Strange things

So, living in a different culture, experiencing new things, you notice some strange stuff. Here´s a snippet of the strangeness of my life lately.

• Men´s underwear here has no flap in the front. I´m not sure what to make of this, but I´m too embarrassed to ask anyone and honestly don´t want to admit that I´ve noticed it. And for the record, I noticed it on manequins in the mall. :) Honestly, I could probably do a whole blog series on the weirdness of Brazilian underwear.
• The staff at McDonalds knows me. And they all know exactly what I order. Oh my goodness, this is so embarrassing. Que vergonha! My friends think this is really funny and an indication that I eat there all the time. In reality, I don´t eat there all the time, maybe once a week. And some people think that´s awful, and for a long time had me believing it was awful, too. But you know what! I decided last week that I can like and eat at McDonalds without shame! I am proud to be a McDonalds fan! ;) I actually have one friend here who also loves McDonalds. I call him my McMigo (get it, Mc + amigo (friend)... I think it´s terribly clever! Maybe even more clever than "obrigadeiro"...)

McMigos-- because every blog deserves a picture

• I would also like to say in relation to the above weird thing that a LOT of people know me. Itu isn´t a small town (maybe for Brazil, but it has 150,000 people), but they don´t see a lot of foreigners (except for the mountains of gringos that flood in during campaign season), so a lot of people like to talk to me at bus stops or in the grocery store or wherever. So in reality, the staffs of pretty much every store at the mall know me. Not just McDonalds. :) Superstar!!!!