The most common question
Today a student asked me what aspects of Brazilian culture I find most difficult to get used to.
It's a deceptively difficult question. I have been here for almost three years, and Recife is what seems normal to me. Were I to go back to the US, I'm sure it would seem strange, at least for a week or two. When he asked me, I didn’t have an answer ready, and hours later I still don’t. I said something about the pace of life here, and that’s true. Sometimes it’s annoying how slowly things move here, but most of the time I like it. I still need to slow down, to be more like the locals. It finally occurred to me, only two weeks ago, that people walk slowly as a survival technique. I walk at what seems like a normal pace, which is much faster than anyone else in the state. And I sweat and they don’t. You would think I would have figured that one out long ago, but you would give me too much credit.
It’s not the first time someone has asked that question. Two years ago I’m sure I had a ready answer, and I’m sure the answer was almost always “I could trust people in the U.S., and I can’t here.” At some point I’ll examine how I was correct and incorrect in that assessment. But now I’m not exactly Brazilian, but I’m not a visitor, or a new arrival, either. It's hard to say what's different about Recife. It would be easier to see what's different about other places, now that my perspective has shifted. The one glaringly obvious difference is carnaval. There is no carnaval in the US (with the exception of Mardi Gras, which may or may not have survived Katrina), and carnaval dominates the culture of Recife, if not Brazil. The time between New Year's and carnaval is just dead time, everybody waiting for the year to really start. After carnaval people go about their lives for a few months, recovering, before they begin preparing for next year's carnaval. In August or September people start talking about carnaval again, discussing what they will do, where they will go, and who they will be with. Carnaval is the single most important part of the culture here, even more important than bikinis. And bikinis are very important.
It's a deceptively difficult question. I have been here for almost three years, and Recife is what seems normal to me. Were I to go back to the US, I'm sure it would seem strange, at least for a week or two. When he asked me, I didn’t have an answer ready, and hours later I still don’t. I said something about the pace of life here, and that’s true. Sometimes it’s annoying how slowly things move here, but most of the time I like it. I still need to slow down, to be more like the locals. It finally occurred to me, only two weeks ago, that people walk slowly as a survival technique. I walk at what seems like a normal pace, which is much faster than anyone else in the state. And I sweat and they don’t. You would think I would have figured that one out long ago, but you would give me too much credit.
It’s not the first time someone has asked that question. Two years ago I’m sure I had a ready answer, and I’m sure the answer was almost always “I could trust people in the U.S., and I can’t here.” At some point I’ll examine how I was correct and incorrect in that assessment. But now I’m not exactly Brazilian, but I’m not a visitor, or a new arrival, either. It's hard to say what's different about Recife. It would be easier to see what's different about other places, now that my perspective has shifted. The one glaringly obvious difference is carnaval. There is no carnaval in the US (with the exception of Mardi Gras, which may or may not have survived Katrina), and carnaval dominates the culture of Recife, if not Brazil. The time between New Year's and carnaval is just dead time, everybody waiting for the year to really start. After carnaval people go about their lives for a few months, recovering, before they begin preparing for next year's carnaval. In August or September people start talking about carnaval again, discussing what they will do, where they will go, and who they will be with. Carnaval is the single most important part of the culture here, even more important than bikinis. And bikinis are very important.
posted by Venha Futuro at 5:32 PM
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