Culture Shock!

Well, let me tell you. You can be acclimated to a foreign culture for years and still be shocked by some of the "cultural" things you observe. Jennifer and I witness stuff in Brazil almost on a daily basis that really makes us laugh out loud. Before I tell you this story, though, I want to apologize to anyone who may be offended if you or your child do what we saw today. Actually, I'm not sure I want to apologize, because in so many ways I think it is weird and wrong.

Today we were at the mall and we needed to go to the diaper changing station. At this mall there is a room that is set aside for mothers to nurse their babies and for parents to change diapers. It is a great setup that I think should be available in every public place. Anyway, we entered the room and Jennifer began to feed Elisa. There were several parents in the room with their children (mostly infants and toddlers). As we looked around we observed a couple who looked to be in their late thirties and their two children (boy approximately 7 years old and girl approximately 5 years old). We both took double takes as we noticed this perfectly "normal" 7 year old boy was laying across a chair, stretched out, drinking milk from a bottle! At first, I thought there was no way that he was really drinking from that bottle. I thought he was probably goofing off with his little brother or sister's bottle while their diaper was getting changed. However, we watched in disbelief as he finished the bottle, stood up, handed the bottle to his mother and walked out of the room with his parents and sister in-tow. Unbelievable! Truly unbelievable!

Please understand, not every 7 year old boy in Brazil is going around sucking on a bottle. This really got our attention and made us laugh a little bit (whether is was wrong to do so I don't really know). Anyway, we were shocked today and expect that it is probable that we will be shocked again.