that will go straight to your hips!

i know i wrote yesterday, but this just popped into my mind and i wanted to write it down before i forgot...that happens a lot, ha ha :) anyway, here´s the thing...i don´t think ever in my life i´ve been so conscious of my appearance as i have been here. that sounds weird when you say it like that, so let me explain...

although there are many blonde-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned brazilians, they tend to live further south near rio de janeiro and são paulo, places with a colder climate and more european cultural influence. salvador was the first capital of brazil and one of its oldest cities...it has a rich history, but as we all know about early colonization in the americas, there was a lot of racial mixing with the native americans that lived here first and slavery was rampant. as a result, we now have cities like salvador that are unique and awesome because they have native american, african, and european culture all mixed together to create amazing food, music, architecture, religions, dance, schools of though, and of course people. let´s face it, though, i don´t look like the majority of the people here.

it doesn´t bother me at all and i forget, to be honest, until i´m standing at the bus stop and a random lady comes up to me and starts speaking in rapid portuguese about how i should be careful because i´m an easy target for theft and stuff like that (i think, at least), then leaves with the warning, "cuidado (be careful)." this happened this morning. i forget until i´m standing at the bus stop after work and a homeless guy, yup a homeless guy, comes up and tells me (again in rapid portuguese that i almost catch) to be careful, i stand out too much. this was last week after work. it always shakes me up a little bit, and reminds me that unfortunately, sometimes our appearances mean more than they should. if you have lighter skin and features, here, it´s assumed that you have money and people could potentiall target you. i´m really really careful about everything and don´t go places by myself, but it is disconcerting to hear things like this all the time.

this is one aspect of being suddenly aware of how i look, but there´s another one too, one that´s kinda funny i guess in comparison. first let me start by saying that there aren´t many fat people here. not everyone is model-skinny, but no one is really grossly obese, you know? anyway, i´ve been told 2 times in the past week (while eating chocolate, granted), that "you´ll get fat eating that..." by guys...what????? i still haven´t figured out if that´s the norm here for men to say to women, but wow. i have no problem with my weight or self-esteem or body image or anything like that, but still...how crazy is that? and by people i work with, but still barely know, really. if anyone has any insight into that, let me know, cuz i wanted to laugh but drop my jaw in surprise at the same time, ha ha. maybe people are just more honest here?

oh, the things i´ve learned, ha ha :)