A Belarusian woman from Seattle talks about working at Boeing, education at the expense of the company, and the help of fellow countrymen

Maria was born and lived in Gomel, where she graduated from the university with a specialization in history and English. In 2013, she won a green card and left for the United States with her family. Already 5 years Mary lives in Seattleworld famous thanks to industry giants - companies Amazon, Boeing and Microsoftwhich are located here. She shared her story with the Belarusian edition Lady.TUT.BY

Photos from personal archive

About moving

I went to Seattle with my family, but it turned out that my husband and I divorced. Now I am raising my son alone. They moved lightly - each had two bags of things. We were met at the Seattle airport. No, we had no acquaintances or relatives in Seattle, but literally several months before departure, the former husband found Belarusians who had previously lived in Gomel via the Internet. They helped us a lot: they met and settled at home until we received all the necessary documents.

It is considered that Belarusians do not support each other abroad, but I personally have a different experience. Yes, there is no diaspora or any national assembly, but people help each other without it. For example, if I need to go to work earlier, then there is always a person who will take his son to school, you can ask for advice or ask for help in some domestic situations. If it becomes known that a new emigrant is arriving, then people are met, helped with housing. Now, for example, I have a girl from Belarus who won the green card.

I received education as a teacher of history and English, and since I had no problems with a foreign language, it was I who started looking for work at the beginning of the move. I will not say that there was no barrier to communication, because no matter how well you know the language, you still need to get used to it first. My first job was in a cosmetics company, we made brushes for cleaning the face. She worked at the computer in the analogue of our program 1С accounting - SAP. She was not highly paid, so at the same time I was looking for another, I even had an interview at the local office. Wargamingbut they didn't take me there. Nevertheless, despite the low wages, we were able to find rental housing and bought a car. I had to go to work about 40 minutes to 5 in the morning, which means I got up every day at 3.30. Having worked with such a schedule for six months, I still found another place - they took me to Boeing.

About work

The planes themselves are assembled in hangars, in the suburbs of the city, in Everett, and the assembly shop has a record volume of space. My office was located near the shop, also in Everett.

Photos from personal archive

On the Boeing I worked in different departments - first in the center of aircraft delivery in the industrial technology department, my specialty was covered by a trade union agreement. The company has two trade unions, one includes engineers, and the second includes mechanics. In the US, employers do not like when employees unite, because it is a very powerful tool for influencing their actions.

For example, if the boss calls me for a serious conversation, then I have the right to take with me a representative of the trade union.

Every year trade unions negotiate salaries, and if those who are not members of a trade union have a salary of three percent a year, then trade union salaries increase five percent. If I recycled, then the payment for my work per hour increased by one and a half times. In addition, trade unions follow the order of staff cuts: the higher the person’s rank, the more protected he is — first, the lower categories are reduced. But even if the employee was reduced and he was in the union, then within two years if a suitable vacancy appears, he should be called back. In addition, the reduced pay allowance and he can go to learn at the expense of the employer.

In the cockpit of the Boeing 787. Photos from the personal archive

Social protection in the company is very good, but on the other hand, a very short period of sick leave. The company pays 10 sick days per person per year. Therefore, if an employee becomes very ill, then the company stops paying his salary, and the payments go at the expense of insurance (from 80% to 60%).

I spent two years working in the engineering field, and then I decided to go to study, submitted an application to the University of Portland - studied the management of a global network of suppliers. Study cost 40 000 dollars, but the company paid for it, because I studied in the specialty. There is only one condition - you need to stay in the company for at least two years, and if you quit earlier, then you need to pay this amount.

Photos from personal archive

My studies were online, so I did not stop working, and when I received a master’s degree, I was able to go to the supply department of a unit that deals with military tankers. I needed to work with suppliers from different countries of the world - India, Russia, Great Britain, and China. I worked in this department not for very long, I returned to the commercial division — I worked as a purchasing agent. One aircraft needs more than 6 of millions of different components, and I drove four companies that supply only some of the parts.

I worked in Boeing four and a half years, and literally two weeks ago I moved into the sphere of IT. I am now engaged in the purchase of equipment for data centers in ServiceNow.

Medical insurance

In the US, very expensive medical insurance. My employers pay for me and the child, but if they didn’t pay, 800 dollars would come out a month, and she wouldn’t cover all the services. All medicine in the US is private, so there is a lot of competition among clinics and the emphasis is on customer service. That is, you will not sit in the clinic for three hours and you will never be met with a disgruntled face. But the other side - you pay 250 dollars for a visit to the doctor if you do not have insurance.

When my son was 4 of the year, I took him to treat his teeth, and the doctors said that he needed to put the crowns ... on the milk teeth. They gave him general anesthesia, set up crowns and added that they also need to make fillings on 11 teeth. Imagine, they ask me: “We put seals or not?”. I say: "Well, of course, set." As a result, the bill amounted to 4000 dollars, and since the insurance provides for payment of dental services for 2000 dollars a year, we paid the remaining 2000.

Some services are covered by our insurance at 60 percent, others at 80. For example, that year I set myself two crowns, and for two teeth I paid 900 dollars. Probably, because of such prices, Americans are very careful about their teeth: I have colleagues at work who have 30, and they have never had caries in their lives. They constantly use dental floss, rinses, even in the office you can meet people who brush their teeth in the toilet after eating.

About "American smiles"

It seems to me that it is very difficult to meet frankly rude people - all very nice and friendly, but another phenomenon follows from this - passive aggression. Well, you can not always be in good spirits and experience positive emotions. Therefore, some people express displeasure veiled, for example, sometimes you receive a letter from a colleague that he does not like something in your work, but at the end of the message he will put a smiley.

At work in an IT-company. Photos from the personal archive

It comes to absurdly ridiculous situations - a person is reduced and the boss says: “I congratulate you, you have so many new opportunities and wonderful perspectives,” and he only at his desk understands that he has just been fired. It is so not accepted to express aggression and negative, that sometimes people have seizures.

Once a colleague, a very quiet and well-mannered person, for no reason at all began to knock the keyboard on the table. I got up and moved aside, because you never know what.

Of course, I do not want to say something in the spirit of "these Americans, with their fake smiles, are themselves to blame," not at all! In my 90% of cases, with my experience, people are really very pleasant and open, but since it is still impossible to get away from the negative, it can be expressed in this form.

About the city and surrounding area

A year ago, I moved from a suburb to Seattle itself. The rise in property prices is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. For example, if you rent an 1-room apartment (bedroom and living room) for an apartment, then pay about 1500 dollars per month. I always rented an apartment with two bedrooms and a living room - 1700. But the hype lately is just incredible. Since I arrived, apartments have risen in price by forty percent, and I realized that if I didn’t buy anything now, I would not be able to afford anything soon. Last September, I bought an apartment in installments under 4 percent per year and for 30 years. The apartment is 100 square meters, with two bedrooms, living room, toilet and kitchen.

Seattle itself as an ordinary American city consists of a central part, which is called "downtown", and residential areas, where mostly four-five-story buildings. Urban transport is developed quite well, the bus can be reached anywhere in the city, but it is worth to leave Seattle - and without a car in any way.

Seattle is considered a very progressive and liberal city. There are a lot of employees of IT-companies and a lot of Russian-speaking, so Seattle constantly hosts concerts of our performers. I visited a huge number of concerts that I simply could not allow myself in Belarus: I was on Lyapis, on Grebenshchikov, on Mumiy Troll, on Zemfira. And the funny thing is - she traveled to New York for the concert of Seryoga, who himself is from Gomel. At home, unfortunately, I could not get to him. Concert tickets cost 80 dollars on average.

In Seattle and around it is just incredible nature, if you saw “Twin Peaks” and “Twilight”, then you will understand what it was about - they were filmed from us. Snow-covered mountains and tall forests with huge moss-covered trees, so we now often go hiking for one day to enjoy nature.

Photos from personal archive

Seattle is called the city of rain. And the truth: it rains here from November to April, and then comes the dry summer. Snow falls once a year and immediately melts. Many people find the city depressed, but it seems to me that it’s still not so sad as in Belarus, because there is always greenery here. In the whole state there are a huge number of lakes and trails for hiking, you can go boating, kayak, there are ski resorts. The city stands on the bay where there are many islands, which can be reached by ferry. When my mother comes to me from Gomel, we often go on such small cruises around the islands.

Photos from personal archive

About school, people and mentality

In the US, there are public schools and private. My son goes to the state, I only pay for breakfast at school, everything else is free. Now the son has no homework, and it will not be until the 7 class. I will not say that it confuses me, on the contrary, it is easier - the son studies with 9: 00 to 15: 30, he comes home tired, and he is not at all interested in studying. Lack of "homework" does not affect him badly, he is well-regarded and reads in English along with local children.

Every day, a son takes a school bus and takes him to school. He calmly speaks English, and he uses Russian to communicate with his grandmother, while constantly adding English words to the conversation. He did not speak English before school, but he learned it in six months, absorbing words like a sponge. The school is very free: there is no school uniform, no rows of desks, a lot of toys in the classroom. In a word, there is no depressive situation and the feeling that the child is being tortured.

The teacher's son is in same-sex marriage. She is not proud of it, but does not hide. She can write to us that today she will not come to classes, there will be a replacement, because her wife or child are sick. I do not condemn and do not support, I do not care about her personal life, but I like the fact that children grow up in a situation where they do not stigmatize skin color or sexual orientation.

Of course, intolerance occurs here - for example, in Seattle they dislike Trump very much, and when he was elected, many colleagues literally sobbed at work.

I feel that cities in America are more tolerant and open to other views and otherness, and the backwoods are more conservative. Therefore, I think that if you move to the USA, then you need to be a bit liberal at heart. After all, here you can not only meet the teacher of homosexual orientation, but also, for example, go and buy marijuana in the store, it will be in the package and with a bar code, and this is the norm here. Nobody forces her to buy, and I don’t care if someone smokes her or not, but I think it’s great because she’s visible and under control, and they don’t put marijuana in jail.

Photos from personal archive

In order to earn a social pension, in the US you need to work full-time for 10 years. However, the size of the pension is very small by local standards - about 900 dollars. To live with such money is very difficult, especially if you do not have your own housing. Therefore, many people begin to save money for retirement right from the moment they go to work. I do that too - 8% of my salary goes to my retirement account, and another company adds 8%. You can withdraw this money from the account only after reaching 59,5 years, otherwise you will have to pay a fine and tax.

At first, this seemed strange to me, since saving money, knowing that you will not be able to use it for another 30 years, seems like a risky business for our person. However, I soon realized that everyone here does this, because the economy has been relatively stable for many decades, inflation is minimal. And Americans often invest money in stocks that provide income, so there are often cases when ordinary “hard workers” are mechanics who have worked their whole lives, for example, Boeing, retire by dollar millionaires.

In America, you have to pay for everything. Probably, this is how it should be in a developed capitalist society. But as a person from the post-Soviet space, it sometimes seems strange to me that for such things as medical insurance or a kindergarten, you need to give 1000 dollars a month. Still, they should at least a little subsidize. So I always think, what if I had another child? How would I do it? I was lucky, but not all people rarely get sick and find a good job with a large social package.

The main feature of the American mentality, according to my feelings, is the pragmatism and the feeling that capital controls everything. This is especially felt during the holidays. Everything looks like holidays exist to spur consumption. By Christmas, they begin to be purchased in October, then Valentine's Day begins, then they try to sell something for Easter, then for Mother's Day, Father's Day. You will come to a regular store, and here there are some themed souvenirs everywhere.

I miss the house, but mostly - by relatives, I am going to come again this summer. During the last visit, it struck in the eyes that all Belarusians were very unhappy with life, constantly complaining about salaries, children, roads and the world order as a whole. And still there is a feeling that nothing is changing: the streets are the same, the stores are the same, people are the same, as if everything stopped like in the movie “Groundhog Day”.

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