April 23, 2011

Hi Max!

In this letter I'll tell you a little bit about U.S. politics, government and infrastructure. The U.S. government basically consists of two parts The Federal Government and The State Government, each state has its own governor that sets its own code of laws although some part stays in sync with the federal code of laws. What's interesting is that each state is like a separate country with its own economy, laws (partially) and, if you can say so, culture. Texas is, for example, very different from California in its way of life, laws and culture. You can say the same about Florida and Alabama. Even though every state speaks English, they all do it differently. The variety of dialects is pretty impressive; many of the states have their own distinct way of pronunciation and speaking.

Another thing that recently impressed me is taxes, their spending and the interconnection of the economy, jobs and people's wealth. When I used to live in our country I never understood where our tax money went. It has always puzzled me: everybody pays taxes but nothing ever changes - roads never get fixed (at least not on time), schools never get their inventory, and so on and on.

In America everything is far more simple; there are reports made by the government that state how much money goes to various purposes such as roads, education, military etc. Also, you can actually see that something is done as a result. Some part of those taxes goes to the state budget and some part to the federal. Oh, and I forgot to mention the part that goes to one's social security account in case of disability, unemployment and other unforeseen disasters.

That's probably it so far, but there is a lot more to discover so i'll write you more in the future!


April 22, 2011

Hi Max!

In this letter I want to tell you about San Francisco's cultural life. When I fist came here I never even had a clue how many clubs and venues there are here. SF as an extremely diverse and multicultural place with an enormous quantity of places to visit such as restaurants, night clubs, venues, pubs, bars, cafes and many more other places to go. My favorite is the Boom Boom Room - a place with live music where you can go to listen to some funk, rock or jazz music. The bands that play there are also of a very high level. Our town's "school bands" could never dream of playing like that. Another great place that I have to admire is called Blondie's. It's my favorite place to go with friends during the weekends, where you can relax, talk and listen to some great music.

Also, from time to time we have some great concerts going on. So far I've been to Tool, Medeski Matin, and Wood and Parliament. When I used to live back home I'd never even dreamed about such opportunities when I could see my heroes in the flesh and I bet you haven't either.

And of course San Francisco has a lot of venues to play. That's where you have almost an infinite choice. The only thing is that you have to be as good as the place you try to apply for, which means prestigious clubs take experienced musicians with good reputations. So if you ever consider coming to SF to play some gigs, be aware of the competition.

Stay tuned for the next letter.


April 20, 2011

Hey Max!

In this letter I want to tell you about the U.S. economy. Although the current situation is related to the worldwide crisis that affects nearly every economy in the world, I wouldn't say that the U.S. economy does really badly. Even though many people have lost their jobs, the economy is still afloat: the roads are repaired on time just when it's necessary, the sidewalks are always fixed when they break or crack and so on. The only thing that is not really great now is the employment situation, which makes it difficult to get a job even if you are good at what you do.

It's truly hard to admit but to find a job in America is much harder than in Russia and this makes people appreciate what they already have instead of us who often think about whether to get "that job" or not. On the other hand, the pay rate here is much higher compared to our average two hundred dollars a month, considering that product costs are not very different from ours.

The way that people undergo interviews here is quite interesting. The main difference is that every employer requires a resume even for jobs like dishwasher, which is not so common in our country where such requirements can be for some prestigious positions in companies.

Also, the attitude towards employees and their responsibilities are much more serious because of the requirements and high standards of provided services.

In my next letter I'll tell you some more about other aspects of life in the U.S.


April 18, 2011

Hi Max!

In this letter I will talk about cultural aspects of American society. The very first thing that caught my eye was smiling and good manners, which is really hard to find in the place where we come from. My first impression was "this is a country of polite people", but of course it's not always like that, and politeness, although it is a good thing, is just a social norm, which is good anyway. I think the origins of such nationwide courtesy derive from service, which means if you want your business to be successful you have to be polite, otherwise the clients won't come to your place again. Sometimes it's quite bothersome when salesmen ask you more then five times "Is everything all right?" or "Find everything all right?"

Another interesting fact about American culture is that it's very extroverted. Unlike in our country, people are very sociable here; they like to talk to strangers, their colleagues at their jobs and anybody who is near. Some of them like to spend their time volunteering for all sorts of charities helping disabled people, fund-raising or organizing public spots. Their social skills, what they call a set of cultural and behavioral patterns, are quite different from ours. For example if there are three persons participating in a conversation and one of them meets his friend or acquaintance, the other two will never greet the "stranger" until his friend introduces the "third party" to his friends.

Of course I can't tell you everything I've noticed over all this time, but I'll tell you some more in my next letter.


April 17, 2011

Dear Max,

You've asked me so many questions about the U.S. Now it's time to answer some of them.

You asked me about the stores and supermarkets, which are very common in the US and are found almost on every corner. The assortment of goods is incredible, even in such widespread and ordinary stores like Walgreens. It's not like we had to get used to when we had to go downtown to buy something that was unavailable in our small shacks operated by "two and a half men."

San Francisco has any kind of stores you can imagine including ones that sell absolutely useless stuff. For example once I saw an ice cream store that sells only green ice cream. Other stores can be as big as a whole block with many stories and countless departments. But my favorite one is the Guitar Center - a dream for any guy from Russia who wants to "get real" about his gear. The Guitar Center has the widest spectrum of all sorts of musical instruments, recording equipment and accessories (like a cymbal wall clock). Their prices are half compared to our stores, perhaps because all the facilities are nearby in Mexico and California.

Another interesting phenomenon is a stock store called Ross. Basically, Ross is a place were all the major companies like Walmart or Home Depot sell their storage leftovers for almost no price because big companies constantly have to take in new supplies in order to keep up with demand.

The food in the U.S. is a whole new story. Its variety and quantity is astonishing. Some of my acquaintances say that there is not enough time in a lifetime to try everything that is in those food stores. Food is cheap here compared to Europe and where we come from, so even the homeless, I guess, are not starving here.

I hope you will find something useful from my experience. In my next letter I'll tell you some more about America.


February 6, 2011

Dear Mary,

You asked me about the life in U.S., so here is my story.

I arrived in America about a year ago. It was the most exiting moment in my life. After almost a year of paperwork and waiting, I finally got on a plane heading from Moscow to San Francisco with a connecting flight in the airport of Heathrow, London.

My uncle was supposed to meet me at the airport in San Francisco at two o'clock in the afternoon, but I was delayed by the border officer due to some problems with my papers, which, as it suddenly appeared, occurred because of the school's mistake. The officer was very curious about everything that he could find about me, getting deeper and deeper into the interrogation process. At some moments I thought that my journey would end before I even stepped on American soil, but luckily l found the solution and called the school so it would tell the DHS to give me some time. Thus, I could resolve all my problems without going back.

An hour later I got out of the airport, apologizing to my relatives for my late arrival. During the first two or three months I thought I was on another planet even though everything seemed to be familiar according to movies that I saw before I came here. I was shocked by the complexity of San Francisco's infrastructure and hardly could navigate in this "chaos" as it seemed to me then. Another shock was a cultural shock - I couldn't believe how nice everybody around me was, from store retailers to the people on the streets.

I had a hard time understanding my uncle's family, their values and behavior. Everything seemed different. Even though they were nice to me most of the time, I found and still find some of their actions illogical and strange.

But as the time flies, you get used to all these differences because you can't change the way it is, so it's better to change yourself, which is always useful in any situation.