International studies

In just a few hours, mom's Brazilian countrymates will begin celebrating their nation's independence. A discussion of this, in turn, led her to discuss with dad several things, all of which are kind of ... odd. See, the idea is for Lil' Genghis to grow up in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual environment. All this gets a little curious, given the evening's conversation.

See, mom says, in 1822 Brazil gained its independence on Sept. 7, creating the holiday. dad quickly asked a few more questions. Here's the real deal: Before the big independence date, Brazil was controlled by a line of Portuguese royalty, with monarchial rules of succession. After the big independence date, Brazil was controlled by a line of Portuguese royalty, with monarchial rules of succession. In fact, it was controlled by the same guy, from the same family.

Brazil dabbled in military rule and democracy for decades, seemingly getting its footing with the election of a president in 1984, who died before a 1986 constitution took hold, so he was replaced with the vice president, before another president could be elected to serve under the new constitution ... before the new president was yanked from office before corruption. Anyway, so, let's argue that 1984 was really the turning point for Brazil. Remember 1984? Let's help you out a little:

Yeeeeaah. NOW you remember 1984. Michael Jackson was already white.

Anyway, somewhere in this conversation dad offered up a sentence in Portuguese, getting only two words completely wrong. "Bedoote!" mom exclaimed, using a made-up nickname. "You're no longer American! You know more than one language!"

She insisted she wasn't yet an American, though, because she didn't have an inherent feeling of factual superiority. Riiight. All Brazilians have exactly that feeling over Argentinians. So mom is definitely on her way to being the stereotypical American, there, right?

Yeah. Except Argentina got a working democracy in 1983, not 1984.

Happy birthday, Brazil! =)