When travelling you really need to know which day and which time it is. You need to catch trains, busses and planes. And you need to be at sights and museums while they are open. While being in Brazil I had two big surprises concerning day and time.
The first thing was the name of the weekdays (always necessary to schedule your visits). In Germany the week starts with monday and ends with sunday. Every day has its own name. Brazil is a catholic country and therefore the week starts with domingo – sunday. The next five days are numbered from 2 to 6 and then follows sábado – saturday.
Sunday: domingo
Monday: segunda-feira
Tuesday: terça-feira
Wednesday: quarta-feira
Thursday: quinta-feira
Friday: sexta-feira
Saturday: sábado
The second problem is daylight saving time. In Germany summer time starts on the last sunday in March and ends on the last sunday in October. In Brazil summer time starts in the mid of October and ends in the mid of February. I’m so happy that smartphones nowadays adjust their time based on the current location. Elsewise I would have missed at least one shuttle.