Brazilian disguise

Anybody going to live in a different country has the problem of looking a bit out of place.
At the beginning it is because you are marvelled for everything you see: "Oh, a weird bird ... oh, a strange tree ... oh, a dodgy vagrant, ..."
You look lost even with a map: "Excuse me, could you tell me where is the north?"
And you get into the wrong toilets: "HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII"

But once you have a bit of practise and you don't do all these sort of things how come the locals can still tell you are a foreigner with a quick glimpse?
(In some countries you cannot do much about it because it depends on your racial background, but not here in Brazil, specially in the south, as they have people descending from absolutely everywhere in the world)

So what is the trick?
Let me present you: THE HAVAIANAS! Yes, with this footwear (and as long as you don't open your mouth) you are going to fool even the customs police.

And the best thing is that these kind of flip-flops have many different uses ... they are like a Swish army knife, Brazilian style ... more on that topic in the future! :-)

The difference between Brazil and the UK is ... 39!

Quite a lot of people have been asking me what is the difference between Brazil and the UK and I didn't really know what to say ... well, I finally have the answer: the difference is 39!

Unlike Douglas Adams' calculation of the "Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything" (42, btw) I am going to tell you the logic reasoning behind that conclusion! (because I am an engineer and we don't do things at random like writers!)
I haven't been sunbathing or anything but as you can see in the picture by just by walking around the streets I had some of my natural skin colour back. So, if you take this black and white picture, you pick the colour from my neck (Brazil) and subtract the colour from my back (UK) the difference is about 39 (in absolute value and in a 0 to 255 scale, of course! :-P)

Voilà: yet another mystery solved! :-D

Things you don't learn by just going a week on holidays

The traditional "coke" of Brazil is called "guarana" ... same sort of waking you up a bit effects but probably a lot more healthier and with a complete different taste. Most of you have experienced it a bit because "red bull" is based on the same thing but more concentrated.

They have normal coke as well, nobody worries!

Deliveries and things in general

First experience with buying things and having them delivered ... not good, not bad: different!

The first thing to know is that here in Brazil traditionally there is always supposed to be someone at home. Could be because you have some elder/younger member of the family living with you, the empregada, etc. That is good for the delivery companies because they can come round more or less at any time, any day and there is not much problem ... that is unless you are one of the odd people round whose house is empty during the day.
So, don't expect to be able to choose much about the delivery day itself ... even less about the time.

The second thing to know is that a delivery estimate, as the name say, it is an "estimate" in the most strict of senses. Actually you can be pretty sure that nothing is going to arrive that day ... neither the day after ... :-) Get always in touch with the delivery company by phone (a few times) to find out when things are comming for sure.

Actually this pretty much applies to most latin countries ... I should have known better rather than waiting patiently for 13 hours ... :-)

Things you can learn by just going a week on holidays but it takes a couple of months if you are a computer engineer

The other day I discovered that when you are introduced to a girl the correct thing to do are three kisses, two the very least ... and yes, you can start counting when this blog started and you will see it took me about two months to find out: welcome to the exciting life of a computer engineer!