Being Brazilian.

As X-Mas and New Year's approach (again!) rises not only a need to meditate on what the last year meant to you but also on what connects you with your values, drives and roots. When you leave abroad this exercise is even more fun than ever. In my case, being a Brazilian is being most of all FUN, there is so much fun there that, "serious" is difficult. Is having 10 different pairs of Havaiannas flip-flops, and not having (ever!) time for anything because you are always too busy with everything else. Is having the fifth biggest beer brewery in the world, but loving caipirinha the most. Where soccer is your religion, your air, your life! You don't know how to read or write but you are happy because your team is on TV every week! It is where you still do not buy to download songs but you still buy for underage prostitution. The beer must be -5 degrees otherwise it is horribly hot but if the weather is around 10 it is already horribly cold. The country of beauty, manicure, pedicure, beauty salons in every corner, every week, in a fixed calendar bases; where you can find the best dentists and plastic surgeries in the word and at least one person around you had already made at least one plastic surgery. It is a place that in order to get to one of the most beautiful beaches in the word you will have to pass trough a very ugly, and some times dangerous, corners. A place where the best views are owned by the drug traffic dealers and so is the biggest show on earth. Brazil gives you the breath-taking Carnival and the breath-giving Amazon Forest which, by the way, we are still learning how to take care of. Because we prefer fun over serious all the time. When you are there you feel alive and powerful, but when your are away you feel safe and serious. What should you chose?