American Brothers

Brazil and the United States share one common bond: Both cultures have greatly benefited from the rich mixture created by the diverse peoples who shaped their history. From the very inception of both countries, differences have existed, based in large part to the influences of the particular peoples that established and advanced each culture.

A key difference between the United States and Brazil is the way in which community entertainment is organized and enjoyed. In the United States, communities tend to arrange county or city fairs, for instance, to bring people together recreationally. The atmosphere at such events is typically relaxed, with citizens enjoying time away from work to view exhibits and indulge in unhealthy fare. In Brazil, on the other hand, entertainment is taken more seriously, and has styles more exciting, like the Carnival.

Even though those both countries have a lot of alimentation differences, the traditional foods in both the United States and Brazil were influenced both by the native people, the subsequent settlers and African slaves. The food normally consumed on Thanksgiving, a United States holiday that tips its hat back to the country's colonial times, is a prime example of the foods that were eaten by natives and early settlers, and is still consumed today. These foods include turkey, corn and sweet potatoes. Slaves ate what is now called "soul food," and includes such dishes as chitterlings, pigs' feet and stews. In Brazil, native Indian, Portuguese and slave influences remain in such dishes as feijoada, considered the country's national dish, containing beans, rice and pork.

One crucial difference is the level of acceptance of different cultures. Brazilians are a very opened people to others cultures, mainly including the United States, while Americans are a very nationalist people, and very closed to other cultures influence. Their mentality is that there is nothing better in the world than what they have in the US.  

             Noticing cultural similarities could help Americans feel more connected to other cultures, allowing them to be more accepting of different groups of people. That does not mean that differences such as those between America and Brazil should be ignored, as it is still important to recognize each culture for its unique societal contributions.

Life On The Edge

             Extreme sports are a way that many people find to fulfill their need to live on the edge. In fact, some extreme sports are so risky that participants might suffer broken bones, dislocated limbs, and even death. 
             Those risks are getting lower day by day because of the moderns safety equipments available, and injuries and death are a rare occurrence in extreme sports nowadays, but the people who practice it can expect to be on a collision course with objects, and xperience minor injuries, such as scratches, cuts, and bruises, what is all part of the game.
             People say to have a lot of reasons why they try this kind of activity, but most of them say that they are so bored with their lives that they want to feel some adrenaline to shake them up.
             Some exemples of the the most famous extreme sports are rock climbing, skydiving, surfing, bungee jumping and hang gliding.
             Some peolple that try this activity might get decepsionated at first, because extreme sports are about skills and determination. According to some professionals,you will suffer from cuts and bruises before you can actually perform a stunt flawlessly.
             If you plan on trying out one of the extreme sports, then you may want to try getting all the necessary safety gear and always practice with a partner
             With the adrenaline rush that extreme sports can provide, people get able to keep themselves excited, what characteristics a form of way to make life more interesting and a escapism from the boredom of the routine.

Plastic Surgery

Plastic surgery is a subject that hasn’t been taken as seriously as it should be nowadays.

Instead of using plastic surgery as a tool to fix up important matters like burns and others grave deficiencies, people have been using it as a mechanism to achieve patterns based on the media exposition, like the apology to slimness.

Young girls are the most influenced by the media tendencies. Even though those girls don’t have anything wrong with they appearance, they resort to plastic surgery as a mechanism to achieve a certain appearance that will make them better accepted by the society.

This trivialization of the beauty patterns has a negative effect on the self esteem of people that try to look more like famous icons than like themselves.

Nowadays, plastic surgery has lost its purpose, that was originally focused on to help people to get rid of serious injuries.

The present situation must be reversed to go back to the main purpose of plastic surgery: to help people to feel good about themselves, and not bad how it has been happening in an effort to transform people into a pre-established and changeable beauty concept.

What I live For

When I was younger, my life was directed for me to achieve professional success. I’ve studied at the best schools, was sent to England to study abroad, made music courses and everything that would make my curriculum better.

That’s something I have always lived for, but it has never been a goal of mine. It has been imposed by my parents, and as I knew they were right forcing me to study, I let it be.

Based on my own interests, I’ve lived for traveling to wherever I have the chance to go, and to achieve the eventual goals I find out during the course of life.

         I have a happy life because I am always fighting to achieve my new goals, and that has made life diversified and full of new experiences.

A memorable Night in Cape Town

          When I turned 15 years old I had the same old question that most of the girls have at this age: a trip or a party as a birthday present?
          I thought a trip would be much more interesting and would also last longer, so I chose to go to a safari in South Africa. What I didn't know was that at that moment I was choosing to go to the place where I would have the most horrible twenty four houers of my life.
          My terrible night started about 9 pm, when my mother and I were in Cape Town going to the airpoirt, by the tour bus, to take a flight to a little independent country inside South Africa (similar to the case of the Vatican in Italy) called Swaziland. So, as we were leaving the country, we had our passports with us.
           In the midle of the way to the airport, the bus stopped for a minute in a place that provided a beautiful view, so we and the rest of the group stepped out of the bus to take pictures.
           As we would be out of the bus just the time to take a picture, I went out taking only my camera with me.
          When the rest of the group and I came back into the bus, my bag conteining my documents, money, cellphone, iPod and gifts had desappeard. That was impossible. The bus had been by our side all the time, no one got in, even because there wasn't anyone around that place!
           The group followed trip to Swaziland and my mother and I went to the police station with the tour guide, that stayed to help us.
           We have been very bad treated there, and to make things even worse, the tour guide had a fight with one of the policeman because of a document we filled with a black pen, and he wanted us to write everything again using a blue pen (it was not a small documente). In the end, because of the fight, we didn't have to write the second time.
            After that, we were very tired and upset, so we came back to the hotel room. It was about 1 am. Our stuff were still there because we would saty only for a day in Swaziland.
            When we opened the door we saw the safe was opened, and a lot of money was missing.
             I complained with the hotel maneger and he didn't do anything about it. So we came back to the police station. There we agreed that I wouldn't have to pay for my stay in the hotel, but even like this we lost money.
             Belive me when I say I have never had such a horrible night!