Living in Brazil

I thought I had written about this before, but apparently not, looking back over the old entries.

Something that is a little different here in Brazil than in the States is that the Brazilians, whenever possible, drink out of cups or glasses.  Drinking from the can or bottle is a no no, and at most restaurants or bars the glasses will be offered automatically.

And Brazilian cups tend to be tiny!  Big gulps haven’t made it down here.

So the usual result is someone standing around with a can or bottle (sometimes a big bottle) in one hand and a glass in the other.

Maybe traditionally Americans have had cleaner cans and bottles, or maybe we’re just pigs.  I don’t know.  But in any bar in the U.S. you’ll see people drinking out of long neck bottles (called “longy neckys” here).  We have barbeques and picnics and pull cans of beer and soda out of ice-filled coolers, not messing with cups.

I asked one of my Brazilian friends about this and he confirmed the preferences.  When I asked him why, he used the “It’s cleaner” explanation.

Sometimes I like drinking straight from the can or bottle, knowing it’s an American thing that sets me apart from the Brazilians around me.  They probably just think I’m unsanitary rather than being a foreigner.  The cans and bottles look as clean to me here as they usually do in the states.

This morning I went to the Federal Police to sort out my issues with the exipiring and lost RNE protocol.  (RNE = National Registration for Foreigners.)  I had a brainstorm and went to check my luggage and found photocopies of the temporary ID that I knew I had.  I often keep documents in a pocket in my carry-on when I travel, and I had copies with me on a trip to Rio in February, but the airlines here put on plastic binders on outside pockets and I’d never taken them off.

Anyway, I headed to the local office of the Federal Police armed with all the apporpriate documents, except the original.

And I don’t know if I posted this before, but they have a webpage you should refer to in order to find your local office to handle this sort of thing.  In Portuguese, so a little more effort.  But here it is:  http://www.dpf.gov.br/

I got my number and waited.  They called me and I explained the situation (aided by a written explanation my colleague here helped me with).  I was told I needed to go to a regular police station to document the lost protocol.  There was one a couple of blocks away.

I walked there, with another written explanation for what I needed and was able to secure the necessary document within about half an hour.  My Portuguese was being challenged, but was sufficient.  Every once in a while I needed to ask some questions or say I didn’t understand and ask for a repeat, but I’m coming along.

I went back to the Federal Police and another half an hour got me a new temporary protocol, good until the end of October.  I need to use the RNE number to check the status of the processing for the permanent card.  Total process took a couple of hours, which doesn’t seem so bad in hindsight.  No extra payments.  I did need to have a small 3×4 cm photo for the new protocol.

I’ll get photocopies made ASAP…

So the lesson is to make those photocopies.  Write down those numbers (e.g. Passport, visa, RNE, CPF, etc.).  You have to do this about a million times for a million things here, but make sure to make your own copies and file them someplace standard.  I had my stuff, but not where I easily remembered it.  You might send it to a friend to hold onto, also, for reference.

OK, lots more stuff coming up.  I got a chance to reread my old posts and realized that there were a number of things I thought I had written about, but never actually did.

So my temporary protocol for my foreign registration, with my RNE number, expires on May 30th.  I have not been sent my permanent card, which is apparently normal.  My problem is that I had the temporary slip a week or two ago (I took it out to check the date), and now that little sucker is missing.

Of course I should have made at least a photocopy of it.  I’m sure I have the number someplace, somewhere, but I’m not sure where.  One silly problem here in Brazil is that while making copies is not difficult, it is inconvenient.  Back in the U.S., when I need a quick copy of a document, I walk down the hall to the department copier, or use a scanner at home.  Nothing to it.  If I need a bunch of stuff that’s not for work, I go to Kinko’s and grab a machine and stick in my credit card and I’m done in a few minutes, usually no waiting.

Here, you have to find a copy shop (even on campus as most departments don’t have their own machines), give a copy machine operator your documents and your instructions, and wait for them to do it for you, perhaps with a wait.  It costs five or ten centavos per page, about like in the U.S.  But it makes it an extra hassle to copy something.  And besides, when a document is temporary you tend to worry less about it.

But yes, having copies of all documents when abroad is a good idea.  Do as I say, not as I do.  Thing is, I’ve pretty much never lost a document like this, ever, and never been robbed either, so I’ve never had the hard lesson.

So, anyway, I’ll go off to the Federal Police in the morning with all the documents I needed to register in the first place, perhaps minus the original registration form (which would require a visit to an internet cafe as I don’t have a printer here in my apartment, and wish I did), and see what happens.  I don’t really want to get fingerprinted again, yuck.  Also, I’ll be going solo this time so it will be a test for my Portuguese.  I also expect to be told I need to do something else (e.g., that form, start from scratch, something) and need to go back again the next day.  It’ll get done, I know, but I have much more important things to do in my life.

Frankly though, it makes me feel sick.  One of the worst things about living in Brazil has been dealing with government bureaucracy, and I thought I was pretty much through with that part.  I’m having flashbacks to earlier in the year when I literally wasted weeks of my life dealing with things like this.

I think worst case is if I did nothing and left the country without having the protocol/RNE.  I could get fined $R900 (about $450 now with the falling exchange rate).  It’s worth a little time to avoid that for sure, as I’m sure that’s an experience I don’t want to have.

Anyway, I’m back in Porto Alegre for a few months continuously and healthy, so the blogging should pick up.  Hopefully ensuing posts will be more upbeat.

These days websites are too savvy.  They know where you are.  Hulu.com knows if you’re in the United States or not, and blocks you from watching their videos.  Of course, when they advertise you don’t get a clue about this until you show up in another country and try to do something you think you can do, and can’t.

Not as bad, but also insidious, is how popular websites will try to help you by redirecting you to the local version of their page.  Even if you’ve logged in and visited facebook a thousand times before in English, they’ll switch it up to Portuguese and ask you to confirm.  At least they ask.

NBA.com kept sending me to a Chinese site when I tried to watch videos while I was visiting China.  Thanks for nothing.

CNN.com has an English version they send you to, but it’s “international” rather than identical to the version I’d see in the United States.

My latest annoyance is yahoo.  I can type variations of the URL with “br” in it if that’s what I want.  When I type “www.yahoo.com” I want the usual place I go when I type that in the United States.  Most other sites have obvious links to U.S. verions or English versions.  Not yahoo that I’ve seen so far.  I sometimes go there for things like U.S. phone numbers under their “people” links.  I don’t think the Brazil version has U.S. telephone books.

Stop trying to help!  At least stop being evil!  Give me a cookie and think for a second where you think I might want to go!  Computers are configured for language and location, so ask for that information rather than just looking at the location.  People travel, and even people in other countries might want a version of a webpage from a different country.  Is this such a difficult principle to grasp?

While travel is fun and exciting at times, the preponderance of problems like this sometimes leads to the occasional outburst.

Anyway, I am back, living in Brazil, and will resume a more regular blogging schedule.  I may not call my grandpa, however, if I can’t find his phone number…stupid yahoo.