Moving to Rio

Hi all;
I would love to here from some of you who are currently or have lived
in Rio. My wife and I have a job opportunity there that should last two
years, we have two young childern. We'd like to know something of what
it's like to live there. Any feedback is most appreciated!

Thanks

You and your family will love Rio! Flying into Rio, is a magnifiscent site,
Corcovodo, and Sugerleaf! AH......... Cocobana Beach, Ipanema..."tall and
tan".....Ah, I wish I was 10 years younger! Doing the carioca.....at sunset!
AH..............
"Alan" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi all;
I would love to here from some of you who are currently or have lived
in Rio. My wife and I have a job opportunity there that should last two
years, we have two young childern. We'd like to know something of what
it's like to live there. Any feedback is most appreciated!

Thanks

"Alan" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi all;
I would love to here from some of you who are currently or have lived
in Rio. My wife and I have a job opportunity there that should last two
years, we have two young childern. We'd like to know something of what
it's like to live there. Any feedback is most appreciated!

Thanks


Hi Alan,

Without wanting to criticize others, the comments sent by clint describe
exactly the wrong approach to this kind of move. Moving to another country,
even if it is only for a limited period, is completely different from
visiting that country as a tourist. I have made the move (from the UK)
roughly nine years ago. I'm still living here, and I have no plans to leave.

You haven't told us where you are presently living, but it's save to say
that Rio will be different from anything you are used to - both in a
positive and a negative sense. The key to whether your and your family's
stay in Rio will be enjoyable lies in your (and their) ability to cope with
that difference. If you expect Rio to be exactly like it is back home, only
a little hotter - forget it.

Another key factor is the language. I would find it very difficult to get by
without a reasonable command of Portuguese.

As your wife is offered a job opportunity, I assume that the people she'll
work for will provide some assistance with finding a suitable place to stay,
a school for your children, medical assistance, help with your visa
application, etc. etc.
I didn't have that kind of assistance but my wife is Brazilian and I had
been coming to Rio for many years on vacation, so I had a good idea of what
to expect before I made the decision.

Two years is an awkward period. It's too short to really take up residence
and too long to live in temporary accommodation. It's too long to stay on a
tourist visa and not long enough to warrant all the hassle of getting a
residence permit. (In my case, the process of getting the residence permit
took 13 months - and I'm married to a Brazilian citizen which means that I'm
legally entitled to stay here. But that was many years ago. Rumour has it
that this service has improved since.)

You didn't say anything about your physical characteristics, but chances are
that you will be easily identifiable as a 'gringo'. And, unfortunately,
there are enough people who consider gringos legitimate targets for taking
advantage of to make that a disadvantage. You'll need to learn how to deal
with that. There's also the whole security issue. Many foreigners who become
victims of criminals contribute to some degree by their naivety. You need to
be street-wise to live in Rio.

On the positive side, Rio is a wonderful place to live in. It offers a large
variety of cultural and leisure activities. There are numerous beaches in
and near Rio. You can be up in the mountains within an hour's drive and even
within the city boundaries there is the Parque Nacional da Tijuca for hikes
in the tropical rainforest.
And it's cheap. Particularly, if you can manage to stay away from the
tourist-traps.

If you have any more specific questions, just ask. I'll try to answer.

Gato

"Gato Medio" wrote in message ...
"Alan" wrote in message
ups.com...
You didn't say anything about your physical characteristics, but chances are
that you will be easily identifiable as a 'gringo'. And, unfortunately,
there are enough people who consider gringos legitimate targets for taking
advantage of to make that a disadvantage.

I often hear statements like the one above from foreigners who live
in Brazil, but I don't think all Europeans or North-Americans
necessarily experience that down there. I am Brazilian, born and
raised in São Paulo, a city where there is a large number of foreign
expatriates who work for local branches of multinational corporations.
Actually, it suffices to go to any restaurant at lunch time in the São
Paulo business district to spot several foreign nationals. Yet, their
relationship with local Brazilians, mostly white middle-class
"paulistanos" with whom they work and (probably mixed-race) domestic
servants, appears to be strictly professional. Honestly, I don't see
foreign professionals in São Paulo at least being constant targets of
specialized "gringo predators". True, high-ranking foreign executives
have bodyguards and take precautions against kidnappings for example,
but what makes them potential targets is not so much their national
origin, but rather their socio-economic status. In fact, the CEOs of
the Brazilian subsidiaries of Ford, Shell or Bayer are probably no
more at risk in terms of their personal safety than any local
Brazilian tycoon.

Having said that, it is obvious that, living in a foreign country,
perhaps not knowing the language and the local culture well, one is
obviously at a natural disadvantage, be it Brazil or anywhere else in
the world. In fact, curiously, when I first came to the US to study,
during university orientation week for foreign students, one of the
first thing they told us was to look out for rascals who targeted
foreigners to take advantage of them. Needless to say also, if you are
a "gringo" in a Brazilian beach town like Rio (or Recife, or
Fortaleza), dressed as a tourist, maybe looking for fortuituous sexual
encounters, or associating with people of questionable reputation
(e.g. drug dealers), chances are you inevitably will run into trouble.
Of course, that is obviously not Alan's case. If I were Alan then, I
would therefore follow the advice to be "street smart" (which applies
to any big city anyway) and learn the language, but I wouldn't be too
overconcerned or paranoid about being a specific target because of my
national origin.



On the positive side, Rio is a wonderful place to live in. It offers a large
variety of cultural and leisure activities. There are numerous beaches in
and near Rio. You can be up in the mountains within an hour's drive and even
within the city boundaries there is the Parque Nacional da Tijuca for hikes
in the tropical rainforest.
And it's cheap. Particularly, if you can manage to stay away from the
tourist-traps.

If you have any more specific questions, just ask. I'll try to answer.

Gato

Two years is an awkward period. It's too short to really take up
residence and too long to live in temporary accommodation.

Can you please tell me about how much one would pay to rent a small,
unfurnished single room apartment in a middle class section of Rio in
U.S. dollars?

Are there any Brazilian newspapers in English?

"Frank W." wrote in message
...
Are there any Brazilian newspapers in English?


No. The official language of Brazil is Portuguese.
There may be some minor publications in English. I don't know any and I
doubt that they would have an internet presence with a reasonable number of
ads.

Frank, I think maybe you stay at home?
"Gato Medio" wrote in message
...

"Frank W." wrote in message
...
Are there any Brazilian newspapers in English?


No. The official language of Brazil is Portuguese.
There may be some minor publications in English. I don't know any and I
doubt that they would have an internet presence with a reasonable number
of
ads.

Are there any Brazilian newspapers in English?

A quick Google search will show you that one of Brazil's largest
papers, O Estado de São Paulo, indeed publishes a weekly
English-language section, available at
http://txt.estado.com.br/english/english.html.

Too bad there doesn't appear to be any classified ads.

Perhaps more useful
would be the offical news service, which publishes in English and
Spanish as well as Portuguese:
http://internacional.radiobras.gov.br/ingles/index.htm.

Ditto.

If you look in "O Globo" (Rio biggest newspaper - www.oglobo.com.br)
classifieds, you find for a one room apartment, the following rental prices:

Botafogo: from R$ 420.00 to R$ 1,000.00 (U$ 155.00 to U$ 370.00)

Copacabana: from R$ 450.00 to R$ 600.00 (U$ 167.00 to U$ 223.00)

I'm considering 1 U$ = R$ 2.70.

When searching for an apartment in Rio, I suggest you look for a
"imobiliária" (a real estate agent). Try to find a big one. That will
improve your chances to get a good deal.

Good Luck!

Emerson


Frank W. escreveu:
Two years is an awkward period. It's too short to really take up
residence and too long to live in temporary accommodation.

Can you please tell me about how much one would pay to rent a small,
unfurnished single room apartment in a middle class section of Rio in
U.S. dollars?


To start with: What do you mean by a middle class section?
Botafogo? Copacabana? The prices vary hugely.


Copocabana - but a few blocks from the beach would be a little upper
class.
Botafogo - but a few blocks from the beach would be a little lower
class.
Say the smallest self contained bachelor apartment.

The daily papers carry large sections of 'clasifcados' which include
apartments for rent. The following link is for 'O Globo' and takes you
straight to this specific section.
http://classificados.oglobo.com.br/retranca.asp


This is displaying properly in IE or Opera. Why is it that latin
american websites seem to hardly ever work properly? Is it just my bad
luck?


This link http://jbonline.terra.com.br/ is for Jornal do Brasil, but
you need to navigate to the 'clasificados', etc.


I tried with IE on this one and couldn't get to the apartments. Can you
please post the URL that is the rental apartments?


I hope this helps.


We're getting there!

Gato