Sampa Way of Life

So, I’ve taken my US coast to coast antics and brought them to Sao Paulo, Brazil.  I’ve been living here about half time the past 6 months.  This doesn’t make me an expert on Brazilian culture by any means, but I now feel qualified to speak a bit about the food, the people, and Brazilian life.  One of the things I love here is just how HAPPY people are here.  While Brazil is the 6th largest economy in the world right now based on GDP and expected to be the 5th by the end of 2012, the average Brazilian citizen is not wealthy by any means.  There have been many studies that indicate a country’s wealth directly correlates to how happy the people are, but Brazil is one of the true great outliers.

Perhaps the people are so happy here because they get so much sunshine?  The seasons are opposite of the US, but winter here is extremely mild.  When the weather here was 60 degrees F, I ran around in shorts and a t-shirt blissfully.  The Brazilians were bundled up in down jackets and scarves.  Humorous.  I to them and them to me.