A Pleasant Adaptation - Linneker Gonçalves

 Linneker Gonçalves

September 30, 2022

ESL 100

        A Pleasant Adaptation

In Brazil, almost every holiday has a reason to be celebrated. Whether it is a local holiday for a specific city or a federal holiday, people will find a way to celebrate them in a very festive way. I remember growing up in a family that loved to get together on those dates to have parties and barbecues where everyone could talk about each other's lives. In fact, many of my best childhood memories are related to some holiday. Brazil has many fantastic holidays, and some of them are known all over the world, like Carnaval. However, my favorite holiday is one that Brazil shares with many western countries, which is Christmas. I lived in Brazil for my entire life, so I am accustomed to the Brazilian way of celebrating Christmas. Now that I am living in Chicago, I am getting used to the American traditions for this special date. 

When I think about Christmas, many things come to my mind, such as family reunions, gifts, Christmas trees, and food. Brazilian cuisine is very famous around the world because of its spices and, in my family, many people knew how to prepare fantastic dishes. One of the things that I remember the most is how my grandmother used to invite the whole family to her house to celebrate Christmas. Getting to her house on Christmas Eve was always very exciting because I knew I would smell her phenomenal food from the front door, and she would always come to give me a tight hug. There are many dishes that I miss, but the two that I miss the most are, churrasco, Brazilian barbecue, and salpicão, a sort of potato salad. On the other hand, I might have to admit that I liked some American traditional foods for Christmas, which I believe is a positive thing because if I am enjoying the food here, I will not long for Brazilian food that much. I tried many dishes in the U.S. during Christmas time, but there is one that I really loved when I ate which was the Christmas ham. Even though I enjoyed the food in the U.S., and I thought they were delicious,  it still feels like something is missing. 

Brazilian traditions were another thing that I missed on my first American Christmas. Both nations share similar traditions, but in Chicago, everything seems bigger. For example, decorating the house is one of the things I remember doing in Brazil with my family, but not in the same way that Americans do. For most of the homes in my city, people just buy a regular and fake Christmas tree to put in their living room and some Christmas lights to hang around the windows. I used to be very excited to go looking for a very nice tree with my mother and my sister. My mother would say that one of us would choose the tree and the other one would be responsible for choosing the lights, and as a child, that was something I truly enjoyed. In my house, we used to have a very simple decoration but a great feeling of joy while decorating everything. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can still go back to those days and feel the joy I used to feel in those moments. Contrastingly, here in the U.S., Christmas is basically the way I used to watch on TV when I was a child. Houses are very decorated, and snow falling is very characteristic of an American Christmas. When I had my first Christmas in the U.S., I was amazed by all the beauty that this holiday brings to the city. In fact, I was sort of shocked when I heard about a Christmas light competition among neighbors in some areas of the city of Chicago. 

Furthermore, the weather was something that caught me by surprise. Because it is located in the southern hemisphere, Brazil starts to experience elevated temperatures as summertime begins. Since the temperature was very high, my family and I used to go to water parks or to other places with water to refresh ourselves. In fact, the first time I went to the beach was during Christmas time. I remember the very first time I saw the ocean and how mesmerized I was by that endless body of water. Going to waterfalls was also something very common for my family since they were closer to us than the ocean. On the other hand, Chicago starts to see its temperatures drop drastically during the same time of the year. Because of this, I had to change all the things I used to do in Brazil during Christmas. Although I had to change many traditions, I still think it was very interesting because I had the chance to do many things for the first time. It was my first time seeing the snow in person and, I remember how happy I was experiencing it. Also, I finally had the chance to ice skate in a really cold place with snow falling from the sky. It was the perfect image that I have pictured for many years inside my mind.

In conclusion, since I left Brazil to start my journey in the U.S., I have learned to adapt to many things that I used to do in Brazil in a more American way. I thought this was a better idea versus keep missing all the things that I was accustomed to doing in my country during this time of the year. Whether it is food, traditions, or the difference in seasons, Christmas is still my favorite time of the year, and learning how to enjoy it in a different culture is a challenge that I am really enjoying.