Let’s drive….

Another topic that my tutor from my cultural training told me about is to celebrate all little achievements.  Therefore this last weekend I had a good reason to celebrate. We finished our ID mission, I had already gotten my driver’s license 20 days ago and now was the time for my wife to get  hers.  That was a huge achievement for us, because she doesn’t speak English yet, but she was able to read and understand all the questions on the test and also she understood the examiner’s instruction during the practical test. I’m very proud of her!

So, at this time, I would like to talk about a few differences between Brazil and U.S. driver’s tests.

In Brazil, we spend a lot of money and time to get our driver’s licenses.  I had several class hours about first aid, mechanics, laws, etc. After this, I had my theory test in a government’s drivers department. Another several class hours were spent having practice classes including parallel parking (something that I’m never using here in Illinois.), and in the end, the practical test in the streets using a school vehicle. All of this process takes around 3 months, and costs about $300.00 dollars (if you do not pass in one of those phases, you need to pay an extra tax for that) and you can only start this process after the 18^th birthday.

Here in the U.S., I completed all phases in about 2 hours and $30.00 (including 3 attempts). I reached the driver’s license facility at 9:30 am just to check my documents.  The person at the front door gave me a password. I waited about ten minutes, answered some questions and signed the form. After that, I started my theory test. I got 90% on this test, so I passed.

I waited ten more minutes to start my practical test with my own car. In this test, I started by saying,  “Maybe I’ll ask you to repeat some sentences because I’m from Brazil”.  After talking a little about soccer and checking the lights and horn, I drove around the driver’s license facility for twenty more minutes. The last word that I heard from the examiner was “Approved.” Inside the facility I waited a few more minutes, I got my picture taken looking at the Sponge Bob picture, and I was done!  

In my opinion, this experience showed me how much bureaucracy I had there and how expensive these kind of services are. I’m sure that I’ll miss those good services after my return…..

Cultural Training

Everybody coming from an overseas country, in my company, has a one day training to give them an idea of the basic differences between their home culture and the new one. In fact, I was supposed to have this training before my final move, but it was scheduled after two months living here, a little behind schedule! But basically, I would like to highlight three topics that were interesting in my point of view.

First is why American people don’t care as much about their own cars as Brazilians. Next is why American don’t change their clothes to go out. The last, but not least important, is why Americans don’t brush their teeth after lunch in the office. But before I start the topics, I need to talk about the tutor, who came from Washington DC, lived a few years in Brazil during the 70s, and in the same region that I came from; this is interesting considering the size of the country.

When I came here for the first time in 2010, I realized that American people don’t care about their cars like Brazilians, and I always thought that the price of the cars was the reason. Because the car here in the U.S. with a price around $17,000.00 dollars, in Brazil I would pay around R$65,000.00 reais (or $30,000.00 dollars), but the tutor told us that the difference was based on personalities. In the U.S.,  people don’t care about what other people will think about them. On the other hand, you have Brazilian people who would like to show off their own goods. I don’t believe in this theory. For me the price is the better answer.

About the clothes, I don’t have any theory from my side, but I can tell you that for me it’s strange to see someone wearing socks with slippers and shorts in the supermarket.  In Brazil it’s different.  People have clothes to use at home, and others to use when they go out at night. The tutor told me the same theory about cars.

Now, when I started to talk about the differences in the office, one thing that is normal in Brazil is to brush the teeth after lunch, and here I am the only one in my area who is doing this. The tutor told me that here in U.S., this action (brushing teeth) is considered an intimate one, and it’s not performed in public. For me and in my country, this is a heath care action, and there is not problem to do that in public.

So, in an overall view, the training was very good. My wife liked it because the tutor described my wife’s  feelings about being  in a foreign country so well…….

The Weather

My tutor this week asked me to write about the weather. I know that this kind of subject is really good for small conversation, but I will push this conversation to my future dealing with cold……the Illinois Winter. In my last class I asked my Tutor about the weather at that moment and she told me that it was cool, but seriously, it was cold, too cold for me!

Coming from a region in Brazil where the normal average temperature range in the winter is from 6 to 20 °C (43 to 68 °F), and now here, in the beginning of autumn sometimes reaching  2 °C (34 °F), I think it will be a hard adjustment.  I was searching on the Internet about it and the lowest temperature (not official) in Illinois was  -38 °C (-37 °F) in Jan 2009 at Rochelle (About 03 hours driving from my current city). I can’t imagine what will be my reaction in this scenario because I have never seen snow in my life, but I’m anxious to jump on snowy ground and build a snowman in the back yard!

After I received the invitation to move to Illinois, people from my work, who had the same experience in the past, told me to be prepared for winter, but in fact, I can tell you that I had already started our winter war. I bought some heavy jackets, special shoes, gloves, caps (with ears protection). But I still need to buy thermal underwear, an ice scraper to keep in my car, a big shovel to clean our driveway, and some marshmallows to roast in our fireplace. The last time that I went to the  mall to shop, in fact I bought one more jacket, and the attendant asked me if I was preparing myself for the winter, and I can tell you that the answer was YES.

I think that in general , this experience will be a good (and cold) one for me and my wife.