Living as an expat is much easier now than it used to be, and there is a sort of "geo arbitrage" available in terms of the cost of goods and services which is favorable to developed-country workers who participate in the opportunity. Uber is 4 times cheaper, and if you rent long-term (not through Airbnb) you can also get great savings (although I tend to still use Airbnb because I move around a lot). Additionally, women tend to favor the outside-guy in some ways: they are more interested. It makes dating more fun. 

I have always gotten a real kick out of studying and immersing myself in foreign languages. My current endeavor indulges that interest.

The goal I have for my blogs and youtube channels are three-fold: a) eventually create some kind of online forum or community site where select expats can participate and share ideas, buy, sell etc.., b) keep a record of things in general for myself, and c) develop the SEO "juice" associated with various sites relating to expats and foreign-living with an eye to the future (ie it is something I know a lot about because I have done it and it could translate into some business of some form in the future).

When I first came to Brazil (2001 and 2002) I had to buy a newspaper and look up rentals in the classified section. I would circle them with a pen just the way it had always been done. Needless to say this improved my Portuguese quite a bit. I had a frequency dictionary (it was made of paper), and I quickly made flashcards for the top 1000 words. The Foreign Service Institute tape cassettes and learning manuals were not free then, but could be purchased through certain booksellers in the US as a large boxed set. I had obtained it for Portuguese and bought a cassette player here locally and made fully use of it for the first six months. 

The culture of Rio de Janeiro (my primary whereabouts at that time) was a good bit different then and there were no dating apps like Tinder, Badoo and BrazilCupid.com.