Talking with our hands

While we were fact-gathering before moving here we learned that we shouldn't use the OK sign because it is like raising the middle finger. As it turns out, we see the OK sign used to signify "okay" from time to time and it doesn't ruffle any feathers. Brazilians are more likely give a thumbs up, though. It is kind of their go-to gesture. When driving thumbs up means "go ahead" and also "thanks," on the beach it means "it's all good" and as a response to a question it means "yes." This has been easy for us to get used to because thumbs up exists in the US. The tougher gestures are the ones that we don't have, like the "get it!" snap. It's a few quick flicks of the wrist that causes he index finger to snap against the middle finger. Neither of us can reliably make the sound yet, but we are working on it because it is very cool. They also have the "tanto faz" which is is a back and forth slap of the hand that means "either way" and the wiping the brow down to a snap which kind of means "whew" and the closed-to-open "twinkle twinkle little star" gesture that they use to mean "full" or "many." There is actually a whole pile of new gestures for us to learn but they are fun and a lot easier than spoken words because when making hand gestures, one doesn't have to pronounce any vowel sounds.