Changing the References



Cafezinho (Coffee Brazilian Style): 50 ml of Coffee

Last weekend, Renato and I went to Tim Horton’s and he asked a large coffee (size 14 fl oz). Immediately I said: “OMG! You’re so Canadian. Are you sure that you will drink more than 400 ml of coffee?” Without think twice, he answered me: “I don’t think that is too much, the Starbucks venti size contains 20 fl oz. That is too much, almost 600 ml of coffee”. Ok, makes sense, but I had to remind him that in Brazil, we used to drink what we call cafezinho, it means, a 50 ml cup of coffee.

After we laugh about the situation, we start to think about some references that have been changed since we arrived here. Now, it is your turn. Quick question for you guys: what do these following words have in common? Edson Arantes do Nascimento X Wayne Douglas Gretzky; Brigadeiro X Nanaimo Bar; Beach X Snow; Cafezinho X Tim Hortons Large Coffee (14 fl oz); São Paulo X Nanaimo. The answer is, for us, a lot of things.

Before coming to Canada to take our MBA at VIU, our reference of the best sportsman ever was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, best known by his nickname Pelé, the greatest soccer player of all time. As a dessert, we used to eat brigadeiro, a Brazilian chocolate 'truffle' made of condensed milk, chocolate, and butter. Every single morning during the week and weekend, we used to stop at a bakery to drink what we call cafezinho, as I already mentioned, a 50 ml cup of coffee. On January and February, we used to go to the beach on weekends. And, by the way, we lived at Brazilian’s largest city, São Paulo, with an estimated population of 11 million habitants.

Since June 21^st 2010, when we arrived here, things have changed “a bit” for us. Now, we live in Nanaimo (estimated population: 84,228); we love to see the snow falling gently; we could not resist to eat Nanaimo bars after having a dinner, and now we also know that the best hockey player ever is "The Great One": Wayne Douglas Gretzky. Ah! We already switched the traditional French fries to the delicious poutine. And, of course, we love Tim Hortons, especially the donuts, timbits, muffins and cookies. I need to confess, however, that it is unfamiliar for me to ask for a large coffee, even with Renato’s naturalness who replied me saying that the large size is the Starbucks venti.