I remember talking about it with another friend who also lived abroad several years. I told her the same. How come there is so much corruption in Brazil? What is in it's culture that opens that type of door for this behavior? People are friendly, sometimes in a queue at the supermarket, we just start chatting, at the bus stop, people try to help you, on the street, they are so warm and nice. In Europe, on the other hand, you don't feel people are that friendly. Depending where you are, you may need help and they won't even look at you. Once my car broke down right in front of a supermarket in Barendrecht and my mom and I were trying to turn the engine on again by pushing it, and I saw men walking down the street and they saw us too, and no.. THEY DID NOT STOP TO HELP US.
Hahahahhahaha!!! They didn't care at all, that 2 women were having car issues, they just ignored us completely. Now if that would be in Brazil, in a matter of 30 seconds, there would appear men out of houses, bushes, stopping cars to help us out...
Interesting to notice this difference in culture during traffic. Europeans are cold people and not so often very friendly. In Brazil people are very friendly and very helpful. But what happens when they get in a car?!! What happens in traffic?!! CRAZY! People in Brazil drive like they are the only ones. They are extremely egoist and they don't think about the others. In Europe however, just the opposite. They drive thinking about others and being very conscious about the rules. How can we explain that? I am sure a sociologist or perhaps psychologists have a good opinion and plausible explanation for that, but sometimes it's quite difficult to grasp.
It's hard to accept that corruption is so common in Brazil, and at the same time seeing how people can be so caring then why they don't think about the interests of others as well when they are in a public environment or deal with public money? Perhaps there are many explanations to that, and obviously there are also exceptions but I just wonder if this will ever change. This is what we all hope for. Friendlier people and less corruption!
