Our first year in the USA: what conclusions we managed to draw - ForumDaily
The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.
Переклад цього матеріалу українською мовою з російської було автоматично здійснено сервісом Google Translate, без подальшого редагування тексту.
Bu məqalə Google Translate servisi vasitəsi ilə avtomatik olaraq rus dilindən azərbaycan dilinə tərcümə olunmuşdur. Bundan sonra mətn redaktə edilməmişdir.

Our first year in the USA: what conclusions we managed to do

Not everyone can take the plunge and move their whole family from Russia to the USA, but not Denis Vishnya. Realizing that he and his family would have nothing to “catch” in Russia in the coming years, he decided to emigrate. He spoke about his experience and conclusions that he managed to draw during the first year of living in another country in the publication’s column “Our Texas«.

Photos from personal archive

365 days in the United States flew like one. Exactly a year ago, we landed with our whole family at the international airport named after George Bush in Houston, and it was a warm sunny day. We had no particular illusions about life in a new country. We failed right before the elections in Russia, realizing that in the coming years we will have nothing to “catch”. They reasoned simply: when you have nothing special, what difference does it make in which country you have “this”?

Now, of course, it is ridiculous to remember how confused we were in the first days. My American friends, although they helped to organize life instantly, still looking into our eyes with anxiety, they asked: would we regret coming to America? Apparently only those who have lived in Russia for decades can understand why we love our country so much, and from whom and why we are forced to flee from it ...

Anyway, already on the third day we lived in an apartment complex with a swimming pool, after 10 days we drove around in our own car, the children went to school, and the daughter also went to the tennis academy. The lawyer took up our business, and after a couple of months we got bored, we wanted to work. I remember in the store we met with an elderly couple from Russia, we talked about what and how ... We discussed the purchases, looked at each other's cars. “How old are you here already?” They ask. “Yes, only three weeks,” I say. Do not believe it. They say that when they arrived in the US 25 years ago, they roared around the corners for almost a year.

Photos from personal archive

Apparently, a lot has changed in a quarter of a century. Yes there over the past five years! And here are some thoughts about this:

- Stability and safety (especially children!) - the most important thing in life, here we were right. When my daughter first went alone to meet a new girlfriend in a cafe across the street, to be honest, I went after her. The fact that children often return on their own from school is shocked at first. Of course, this does not mean that children are now out of control. But the fact that animal fear for them disappears is a fact!

- The figure comes to order without any diets and rocking chairs, if you eat a normal healthy meal. I don’t know what the products were in Russia, but we didn’t change our diet in the USA: soups, potatoes, salsa, vegetables and fruits ... We traditionally cook ourselves, cafés at competitions or on holidays. The stomach was tightened, and running and swimming completed the business. It became easier to move. And live, in principle, too.

- Driving on the highway does not always mean that you find yourself at the right point earlier. It turns out that you can get stuck so that you will crawl with all, without any options, turn left or right. At rush hour, I look at the navigator, more often along small streets you will reach faster than on the highway.

- School is happiness for children, because they feel that they are loved there and are willing to help with everything. I remember our tears of tenderness with my wife when the teacher sent us thanks for the fact that our smart, diligent, cheerful and sociable children are making progress, and we, in general, are brilliant parents who can be proud of their children. Revealing an envelope with a letter, I, to be honest, expected that they would ask us for money for a class fund, “for curtains”, or something else there. By the way, friends in Russia still cannot believe that they have not taken a penny from us for a year at school. Trying to convince ...

Photos from personal archive

- Whatever you do, it is important when other people need your work. Everything, in general, as in Russia, only in the USA they also pay for labor, most often, decently. Even now I don’t really know how much they pay for in Houston, but the fact that no one has ever offended with money is an objective reality.

- People, in general, are divided, I think, all over the world, but if something happens, then they can quickly get together. Of course, we were preparing for departure. My wife watched a lot of videos, read a bunch of publications on the Internet. Almost in all yesterday's emigrants spoke about the willingness of people to help newcomers. I was sure: propaganda! And I was extremely surprised when I first encountered absolutely sincere help. And even more - when I first helped myself ... It turns out that we think of ourselves worse than we actually are.

“We were frightened from the very first days by the exhausting heat of the summer, and we were somewhat tense about it.” In the first year of the disaster did not happen. Moreover, the family agreed that it was better to live in the heat (where we wanted to go) than in the cold (we came from Ekaterinburg). When I once told the locals that the December weather was very similar to our May, they looked at me like a storyteller. And we, it seems, will not get warm here soon. At least, the sun can peek out in the winter more often.

- Americans can be curious on the roads (cut, rebuild without turn signals, significantly exceed the speed), but when the traffic light at the intersection breaks down, there will be no traffic jam: everyone lining up in a queue and passing each other, passing. Self-organization!

Photos from personal archive

- The first city where we went on a trip was San Antonio. I trained in it 23 a year ago, and dreamed of returning to it again, to show my wife and children. And I absolutely did not recognize San Antonio. No, the suburbs are almost the same, but the center, interchanges, shops are all completely different! Much has changed, but people in this city have remained as friendly and hospitable as ever. I was convinced personally.

- Police - while seen as a stronghold of justice. They wrote out a penalty for incorrect parking during the competition - put a check in the envelope along with an apology and an explanation of why this happened. As a result: they returned the check and asked to be more attentive.

In general, the advantages for the year, I must admit, I saw more than the minuses. Moreover, the drawbacks, it seems, are related to the difference in our mentality, habits, and tastes with our Americans. But this business, as they say, is fixable and seems to be “treated” over the years, the first of which has passed ...

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