History of Muscovites who moved to California

Photo: provided by the hero of the text

Experienced travelers know: everything is relative. Someone moves to a new place blindly, trusting his inner voice. Others can do a whole study before choosing the ideal environment for themselves. Continuing the series of articles about Russians living abroad, “Lenta.ru report»Publishes the history of Muscovite Oksana Renard, who, together with her husband, visited 50 countries before moving to the United States.

The road is waiting for you

I was born and lived all my life in Moscow. She graduated from the economics department of the Moscow Psychological and Social University. But, having worked 4 by profession, I realized that this is not what I would like to do all my life. My husband was born in Tomsk and after graduation he moved to the capital.

At the end of January 2016, we came with our family to California. We went for a couple of months - my husband enrolled at the Founder Institute in Palo Alto. But almost immediately we realized that we did not want to leave. Since the arrival, 8 months have passed, and the feeling of the joy of life here does not leave us.

The move was a surprise to us. The competition in the Founder Institute is big, so the husband did not particularly hope for success, but still decided to try his hand - and entered. When the letter came from the university, we were in Vietnam. Classes started through 4 of the day, and we frantically began looking for tickets. The only convenient flight for us was already the next morning. There was no choice - quickly packed up, we went to the airport.

Short excursion

We live in the provincial town of San José (about an hour from San Francisco). There is downtown, where there are offices, skyscrapers, the administrative center and everything that is supposed to be in the center of the city.

We moved to a quiet, green area, where we enjoy a measured life. We like the city: close to San Francisco, to the ocean, many parks. In 2 hours you can reach Napa Valley, and Yosemite National Park is relatively close. Every weekend we go out for a walk.

Photo: provided by the hero of the text

In local supermarkets you can find anything, including an unlimited amount of useful organic products. In the US, you can eat cheap, but fast food or convenience foods, or expensive, but wholesome food.

Americans do not wash at home. They can buy a washing machine and dryer, but not all consider it necessary. For example, if you rent an apartment, then the chances of having a washing machine in them are minimal. Laundry is located in a special building on the territory of the complex where we live.

Any connection flies a pretty penny: the phone and home Internet are several times more expensive than in Moscow. But the quality of the connection is not better.

In California, everyone moves in cars, the car is really not a luxury. By the way, tourists note: it’s not customary to leave the children in the car and move further than one meter. I myself would never leave a daughter like that, but I know a case when a woman left a sleeping child in a car to run to the store. When she came out, the rescue team was already opening her sedan. It turned out that the passerby saw the baby and called the rescuers.

All this we realized after some time. Full of enthusiasm, at first they did not understand where we were and what to do next. At first they rented a house with the help of a popular Internet service with strangers. So 2 lived for a month, after which they decided to try to rent an apartment for a long time.

Photo: provided by the hero of the text

On another service, we found several attractive options, but in the USA you cannot take a step without a credit history and without a social security number. We were lucky: we managed to negotiate with the landlords to occupy the apartment for a year. Apartments here are rented without furniture and without it at all, only plumbing and kitchen furniture, so immediately upon arrival we bought a used car and went for the most necessary.

When we realized that we like everything here, we began to think about extending the visa. We found a lawyer for emigration. As my husband has a training center and certain achievements in the field of education, they decided to apply for a business visa. To do this, it was necessary to collect the necessary package of documents that can not be called easy and enjoyable.

It is necessary to arrange all publications, translate them into English, adapt the book that my husband wrote in Russian, receive recommendations from important people in this field, rent an office, and so on. In general, collecting the necessary documents and their translation takes a couple of months.

We have not yet completed this process, so at the moment we are here on a tourist visa. Obtaining a residence permit is a rather time-consuming and expensive process: we spent $ 7 thousand only for the services of a lawyer.

Eternal honeymoon

Our marriage was traveling. When we first met, we talked a lot about which countries we want to visit. And after 4, the months flew to India for the winter. There my future husband made me an offer. Then we went to Bali, to Thailand, Croatia. As a result, in 5 years we visited 50 countries, many more than once. Of course, all this was made possible through the activities of the spouse. We are not tied to one place, because the whole business is on the Internet.

Photo: provided by the hero of the text

I can not say that travel had some kind of purpose, we just liked such a life. But in parallel, we explored the city and wondered where we could stay forever. So, they lived for about six months in Thailand, but realized that this country is ideal for holidays, but not suitable for permanent residence: a very hot climate and a long rainy season. In addition, there you will always be, as the locals say, "farang" (tourist, guest). On the whole, the energy of the island (we lived on Samui) does not have a working mood and career growth.

During a trip to South America, we began to be interested in alternative medicine - reiki. My husband and I became interested, and in six months we received initiations in spiritual practices.

We also lived in the Spanish resort town of Torrevieja. But we didn’t like this eternally sunny beach: the vacation atmosphere, relaxed Spaniards, the energy of the place are not suitable for a normal life.

Freedom from the office

During his studies at the Founder Institute, her husband was interested in the technology of founding startups related to the development of mobile applications. But we do our main work remotely.

Photo: provided by the hero of the text

Most of my time, of course, is occupied by our 2-year-old daughter, home and family entertainment. But it also takes a minute to take alternative medicine. I practice theta healing and regularly consult. This is a system of quick meditations aimed at exploring limiting beliefs. For example, a person has an established opinion that money is bad. This position may even be unconscious, but well established. During the sessions, we find out where it came from and why it is needed. Find the original reason and understand it. There is no magic here, rather psychology.

A husband manages a training and production online center that helps people develop their internal potential, improve financial results, see a new direction in business, and so on. Now she plans to enter the American market.

Law-abiding citizens

The main advantage of life in the United States for us was a stable future and the education of our daughter. We like the fact that here people are generally kinder. Good service is also captivating. Generally, honestly, I feel good everywhere. Because wherever you go, you take yourself with you. Specifically, in San Jose, I am completely satisfied with the climate - warm, but moderately.

I also finally dared to get behind the wheel. On local roads it is not terrible to make a mistake, turn the wrong way, and most importantly, rudeness is very rare among drivers. Motorists practically do not violate the rules of the road. Americans respect the law.

It turned out that we do not have many acquaintances among the locals, we interact with them a little. We do not work in companies, and the daughter does not yet go to kindergarten or school. Only her husband has fellow Americans, classmates. And there are a lot of Russian speakers here. We find each other on Instagram, in special communities on Facebook, through acquaintances, friends of friends, and so on.

Photo: provided by the hero of the text

So far my English is far from advanced - I teach it, so I mostly communicate with visitors from Russia. But we did not notice any disregard for the Russians. The USA is a country of immigrants. There is a huge number of visitors from different parts of the world, so loyalty applies to everyone without exception.

Smile and wave

We like to live in the USA, but we are light on the rise, so I do not rule out that we can change the country over time. We have nothing against Russia, but I do not like the climate, the slush and the eternal viruses.

If you compare the 2 of the country, the first thing that comes to mind is the facial expression of people. In the US, people walk smiling, say compliments, no one is set up for "everything is bad." Yes, even if these smiles are not always sincere, it suits me more than outright rudeness (which happens everywhere, but in Russia I notice it more often).

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