ExPatBytes

Listen to two past Airbnb Super hosts (Karl and Rita) sharing their experiences on separate properties using both AirBnb and Booking.com to attract customers for our rental properties in Brazil. We have worked with both. And both do provide a means to market a property. But there is a clear winner based on our horrific experiences supported by both Video evidence and police reports, that AirBnb's...

Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden share experiences about the expat life in Brazil. On this special show we will have an American Susan Marshall who is a licensed real estate agent in Brazil discuss how to buy property in Brazil when you don't live here. The benefit of spending roughly $200,000 on a property in Brazil is you qualify for permanent residency by owning this real estate and y...

October 12th is the day of Children in Brazil. What better day to talk to some students who get their education from Brazilian schools. Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden interview children and parents about what the Brazilian school experience is like as well as a little bit about a very big holiday in Brazil, Dia das Criancas.

Today is a crazy time to be an American. There is so much disruption going on back in the United States. While ExPatBytes has not jumped into this topic, the numbers of Americans now coming to Brazil sort of has. This will be a special show with two American hosts as Karl Schieneman will be joined by Christopher McAllister and we will talk about the macro reasons behind the surge in both Americans...

Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden talk about the Brazilian five day party known as Carnival. This year Karl Schieneman attended on the last day in the premium Camarote and his high school friend Vladimir Rizberg and his wife Galina attended in a different Camarote as well as attended on the first day of Carnival in the basic seats. Vladimir will be offering his perspective as will another...

Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden talk to Dr Everton Freitas about some of the differences and opportunities of experiencing preventative medicine in Brazil. We will discuss coverage available to ExPats and compare our experiences in medical care versus our prior countries. Our special guest, Dr Freitas will talk about some of the differences in approaches he has seen in Brazil versus our...

Today we do a special Schieneman version of ExPatBytes as Lorraine Sarhage my mom, and Gary Schieneman my dad, join me and my Brazilian wife Rita de Cassia Melo to talk about their shared memories of the military dictatorship from when we lived in Brazil and from my wife's memories as well. The fact that a foreign language film is up for the best picture and best actress award at the Oscars speaks...

Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden along with our special guest, Peter Kraft, all talk about our recent birthdays in Buzios, Brazil. The focus will be on the 60th Birthday which like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, when you reach this milestone means you have earned a golden ticket entitling you to lots of useful lifestyle benefits. Maybe it's not free chocolate, but parking spaces and...

Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden speak with Daniel, and Australian ExPat who moved near to a mid size city outside Sao Paulo to be with a Brazilian friend only to have the relationship end after he had accepted a job and set up the trip. Daniel who asked only to use his first name, will be sharing his experiences and challenges in getting set up in Brazil with only basic Portuguese skills. This is...

Listen to Expats Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden, hosts of ExpatBytes interview Christopher McAllister and hear about his reasons for moving from the metropolis area of Atlanta, GA to the quaint Portuguese fishing village, of Buzios located two hours away from Rio de Janeiro as well as his opinions on the differences between life in the USA and in Brazil.

Listen to Felix Broden and Karl Schieneman discuss their experiences as ExPats in Buzios, Brazil. We will talk about some of the highlights in Brazil in 2024 which just past and some of our thoughts looking forward to 2025.

Listen to Karl Schieneman, an American former EDiscovery entrepreneur turned hotel owner in Buzios, Brazil and Felix Broden, a Swedish entrepreneur with hotel, restaurant and bakery businesses in Buzios, Brazil, interview long-time friend of Karl Schieneman, Tim Opsitnick, about his recent visit to Brazil. We will touch on the trip highlights and how being an ExPat can offer new opportunities for...

Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden talk to a friend of Karl's Tim Opsitnick, about his recent visit with Karl Schieneman. We will ask Tim about his experience and what his impressions were from his visit to Rio de Janeiro and Buzios, Brazil. We will also talk about strategies for maintaining long distance friendships when you are an ExPat.

Karl Schieneman and Rita Melo talk live while eating an array of fruits and drinks purchased in NYC.  We are trying to eat healthy for this meal.   Listen to our reaction to the fruits and coconut water we found in midtown Manhattan, thousands of miles away from where each of these items come from.  This is a special ExpatBytes recorded far away from our home in Buzios, Brazil.

Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden analyze a recent CNN article entitled Considering leaving the US for good? Here’s what to think about before you move abroad By Blane Bachelor, CNN. Technical there are lots of good tips here. But is this all you should consider? Is the list longer or is it in fact much shorter? Listen to our two perspectives recorded live from Buzios, Brazil.

Felix and I thought it would be fun to review an article written by a journalist offering advice on how to move abroad to see if we agree with what they wrote based on our experiences. I think it should be a fun show as we illuminate why reading about barriers to moving abroad might miss the point a little bit. Our goal is to simply the process for people considering moving abroad based on our exp...

Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden talk about their experiences as ExPats in Buzios, Brazil. Argentina neighbors Brazil and many Argentines come to work in Buzios at pousadas and restaurants in the area. Having worked with so many Argentines, Rita and I decided to visit Argentina for a week. What a great trip. Skiing in Bariloche at Cerra Catedral and walking through plazas and parks in Bu...

Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden talk about how they have dealt with one of the largest issues of being an ExPat. Namely how to keep the friends you leave behind as friends when you now live in a new country. Let's face it, making friends as we get older is harder to do for everyone. So what happens when you move maybe thousands of miles away to your friendships? Our special guest James...

Listen as Karl Schieneman reaches back into his former life as a legal technologist expert to interview esteemed Scientist Herb Roitblatt how to use new search tools like ChatGPT to bridge language and cultural barriers most expatriates face in their new homeland. We will discuss how these tools work and why expatriates can likely trust the results they find using these tools to find answers to qu...

Listen to ExPat's Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden interview German ExPats Hans Peter Kraft and Rolf Geissinger as we talk about what it is like getting used to being married to a Brazilian. There are cultural differences and this could be a very funny show, which hopefully does not end in divorce for anyone. I also did promise the Brazilian wives the opportunity to talk about their ExPat husbands...

Listen to us interview Ricardo Blasi, an Expat in Brazil who moved to Buzios from Argentina in 1989 to start the pousada Baia do Joao with his wife. In 2019 Karl Schieneman purchased Baia do Joao with Rita Cunto and renovated it before renaming it Baia do Joao Eco Pousada. Ricardo is a very colorful person with lots of stories. He is also our first Argentinian expat to be interviewed on our show a...

Listen to Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden speak with Samuel Zapata, a Columbian expat living in Buzios on the topic of how you can reinvent yourself in a new country and explore passions which you maybe were not exploring in your former country. Being an Expat can be seen in many ways as a second chance in life if approached with a view towards making a new beginning. This does not mean deleting...

Listen to ExPats Karl Schieneman and Felix Broden discuss how to get money to pay for things in Brazil. We will discuss credit cards, wiring funds, ATM withdrawals and the famous and wildly successful PIX system which has become the most widely accepted form of payment in Brazil in only a few years. This is a follow up show to where we talked about how inexpensive many common things like food, hou...

A special edition of ExpatBytes where we will record our reactions to some of the different products from Belem which we transported from the Amazon in refrigerated coolers two days ago. Hear our reactions to the products and also listen to the background of each item provided to us from our expert in the Amazon, Diego Sampaio who will join us live from Belem, Brazil and listen to us sample food i...

A unique show which is part of our "deep dive" into Brazil series. A deep dive is the opportunity an ExPat has to explore a country beyond the top few tourist destinations. We recently visited Belem, Brazil at the entrance of the Amazon and noticed how prevalent Acai is in this city. On this show we interview Diego Sampaio a native of Belem who works in the Acai industry on what makes Acai so impo...