03
Oct
WITH OUT FOOD THERE WOULD BE NO BRASIL
One aspect i have yet to talk about is the food here.
Brasilians for one thing eat all the time! For breakfast there is usually rolls with butter, cheese, and ham, papaya or bananas, and always coffee with sugar and milk. Lunch always consists of rice and beans, called feijao, and meat and salad. For dinner there is a variety of things it could be from pizza to fish.
I always have lunch at school because my school days finishes later in the afternoon so i always go to a churrascaria, or a barbque, which is basically a buffet with tons of meat, vegetables, rice, beans, pastas, and desserts. There are two churrascarias near my school called Chalé and Lobo´s, but i prefer Chalé because i love their variety of meat! As is the Brasilian custom I always drink a cafezinho after lunch, which is wonderful Brasilian coffee with sugar in a little demitase cup. It is absolutely delicious!
One of the clearest differences I encountered in the beginning was how after you serve yourself and have everything you want you don´t just sit down at your table but you go and weigh your food. You pay as much as your food wieghs! The first time i went to a churrasco I had no idea about this custom so I proceeded to walk to my table but was flagged down by all my classmates pointing to the lady weighing food! I don´t know where I would be with out them! Also when you are leaving you must show the employee at the entrance your ticket in order to leave, so they know you have paid. Yet one time after my cafezinho I threw my ticket away with my little plastic cup and then we leaving i realized everyone else was handing the entrance employee a ticket! I then ran back to the trash can and fished out my ticket while all my class mates were laughing!
There are not as many coffee shops as there are in the USA but i have discovered a great coffee shop next to my Rotary building, where I have meetings every Monday. It is called Kahlúa Café. It reminds me of a New York City coffe hang out. Yet unlike the USA everyone smokes inside! I think it adds to the ambiance and the great jazz and samba music that always plays. All the people read, write, attend to their laptops, and have meetings while I write and people watch. I have started to go there and order a grande cappucino every Monday to treat myself. Absolutamente Delicioso!
