17 February 2014

Yes, Class, There Will Be a Quiz

Maybe you read my blog religiously every week, maybe you poke around it only occasionally — any way you’ve chosen to read it you’ve undoubtedly absorbed many fun facts to know and tell about Brazil, and particularly about Búzios. So clear your desks, class, here’s a surprise quiz:

1. What are havaianas?
a. Brazilian thong underwear
b. Brazilian flip-flops
c. The actresses on television’s Hawaii 5-O series
d. What Brazil calls women from Havana, Cuba

2. Watching how Brazilians drive, one might think that according to the Brazilian Traffic Code,
a. Stop signs are just a suggestion
b. The best way to test a car’s brakes is to tailgate
c. Passing on the right is preferable to passing on the left
d. All of the above

3. Speaking of driving, what is the driving time between Búzios and Rio de Janeiro?
a. Six hours by bus
b. Four hours by the train we do not have
c. An hour and a half by car, if a Brazilian drives
d. Two-and-a-half to three hours by car, if an American drives, and makes a pit stop at Oasis Graal
e. Several nightmarish days if a foreign driver is so ill-advised as to use his GPS

4. Ingredients for the classic Brazilian stew called moqueca de peixe include:
a. Chunks of beef tenderloin, potatoes, carrots, pearl onions, red wine
b. Smoked pig snouts, knuckles and jowls, black beans, white rice, sauteed kale, farofa, orange slices
c. Shark steaks, onion, tomato, green pepper, cilantro, urucum, coconut milk
d. Filet of pargo, onions, jiló, chuchu, jaca, jabuticaba, garlic

5. FATCA, the insidious new American tax law designed to catch fat cats with accounts overseas, stands for:
a. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
b. Flawed Act To Capsize Americans
c. Foul & Asinine Trap Code Agreement
d. Flagrant Abuse To Cause Acrimony

6. Soccer is —
a. Brazil’s passion
b. The be-all and end-all of life in Brazil
c. The template for Brazilian driving techniques
d. All of the above

7. Where in Brazil are poppy seeds available so that a person can make poppy seed bagels and lemon poppy seed cake?
a. In the SAARA in Rio, where a person can find just about everything
b. In São Paulo’s huge Mercado Municipal, where a person can find just about everything
c. Nowhere! The sale of poppy seeds is prohibited in Brazil
d. You can grow them right in your own backyard (but keep an eye out for drones)

8. A samba school’s carnavalesco is the highly-compensated professional whose main job is to
a. Come up with the school’s theme each year, research and develop it
b. Work with a team of artists and designers to design costumes and accessories, and train the thousands of performers
c. Work with engineers and architects to build the school’s floats
d. All of the above

9. Which of the following injustices was merely invented for this quiz?
a. If Brazilians provide a Brazilian address when making online airline bookings they end up paying higher fares
b. Brazil qualifies for the American Visa Waiver Program, but isn’t waived
c. Brazilians pay a hefty premium when renting cars overseas
d. None of the above

10. How do you leave Búzios with a million dollars?
a. You come with two million
b. In a Brink’s armored truck
c. Very quickly
d. You can’t, you need it to pay the exit tax

ANSWERS
1. b
2. d
3. d
4. c
5. a
6. d
7. c
8. d
9. d
10. a

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