What struck you about Brazil?

First the people in Brazil have all been great. The family is most important that what drawer me here. The problem if you don’t speak Portuguese you are isolated and treated like you are stupid. Most people are kind but if you even try to adapt I have a universal translator. If they wear it in their ear  we can talk. But most of my family doesn’t try to help me.  My wife will talk a little English but most the time I am Isolated she is very limited in her English. We us a translator. I take some responsibility I try to learn the language but it very hard and I tried to us technology to bridge the gap. I find in Brazilian don’t want to even experience this new technology . I have a few people and friends who do speak English. I spend most my time on the phone doing business in English. Being by myself. I took my wife to Mexico she also speak Spanish. But we went to a tourist town where most people were speaking English. She experienced what I am but it didn’t last. She doesn’t seem to understand my frustration. I love my wife and Brazil am grateful to have a family here but if you don’t speak the language it’s very hard. Hope this helps still not sure where I will end up. I am from the USA and have no real reason or desire to return there. ???

The people of Brazil are wonderful, calm, caring.....

The weather!  I do not miss snow.

Funny thing, almost NO BUGS in Brazil, most hotels do not have window screens... just fantastic.

Fresh food from the street markets, oh yes.

I have seen the beaches in a lot of countries, the beaches in Brazil and the ocean temps are fantastic.  Don't tell anyone, but I have brought a number of water samples back from Brazil and tested them in my own laboratory.  Most of the river and ocean waters in the USA are HORRIBLE, and filled with bacteria by comparison.

good - weather, people, nature, beaches, less smoking, less obesity, space
bad - over sexualized culture, unpunished crime, low level of education, cost of cars
surprise - initially thought food was awful, but after 6 months realised food is great, I was just eating at the wrong places.

very small govt outlays for missiles, guns, fighter jets, destroyers, and eternal wars of occupation in foreign lands ....the magnificent scenery, mountains, beaches, waterfalls ...prospects for economic growth ...and then a woman who truly believes in loving one man, totally, picked me....

Besides most of the things that have already been mentioned..... the acronyms. Sometimes I feel like every word, or every name I see is an acronym.

I also want to add the most striking thing about Brazil. The beauty of the country. The other is how much the people take pride in their work. We had a person build our kitchen over a year ago. We had a door on one of our cupboards the hinge broke. My wife call him he came by fixed it brought new hinges never ask for any money. We just had a beer together. We had a man clear a large field behind one of our homes. It’s amazing how it was so clean. It only cost 200 Reals and again our roof needed a fix it cost 100Reals. The level of experience and getting things done when having individual happens very fast. It’s the government that takes their time.

That's not my experience at all, what part of Brazil do you live in?

I live in the northern part in a smaller town called Imperatriz. Most the individual we have hired to work on our home have all been great. The only problem we had was with the power company. We had Solar put on our home the people who we hired did a great job only took them 3 days as they promised. The power company was supposed to change our meter in 7 days. But that when it became a struggle. The company that put our Solar on contracted the power company a number of time for us and even went to the expense of getting their lawyer ready to suit. After a month just on the day we agree to follow through with a charge against the power company. They changed our meter so we could turn on our Solar. The town I in is not a tourist town is more small town we’re everyone seem to know each other. Sorry to hear you had bad experience.

Oh my! You could not have said it better.
1) Portuguese is a very difficult language to learn
2) Brazil is a huge country and most Brazilians due to their economic and geographical location do not get expose to the ''world'' and other languages
3) They do  not feel the need, nor few have the desire to learn another language
4) They try to include you at first but then they get so involved in  whatever they are discussing or talking about they soon disregard you and your presence. If you even try to ''bud in'' they will    not even give you the time of day! they can be very rude about it all.

Thank goodness my spouse speaks three languages as I do so we communicate in French or in English... and I have learned to impose myself in my house and speak English with my spouse in front of them....rudeness can be met by same if they don't want to learn.

That being said, the country is beautiful, the weather is great, the services can be tough to obtain at times but in general are pretty good. The prices are excellent...

There is much violence in certain parts of the  country.  The laws exists but are seldom enforces due to lack of policing.

The political system is corrupt to the  1000TH degree!

I have been living here on and off for about 15 years,,  and three years as a naturalized citizen.