Feliz Natal! Merry Christmas! Even though I'm far from home, I'm still celebrating the birth of Jesus, we're just doing it Brazilian style. I always enjoy seeing how other cultures celebrate holidays. To me it's a good way to better understand the culture and a nice way to interact with the people. Tiffany and I were very excited to join our fellow Tarheel, Bruno, and his family for Christmas dinner at their house. Only Christmas dinner, as we would learn, isn't on Christmas. It's on Christmas Eve, which is the big day to celebrate here in Brazil. I'm glad we found this out because Tiffany & I were planning on having dinner on Wednesday- Christmas Day, instead of Tuesday night.
On Christmas Eve, Bruno and his wife picked us up and drove us around part of Recife that we hadn't seen before. Then we headed to Bruno's parents apartment for dinner. Their place was on the 35th floor of their building and had amazing views of Recife; there were balconies on both sides of the apartment. We started out with just Bruno's immediate family and then aunts, uncles and some cousins came by. Bruno's entire family was very warm and welcoming. Everyone made us feel like we (Tiffany and I) were really part of the family!
Me with Felipe (Bruno's brother), Michilin (Bruno's wife), Fernando (Bruno's Dad) and our fellow UNC business school student Bruno.
Dinner started slowly- we had tons of appetizers and just sat around the apartment talking for a few hours. Of course, I ate too much and was full before the real dinner even started. Once it was time for dinner I somehow managed to make some room in my stomach for green beans, mashed potatoes, some kind of beef roast and bread. There were also a couple of other traditional dishes that had fish & nuts so I couldn't try those, but they looked yummy. The deserts were amazing, so much so that even after 4 hours straight of eating I had to make room for them. I've forgotten the names of them but my favorites were a type of chocolate mixed with condensed milk and then rolled in chocolate sprinkles and also a dough type of treat that was served with honey.
Though I thoroughly enjoyed the food, I enjoyed the company even more. It was so great to feel like I was home even though I wasn't. Being welcomed and not feeling at all like a stranger was a great feeling to have on the holiday. Even though Bruno's Mom couldn't speak English, she still tried to communicate with us and fussed over us, making sure that we had everything we needed. She definitely reminded me of my Mom. Bruno's father gave us Portuguese lessons as we ate appetizers. Michilin, Bruno's wife, shared stories of her life in in-land Brazil & her adventures adapting to Chapel Hill. The cousins and aunts were friendly too. Talking to us in English when they could and smiling and adding more food to our plates when they couldn't.
This was definitely a Christmas that I will always remember and I'm so grateful for Bruno & his family's hospitality.
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