I Never Expected This When I Moved to Brazil

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Hi guys, I'm going to let you in on a a little bit of a secret here of my my heart, my [music] my fear of something here in Brazil. So, when I moved to Brazil 10 years ago, that was a personal decision.

[00:00:15]I didn't have >> [music] >> I wasn't actually married at the time.

[00:00:18]We ended up getting married a few months after I moved here. We got engaged and then got married, but I didn't have a son. I didn't have a family yet and so it was a very personal decision.

[00:00:30]Yet, now I find myself at times having a fear that my son is going to miss out on some of the things that I experienced when I was a kid, some of the cultural things. And if I'm honest with you, that's a a pretty big fear.

[00:00:45]And the reason why that is is because there's not as much or there's not the same opportunities here in Brazil that there are in America. Let me tell you a a little bit a story here about myself.

[00:00:57]So, I've always been pretty active in life. Um, sports and outdoor things. And so, my my profile, if you will, is kind of a a type A kind of kind of guy, right? So, I I I'm very active, very um, go get it done kind of stuff. And so, when um, I moved to Brazil, I loved to surf, I loved to do a ton of different things, but I begin to kind of glance around and realize that some of the the activities are not as common here. And I begin to pay more attention to schools and begin to pay more attention to education. And for those of you that don't know, Brazil has a great um, education system in a lot of ways, um, but culturally it's very different.

[00:01:42]So, you know, kids usually go to school half a day, either in the morning or in the afternoon.

[00:01:47]And depending on the school, obviously guys, like um, it's a general generalization here.

[00:01:53]But, uh, kids usually go to school in the morning or in the afternoon unless they're integral, which we say is all day long, right? Um in America, that is not the case. In America, there's not really an option, at least as far as I know, of just doing half a day. It's You go to school 7:00 in the morning morning, you get out out of school at 2:30 or 3:00, and then there's usually after-school activities.

[00:02:15]But, here in Brazil, that's the difference. There's not a lot of those school activities like there are here in um in America.

[00:02:23]And so, for example, in America, you might have choir, you might have agricultural class, you might have like I had classes like build a small engine, and I had classes where I learned how to weld, and I had weights class where you learned how to exercise, and you know, we had to learn I I spent 2 years learning Japanese. So, check out this running water here. I'm at a place I don't even know what this place is called. It is in Cohego Granja, and beautiful little water creek running through here.

[00:02:57]But, um I had to learn 2 years of a language, and there was like German and French and Spanish and then Japanese, and I was like, "I don't know why, but I'm going to learn Japanese." I kind of like I guess the whole like bushido and and warrior culture of of Japan and all that, and so I And and everybody likes sushi, right?

[00:03:18]Everybody likes yakisoba. Everybody likes teriyaki sauce and food, and so I decided to do 2 years of Japanese. Now, I don't remember anything very much. I just remember how to say "Watashi no namae wa Andy Dust." Like, "Hello, my name is Andy."

[00:03:33]And guys, I don't think I've actually been in this part of the city here. These are some pretty cool and nice apartments here.

[00:03:40]I didn't realize that they existed.

[00:03:42]So, um I'll head back over here to this market that I was just at.

[00:03:47]But, you know, I had to learn 2 years of a language. That was a requirement to pass school.

[00:03:54]And here in Brazil, you know, if you want your kid to learn piano, you want your kid to learn another language, you want your kid to have a some kind of extracurricular activity, you're going to pay for all of those things through a private tutor or private coach of some sort. And so, for me, um you know, when I was married just to my wife, we didn't have any children. Not a big deal, not something I really thought about.

[00:04:18]But as I begin to you know, as I begin to count the cost of living 10 years here in Brazil, I realized that there's a lot of things that if I'm not intentional with my son, he's not going to be able to to have experiences with. And you know, that's one of my one of my main reasons in a lot of ways in, you know, staying active in in camping, different things like that.

[00:04:43]Obviously, I love it, but I love I want to teach my son those things. You know, I want I want him to have experiences. I want him to be inspired. You know, it's interesting when you become a a parent, you start to be motivated by different things.

[00:04:58]Running the marathon wasn't just about my goal or just about me. It was honestly about uh it was honestly about showing my son that things could be done, you know?

[00:05:08]And you begin to be motivated by um different things as you move abroad to another country and as you begin to do different stuff. And so, you know, this is something that me and my wife we've talked about quite a bit, how we want to raise our son. And you know, what culture do, you know, bilingual, we're speaking English, speaking Portuguese. You know, this is something that you know, often people are like, "Well, what's the big deal?

[00:05:35]You know, just put him in a bilingual school." Well, here as far as language, right? Well, here in Brazil, you know, the the bilingual schools, right? Are going to be English that are spoken by people that are not native American speakers, right? Not native English not native English speakers. And so they're going to be um It's actually a really really cool trail. I've never been here.

[00:06:00]All right. Some fun things I get to do when I make videos for you guys is go to places that I haven't been before. We're like I was trying to get a good thumbnail.

[00:06:10]We're We're like here in Florianópolis, you know. Restaurants are right there and there's a creek flowing to the back. Um but if you're you know, even in a bilingual school, people that speak English and Portuguese teachers and things like that, they're not going to have an English accent from America or from England. They're going to be Brazilians that have learned English and they're speaking in English. And so the the language the English language that are going to your children going to learn is going to come from a English speaker, but with an accent a Brazilian accent. And so it's always an interesting an always an interesting thing. And you know, this is um why is it a is a is a fear is because, you know, the the farther you get away from culture, the farther that you get away from yourself in in a lot of ways your identity, right? Um I'm an American by birth and that's my citizenship. I am not a Brazilian citizen.

[00:07:16]Um for those that don't know, if you get Brazilian citizenship, the only difference that you have is that you're forced to vote. So, um you know, by getting a Brazilian citizenship, it doesn't do much for me as far as my residence or anything like that. I'm just forced to vote. Um because in Brazil, voting is not optional. It's it's everyone has to vote.

[00:07:36]So, um I'm just an American citizen. and gone through my citizenship for Brazil. You know, I would get a passport, and I would get a um the I'd be forced to vote.

[00:07:49]But, you know, part of my heritage and part of my life and my family and the things that I value are still my American side. And so, those things that I want to instill in my son are obviously those things as well.

[00:08:05]Because Tudo bem?

[00:08:06]Because, you know, as the world becomes more multicultural, it also is in a in a in a way um you know, your your heritage and your family and your identity, it gives you a foundation and a base of things. And so, my son, he he is born in this world in Brazil, but he also has, you know, American citizenship, but he also needs to like learn those values and those things. And And one of the things I'm talking about, for example, is patriotism.

[00:08:37]Now, in Brazil, we have a lot of patriotisms for sports. This month is or next month starts the World Cup, and so Brazilians, they will stop working, they'll stop everything because it's the World Cup. I'm going to turn around cuz that's just traffic and and car sounds over that way.

[00:08:53]But, they're going to be extremely excited about, you know, the whole country's going to stop for the World Cup. And, you know, schools stop, uh you know, jobs will stop. There will be no traffic, nobody on the streets, like it's stopped.

[00:09:08]Now, that's the the level of patriotism that they have usually is when it comes to sports.

[00:09:13]America, they are very patriotic. I was we were in Lake Tahoe this last January, and um we I I was running, training for a marathon, and I ran, you know, through a through a community there, down a road, and I'm not joking, like every second or third house had an American flag, every other mailbox had an American flag. And so, you know, I grew up in that. I grew up in that culture of of patriotism, that culture of, you know, we're we're Americans and we're, you know, we're the best country in the world and that's still my opinion in a lot of ways with freedom and things like that.

[00:09:51]Um freedom of speech, freedoms that that Americans have.

[00:09:55]But, Americans are very um proud of their heritage. They're very proud of their nation. They're very proud and patriotic. And so, that's not something that you see in Brazil. In fact, that was one of the first things that I noticed when I came to Brazil is there was a lack of patriotism.

[00:10:10]People don't have this pride of being a Brazilian. In fact, people will comment uh routinely here on my videos that, you know, a lot of times Brazilians talk bad about their own country and um and different things like that. And I think that's just because there's, you know, at times, you know, depending on your class situation, your opportunities, there's not a whole lot for people to be excited about when it comes to the country as a whole. And Brazil is an incredible place with incredible opportunities. You know, people are like, "Oh, you're just showing the good parts of Brazil." And I mean, my desire for this channel is actually to do some some kind of social projects together with you guys, for us to make an impact and a difference here in Florianópolis or in Brazil somehow. I mean, I That's my heart. I don't just want this channel to be for my benefit, but um Anyway, going back to patriotism, you know, uh Brazilian suffers just the the reality of it. And so, a lot of times, you know, the grass is greener on the other side. In some ways, that's really true.

[00:11:14]And in some other ways, it's not. But, um you know, you just have your experiences and your expectations with what you've experienced in life. And so, I've just often noticed that there's not a lot of patriotism. There's not a lot of people that have this pride in Brazil um just during the World Cup, just during, you know, like the Olympics and in times of sports because that's really when Brazil shines. And you know, that has a very deep impact on on just culture, but it has a deep impact on building a foundation for your child. I'll give an example in America, you know, they we still say the Pledge of Allegiance. You know, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Right? This this Pledge of Allegiance. Like I'm being allegiant to my nation, to my flag. That carries into, you know, a foundation of respect, a foundation of life, love, truth, patriotism for your nation. And you know, here in Brazil I I I don't see that same thing. And I've even had Brazilian friends that have gone to America and, you know, they're like, "Oh my gosh, you guys respect the flag and if it touches the ground, you burn it and you have all these things." It's like, "Yeah, we have a very, you know, there's been men and women that have died serving, protecting that flag, died serving, protecting our rights as Americans. And so, for us it's something that's very serious. And I think we need to have a foundation um, a cultural foundation, a patriotic foundation when it comes to where we're from. And you know, by living in these two different worlds, I can see the good and the bad of both.

[00:12:52]And for my son, he has the opportunity, but he also has that challenge to where he can experience both the good and bad of both worlds, but some of the opportunities um, he might be limited in what he can do and what he can have because it's just cultural.

[00:13:08]And I was with some younger people yesterday and they were talking about um, you know, they're in their 19, they're like 19 to 22 is like the age group.

[00:13:16]And me and my wife were talking to them and they were talking about, you know, what they like to do for fun and and all that. I was like, "Oh, that's interesting. When I was when I was your age, like right out of high school or you know, just in high school.

[00:13:29]Um we I would like ride my dirt bike up in the mountains before school, and you know, I'd go hunting on the way home after school, and that was my that was my experience. That was like the the opportunities that I had. And you know, my son, like you know, there's not dirt bikes here in this place, right? There's no you know, nobody's going to go hunting on the way home after school here.

[00:13:56]And I'm not saying that's like the perfect life to have or anything like that, but that's just the reality that I grew up with.

[00:14:02]And in fact, my my dad, when I was 11 or 12, we moved from Hawaii to Idaho so me and my brother could have some of those experiences that my dad had when he was younger. My dad's family's from Idaho, and so we were able to have, you know, the experiences of hunting, fishing, and camping, and doing those outdoor activities that we had no opportunity to do in Hawaii. And so when you when you make the life choice, and move your life to another country, another nation, and it becomes a permanent thing, you have this challenge of these both worlds, especially when you have a child.

[00:14:35]And you know, obviously, everybody, we want to mix the good with the bad or we want to mix the good with what's good, and not experience the bad stuff, but in some ways, just because of our choice living here in Brazil, um we just don't have the same options. And so I uh that's one of my fears, if I could share that with you guys here on my on this channel. The fear is that you know, my choices would affect my son in this way that he would miss out on opportunities and abilities. And the reason why I say this to you is you know, Brazilians as a whole, they don't have the same opportunities as Americans. So let me say, you know, there's probably people in Brazil that would be good at baseball. There's probably people in in Brazil that would be good at, you know, riding dirt bikes or, you know, Um, I guess they have motorcycles in Brazil, obviously, but um, maybe there's people in Brazil that would be good at different sports and, you know, music especially. You know, musical instruments in Brazil are really expensive. So, not everybody has the ability to pick up a cheap guitar and and learn how to play it, you know? We have the internet, we have YouTube, we have um, artificial intelligence now that people use to learn instruments and and read music and all that. But, if you don't have access to a guitar, access to a piano, access to a keyboard, access to a swimming pool, access to all those things, you're never going to have the experience.

[00:15:51]You're not going to discover your full potential. And, um, I remember years ago when I was training for football in college, I was trying to play football in college.

[00:16:01]I had a a coach and he would he was a speed coach and he was like, "Hey, um, I discovered later in life that I wasn't able to fulfill my my biggest potential because I didn't have I didn't have the nutrition that I needed. And, when he mentioned that, I was like, "Wow.

[00:16:20]Like, how many kids aren't able to meet their full potential because they don't have either the nutrition, they don't have access to things, or they don't have, you know, um, proper training in something. And, I think that's the reality of Brazil. You know, if let's say my son is gifted in baseball, right? And, there's nowhere to stimulate him in baseball here in Brazil, we'll never discover that. Let's say he's gifted in playing the piano. If we don't stimulate that in a, you know, in a way, you know, there's no school bands here in public school, right? So, you know, I learned how to play the trombone and how to play the the the baritone in public school. My brother learned how to play the trumpet.

[00:17:00]No public school bands here in Brazil.

[00:17:03]And so, if I'm not intentional about my son's education and I'm not intentional about the the the the choices that we make as far as what we we we allow him to connect to, then he he could possibly not flourish into the man that lives from the purpose that he was created and designed to live. And so, I figured I would just share that with you guys.

[00:17:27]I know many of you are desiring to move to another country, another nation. I think that that the glamorous side of it is, you know, hey, there's, you know, the grass is green on the other side.

[00:17:36]Move to Brazil, move to Europe, get out of America. And you know, my algorithm's sending me a bunch of that stuff now just because my channel's in this world of stuff, right? But you have to count the cost. You have to understand that especially if you have a family, you're changing history, literally, your family's history when you decide to move to another nation. All right, guys? So, just me yapping a bit here.

[00:18:00]And I appreciate all of you guys. Let me know in the comments what you think if this is a legitimate fear if I'm a little bit overboard. And I'd love to interact with you guys. And then once again as well, my Instagram. So great to connect with you guys more personally in the DMs. Maybe we'll do a live here sometime soon.

[00:18:15]I'll do a survey on a post and see when's the best time to do a live with you guys. And we'll do something here in the near future, all right? As always, guys, thanks for watching. And until next time, see you later.