” I said yes and she had a look of surprise and disgust at the same time. She told me not do this because it was unhealthy for the hair. (I am still trying to figure out why it is not healthy)
Bikinis. We are famous for our small bikinis. American bikinis have, in my opinion, excess of cloths. Men do wear Speedos in Brazil but if the person is into surfing he would wear shorts. Speedos are very common and natural, it does not matter the age or weight. My father still wears Speedos.
Public transportation. If you do not have a car it is better to make friends with people who do. This is a necessity in this country. Cars are very affordable in America and most people have them. Because of this, public transportation is not very good. In developing countries, income is lower and cost of living is expensive, cars are still considered luxuries and the majority of people do not have cars. They have to rely on public transportation to get to work and do things in general. Large amounts of money are invested in this type of transportation, making different options available for people and the time you have to wait is really short. If public transportation in Rio De Janeiro has a strike the entire city shuts down. I just want to make clear that in America there is public transportation but is just different in Brazil. In big cities like Chicago it is more common to have public transportation than small cities as well as the efficiency, but, for example, we have buses in Cedar Falls but you have to wait a while to catch the bus.
#1 in fast food. It is cheap, fast, and addicting. People work a lot in this country therefore they do not have time to cook and some times if you add time and ingredients, fast food is cheaper. One day I decided to make Oreo pie, so I went to Wal-Mart and I added all the ingredients that I needed and at the same time I went to the bakery and the Oreo pie was cheaper by 3 dollars and I did not even have to spend time cooking.
Fast food in Brazil is very expensive; most people cannot afford to eat out very often. Since I have been here, I have eaten out more often than when I was in Brazil.
Weight. I have gained 30 pounds in 3 years since I have been here. The greasy food is good, but my pants are getting smaller every time. I am still considered to be thin in this country but in Brazil I am not thin at all. People work out a lot over there and they are very critical about their appearance.
Air-conditioning. Brazil is hot, but people do not have central air conditioners in their house. What we have is the individual unit that we put in the bedroom and some people put in the living room but not in the entire house because electricity is very expensive and we just cannot afford it. My first contact with central air conditioners was with my host family house and I came to a conclusion that I love it.
Salad Dressing. In my family we season the salad with olive oil, salt, lemon or vinaigrette. Ranch dressing was something introduced into my family by my oldest sister when she came back from her exchange program. You will be able to find ranch is some stores but it is not as common as in America. The ranch is addictive, I came to a point last year that if I did not have ranch (any dressing) I was not able to eat salad. This is bad.
Color Blue. In America blue means sadness or darkness, but in Brazil it means hope. It took me a while to catch on to this.
Spanish. Spanish language is very popular in America. A lot of people speak Spanish and you can even earn extra cash for being bilingual. Even though Brazil is surrounded by Spanish speaking countries, Spanish and Spanish songs are not very popular in Brazil. English would be popular and has become a necessity through the years.
Children live with their parents throughout college. We would live in our parent’s house until we get married or when we graduate from college. Cost of living is high.
Work opportunity. You can actually make money in America without a college degree. Let me rephrase this better, you can survive and pay your bills. In my country you need to have a high school diploma to sweep the streets (we do not have trucks that do that) and you need to pass an exam to get the job. College degrees are a necessity for us to have a decent job.
Guys brush their hair forward. This is more a trend than a culture difference. I have noticed that 90% of college and high school students brush their hair forward. I do not think I like that much.
Eat Broccolis and cauliflower raw. In Brazil we boil most vegetables. To see a person eating raw broccolis and cauliflower was a shock to me at first. I still cannot eat either of them but maybe one day I will be able to grab, dip and eat.
