Nice Brazilians x Corruption??!

Sometime ago I was speaking to someone at a friend's party about Brazilian culture. He was from USA and moved to Brasília recently. He said he could not understand why there is so much corruption in Brazil. He could not believe as he feels people are so nice, the country is so beautiful and yet has such a high level of corruption.

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!

Yes! That is who I want to be when I grow up

Today I had spend a great time with a dear friend. We drank coffee and spoke about trips, life, people and culture, subjects which I am really a big fan. Besides the coffee we ate some nice cake as well. I also tried the Chai tea, apparently it is Indian, it has some exotic taste, with herbs like cardamom, and I believe cloves too. I recommend this place,  it's called Torteria di Lorenza, a cozy place with some interesting food options.

After we met, I was heading home and then I noticed that there was a traffic jam. So I thought to myself, well, I will probably spend as much time as I would to get home if I just decide to wait somewhere else. So I drove around and stopped at another charming little coffee place: Fran's café. It is quite popular and I have never been to this one in particular. The environment was oke, the atmosphere also quite inviting. I saw the menu and many good options were there for coffee and dishes. I chose their special, Frans Café cappuccino chocolate, something like that, and I also ordered some sweet churros (Gosh, am I a sweet tooth or what? Heck, that's why I go to gym anyways...) It was delicious. The churros were served with some doce de leite and it was decent.

When I was sitting there I was having some funny thoughts... Hummmmmmm. I started to think: "I should be a food critic". If I was sent out by some magazine, for instance, I could sit there, and evaluate the place, eat the food, order all I could have, all dishes, eat half of them and still didn't even have to bother to pay for the food, cause, well, they would probably pay for me cause the very reason I would go there was this important mission: eat the food and provide a review. I can't help but to say what a luxurious life these food critics have... Come on! These people are paid to eat?? Hello??? Is this real? Ohhhhhhhhh oh,  I know who I want to be when I grow up!! :D

Later I continued with these incredible thoughts... Hummmmmm,  "How about the servants", if they started to pay attention to me, and if I was some kind of food expert, they would probably want to please me even more... Huh... They will notice I would be there to judge their food and establishment and they would definitely serve with a much bigger smile. :D. Not that they were not serving well tonight, in fact, I really liked their service, very polite, friendly and professional, didn't take long, they were very attentive, I am impressed. But can you imagine if I was the food critic? And they knew they were under trial? Hummmmmm ha ha! NICE! I could just imagine them being even nicer!!! WOW! What a fantastic service I would get, huh?

At some point I thought, well... If I can maybe pretend I am a food critic, get inside the room, looking around, with a analytical face on, you know? Like, paying attention at the decoration, hand on the chin... "Hummmmm, sir, can you please tell me: who is the chef? What his/her name?... Where are the toilets located ? How many people can be in this establishment? Hummmmm Ahan....." If I started asking those questions, maybe I could get away with it? :D Could they suspect me? Cause of course they should not know a food critic is in the house but they could just suspect...
Then when the food arrives, look at it, how it's presented, checking it very carefully before eating, slower, with that same analytical, quasi judgmental face on, observing, focused. Take a spoon, look at it, from different angles, smell it, and then just eat it and continue.. (Important: the look has to be the same, very focused and not easily impressed). So, would I sell as a food critic? Huh? I wondered...
Bahhhhh, but then it hit me: I would have to pay the bill afterwards anyways... Darn!

Cozy days

It's funny, when I was in Holland, every time the sun was shinning it gave me the warm feeling of Brazil... And now that I am back to Brazil, every time the clouds are there... I think about Holland...
How crazy?! Hahahahahaha!!!!

Well.. this morning it was a very cloudy day! Not like the song from Temptations, hahaha... But it does make me feel like getting a nice book, watching a great movie and enjoying the cold days.

Welcome again, Holland.. Ops, well.. Brazil... It feels funny
;-)

Pleasure is addicting...

Today I was thinking about the diets and life style we have and how we function.

Well, most of us love to go out for a nice dinner, or just to sit relaxed at home with a nice bucket of popcorn... Hummmmm... Food gives us pleasure, and it's comforting, specially right after a difficult day. Food works, in this case, like a gratification: you grant yourself a nice bonus after a day of hard work.. ;-)

But what does that entail? You work hard or study and go to gym (or do any type of physical activity) and then you think to yourself: "I deserve a nice piece of cake today..." or perhaps "I deserve some wine and cheese, well, why not some peanuts, nuts as well?" Why not...?

Obviously, you can't stick to only one single piece of that nice cake, you never stop on the first glass of wine (at least not on your best inspiring moments I suppose hahaha). The point is: Pleasure is addicting...

What could be the problem with this then? No problem at all! In life, we are supposed to enjoy the little things. In fact, you may indulge yourself once in a while with something you like. I am talking about food, but you can easily think about other kind of gratification, for instance, going to the mall, playing a game, doing something that gives you pleasure.

We are designed to feel pleasure. It's much easier to go do something you enjoy than to do something that gives you discomfort. If you could choose, you choose pleasure over pain. However, pain is part of life. You need to apply yourself for something bigger. You need to make an effort in order to get something in return. Nobody can only have pleasure and still have a purpose in life. We hear about some people who are considered the richest in the planet, when they live such idle lives, aimless without  a purpose, they may find themselves very bored and useless, because deep down, we, human beings, need discipline and targets in life. We need purpose.

Whenever we feel like eating something really special right after a nice productive week, we are actually telling ourselves: yes, you deserve this, you earned this. That is even another reason to look for. After accomplishing something, you give yourself the well deserved pleasure. Interesting huh? It's almost like a vicious circle. If you think about diet and life style... Well, each day you get one step further to your goal, without such heavy burdens... Unless you over indulge yourself... hahaha, well.. at least you have a new goal after that! 

Handwriting... Keep focused!

Here we are again, another month has passed and 2015 is now shorter than ever...

Remember when we were in school and we had the first days of classes, and our handwriting was perfect in the first page of our notepad...? Hahahahahahaha! I think we do the same with our goals and plans for the new year. We always start from the beginning with a strong motivation and sometimes that will last a few days or, for the lucky ones, more than a month...

But I didn't mean to be negative now.. I do believe we can change things around us and accomplish our goals. I just wanted to set a kind of reminder to myself, you know? This is just like a nice tap on the shoulder, like: "keep on, we are now in February... Keep on going... we have 11 months to go..." This is it. We can do it!

Well, here we go... Is my handwriting already changing...?! No... no... no! Time to focus!

Christmas, Christmas you have come again you pretty one!

After 2011 this is my first Christmas back in Brazil. When I was there I was always thinking about this time, and all the Christmas food and the panettones (I even had an experience of trying to find them in Rotterdam, lol) the rice with raisins, farofa, the turkey, ham... But besides all the food, I was also thinking about the warmth, not only the weather, but the people who bring warmth, the type of heat when you feel when you are really close by ;-)

It was very nice to see everybody again for Christmas. The hugging, kissing, laughing, eating and drinking together. I could remember that during the Christmas dinner in my family we are used to have a moment when we share a word from the Bible and we pray. At this moment, we try not to give in to the hunger but we get other type of food. This may seem a bit hard for some, but I confess I am really happy about this tradition. This seems to be another type of main course served. It makes me so happy.

After so many years celebrating Christmas in a different way, a moment such as this one when we stop to listen and to pray, is a fantastic thing. It's almost rare to find nowadays, and I think it's such a pity. In Brazil is not that rare, we can see this happening sometimes or at least people would not find it weird to see it happening and they might enjoy and find it amusing, even when they don't share the exact type of faith. We tend to respect and listen and know when to speak and when to be silent.

What a pleasant Christmas night. I am really proud of my family, even with all our mistakes and faults. If we remain in God we will grow as a family and we will learn to improve and become better. Once we abuse of love, truth, honesty, simplicity we can improve our unity even more.

I say, hurrah to the family! And to all the nice Christmas in the world, where we all learn that family is not only the ones blood related, but also the people who really care and respect and love us and are willing to go on next to us, living our lives!

Cheers! Let all Christmas come! Beautiful ones!

Natal, Natal, já chegou de novo, seu lindo!

Depois de 2011, esse foi o meu primeiro Natal de volta ao Brasil. Quando estava lá pensava tanto nessa época, em todas as comidas típicas natalinas, nos panettones (tenho até uma experiência de tentar encontrar panettones italianos em Roterdã que foi loucura, rsrs), arroz com passas, farofa, pernil, chester e lombos... Mas além das comidas, pensava também naquele calor, não só o calor do clima de um país tropical, mas no calor humano, aquele que a gente sente muita falta quando não está perto  ;-)

Como foi bom rever todos, dar abraços, beijos, comer e rir juntos. Poder ver que no Natal em família aqui, não nos esquecemos de dedicar um momento em que nós ouvimos a palavra de Deus, em um versículo ou história, e oração. Nessas horas abdicamos da nossa fome para nos concentrarmos em algo espiritual, e às vezes esse sacrifício pode ser difícil para alguns, mas sinceramente, gosto muito dessa tradição.

Depois de tantos anos celebrando o Natal de outra maneira, um momento desses de parar, ler a Palavra e orar, é algo muito rico; é como se fosse um banquete especial, além dos pratos natalinos. No nosso país temos essa liberdade, graças a Deus. Mesmo existindo algumas divergências de crença, percebemos que há um respeito, e há liberdade de expressar a fé.

Estar de volta nesse Natal foi muito bom. A oportunidade de ter minha avó aqui, tias e tio, primos e familiares. E olha, estou muito orgulhosa da família que tenho, mesmo com todos os defeitos, que nós mesmos reconhecemos, se permanecemos em Deus, aprendemos a nos relacionar e crescer em família. Se abusarmos do amor, da verdade, sinceridade e simplicidade podemos sim melhorar ainda mais a nossa união e fazer ainda outros Natais maravilhosos.

Viva a família! E Deus é bom demais! Natal de volta, que venham muitos Natais, e lindos!!