Different Traditions- June 16 & 17, 2007

It was our first weekend to enjoy and us Americanos didn't know what to do. The night before a friend, Matt, had yelled "Estupidos Americanos" after the second group had taken the wrong bus back home. That stuck.
I didn't do much Saturday morning except pick up my laundry. Instead of washing your own clothes and feeding coins to machines, it seems custom to leave your clothes at the laundromat where others wash your clothes for you. Saturday I picked up a load full that I had left two days ago and received it in a bag with my clean clothes folded and sorted within.
At about 4:30PM Hector, a friend from the local university came to show us around the city and seeing as how he couldn't fit 12 people in his car, we all took the bus. After trying to discuss where we should go, Hector finally decided to take us to a friends house that lives close to the popular lake. So we trusted him as we walked three blocks after the bus stop in unknown territory to get to some guys house. This guy lived in a cozy cabin looking house with another student and around other students with similar housing. Since we were all hungry we decided to walk down to a well known pizza restaurant which surprisingly opened at 7PM. Many businesses open late around that area since the nightlife really attracts customers, but it seemed unorthodox for us to have a nice restaurant open so late. Even more uncustomary was the night out that followed.
Okay, so it might not be completely representative but that night we had a Brazilian night out. First, you stop by a local market and buy affordable drinks, which we did. Then, we went back to the guy's house with the people who wanted to keep the night going and just relaxed until it was time to go out. See, around here people go out until about 12AM so surely we waited at the guys house for four hours! It wasn't that bad except I wasn't drinking like most of the others and this American wasn't used to going out that late, so he got sleepy by the time we were ready to go. Meanwhile, most of the guys we were with were students at the university and knew good English so don't get the impression we were among strangers. For going out they decided to hang out at a local restaurant and the only thing keeping me awake was the music coming from upstairs. That night, I was a weak American who hardly stayed awake at a night out with friends.
Sunday the people from my group had offered to go back for a Brazilian barbecue. As tempting as the food was, I didn't end up going and instead stayed at the hotel doing some homework. I visited the nearby bakery which I found to have delicious treats, but sorry they won't make it on the way back home. It was a cold cloudy day that reminded me it was winter but I enjoyed my day in.
So I learned culture this weekend. The people go out much later and dinner isn't at five PM its more like nine. And desserts are much better, not too sweet but definitely flavorful. Different cultures have different traditions, while I'm here I'll just get used to it.