Gurasis: 0:03

okay, so it's my time. Now we are in the final segment of the podcast. I call it beneath the accent. I'm going to ask a couple of questions. You can answer them in one word or a sentence, or how several you feel like. The idea is just to know more about you. Just a quick, rapid fire, okay. The classic question what advice would you give to your younger self, and at what age?

Rafael: 0:25

by the age 16. I would say get out of your country as soon as possible okay, describe a moment when you experienced a significant cultural difference that surprised you there's a lot, but what comes to my mind is the first time I I went to, I was in malawi and I had to eat without a fork and knife. I eat with my hands.

Rafael: 0:51

And we see like there is a process of people washing their hands and this and that and how good they are eating. With their hands they don't mess like a baby. So when they saw me eating they said you eat like a baby. Yeah, it was very hard. I never in my life. It's okay, I had to eat with my hands, so yeah, that's for cultural shock okay, I love that.

Gurasis: 1:12

What's this one dish from your home country that always brings you comfort and nostalgia?

Rafael: 1:19

it's very cliche, but I would say feijoada. That's the main dish in Brazil. That's beans with pork and cooking the specific way, and this dish is served every Wednesday and Saturday. There's days for it and it's very heavy but brings me like the flavor or the memories that I then when I eat this with my friends. So I would say feijoada and, by the way, this is like 90 of the answers of all brazilians.

Gurasis: 1:50

so it says there's nothing new on that okay when, when you say it's solved, every wednesday, thursday, where it is solved, in restaurants.

Rafael: 1:59

So it's the dish like. It's like the main the, the main dish of the day. So you go there. There's some options, but the main dish is feijoada. Edna's day and Saturday.

Gurasis: 2:10

Okay, is there any funny story that you remember regarding the misunderstanding around the accent or English?

Rafael: 2:18

Not due to my accent, but I remember when I was in Malawi, the kids there. They tried to communicate with you in English. Any way possible and they had some like a follow, like a script in how to talk to you and like how are you doing, I'm fine, and you. And sometimes they forget the sequence and I countless, countless time one kid approached me and said I'm fine, they skip like how are you doing?

Rafael: 2:51

I'm good. How about you, I'm fine. So they skipped. So they start the conversation like I'm fine, and I said, okay, that's good, I'm fine too. So it's not because of the accent, but it was a good way, like how they structured the dialogue in their heads and when they change the positions, it ended up being a totally different conversation.

Gurasis: 3:15

That's cute. Yeah, okay. Do you have a favorite cultural festival or celebration in Canada, and how do you usually celebrate it?

Rafael: 3:27

Not really, because this is actually one thing that I was thinking about today that I came here.

Rafael: 3:36

I live here one year and a half but it's all about working and trying to solve life here and I didn't have much time to really experience the life here, to travel, have more time to really experience the life here like to travel.

Rafael: 3:47

I just went to Quebec one day like some weekends, but I would say Halloween, because in Brazil the Halloween culture is not that much, it's starting but it was the first time that I came that I really see Halloween, like kids on the streets asking for candies and people like I went to the metro, the supermarket here and I entered and I see I saw Harry Potter, oh my God, but it was like an employer, the place, and then I realized, okay, the cashiers, everyone is disguised and that for me, was, even though it's not very Canadian I think it starts in the United States or England, I don't know but Halloween was for me, was the first like cultural celebration that took me like, okay, that's very nice, and it was the first time that I disguised myself First time. Oh, okay, that's very nice, and it was the first time that I disguised myself First time.

Gurasis: 4:49

Oh, okay, yeah, so it was very meaningful. Okay, what's that one Brazilian habit that you refuse to let go of, no matter where you live?

Rafael: 4:58

Shower two times a day, really yeah. Shower in the morning, shower at night, and I try to sleep without showering. It's not possible. I have to take two showers every day yeah, okay, sometimes you don't need it because you stay at home the whole day. You already showered, but there's something in my mind that I, before I go to sleep, go to bed. I need to shower again. So two showers, okay, two showers a day interesting.

Gurasis: 5:26

If your life were a movie, what title would it be? Wow, how about life beyond borders?

Rafael: 5:37

life beyond borders. But I was about to think about one like um, I would say the only chance, because I see life as one chance. We have one chance to do things here. That was drive me because, like, life can end any second and as far as we know, it's just one chance. If we had more lives we'd be great, but our lead life is just one chance. So you get into the stage, you have one chance. It's just one opportunity. After that it's over.

Gurasis: 6:11

So I will say one chance hmm, okay, it could also be the, the word that you taught us I would say in portuguese.

Rafael: 6:20

It's literally keep playing, keep playing, exactly like it's related with that, because it's just your, your, your chances, now, life, you end up. Uh, if you don't take advantage of this chance, it's the only one tell us about the first friend that you made in canada it's, it's roshan, it's roshan, it's.

Rafael: 6:42

Uh, he's canadian, but his parents are from india and, uh, it's a very nice guy. We end up like a root, like the organizer of that event introduces in a cooking event and he's a very nice guy like that. That I even told him, I think, here he came to my, to my home, saturday and he left me one note oh, nice, like, uh, like, thank you. And he wrote some words for me, like oh, it was the first time I said okay, it was a long time ago before I made a new friend. So I would say, rochelle, it's a good friend, it's a first friend here in.

Rafael: 7:23

Canada, yeah.

Gurasis: 7:25

I love that. And what's the one thing Canada does better than Brazil and one thing that Brazil will always do better?

Rafael: 7:34

Okay, I would say Canada in general I will not say people, but the government, I don't say. They take good care of the public spaces. So when you go to parks, uh, the grass is always clean. There's by the river and so, uh, there's a lot of green spaces, so you don't feel, of course, in downtown you can feel a little bit overwhelmed, but there's always a park nearby, some trees, so I think they some way they organize the city that you can always have some nature around you. So for me it's better what brazil do. Better, I would say. Strangely enough, at least in Sao Paulo, where I was born, the metro and the train are much, much better than here, really Much better. This is something that even for us from Brazil, from Sao Paulo, we cannot understand how everything around is a mess, but the metro it's very safe, it's very clean and there's a lot of options for you to go anywhere on city. So totally a different experience. So Brazil do I would say Sao Paulo do better than Canada on metro and public transportation.

Gurasis: 8:56

Oh, wow, yeah, it's good. Interesting to know. Is this something you ate for the first time in Canada? Did you like it?

Rafael: 9:04

Yeah, what is the name of that dish? Indian dish with silver.

Gurasis: 9:09

Oh, that one, that's the butfi.

Rafael: 9:12

Butfi. Okay, this was the first time. Even though it's not from Canada. It was the first time here and it's delicious from canada. It was first time here and it's delicious it's amazing, oh, okay, perfect.

Gurasis: 9:21

And if you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Rafael: 9:24

travel back in time. Travel back in time for me, you are really obsessed with traveling back.

Gurasis: 9:29

Yeah, because me also to go.

Rafael: 9:31

yeah, no, I'm obsessed with this because, uh, the the the possibility for you to witness what happened, what really happens, because there's some part of our history you never know, like this is totally mysterious, we guess, with some samples or this and that. But the opportunity to go back and witness something like the moment, like I always imagined, like that, and even going to the future, for example, this week, last week, I had two possibilities with my company to take this project or not take this project, and I think it will be very nice if I could travel in the future and see what is going to happen if I take this place. Or what is going to happen if I take this place, time travel would solve all the problems, but it's impossible. So I would say time travel would solve all the problems, but it's impossible. So I would.

Gurasis: 10:19

I would say time travel if you could describe yourself as any creature, what would it be?

Rafael: 10:25

I would say a wolf. Okay, a wolf that can work. They can live in small societies. At the same time, it's open to look around. There's a very nice image of a group, a pack of wolves. The leader walks here and the females walk here and there. So there's a structure in wolf. And also there's a very nice book called the Call of the Wild. They made a movie some years ago with Harrison Ford. There's one story about one dog. It's the point of view of a dog, and how he gets in contact with his wild nature is through a wolf. So it's a very nice book, the Call of the Wild. It's Jack, something. I don't remember the author, but there's a movie. So that image of the wolf and how they get connected for the instinct. So that's why I would choose wolf.

Gurasis: 11:25

Lastly, how would you describe Canada in one word or a sentence?

Rafael: 11:31

I would say possibilities. Possibilities, okay, because at least I came with this mind that I can reinvent myself. There's a lot of tools and possibilities to grow. Because it's multicultural you see people from different backgrounds uh, it's relatively safe for me. It's safe the people who disagree with me and all. It's not safe, but it's safe and gives you a lot of possibilities. So I would say possibilities.

Gurasis: 11:59

And Rafael, if you could leave me with one piece of advice, what would it be?

Rafael: 12:03

Oh, my God, you are asking for the coach that won't accept the opinion. Revise or revisit the stories that you have in your mind regularly, like because At the end, we have a bunch of stories in our mind that drive us through life. And also there's this theory that's very interesting that stories are beings, they are alive and the way they multiply is by getting different heads, different brains, and that brain, that person, pass the story over to others. So you can think religion, like this social politic position, it's a story that is multiplying itself by people. So the thing is, some of the stories we have in our mind we didn't choose. We was planted by the culture, by the country, by parents. So there's these truths we have in our mind. This is truth, this is how life works and this and that Maybe it's just a story. So sometimes you have to revisit your mind and check if these stories make sense.

Rafael: 13:19

There's a very nice book called Mental Immunity. They call ideas like parasite ideas. So there are some ideas. That is like parasites. They get into your brain, they block other ideas to come in and they allow some similar ideas to get inside. So you see people who have this religion, who have this political view and you accept these kind of people because it's just one idea that is accepting disorder and blocking others. So the ideas are fighting one against the other to see how you get this human being and you get this brain. So we are just tools. The stories are using us to multiply. So revisit the stories and check if they make sense or not. It's a very long answer, but revisit your stories.

Gurasis: 14:18

Very, very fascinating that does make sense to me. And lastly, Rafael, how would you describe your experience being on the podcast today?

Rafael: 14:27

very meaningful. Very meaningful because you give some inputs that I only by speaking, that we can have. For example, when you said, okay, that maybe that's why you left your country, because you see that dead bodies I never thought about that. So I would say it's very meaningful. Like by telling me my story and you giving some inputs can really that thing that I said that sometimes someone can drop you one phrase on word that it completely changed the course of her life. So I would say very meaningful. Thank you for your input and to give me this opportunity to be here no.

Gurasis: 15:07

Thank you for being so open and, uh, sharing all everything that you can with me and the audience. So thank you for being on the podcast and adding value to me and to my listeners.

Rafael: 15:18

Thank you thank you, thank you very much.