Well, why not? Though after almost two years here on the boards I haven’t seen any burning interest that calls for a thread like this. But then again, ya never know ‘till you ask!
It’s kind of a band wagon thing. 
Seriously, fire away!
Okay. So um, why’re you in Brazil? And, why Brazil of all places?
** Blackeyes ** wrote
You know there HAS to be woman at the bottom of it.
Mrs. Janx and I lived in the States for 10 years (she is Brazilian),
When Janx Jr. Came along, she was really missing the network of support that a BIG loving close nit family can provide, and she was very home sick after 10 years. We were spending an obscene amount of money on air fair each 6 months when she would go away for 3 months at a time, and whenever Jr. Had the sniffles I got tired of hearing “If we were “home” my mom, (or one of various aunts) could take care of him while we work” etc. etc. Finally, I decided she stayed there with me at great emotional sacrifice for 10 years, she really wants to go home, the least I could do is spend 10 years in her country. So far so good.
Where are you in Brazil, and why can’t I get any guarana (the soda pop, not the herbal crap) in this country? Or Maranhao-the lemony soda-I loved that stuff.
(I lived in Sta. Catarina-Rio Grande do Sul from 1974-1975.)
Janx, I am interested in two things.
Have you been there long enough to tell us about some of the differences, and whether you prefer one over the other.
And more importantly what are the women like?
** Payne N. Diaz ** wrote
Mostly because Coca-Cola doesn’t want you to. If the Population there knew how good Guarana is, Coke would louse a big huge market share. You CAN get it in Miami in the Brazilian district and in Los Angeles as well (Antarctica usually). I herd that Antarctica is making it in Miami but I don’t know if that’s true. The other stuff
I have never heard of, it may have been a regional thing, sort of like Açaie and Caju are in the north.
I live in the DMZ (sniker) of São Paulo, São Paulo.
I’m leaving HappyJoe but let me formulate a good answer, and I will post you later today or tomorrow.
** Happyjoelucky ** wrote
Well, I gave this some thought over night, and I think the question is way to nebulous to give you a straight answer without sounding to pessimistic or optimistic, perhaps you could be a bit more specific.
Like say, food, work, crime, environment…
About the women,(don’t shoot the piano player!).
In general…
Here in São Paulo the average woman is a mixture of several races, consequently they all seem to be very exotic to my eyes. No one appreciates the “Barbie doll look” (Barbie is overdeveloped on top underdeveloped on the bottom seems to be the consensus). A woman is usually shaped like an hour glass, not a tooth paste tube. The average (and I must emphasize this, there are many exceptions, this is just the typical woman/girl you meet in passing) will have a dark brown complexion, lighter than African people but darker than Middle eastern) dark brown eyes, but often as not blue or green/hazel with
thick black wavy hair. In the south, people are generally descended from Europeans and tend to have fair complexion and characteristics. To the north the people are generally descended from Africa and/or Indigenous people and tend to have very dark complexion and characteristics. Society here does not have any roots in Puritanism. People are not taught to be ashamed of their bodies, so the style of dress tends to be far less conservative then in the states. However, the women tend to be more pious in spirit then I was accustomed to and are very selective when it comes to sex. So while the women here may dress more provocatively, they don’t seem to be trying to provoke anything. I have met many foreigners who came here thinking that because Brazilian women wear butless bikinis and sexy clothing they must all be sluts. sorry guys, it just isn’t so.
Here is a small picture of the kind of girls you would typically bump into around here.
Damn! I knew I should have gone to the World Congress of the UEA in Fortaleza! But no… I had to stay home and plan for Sweden next year. I ICQ with someone in Brazil regularly, and one of the most beautiful women I have ever shared an art class with was from Brazil… sigh
Does the average Brazilian even like Canadians any more, given the existence of the trade dispute between aircraft manufacturers Bombardier and Embraer?
** Sunspace ** wrote
The average Brazilian girl/woman probably doesn’t know this competition even exists. Being Canadian wouldn’t matter either, being a foreigner (with manners) goes a long way with the ladies here. Remember, when you come here YOU are the exotic one. 
Spent a little time in Sao Paulo and had a blast (mainly in the Jardin area). So, between the climate, the nightlife, and the friendliness of the people, it would be cool to relocate there (besides, the crime rate isn’t much worse than Detroit). Any advice on how I can become an ex-pat too? What are the requirements to be able to work? Who hires US citizens? That sort of stuff…
FWIW, I’m an average looking guy, and I was hit on regularly by women in Sao Paulo. They were not TV’s, and not hookers. I’m married (although I think most rules are void in other hemispheres), so I took pictures of these rather beautiful women and showed them to my wife. “Look at what I turned down to be faithful!” I’ve been around the world, and have never been approached like this. Maybe somebody spiked the water supply with X or something, but it was fun.
Guarana rules. They had that Josta stuff here for a while, I think that was a Coke product.
Obrigado!
** lost4life ** wrote
I work in Jardins!
Um, I have to disagree about the crime rate though. I do not know one person who has not been robbed (or worse) at least once, including myself, twice.
How to get work here: In your case (since I’m assuming your wife is not Brazilian) would be through a multinational company. Depending what you do for a living, go to a head hunter, tell them you want to work here, they are your best bet. Get work before you come because it could be difficult to find. I would learn the language first. Also you would probably be paid in US Dollars which is far better the Brazilian $$ (it holds its value far better). Now, I did not know the language before I came (BIG mistake) and I did not have work before I came. Once I had a good grasp of the language I got work, till then I was an English teacher (stop laughing). Seriously, if you come from a land where English is the natural language (S. Africa, Australia, Briton, USA, Canada) you can get work instantly as an English teacher.
About being hit on. I know what you mean. Its like I said, your the exotic one. Be careful though, a lot of girls dream of landing a gringo and getting a one way trip out of here, and under some conditions I have seen I don’t blame them.
About the Guarana, Coke has a brand here called “Quatch” its not as good as Antarctica, but better than Brahma. If any one wants a can or two e-mail me and maybe we could work out a cultural exchange –
** I have not had a Burrito for 5 years ** Since I come from Southern California, you must understand just how important a burrito is to me.
I’ve seen Guarana in lots of places in NYC!
How does the weather compare to where you are from?
How do you pay taxes if you are an ex-pat? Do you pay US and Brazilian taxes?
Are you a soccer fan?
What is the one thing from home (food/store) that you really miss?
Should the SDMB arrange some form of **Emergency Burrito Air Drop ** for you ?
Tell me about race relations in Brazil. I know that there is much more racial diversity there than there is here. But I’ve also heard that there isn’t nearly the amount of racism there that there is in the U.S.
Is this accurate? If it is, why do you think it’s this way?? What is it that’s wrong with the culture here in the U.S. that causes more racism???
Thanks.
So, does the ungodly high murder rate scare you? And what about those gangs of roving homeless teens that seem to off people left and right? How does your family deal with crime? How do you keep your children safe, etc?
I’m curious how you got the “tm” in your subject to superscript.
He probably used the HTML character for the trademark symbol, which is &**trade; VBulletin doesn’t interpret VBCodes in subjects, but the browser would still turn the &**trade; character sequence into ™ and it would look just as if someone had written [sup]TM[/sup] in the body of a thread(where VBulletin DOES interpret VBCode) to produce [sup]TM[/sup].
Such is my suspicion. Not going to start a thread just to test it, but special character classes do get interpreted in both usernames and thread titles if you use the HTML codes instead of VBCodes. Witness the username Deep Fried(with tons of special characters) which you may or may not have seen around. It still gets interpreted as the special characters in places VBCodes wouldn’t get interpreted.
Enjoy,
Steven
** sorry it took so long to answer you all, we went away for the weekend. On to the answers.**
** Shirley Ujest ** wrote
I’m from Southern California. It is dry there and gets fairly cold in winter, though no snow. This is a tropical environment. It is wet most of the time except for when its raining (tee hee). I have never seen it dip below 3 or 4 degrees C° which I think is about 35 F° but generally stays around 55 to 60 F°. It starts to warm up in September and stays hot enough for the beach through May. (Nany nany naaah naaah!)
I get the forms off the internet for the U.S. taxes, I must file but I don’t make enough to where I have had to pay anything yet because the Brazilian Real is only worth about $0.29 cents right now. In Brazil you pretty much pay the same way as there, Fill out the form and send it in, wait for a return.
No, not really, and as such I am a social pyorrhea.
Mexican food in general. Most of the correct ingredients can’t be found here, especially flower tortillas. There is one Mexican restaurant here but if you know Mexican food, it is way off the mark . And Mrs. Fields Chocolate chip cookies, but I make tollhouse here and that is close enough.
That’s a fun offer. I have looked into this. It would end up being like a $45 burrito because if you sent the stuff via regular mail (over sea) the tortillas would rot along the way, so air mail is the only way thus the price, but thanks anyway! When I visit though you know I’m heading for the first mom and pop Mexican restraint in sight!
** Surreal ** wrote
YUP! That the way it is. And this is one advantage I see for my children, they will grow up “color blind” so to speak. I have heard some old WW2 Refugees (from the white south) complain, but no one listen or takes them seriously. Mostly (I think) because almost no one here is of “pure heritage”. If you made a racial slur, you would most likely be talking about your own heritage as well. When Brazil took it’s independence from Portugal, one of the first kings took a former slave to be his queen, and it has been mostly expectable ever since ( I know, SITE, I’m looking). The big social chasm here is between rich/educated and poor/uneducated. All the crimes I have seen here (barring personal problems between individuals) have been economically motivated. And trust me there is a HELL of a lot of nasty crimes here.
** Daoloth ** wrote
Yes. The ungodly high murder rate scares the holy shit out of me. Since I don’t drive, I live in a constant state of stress when I’m walking to the bus and back from work. (never walk around at night, unless you are seriously board, or you MUST). I do not know how I deal with it. The whole country is not like this, only the big cities. Our building has security as does the street we live on. When my wife goes some where she keeps our Labrador in the back seat with the windows down a bit, when someone approaches the car , the dog freaks. This has caused some no goodnicks to choose a different car. As for the rest of it, well that’s where religion has helped me cope. And as for ** those gangs of roving homeless teens that seem to off people left and right…** I’m not sure what your talking about, more bad press I suspect. I think this is more of a problem in Rio, then in São Paulo. But just like in the states, stay out of bad areas and be aware of your surroundings, and keep a low profile.
** DeadlyAccurate ** wrote
I edit my post with Word Perfect then just cut and past, it adds the code to the post and the board reads it, just as ** Mtgman** says.
Whew!
We make regular runs to the Ironbound section of Newark, where lots of neat Brazilian things can be had. About ten years ago, all Guarana was imported. I have noticed that in recent years the stuff is sold in two-liter bottles, with English labels claiming to be bottled in the States, so perhaps there is hope.
I suppose local demand is the only reason why it is not available in some parts of the USA. Just like the Vernors I love so much from Michigan that I can’t get in the East.
Now for my question:
How do you like the food in São Paulo, (I mean the day-to-day stuff)?
I found out recently that my boss spent a year living in SP back in the Eighties, and his major complaint was about the food. He said that he couldn’t find any of the groceries he was used to in the States, and if he found something that appeared similar, breakfast cereal for example, it was a poor imitation of its American counterpart. He claimed that potato chips were not properly crunchy, among other things.
In my response to him, I said that he was eating the wrong stuff, and that he should be eating what the locals eat (mmmmm…… feijão preto com arroz, um bife gostoso e uma saladinha, tudo feito com bastante alho) rather than look for our stuff there. In addition, I think our own products are quite accessible there these days. Nevertheless, I have never been to SP, so I can’t really say anything about the food there.
As an American in the same city my boss lived in, what is your take on this?