Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 7/11/2009

Question
I'm Brazilian and have been living in CA for 8 years. Now that I have a son, my husband and I are wondering if we could provide for him there, since we want him to be around all our family, not just once an year on vacation... We are really confused. The cost of living in Sao Paulo is really high, I notice... We both have an AA here, but that's about it... I can see myself teaching, since I've done it before anyways before moving here, but I heard that a school like Cultura Inglesa pays about 20.00 per hour. Could I make a decent living with that salary? And plus, my husband has a lot of experience with managing hotels/fine dining restaurants (administration, budget, buying, marketing, and so on...) But nobody has been calling him from Catho at all... Just like, 2 of them, and the salary was terrible... We are not rich by any means, but we leave in a nice 3-bedroom apartment in a nice area, pay a really good school for our son, and we are able to do weekend getaways pretty often... But we REALLY miss our family, period... Any advice at all???? We are desperate!!!!!!!!!!!! Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer
I understand your situation completely because Im an American with two American kids and a Braziilan wife from Parana. We live in Sao Paulo, and my parents and all my girls' cousins are in one town in Massachusetts. So I empathize with you completely.

You cannot make a living at Cultura Inglesa. Your husband would have to be the bread winner. Sao Paulo is expensive, but depends on where you live. As someone who has lived in California for 8 years, you are probably accustomed to a middle class American life, andas you know, a middle class life in Sao Paulo isnt as pretty as one in California. You will have to probably consider private schools.

Why dont you get a job teaching in California, Ana? Then you get a lot of vacation time and you can use that time to fly to Sao Paulo and be with relatives two or three times a year. You can spend all of Christmas vacation there if you wanted. Or part of your summer vacation, or ALL of your summer vacation if you wanted to be in the cool Sao Paulo winter weather instead of a nice warmy sunny California beach. So you can have the best of both worlds.

You can see your family, AND live in the US. Or vice verrsa. But seeing how you dont have a job here, yuo will ahve to get all that sqsuared away first and after 8 yrs living in CA, you might find Sao Paulo life not only expensive, but not as accomodating. Look, I make $56,000 a year. When you transfer that to reals, I make R$100,000 a year. That's a very good living. I live in Higienopolis and my kids go to a private school. I pay around $1,200 a month in rent and condo fee in a 120 sq meter apt. My wife teaches at th ekids' school so I dont have to pay a dime. Otherwise, I couldnt afford the school, or would have to move...the schol costs R$640 per kid! And it's not the most expensive. Cheaper ones will cost you around R$250.

My wife goes to the US for two months a year. E "da para matar saudades".

She lives with my parents and the kids spend 24 hours a day, for about a month, or two, with my parents and their cousins. Many people who live in LA dont see their parents in cousins in Encino that many times a year!

So it is something to consider.

If I were you, I would stay in the US and travel to Brazil MORE and stay LONGER. Meanwhile, figure out jobs your husband can do here. Figure you will need to make at least R$70,000 a year to live well in Sao Paulo with a family, especially if you are used to a more American way of life. I dont know if you live in South Central LA, but if you're family is making under R$50,000, your Sao Paulo 'hood is going to be relatively yucky.

Feel free to contact me here again and we can come up with some ideas, or I can just help you work out the reality that Sampa is not Cali and if you dont have a job here, Sampa is like NYC. You wanna live in the Bronx? Up to you. Maybe your family lives in the Bronx and then that will be perfect. But first you have to find a job at least on the Number six train to midtown, or on the Amtrak into Connecticut, or the Bronx zoo, because unless you plan on living with your parents, you still need to pay rent. And despite Bronx being basically the poorest place in New York, rent there will cost you at least $800 a month.

So you ahve to weigh out the pros and cons. I still think that you need to spend more time here, even if it means you taking on a more flex job. Teaching will be perfect for you. Otherwise, can you not work and live off your husbands pay? Can you handle being away from your husband for, say, a month at a time? think about it.