TOP FIVE CULTURE CLUES YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE HEADING TO BRAZIL.

Plan to samba the night away in Rio at Carnaval (9-13 Feb)? Or do some business over your Caipirinha? Don’t until you can answer the following Culture Quiz questions on Brazilian culture! (Answers at the end of the quiz! Whew!)

1. You are pleased to be in Rio, on your first business trip there. Just to show your enthusiasm, you wear a special tie that you bought for the occasion, that is green and yellow, the national colors. However, when you greet your colleagues, they seem less enthusiastic, and actually chuckle at your new tie. How could your intent be so misunderstood?

2. You run into an old friend in Rio, having been there several times, and he is very pleased to see you. He runs up to you, gives you a grand “abraco”, laughs heartily at seeing you, and pinches your tummy. “My, you’ve gained a little weight, my friend”, he comments, as he embraces you again. You are not exactly pleased to be greeted this way in public, and you are certainly not sure that his remarks about your weight were really meant as the compliment he seems to want you to believe it was meant to be.