When I first arrived to Ilhéus, I felt like a total outsider. Walking on the beach, I was extremely aware of my skin color--I have the lightest skin out of anyone I have seen here. The majority of the population is "black", and even the lighter skinned Brazilians here are very dark. Everyday someone calls me "branquinha" (little white girl).
Yesterday at the grocery store, the "bagboy" asked me if I was Brazilian--he said that I couldn't be Brazilian becuase they never use reuseable grocery bags (I use my beach bag). I told him I wasn't Brazilian. He asked if I was German? No. French? No. He gave up. I told him I was from the U.S. and away I went smiling...
I am an outsider here. Constant awareness of this outsider/foreign status forces me to reconsider my everyday actions. Do I really want to supply my own bag at the grocery store, making people know that, hey, not only am I very white and not Brazilian, but I also don't use plastic bags? Yes, absolutely. I really like my reusable grocery bag.
Simply behaving differently than the rest of society does not mean you are behaving immorally.
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