May 27th or: it's all about money

So yeah, I would like to tell you about interesting stuff that happened today. But really, there's not much to tell. Shot wrapup: we started off the day at our local market with some freshly deep-fried pasteís, then hit the shelter for the training, then went to Sylvia's for some great dinner accompanied by caipirinhas. And that's it.

great pasteís here .. even the locals think so

However, I want to share my impressions of Brazil with you. Like everywhere, not everything is gold. 

1) I may have mentioned this before, but I more and more get the feeling that everything here is about money and working towards your own good. If you don't pay attention, you get ripped off anywhere. Status symbols and money are everything. I have no actual examples, but that's the feeling I get, it is way worse than in Munich (!). 

2) Healthy eating isn't something people in Brazil are good at. Everything contains meat and cheese and is usually accompanied with rice. Salad? Fuck salads. Vegetables? Meh, only if there's lots of meat, cheese, rice and sand. But then again, you can see it. Like in the United States, lots of people are on the verge of being obese. I suppose this is a Sao Paulo phenomenon, because I was told in Rio everybody looks good. I'll see about that in a couple of days. 

3) When we went to Insper, I was baffled. This isn't a university, but an enterprise. Everything looks totally neat, there is an own concert room, the restaurant has prizes that no normal student could ever afford to pay on a daily basis, and the 3-story parking garage filled with Audis and BMWs speaks for itself (this becomes even more impressive after reading 4)). Some research quickly revealed that it is the second most expensive university in Brazil. This explains a lot. Very interesting to work closely together with both the upper and the lower part of society at the same time! 

4) There is a tax for everything. 100% on imported goods, 70% on cars in general (Audi/BMW = imported cars, you do the math), 50% on basically everything else that isn't sold on the black market. No doubt everything here is expensive, except Cachaca, which just costs R$4 per bottle (= 2USD = 1.3€). 

That's it for today. Cheers!