What is Race?

I want to spend a post just discussing how here in Brasil when it comes to backgrounds of peoples heritage and their race it is not important for how they are looked at.

When you first get on a plane to come to Brasil, you are surrounded by people all around you speaking Portuguese. But as you look around to see if you spot who's maybe American, European, or even of a different Latin background it is impossible. As here in Brasil everyone is so different in the way they look, and the way they dress, you can almost get away with anything and still pass for a Brazilian. You might hear someone call you "alemão" if you were a guy with blonde hair and light skill, or maybe "japonês" if you have oriental look. But here it is completely normal, and unlike in the USA where we would starting getting frustrated and claiming it was racism, here its more they are just ignorant to what background you are. With the difference in backgrounds though one does not feel the racial tension that can be experienced in the states. Here you do not feel weird saying that someone is black, Mexican, German or where ever one may come from, its just that way.

Because of the great diversity the dialects in each region are very distant. Such as in Sao Paulo area because of their dominant Italian descent one can hear a more Italian accent. Or in Blumenau, a major German area their accent and housing resembles German villages. Here in Floripa, because they were colonized by the island of Aroze (which is an island owned by the Portuguese), they tend to talk much faster than in other parts of the country. It makes learning the language a little harder but it makes the challenge even more exciting. 

That is really all I have to add in regards to some cultural experiences I have encountered while here.