Brasilian Food

One thing that is always a question when one goes abroad is how will the food be. And as it is the holidays and everyone is visiting family and eating many different delicious plates of food, I thought it would be a perfect time to talk about some of the typical Brasilian foods that I have encountered while here.

Probably my favorite thing to eat here is Açaí. It is quite hard to really describe what it taste like, but if you are ever given a chance to try it it is something that you can not pass up! 

Coxinha: It is basically chicken in a cone shape of fried bread. 

Churrasco is something very popular here. It is a BBQ, but with many different types of meats, and many different cuts of meat, its is much more than steaks, hamburgers, and hot dogs. 

Brigadeiro: this sweet is made with condensed milk and chocolate powder. 

Farofa is cooked flour, and sometimes has other ingredients with it that is normally consumed with rice .

Pastels: these are made of some form of meat or seafood, with some sauce and then is fried. 

Pão de Queijo : or Cheesy Bread, it is bread that is has cheese baked into it. 

Suco: Although not a food, it is still a very popular thing to consume. It is not though like the juices in the states, as it comes in many different fruits.  

Arroz e Feijões aka Rice and Beans is a very typical thing to find here, and a good majority of all meals will be serviced with rice. If you mix some meats into the beans then you get feijoada

These are just some of the popular foods here in Brasil, and there are many more out there, as well as others that depend on where you live. 

Until Next Time

Brasilian Gesture of Greeting

Much like every culture how people greet each other and interact is something distinct. Here in Brasil that interaction is visible with in a few hours of arriving from a country such as the United States, where things are conducted at farther distances and very "formal". Such as meeting someone for the first time you shake hands, or just wave.

In Brasil the first time you meet someone, whether the first time or they have seen several times you greet them with a kiss on the cheek and probably (depending on the person) give them a hug, which for me I enjoy. Then when it comes to just talking with someone they will have conversations at a much closer distant than that in the states. Another thing that is very noticeable is that people here are much more touchy-feely. In a sense that they give hugs, the kisses on the cheeks and just all around hold closer contact. This closeness also contacts greatly with the Brasilian hospitality, where they are very open to letting someone come to their house and not wanting the person to feel left out.

As a foreigner coming here I have greatly enjoyed this close contact. I feel like it gives more life to the culture and that is really fits the Brasilian way quite well, as they are also very open and super friendly. It will definitely be an interesting experience when I return back to the states and I have to go back to the distant contact and the shaking of hands with people I met.    

Until Next Time

4 Meses No Brasil

Although a few days late here is an update of how my past month has been in Brasil.

The first week ended up being an adventure. One of the days after class had finished I went with some other students to Carnivereses, which is a beach in the north part of the island. The next day me and some of the students went out to a club called Fields, which is where they play Sertanejo. We went to go and celebrate one the girls birthdays, it was a really fun time and I really enjoyed dancing the music. The day after we went to Parma, which is an all you can eat pizza place, and there are like 40 different options of pizza and pizza doce (sweet pizza). For the weekend I went to Jaragua do Sul. The weekend was quite nice, I got to go to some Brasilian birthday parties and even got to experience a funeral. Although it was not something that was happy it was quite an experience. I also got to see some of the city, such as Malwee, which is a park in the city.

The following monday was laid back. I ended up meeting with a friend and we hung out for sometime, then I had to head home and relaxed for the day. The next day I went to Costa de Lagoa, which is a fisherman village in Lagoa, that can only be reached by walking or by taking a boat to. It was such a beautiful place, and it was really nice to visit. The next day my business class took a field trip to basically a Brasilian version of Silicon valley. The next day was a feriado, it was a holiday on the formation of the republic. I ended up going with a friend and we did a trail to Lagoinha do Leste, with some of her friends. It was a really nice time, and although the trail was long it was worth the walk. When we finally arrived to the beach we laid our towels out and relaxed. Then we met her parents at the beach and headed back home with them, as me and her had to get ready to leave to Dream Valley, which was a music festival in Beto Carrero (which is the largest amusement park in Latin America). The festival was a really fun time, but after about 3 hours of the same type of music our whole group was exhausted and ready to go, but as we took a van we had to wait. So we ended up just chilling at the festival until our van showed up. The following day was not the prettiest outside so we just sleep in and chilled at my friends house. Then I went to met up with some other exchange students and we went and saw the 2nd movie of the Hunger Games (a week before it even came out in the U.S.A. may I add). After that we went to Guacamole, which is a "Mexican" restaurant. The next day I went to Campeche, which is a beach near my house. I ended up just relaxing there for the day, then returned home for the evening.

On the monday my class took a field trip to the south of the island, where we got to visit a project about otters. We also got to see monkeys that were chilling by the late the project was at. On Wednesday me and the girls went to the favela one last time. This time we showed the kids the  movie UP. It was a really nice time and I was happy that I was able to do some volunteering while here. For that night I went with one of the other exchange students to go play futebol (soccer) with a team of girls here in Brasil. It was such a fun time, even though I am not the best at it, I really enjoyed being able to play and to get a little work out in. On the weekend I went to a friends house in Ingleses and spent some time there. We ended up making dinner, which was pasta. After dinner we got dressed and headed to a Rockin' roll party that was hosted by UFSC. The next day was just a day of resting as it was not that nice outside.

On monday I took a small class field trip, well me and 3 other classmates, went to an other university in Floripa to talk with some tourism students about our experiences in Brasil, and of course it was all in Português. It was a really great time, and a great experience. I also had a surprise, when one of the girls there told me how she did an exchange to this city that is 10 minutes from my house in Indiana, the same year that I went to Italia. The world is really incredible small. On Wednesday I spent the day with my family as they were leaving to go spend time in Argentina, and I wanted to hang out with them some because when they came back I was going to leave to go to São Paulo. In the night time I went and played soccer again with the girls team that we played with the week before. It is such a good time, and I really enjoy learning to play better. On Thanksgiving day I really did not do much during the day. At night though I had a movie night with my host sister (as it was just us two in the house for the week). We ended up watching 50 first dates, but all in Português, so I could learn some more. On Friday I went with some of the exchange students to Fields, for one last time together. It was a nice time just dancing and enjoying each others company. On Saturday I went and met up with a friend and we ended up going out with some of her friends to a club called 1007. It was a really great time, as before we even went, we went to a one of her friends house and chilled and even played some video games. Then we all packed into a taxi and went to centro to go out. Since the next day was a rainy one, me and my friend just went to a shopping mall near her house and went and watched a Brasilian movie called "Meu Passado Me Condena." It was a comedy about this couple who gets married after knowing each other for a month and then proceed to go on a cruise, where they met the girls ex-boyfriend, and the boys childhood crush. Then a bunch of different things happen, but the movie was truly hysterical. On the monday following I hung out with my host sister and we made Brasilian hot dogs.

Now I am starting my vacation. I will be spending it in Matão, which is a city in the interior part of São Paulo with one of my friends that studied abroad to Indiana. Not much has been planned out yet as to what we will be doing, but I will keep update when things occur.

Until next time.