Getting Along in Rio de Janeiro

How do you get along with the locals in Rio? There are a lot of things that foreigners do that Brazilians would think were rude. However, mostly because we are foreigners they are pretty forgiving of us. Here's an example: saying "no." Brazilians NEVER flat out say no to anything. They always find a way to show their opposition to your request or statement without using that negative word. For instance, if I get invited over to someone's house and I can't go, my first response (even if I really really REALLY want to go) would be to say "No, I have to go to rehearsal this afternoon." But a Brazilian would just cut out the negativity all together by saying "I have to go to rehearsal this afternoon." It's the slightest difference but it is nice because it removes the negativity from the conversation! On the other hand, Brazilians are notorious for not being direct and I think this is part of the reason why. They don't just come out and say "no" about anything so they can come across as wishy-washy.

A second thing that I've noticed is super rude yet I do all the time is blowing your nose in public. This one will actually get me a few disgusted looks and grunts from people around. I have a horrible habit of needing to blow my nose at the end of a meal - which often happens in a restaurant when I am within reach of a paper napkin. Brazilians will go to the restroom to blow their noses, so I have been trying to condition myself to do the same thing, but it's definitely a difficult habit to break (seeing as there has never been a problem with it in the states!!).

One last thing I would like to point out isn't necessarily rude, but a common practice in the country that's hard to get used to. Don't throw toilet paper in the toilet. It's very important. DON'T THROW TOILET PAPER IN THE TOILET. When you've been tossing toilet paper into the toilet for 20-something years, it just becomes as part of your bathroom routine. This one took a couple of tries to break. But every bathroom you will use in Brazil has a trash can right next to the toilet where paper belongs. The problem is that Brazilian toilet paper does not have industry standards for being biodegradable and therefore it just sits in the pipes until it creates a massive blockage. That, plus within the older cities there are a lot of small pipes to contend with. It can make the whole bathroom experience quite an adventure.