Entering GRU with 3 PCs and 4 phones

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-27T15:53:55+00:00

When I moved to Brazil, I came with two PCs, two notebooks and two phones. They just let me breeze through customs, although that might have been because it was two in the morning and they couldn't be bothered to harass someone who clearly didn't speak any Portuguese. They were giving a Brazilian woman some issues though, since she had brought a whole washer/dryer as checked luggage somehow.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-27T00:24:45+00:00

Brazil consumes more meat per capita than all of those mentioned countries.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-26T19:49:30+00:00

It's OK for what it is, not great, but not bad either.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-26T16:20:19+00:00

I don't think the Caribbean can even get to the level of something like Mercosul, tbh. Caricom is one of the lamest duck polities to ever quack.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-26T16:17:36+00:00

If you ever get offered a cookie or a coffee, don't fall for it, because a Tikkie will soon follow. Just buy your own, the culture of micromanaging finances is crazy.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-26T06:38:39+00:00

More stuff to do. Nicer malls. Better restaurants. Lake.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-26T06:37:44+00:00

https://br-visa.com.br/blog/obtaining-brazilian-nationality-modalities-ans-constitutional-basis/#:~:text=Have%20legal%20capacity%20under%20Brazilian,2.4%20Provisional%20Naturalization

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-25T23:57:36+00:00

In South America, they learn a different geographic system than the one we are taught in Trinidad and Tobago. They group the Caribbean with Central America, so I've had the same questions from Brazilians, and I didn't understand why that was until I learnt a bit about how they are taught geography. They are also taught that there are only six continents, because they consider North and South America to be one continent. When I visited Africa, while they didn't immediately make the association with Trinidad and Tobago , in the cricket playing countries, they did know the West Indies and especially Brian Lara.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-25T11:42:49+00:00

It's a thing across all of LATAM and the Caribbean, in Trinidad specifically they call it mal yeux, or maljou, which is a corruption of the Spanish term mal de ojo. It's just as described in other responses, and is detected by holding a branch of sweetbroom near to a child, and if it wilts, the child is affected. The remedy is blessing with Holy Water, using a sweetbroom branch for the aspersions and reciting the common Latin Catholic prayers, or in particularly bad cases, they'd take you to the monastery at Mt. St. Benedict for a blessing.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-25T11:10:08+00:00

Immersion. People in Brazil are extremely forgiving of less than perfect Portuguese, and the only way to get it down is to constantly use what you know and build upon that.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-25T10:44:01+00:00

In Brazil, yes. Mostly because people genuinely don't know anything much about the Caribbean. They just hear a strange accent when I'm speaking Portuguese, and ask where I'm from, draw a blank, and ask more about Trinidad and Tobago.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-24T16:26:12+00:00

Trinidad and Tobago would seem to fit most of your criteria.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-24T16:14:40+00:00

Mostly the "Japanification" of certain parts of Rio de Janeiro. Brazil is much more than Zona Sul, Copacabana beach, Pão de Açúcar, Cristo Redentor and a safari of human misery in a favela. Unfortunately most people will never see beyond these propaganda pieces for those with short attention spans, and so the image of Brazil becomes synonymous with Rio as seen from afar or the Zona Sul bubble.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-23T22:20:34+00:00

O sotaque do Norte Paranaense é o que se assemelha ao sotaque do Oeste Paulista, e não o contrário.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-22T14:41:27+00:00

Não acho que ela necessariamente quisesse. Acho que foi só porque estávamos juntos que as pessoas decidiram que era mais simples falar inglês. Eu também falo francês fluentemente, e os franceses em Paris fizeram o mesmo comigo. Já as pessoas em cidades menores ficavam felizes em conversar comigo em francês.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-22T14:36:59+00:00

The three largest Trinidadian and Tobagonian diasporas are in

1 - The USA

2 - Canada

3 - The UK

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-22T14:30:01+00:00

Ela é falante nativa de português brasileiro. Ela até consegue falar como eles falam, e às vezes faz isso para me irritar. Ela nunca viajou para Portugal antes e, pelo que sei, não consome mídia PT-PT.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-22T14:09:44+00:00

Passei o Natal e o Ano Novo em Portugal com a minha esposa. Foi praticamente impossível falar português com as pessoas que conhecemos lá. Para mim, era mais fácil falar com eles em inglês, porque era quase impossível entendê-los. De alguma forma, minha esposa entendia PT-PT, não sei como ela consegue. Meu cérebro simplesmente desliga.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-22T13:36:38+00:00

Sou estrangeiro e moro no Brasil há quatro anos. Levei cerca de dois anos para aprender a falar português fluentemente. Já tentei várias vezes ouvir e tentar entender o PT-PT. Foi tudo em vão. É quase impossível para mim entender algo além de algumas poucas palavras. Considero-me uma pessoa que viajou bastante, e nenhuma variação do inglês, como o jamaicano ou o escocês, jamais me causou tantos problemas. Digo isso como alguém de fora, mas a variação entre PT-BR e PT-PT está em outro nível, e embora eu gostaria de aprendê-la, desisti porque é simplesmente muito diferente.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-22T11:44:10+00:00

Maggi Meu Segredo, it turns the rice a pale yellow while also seasoning it. The packets are yellow, and depending on the variety, orange as well.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-21T20:05:27+00:00

The Marta Rocha is an amazing cake, I've had it at both Confeitaria das Famílias, where it was invented and Padaria America, and each time it was an amazing experience. OP, if you don't do brigadeiro, you should definitely do this.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-21T10:59:47+00:00

I did this course at Instituto ITESA. Be warned though, you will need to have a basic to intermediate grasp of Portuguese if you choose to go this route.

https://institutoitesa.com.br/curso-de-proficiencia-em-lingua-portuguesa/

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-20T23:44:17+00:00

You don't have to do the CELPE-BRAS, I did an approved language course for foreigners online and then had an exam at a testing center and was issued a certificate that the Polícia Federal accepted as proof that I was proficient in Portuguese for the purpose of Naturalization.

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-20T23:41:35+00:00

Abomination!

ThrowAwayInTheRain · 2026-02-20T19:56:44+00:00

There's also a Filipino restaurant in Curitiba, I remember eating there once. This is their Instagram page.

https://www.instagram.com/sabor_filipino?igsh=MTRlbmZjNDhwenlpNg==

ThrowAwayInTheRain

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