Halls is NOT Candy.

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(April 5, 2011) So, when I tell you all that I find blogging to be difficult these days, I receive somewhat vague but still helpful suggestions about what kind of things would be interesting for you to hear about. One of the things I hear often and have starting thinking about more in the past couple weeks has a lot to do with the vast cultural, consumptive, and culinary differences that exist here and what is like to live as a young, white, American man within the context of Bahia, Brazil.

It is important to note that Brazil is unlike the U.S. in a lot of ways, and yet similar in many others. Also, Salvador specifically is SO different from the States; and from my own limited experience and what I have been told, different too from any other place both within Brazil and outside of it. The differences here that I most often notice range in severity from a simple custom that is practiced when greeting others to an entirely divergent societal evolution than my own. Some of these things fascinate me greatly; others I am perplexed by. Still other customs and practices make me wish it was that way at home, and others just plain piss me off. No matter which of these reactions is provoked in me, it is always a learning experience, and always an opportunity to bring home with me knowledge that I previously was not privy to.

First of all, folks, Halls throat lozenges are not candy. Simple, right? Wrong. Try convincing a Brazilian of that, or even explaining that it could potentially be used for a sore throat... Yes, we have those delicious little “Fruit Breezers™” that we all would like to think are candy after our sore throat goes away… but in general most of us agree that cough drops are for coughs. Not here! Not only are Halls marketed as candy and sold by every street vender as just that, they are ridiculously popular. Two nights ago in line at the Bompreço, (Walmart’s way of rolling back prices across Brazil,) I was shocked to find chocolate-filled strawberry flavored Halls at the register!
I’ll get off the lozenge topic, but consider that an illustration of what I am going for here.

As far as things I wish I could take home with me…

The simple custom of greeting friends and family with a kiss on each cheek and a hug does wonders for people’s moods and for their friendships. This was a habit I found it difficult to kick in the weeks following my exchange year in Venezuela, and I imagine it will be just as tough coming back from this abroad experience.

The fruit. Why can’t we get our hands on fruit this good in Indiana? Well the answer is obvious, but it just isn’t fair! Mango, Cajú (cashew; yes, the fruit), Maracujá (Passion fruit), Pineapple, Pear, Apple, Strawberry, Cupuaçú, Ameixa, Banana, Orange, Lime, Açai, Acerola (Barbados Cherry), Guava, Plantain, Umbú, Siriguela, Caqui, Carambola, etc. The list truly goes on and on, and they are all so delicious, (with the exception of Jaca, which incidently makes me want to throw up just by looking at it)! Otherwise, I am truly jealous of the fruit variety this culture is able to enjoy.

Acarajé. Wiki it, I don’t know what I am going to do without it. I managed to live without arepas, but this goes above and beyond that addiction. In addition to this idea, I just love street food. I love being able to walk down the street and pay very little money for very delicious food. It’s something I wish we had more of an affection towards in the states, but also it has it’s downsides. Bahian food specifically is to die for. This week I went to Charly’s aunts house for a Caruru and Vatapá lunch that was out of this world.

Holidays. There are breaks, holidays, and weeklong parties for everything, many of which I won’t be here for. I like the idea of constant breaks and a longer school year, always have. Plus, Brazilians know how to party and they enjoy their dancing, food, liquor, family, and friends like nowhere else on earth.

Unfortunately, as with anywhere, there are things that I am both not used to and not OK with, and it is indeed important to note those too.

Trash. The Brazilian attitude towards garbage drives me nuts. Each day one of the local restaurants and/or markets in Garcia where I live, (not sure which it is yet,) throws boxes of rotting fruit, vegetable, and other food parts out on to the curb, right in the middle of the sidewalk. Often the boxes are cast with no care and are overturned, or they don’t exist at all. Each time I walk by I am struck by the pungent aroma of rotting food permanently engrained into that stretch of sidewalk, whether there in physical form or not. This is not an uncommon sight, and I strain myself to see why no one would complain about it, but that’s just that, like the aroma, the habit is also engrained into the fabric of society. Don’t get the wrong idea, it isn’t everyone with the attitude “If you’re done with it, throw it in the road,” but unfortunately not enough people care enough to do something about it. Just today I was walking down my street where two men were mending a fence. One of them emptied a bottle of what appeared to be super glue, and instead of walking six feet to where there was a garbage can on the side of the road, he cast it to the ground under a car, hitting my leg with it in the process. He promptly apologized for hitting me, which brings me to my next thought.

Politeness. People are typically quite polite, good-natured and very, VERY, friendly. You will almost always get an “excuse me” or a “sorry” for being bumped into on the bus or restaurant or shopping mall, but for some reason all bets are off on the street. The “stay to the right side of the sidewalk” rule just doesn’t exist here and walking in masses is often hell. Many people walk as if they were literally the only person on the road and don’t notice when you throw all of your remaining strength into finding a way to go around them. They stop, the strafe, they speed up, they cut you off, they don’t look when they walk in or out of a store, or into the street for that matter. “Get used to it, Brent, it isn’t going away,” I often have to tell myself. Other than that slightly annoying little fact of life, I LOVE Brazilians. I feel welcomed and comfortable in just about every new situation with random family friends and acquaintances, and never have to try to hard to form relationships with others. (April 14, 2011) With strangers, you never know, but with people you are familiar with or at least with their friends, you can expect to be embraced immediately and treated just like you would want to be treated. It is this uniquely South American attitude, (from what I have heard about other places in the world, I can cautiously assume,) that draws me to be in these places as much or more than anything else.

There was a kitten in my class today. Yes, random kitten who made his way around the 3rd floor literature classroom several times, stopping for a back scratch or to play with his own tail every so often. Shouldn’t this surprise me? I mean, when has an animal of any kind wandered lazily into a classroom of mine in my 15+ years of education? Never, but still, I didn’t feel as though it was terribly out of place at all.

Brazilians tend to terribly stubborn and things are often allowed to exist in only one way or it becomes something different. As a disclaimer, I am not saying it is bad, just interesting. For example, (thanks to my good friend Cazuza Lenderking-Brill😉 A Vitamina is a type of fruit milkshake often drank at breakfast time here. The thing is, you take fruit, poor in some milk and maybe some ice, and then you blend. The problem, if it isn’t made of either Banana, Avocado, or Banana and Nescau together, (nesquik, more or less,) then it ceases to be a vitamina, immediately. Cazuza tells me an anecdote about his morning concoction of Mamão (papaya), banana, maybe some other fruits. When his host dad and empregada ask, “what are you doing, what is that?,” to which Nick responds, “a Vitamina”, he is greet by disbelief and rejection. “that is NOT a Vitamina,” they tell him. “That is a weird mix, that is nothing.” (paraphrase.) The point of the story is, if you change something minor in the daily routine, it can be poorly received, or you will at least get a strange look or two.

“Oh your breakfast is cereal?” “Mine is a banana”. Or, “I eat cold pizza.”

All of the above are perfectly acceptable to our ears, because we are typically a much less homogenous society. It is good to see the way life is done in new places. Our reactions to these occurrences are also shaped by us being accustomed to not having customs. In the States, we are used to all being different from our neighbors all the time, but that doesn’t mean one way is better than the other.

There are, I am sure, so many more examples to give in regards to cultural differences, and more will appear later.

It is easy for me and others in my program to greet an experience with “Oh well, it is Brazil, after all,” but what we don’t stop to think about a lot of times is just how different every place is from the one we are so used to and comfortable with. I am blessed every day to be privy to knowledge and experience that only life in another country can give.

Please, questions and comments are welcome! Give me a shout!

In other news, I leave for Rio de Janeiro tomorrow and I am beyond STOKED. I know I am on what could appear to be a 5 month vacation as it is, but the daily grind of life here gets to you just like it does there, and a week outside of Salvador is very welcome! Can’t wait to tell you all about it when I get back.

Peace and abraços.

Brent

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Photos

Acaraje
Black eyed pea fritters cut and filled with Vatapá, (made from bread, shrimp, coconut milk, finely ground peanuts and palm oil mashed into a creamy paste), Cararu (okra, onion, shrimp, palm oil and toasted nuts, either peanuts and/or cashews). Topped with shrimp if you like and a salad made from red and green tomatos and sometimes cilantro and onion. Don't forget to get it Quente (spicy!)