Here are some phrases I use pretty much everyday. The main problem with Portuguese, especially carioca (Rio de Janeiro) Portuguese is that its nearly impossible to hear and spell correctly, or see and pronounce correctly.

Bom dia (bong geeah)= Good Morning

Obrigada= Thank you

Tudo bem/bom= How are you?/I'm well.

Onde está/fica...=Where is... (I get lost often)

I'll think of some more and put them here as well. I am beginning to round out my time here in Rio, so soon I will be in Sao Paulo and sharing that experience. Sao Paulo is about 4 times as big as NYC so that should be way different than Rio. I expect it to be even louder if that's even possible. It's so loud in the streets I can barely sleep sometimes. The buses roll past like they are jets and there's always people yelling and having an overall good time in the street. Another reason that I look forward to going to Sao Paulo is that we stay in a hotel!!! Where I might have my own bathroom, I will have TV, and I might just might have access to computers more than I do here, also I will maybe have better seasoned food. My host has either high blood pressure or high cholesterol so she uses a negative amount of salt on her food. She pulled out a salt shaker that I'm positive has been around since Portugal owned Brasil. She's gotta do what she's gotta do though.

But it will be bittersweet, I really do like Rio despite the noise and the expensiveness. Probably can't get away from that in Sao Paulo either, but then Rio has the beach!

To answer some other burning questions, the majority religion here is Catholic from what I can tell. But they have many ones here, like in the US. Thing is, I've only seen like one church since I've been here and its a tourist attraction. I don't think they even have service there.