Liking it and Lumping it

So by now, the adventure has found some form of routine but still every other day, we find ourselves in complete awe of the way things are here while the natives around us, shrug their shoulders and look at us wondering why we're freaking out. We know that at this point we have to like it or lump it.

Like interesting things such as being locked INSIDE my apartment with my kid and his nanny while my tutor is on the other side of the door waiting for me. How did we get locked INSIDE our apartment, you wonder? Isn't that extremely dangerous, should there be an accident, a gas leak or a fire? I would completely agree with you, but apparently apartment doors, and I'm not sure that this is the case in every home in Brazil, require that you have a key on the inside at all times. Never mind that it's super fun for toddlers to play with and that they like to hide them in random places in the house. Like it or lump it right?

Driving back to the apartment to set us free, my husband gets a well deserved break from the office space he's rented while his permanent office is being constructed. A deserved break from the scanning machine that also functions as a shredder and only seems to scan documents mirror and upside down. A break from the printer that doesn't work most days, not to mention the intermittent internet service. We joked that it might be more productive for my husband to return to Vancouver just to do his printing. He's decided to lump it for a while by going to another city for a conference.

Meanwhile I ask myself, is this a case of expatriates complaining about how things are better back home? What if the grass really is greener? Well, it might be, but it's growing over there and here it's the cacti that grows greener, spikes and all, so the only way to go really is to lump, I mean like it.

So what's to like?

Since the first day we arrived I was pleasantly surprised by how people greet each other. Of course, you'll say, oh it's the latin thing, but it's more than that, even with the kisses on the cheek, it feels like people here greet each other with more sunshine on their faces. This instantly lifts your mood. Maybe it's because everyone makes a point of saying "Bom dia" (Good morning), Boa tarde (Good afternoon) and Boa noite (Good evening). Back home,  I might say good morning to neighbors and co-workers, but I don't say good afternoon or good evening on a regular basis. Maybe it's just me, but it seems "hi" is the standard greeting no matter the time of day. But, the difference is that hi expresses "I see you, and you see me" while "good morning or good afternoon" says "I hope you are having a nice time right now, and thank you for hoping that I'm having a nice time too." Doesn't that sound better?

Okay, maybe it's late and I'm getting too technical about all this, but let's just say that I appreciate greetings here much more than the  "I politely acknowledge your personal space, so I will give you a quick hug or a handshake and a regular ol' 'hey, how's it going?' northern greeting that I share with the folks back home. There are times in Vancouver, especially in the winter, when everyone seems curled up onto themselves, wearing various shades of black and bleak, and looking down at their feet under their umbrellas when we could really use a bit more sunshine in our faces.