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RIO no doubt about it!!! You live once in life and these opportunities do not pop up all the time. DO IT, think about all the stories you can tell friends, family, future generations...YOU LIVED LIFE!
I suppose you have been in the industry long enough to know what happens to those that turn down opportunities like this. If you have'nt, then lets say you're probably as high on the totem pole as your going to get. GO! GO! GO!
I am just wondering if you could negotiate a higher housing allowance. They're offering you about $3300 US for rent.
If you could get a bit more.....you'd get yourself a wonderful beachfront condo in Sao Conrado....or some other safe and less crowded, very desirable area.
It would be like living in a hotel. Especially with the low cost of domestic help and the amazing beach under your nose.
That 15 years old is going to be so screwed, in a good and bad way too Kidding... But Rio is a "singles" heaven. O yea, I remember the days...
As for OP it all depends if this is an expat deal or not. Just do the math? How much $$$ goes into your pocket after all is said and done. I had assignments where I've lived in a penthouses with two maids and drivers for me and the wife. I didn't have to touch one penny for housing, food, schools and any of that. Truly spoiled. So just do the math and see what is best. After all is all about $$$ and not necessarily how much and your family gets exposed to. Also if is a good career move you also may need to account for that. Taking one for the team will take your career a very long way. Try Nigeria for a change
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oildog
If your in oil, your family will be in a pretty safe and secure place. The crime I've heard is mostly poor on poor. It would be a great learning experience for the family, and being a 'wealthy' 15 year old on the beaches of Brazil...
Does anyone live in Alphaville? If so what are your impressions? From what I am getting Rio is the LA of Brazil on steroids, lol. I doubt I can get a higher allowance for housing since they company is eating the school cost for the kids. My 15 yr old daughter is stuck on Harvard so her commute to school will be quite long to say the least. After reading some of the posts my wife is coming around about the move to Brazil. I know the company has some contacts with the developer of Alphaville, but isn't that considered the suburbs of Rio, if you can call them that. LOL I can't wait for the ten minute hang gliding lesson, I was told its worth every penny. Any expats or locals that want to connect families can email me at thewiltshiregroup@gmail.com. I relocated to LA from the south 22yrs ago to attend UCLA, it looks like I've come full circle heading down south again. Its funny all my short term assignments have been in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, lol my biggest career move is in Rio a city I've yet to visit. I'll be flying down to Rio in a couple of weeks for work and an introduction. Any suggestions for my three week visit, that my wife won't send a PI to get evidence LOL.
I'm ex-oil. My firm had a large presence in Rio. Just about every single one of our staff members, including our head of security, was held up by gunpoint or car jacked at some point in time. Rio is a lovely city, but it does have its fair share of safety issues.
How safe it will be depends really on what your company does for you from an expat package standpoint, how large the local presence and security and so on.
The taxi/private car is my favorite and you're so right. Forgot that one and it almost became norm. I love it one of those scooter dives next to you, pulls a gun and demands your wallet and/or briefcase. If you already paid attention to you local security briefings your bags should be in the trunk and your wallet should be empty which you can now easily hand it to the man with the gun. Just comply with the demands. I never heard of any expat in my company being killed in Rio despite of the safety issues. But again this is not for everyone.
And is not just Rio, there are many other places with similar issues...
Quote:
Originally Posted by MIBS98
I'm ex-oil. My firm had a large presence in Rio. Just about every single one of our staff members, including our head of security, was held up by gunpoint or car jacked at some point in time. Rio is a lovely city, but it does have its fair share of safety issues.
How safe it will be depends really on what your company does for you from an expat package standpoint, how large the local presence and security and so on.
I have two 5 year old twins and a 15 year old, they love the beach. Please help me decide my family's fate for the next 4 yrs.
As somebody mentioned, the beach is about an hour away from Houston, either Surfside or Galveston Island. Because of all of the rivers that empty on this part of the Gulf Coast, the water is silty as was mentioned. This also is why the sand is not very white here, actually almost light gray. But the nearness of the Gulf Coast is for sure an asset, and there is plenty of coastal wildlife to see. And about 4 hours drive from here is Corpus Christi where the beaches are superior, white sand, clear water. People vacation at the areas south of Corpus, ie Port Aransas or Mustang Island where there is a state park. On south there is a public beach (Malequite) , part of the Padre Island National Seashore (Padre Island National Seashore (U.S. National Park Service)) with great facilities where you can shower up and buy supplies. Immediately south of Malequite is the spectacular seashore, part of the barrier island chain which actually exists off of most of the Texas coast. At the northern end of the national seashore is a beach called "South Beach" on which you can drive for about 12 miles in a non- 4wd vehicle, much further with 4wd. Truly spectacular, giant white vegetated dunes like I have never seen anywhere else, and you can camp anywhere you want, no permit required -- way back in the dunes if you like. Can you do that in CA? Maybe at a state park/beach north of Ft. Bragg if my memory serves me, but with a permit and fee. My lady friend from south FL had never seen big dunes like this. On the interior of the preserve are many lagoons and bays off of the intracoastal waterway (Laguna Madre) with spectacular wildlife viewing and also the shoreline of the intracoastal. This is a true natural jewel for us in Texas, like nothing else anywhere, is easy enough to get to from Houston and is cheap. I paid $70/night for a clean double at a well broken in older motel in Port Aransas, mid summer. There are other things to see on the way back, like the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
Last edited by groovamos; 07-26-2011 at 12:10 AM..
Thank you for the heads up on the security situation. What years were you based in Rio? Our contract is with Petrobras if that helps. Safety in my opinion is how you conduct yourself. When I first moved to LA, before school started, I stayed in one of the worse, most dangerous Mexican-American Barrios in LA, and I had a great time, stayed safe and no one bothered me. I dressed like a poor college student, minded my business and waited for the dorms at UCLA to open. Even in the US where you have the poorest people in the world living next door to the richest in the world, crime will be the offspring. Detroit is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world, its mentioned in the same breath as Baghdad. One of my best friends has had a bi-coastal psychiatry practice for the past 15yrs in NYC and LA; he did not get robbed until he went to a medical conference in Durham, North Carolina, a small southern city. Management informed me that Petrobras works very closely with the BOPE on security issues; and, I hope that plus a little common sense will keep me and the family safe. The wife and I do worry about our teenager, but I feel she will be just as safe at the American school in Rio, as she is here in LA, and as she would be a one of the best Quaker, private, schools in Houston. Due to all of the kind responses I have received; after, I leave Rio, if the wife agrees, Houston here we come. LOL, I would choose Rio to Detroit any day. My daughter and wife speak Spanish, I on the other hand barely remember English, LOL. Is it easy for a Spanish speaker to pick up Brazilian Portuguese? The kids out hear in LA have their own language Spanglish. I can only speak the Kings English and I work so many long hours I doubt I will have time to pick up another, LOL. Thanks again and please anyone with strong ties to Brazil, Sao Paulo or Rio, email me.
Thank you for the heads up on the security situation. What years were you based in Rio? Our contract is with Petrobras if that helps. Safety in my opinion how you conduct yourself. When I first moved to LA before school started, I stayed in one of the worse, most dangerous Mexican-American Barrios in LA and had a great time, stayed safe and no one bothered me. I dressed like a poor college student, minded my business and waited for the dorms at UCLA to open. Even in the US when you have the poorest people in the world living next door to the richest in the world, crime will be the offspring. Detroit is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world, mentioned in the same breath as Baghdad. One of my best friends has had a bi-coastal psychiatry practice for the past 15yrs in NYC and LA; he did not get robbed until he went to a conference in Durham, North Carolina, a small southern city. Petrobras works very closely with the BOPE on security issues and I hope that plus a little common sense will keep me and the family safe. The wife and I do worry about our teenager, but I feel she will be just as safe at the American school in Rio as she is here in LA; and as she would be a one of the best Quaker, private, schools in Houston. Due to all of the kind responses I have received after I leave Rio if the wife agrees Houston here we come. LOL, I would choose Rio to Detroit and day. My daughter and wife speak Spanish, I on the other hand barely remember English, LOL. Is it easy for a Spanish speaker to pick up Brazilian Portuguese? The kids out hear have their own language Spanglish. I can only speak the Kings English and I work so many long hours I doubt I will have time to pick up another, LOL. Thanks again and please anyone with strong ties to Brazil, Sao Paulo or Rio, email me.
You're very correct by saying that security depends on how one carries themselves. As anywhere in the world (short of some European countries, which I personally find very safe), you need not to stick out as a clueless foreigner waiting to be robbed. If you keep low profile, you should be OK. I stick out quite a bit in Brazil and get treated like a tourist fairly often. However, once I am away from tourist areas, I "feel" alot better. But as anywhere, including Houston, things can happen and you end up a victim of a crime. Sounds to me that you are in the right mind set to go there.
When I visit Brazil, I drive there, take the bus without issues if I need to, and generally have no problems adjusting to anything. Some things that really frustrate me there is their complete lack of efficiency in banks, government offices, and in business in general. It always seems to be very diffcult to get anything done, and many people that I expect to be in the know are clueless (even if you speak fluent Portuguese).
I personally would love to go and live in Rio, and my wife would love to go back to be close to her family (she's from Rio), but so far I have not had an opportunity to go there. I did a stint in Sao Paulo, but it is not the same as Rio. Given a chance I would jump on it. R$5000 should be adequate for an apartment, although Rio is very expensive city. Our little 2 bdr apartment that we have in Niteroi could easily fetch R$1000-1500, but currently we use it as a vacation place so it's not rented out.
As for Spanish speaker picking up Portuguese, I think it should be fairly easy. My wife say that it's completely different, but she speaks both without any issues, so definately possible. I've been trying to learn Potuguese myself, but it's a slow process. I think for me to really learn, I would need to be immersed in the culture (after all, that's how I learned English).
You can PM me or e-mail me if you have any specific questions.
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Kidding... But Rio is a "singles" heaven. O yea, I remember the days...
