FIVE...
...Brazilian habits that we all should adopt (or do more!).

1. Clapping during happy birthday. It makes it more cheerful.
2. Celebrate everything.
3. Use your horn to communicate more (and not just to convey aggression)
4. Hold, cuddle, coo over other people's babies.
5. Pose for photos like you're a supermodel even if you're not. This last one is amazing to me - Brazilians love photos and many have a standard photo smile (and corresponding "best side") which they immediatley turn on whenever a camera is in sight. Maybe they teach it at school. But, they take so, so, so many photos of themselves draped over whatever is lying around (especially when they're in a new place) and just keep on smiling through. I was laughing at the farm we visited the other day. Two ladies, (no spring chickens I should add) frolicked, posed, preened and prostrated themselves in front of a bunch of flowers for 20 minutes taking innummerable and seemingly identical photos all of which, I would wager, were to end up on Orkut (a popular social-network site) faster than you could say "Your knickers are showing in this one". The thing is, it's kind of cheesey, but you've got to love a people who are so confident, forward and full of the love of life - us Brits with our stoney faces and Victorian positions take note.