The Poor Brazilian Man

Oh the poor Brazilian man. You are always the object of debate or fascination. You are called charming and untrustworthy. We foreigner women hate your blatant attention and yet complain when we aren't receiving it. You can never win! Wait, or do you always win?

The Brazilian man can openly compliment not one or two women but all of them. And they aren't necessarily being inggenuine. They just love ALL women. Honestly, part of me buys this. Just look at the kilo restaurants Rio de Janeiro is famous for. Nothing a Brazilian likes more than being able to go in and try a little bit of every kind of something.

I started thinking about this after reading an article in the Huffington post. In it the writer goes over why she has lost her sexy mojo when it comes to Brazilian men. They just don't compliment her as much. One of the possible reasons being because she darkened her hair. That or because she is "giving off an inaccessible vibe."

I could see that but not in the way that she is thinking. The Brazilian man is not deterred easily. They are persistent if anything. What changes after being here a while is that you stop hearing it. It is kind of like the noise of the city, you get used to it after a while. The "linda" (beautiful) and the obnoxious hisses start to blend in with the fruit guy yelling about bananas, the traffic, and general people movement.

Though I can give you some advice if you want to notice the attention again. Get pregnant. I'm dead serious. While I am not the favorite body type of the Brazilian man, while pregnant I was harassed more than a woman would be walking around naked. I'm telling you, at least Carioca men seemed inappropriately turned on by my baby belly. I couldn't go anywhere, ANYWHERE, without being aggressively whistled at, linda-ed, and hit on.

What do you think, is a pregnant woman that sexy or is it just a Brazilian thing?  

Pregnant and drinks?

I ran into this article about having an occasional drink while pregnant:  Pregnant? Have a drink

I'd have to say I was pretty anal during my first pregnancy. Of course I also had a strong adversion to alcohol for the first 6 months.  I couldn't even smell it on my husband without wanting to vomit.  It was one of my pregnancy symptoms. I went for a beer before I knew I was preggers and couldn't even take a sip.  Everyone knew that was weird. What? Rachel can't drink beer or wine???? Something is wrong or oh so right.

I was much mellower during my second pregnancy.  I allowed myself a glass of wine a couple of times a week.  My OB didn't see anything wrong with it.  Hell, it saved me when I was 5 months pregnant and my husband suffered from a spontaneous pneumothorax.  He walked, yes walked, to the ER down the street with a collapsed lung only to find out that he would have died if he had waited one more day.  He had been feeling bad for about 2 days and spiked a fever that morning. I made him go in and check it out. Since his lung had been collapsed for so long, he had developed bacterial pneumonia. 

Thank goodness my mother was visiting. I ran down to the hospital as soon as his mother called and told me what was going on.  His parents had taken him because he had refused to go to the hospital. So I called his Mom. She's Brazilian, drove the hour and a half into the city and took him herself. 

I started having some pretty strong braxton hicks contractions and they wouldn't stop. I finally went home because I wasn't allowed in the ER pregnant.  I arrived home to a big old glass of wine. Contractions stopped. 

I also ate sushi while pregnant with both boys. As my OB pointed out, what do you think they eat in Japan while pregnant.  She said the risk was no greater than it was before pregnancy and to just eat at reputable places.  Done and done. 

All and all my boys came out just fine.  Hell, if every sip of alcohol was harmful to the baby, all kids born in the 30s, 40s, and 50s would be retarded.  It's all about balance. No binge drinking, 1 glass.  Don't go and eat raw fish with a fisherman fresh out of the water, in the sand on the beach.  No smoking.  Don't do heroine.  Yes you can carry your older child around. Their weight is not going to push the other one out of your vagina. If it were that easy C-sections wouldn't exist.

Breath! You're not sick. You're pregnant.