Basic Brazil for Foreigners: Arroz Com Feijão

This post is specially dedicated to people who don't have much knowledge about historic and geographic facts regarding Brazil: no reason to be ashamed: we're here to help! So that you guys don't fall asleep, I gathered some 101 info in the dialogue below:

John: How is the State and the government organized?
Daniel: We're a Federal Republic since 1889. :)
John: Gotcha. Just like the US?
Daniel: Not exactly. In the US, the deferal structure was formed based on the AGGREGATION of new states. The Brazilian model is SEGREGATIONIST, i.e. the territory of the Union was defined and then divided into states and municipalities. There is no possibility of independence of any part of our territory.
John: Really? How's that?
Daniel: Our Constitution was published in 1988 and therein there is a clear statement rejecting this such possibility.
John: So your Constitution is recent?
Daniel: Indeed. It's our eighth Constitution, and it established the presidentialism as form of government. There has recently been a discussion about a possible switch to parliamentarism after the corruption scandals and the ousting of two presidents in just 24 years. Anyway, we look forward to voting for our new president in 2018.
John: How big is Brazil? Is it true that the Amazon forest corresponds to more then 50% of the country? o.O
Daniel: Brazil is the biggest country of the Southern Hemisphere and the fifth in the world. If we consider however only the latitude variation, we are the greatest: no country is as big as ours when it comes to our North-South measure. The Amazon rainforest corresponds to a bit less than the half of the the country :P
John: Wow ! And I assume many languages are spoken down there.
Daniel: Not at all! Portuguese is the only official and de facto language.
John: Well then, it's time to learn Portuguese, at least the ARROZ COM FEIJÃO. ;) Next time tell me more about our history. See ya! :*

Hi there! Planning to make an exchange in Brazil? Interested in learning more about the Brazilian culture? Step in! You're in the right place. Regularly we will post interesting facts and vocabulary.
DISCLAIMER: the owner of the page is a Brazilian-born young man. Should you be interested in European Portuguese features, please let me know in the comments.

Hi guys, if you're new here, you are probably thinking: what does ARROZ COM FEIJÃO mean? Well, it's quite a common idiom in Brazilian Portuguese. ARROZ means RICE, and FEIJÃO means BEANS (in Brazil, we usually are fond of black beans). Since it's a typical Brazilian dish (believe: there is virtually no Brazilian who has never tasted it) and it is usually accompanied by meat or other dishes, the idiom ARROZ COM FEIJÃO means something BASIC.
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