Fun/Interesting Cultural Tidbits

I plan on using this space to note interesting little cultural differences I note in my time here.
To begin:

1. Trash cans rarely exceed a diameter of 8 inches and a height of 12. Where does all the trash go?
2. Apparently, the average Brazilian takes 2.3 showers a day. The scary part is that I've been pretty close to that average...!
3. "I don't need a bag" does not translate. A usual grocery-store interaction goes something like (in Portuguese):
1. Daniel: "That's ok, I dont need a bag"
2. Checker: "What?"
3. Daniel (pointing to empty backpack): "I don't need a bag, I have one already!"
4. Checker (nodding): "Ok."
5. Checker then proceeds to triple-bag the item and hand it to me, at which point I just sigh, take my bag(s) and walk away feeling defeated.
4. The "Thumbs-Up" gesture is by far the Carioca's (Carioca = a person from Rio - a label of pride!) preferred gesture. Peace sign:Japanese::Thumbs-Up:Carioca. It's hard to get over feeling cheesy constantly flashing the thumbs-up! [Edit: I have since learned that the really cool way to do the thumbs-up is with a lazy pinky. It's somewhere in the no-man's land between a traditional thumbs-up and a hang-ten.]
5. The Cachorro Quente - The Brazilian-style hot dog. This delicacy is most often seen served out of the back of a converted minivan parked somewhere with lots of late-night foot-traffic. Cost usually ranges from R$2.00 ($1US) to R$3.00 ($1.50US). In addition to the bun and hot dog (which has been cooked in some sort of interesting tomato-y, salsa-y sauce), the cachorro quente is accompanied by (covered with) some permutation of the following items: ketchup, mustard, mayonaise, some of the sauce it was cooked in, little mini french-fries, parmesean cheese, peas, corn, an olive and/or a hard-boiled quail's egg. I think the most delightful part of getting a cachorro quente is the excitement of seeing what's going to be on it THIS time! Oh wait, no, the best part is eating it.
6. The X-Tudo - essentially the same situation as the cachorro quente except with a hamburger pattie. The accoutrement follow the same general idea: ketchup, mustard, mayonaise, little mini french-fries, parmesean cheese, peas, corn and/or an olive; but with a couple different options: melted cheese, ham, a fried egg and/or bacon.
   *An interesting sidenote on the origination of the x-tudo name (or, at least, where I think it came from): some Brazilian discovers the American hamburger, he starts making it in his restaurant as a "hamburger." Next, he discovers the existence of the American cheeseburger and agrees that that's definitely something also worth making in his restaurant, so he starts selling "cheeseburgers" as well. Then he thinks "Dang, this is good... but it would be way better with some bacon! But what should I call it? Well... a burger's a burger. When it's got something more on it [cheese], it's a 'cheeseburger,' so I guess if I want to put bacon on it, it would become a cheesebacon! Ah-HAH!" However, how we pronounce the word "cheese" in English is almost the exact same as how the letter X is pronounced in Portuguese. Thus, when our friend goes ahead and puts the "cheesebacon" on his menu, he naturally writes it as X-Bacon [frequently, one will also see "cheesburger" written as X-burger]. "Tudo" in Portuguese means "everything," so a X-tudo is a "cheese-everything"... or an everything burger.
   It's great... burgers seem so much more extreme (and thus delicious) when they have an "X" in front of them!
7. It's surprising to me how often Brazilians complain about (or at least comment on) the heat... you think having grown up here they'd be used to it! Often times people will even make comments about it when I don't even think it's that bad. Straaaange.
8. Many Brazilians' have crazy-long names. Frequently their actually "last" name is buried somewhere in the middle of their names... which is confusing. Therefore, for simplicity sake, when something here is done alphabetically by name, it's done by first name, rather than last. (Yes, forgetting this has gotten me thoroughly mixed up a couple times)