Adjusting To Culture Pt. 1

Kelci and I have now been here in Brazil for a little more than 3 months and we have already adjusted to some of the cultural differences here. We know there will be many more adjustments to come as well. There is no way around culture differences, however, Kelci and I have tried approaching every difference as simply just that...different. They are not bad and there is nothing wrong with the way that we do things or the way that people from other cultures do things. Different is simply different. In three installments, I am going to discuss some cultural differences that Kelci and I have adjusted to, are adjusting to, or are having difficulties adjusting to.

This picture has nothing to do with this story...
But oh well...

This past Friday was a friend of mine's birthday. His brothers had told me a few days prior to it that they were planning to do something for his birthday and that they would let me know what the plan was, where it was going to be and when it would be. All week, I was waiting for them to text or call me with the plan. However, I got nothing. Friday rolled around and I had assumed that either nothing was happening or that I was not going to be a part of it. I had texted them and tried calling them to see what was going on, however, didn't get a response. So Friday night at 8:30, Kelci and I were about to have dinner as we assumed nothing was going on until the phone rang. They had just made a plan and were heading to dinner at a restaurant nearby. I am not ready to say that in the states a plan would have been made days in advance, because certainly there were many instances where that was not the case. However, usually when it came to birthday parties...plans were passed along a little earlier than minutes before. That is just a cultural thing here in Rio though. Time is not as pressing. Schedules are not set in stone and are always very flexible.

That was not the only cultural difference we came across that night. When we arrived, there were probably 8 people already there and we figured that the was the whole group. However, going along with the difference in schedules and plan-making here...people show up to parties and events kind of...whenever. I think it is just assumed that most people will be a late.

Likewise, Kelci and I are used to ordering our own meals at restaurants pretty much every time. I would say that is pretty normal in the states. However, for dinner that evening a plate of chicken tenders and two plates of cheese fries were ordered for everyone (10ish people) while we were there. Smaller dinners and bigger lunches are common here so we found that to be pretty typical. However, Kelci and I are still getting used to that. Lastly, we are used to going out to dinner and then going to a movie afterwards or going back to someones house to watch a movie or play a game or something. However, the expectation at dinner this night was to just stay at the restaurant and be together and talk and hang out. We loved it! However, there were some added difficulties because of the whole language thing (helped by the fact that a couple of the people spoke very good English).

Culture can be tricky thing and as you can see there were some differences that we encountered this evening. Like I said, none of them are bad but we are still adjusting to some of them. We actually like many of the cultural differences here and will continue to encounter many more over the coming months and years. We look forward to every adjustment, because that only brings us closer to our friends and our community here.

-Kelly and Kelci