A doua surpriza placuta au fost Green Cardurile care trebuiau sa vina cam dupa 45 zile de la intrarea in tara dar pana in 6 luni de zile. La noi au venit dupa 3 saptamani de la intarare, cand nici nu ne asteptam. Tot asa, prin posta, au venit direct acasa.
Aici fiind distantele foarte mari, masina era obligatorie asa ca dupa o saptamana de cautari pe craiglist.com ne-am luat masina!!! Un Nissan Altima dragut, cu putine mile la un pret acceptabil pentru noi: 3200$.
Dupa ce am avut SSN si masina, ne-am dus sa dam de carnet din nou pentru ca cel din Romania era valabil 60 zile in Pennsylvania.Ne-am luat frumos cartea si ne-am apucat de invatat, am facut teste, ne-am stresat prea tare zicem noi acuma. A trebuit sa mergem si la un doctor de familie care sa ne zica ca suntem apti pentru a conduce. Cum nu stiam pe nimeni aici, Anca ne-a dus la doctorul ei de familie, un rus simpatic care ne-a inhatat de cate 75$ de persoana pentru ca nu aveam asigurare. Facem programare telefonica prin asistenta Natasha sau Nathalia (depinde cine o intreba), o rusoaica adevarata care abia abia vorbea engleza si care se mira ca nu stim rusa. Cum sunteti romani si nu stiti rusa??? Ajungem la programare la ora stabilita, completam o fisa si stam, si stam, si iara stam.....si uite asa am stat 2 ore ca sa intram la doctor. Acolo ne-am simtit ca in Romania.....orice rus venea era primit in cabinet inaintea nostra, iar raspunsul era intotdeauna -voi urmati!!! Am urmat dupa 2 ore si ceva si dupa ce am sunat sa aman primul meu interviu telefonic....Am fost cantariti, masurati, ne-a luat tensiunea, ne-a pus doctorul cateva intrebari daca avem alergii sau alte boli cronice si am fost gata cu controlul in 15 minute.
Avand foaia de la doctor ne ducem sa dam sala. Primeam 18 intrebari si trebuia sa facem 15 corecte. Intrebarile usoare, aceleasi din carte asa ca a fost floare la ureche. Am primit pe loc permisul provizoriu pana dam traseul. Cu acest permis putem conduce cu cineva cu permis in dreapta. Urmatoarea saptamana reusesc printr-o minune sa ma programez telefonic peste doua zile pe locul cuiva care renuntase. Mare bucurie mare pentru ca programarile se faceau pentru urmatoarele 6 saptamani, iar Cata a prins un loc abia in 6 decembrie. Asa ca joi m-am dus sa dau traseul, care aici consta intr-o parcare laterala care trebuie sa-ti iasa din prima (3 adjustari ai voie) si o scurta plimbare de maxim 10 minute. Toate bune si frumoase, parcarea reusita, de plimbare nu-mi mai faceam probleme dupa 8 ani de condus asa ca la sfarsit am auzit "Felicitari, ai trecut! Pregateste-te sa zambesti la poza din permis:)". Aici lumea la poza nu sta sobra si suparata ca in Romania, aici langa camera care-ti face poza este un smiley face si chiar ti se spune sa zambesti la camera. Si faci poza de cate ori vrei, pana iti place. Mai semnez inca o data, te intreaba daca vrei sa fii donator de organe si gata permisul. Iese pe loc cardul.
Ne-am dus si la banca sa ne facem cont bancar si card de credit pentru a face history credit. Am nimerit bine la Bank of America la indrumarea lui Adi si pe loc am primit cardul de debit (provizoriu) iar dupa ce am transferat banii ne-am dus si ne-am facut si card de credit. Pentru ca noi nu lucram am gasit varianta in care am garantat cu o suma de bani si am deschis o linie de credit de aceeasi valoare. Dupa un an de zile, daca platim la timp si facem scor bun, primim banii inapoi si putem aplica la un card de credit normal. E buna aceasta varianta pentru inceput ca sa poti face credit history cat mai repede. Fara un credit history bun nu pot inchiria casa, lua masina in leasing, lua credite asa ca e foarte important acest aspect.
SUA este o tara care m-a impresionat nu prin zgarie norii ei, nu prin magazinele frumoase sau diversitatea oamenilor, m-a impresionat prin sistemele lor care functioneaza!!! Atat cat m-am confruntat eu cu ele. Prin oamenii care zambesc mereu, care te saluta pe strada, care sunt relaxati si asta se vede.
First thing you have to do when
you arrive in USA is to go to a Social Security Office to apply for a Social
Security Number (SSN). You need that for practically anything you will do in
USA. So on a Thursday morning we went
down to an office to apply for SSN. This was our first contact with American
institutions and we were impressed by their attitude and behavior. We climbed
up to the 20th floor of a building, we waited for about 2-3 minutes,
then we were invited in a room where we filled in the application. We didn’t
get a chance to write our name down that we were already called to a window. A
nice gentleman was nice enough to wait for us to finish the application then he
checked our name in the system. He finished the application process and told us
that we are going to receive our Social Security Cards in the mail in 7-10
business days. We left the office
thrilled about how easily things went, grabbed ourselves a coffee from Donkin
Donuts and went to visit the city center. On the following Monday our cards
were already home. In 3 days. Things move pretty fast around here J.
The second nice surprise was with
the Green Card that were supposed to arrive in 45 days after our entry in USA.
In our case they arrived in 3 weeks. We didn’t even expected themJ.
In USA the distances between
anything are pretty long. So a car it’s a must. We searched for about one week
for a car on craiglist.com and a nice Nissan Altima from 2002 with
low mileage for that age. We paid 3200$
After we obtained the SSN and
bought the car we decide to take our driving license. The Romanian one was
valid only for 1 year in Pennsylvania. We started learning, took the practice
tests and stressed out a bit too muchJ.
We also had to go to a family doctor who can say that we are able to drive. We
didn’t know anybody here so Anca took us to a Russian doctor who charged us
75$/ person for the visit because we didn’t have any medical insurance. After
the doctor signed our papers we went to the Driving license office and took the
theoretical test. We had to answer correctly to 15 questions out of 18. The
questions were pretty easy , they were practically the same questions from the
book we read. We received immediately a
temporary driving license ( Learner Permit) with which you are allowed to drive if you have an
adult with driving license in the car with you. In the next week I miraculously
managed to get an appointment for the road test in two days instead of someone
who quit. This was awesome because usually appointments were done for 6 weeks
after. Cata only managed to get an appointment for 6th of December.
So on Thursday I went to take the road test. It starts with a parallel parking
which you have to do it from the first try. After that you go for a short ride
of about 10 minutes. All good, parking done the ride was easy with no problems.
Of course all this are after 8 years of driving in Romania. In the end they
congratulated me for passing the exam, I signed some more papers and I had my
picture taken. Here they even have a smiley face next to the camera. They
encourage people to smile at the camera, to look nice in the picture, not like
in Romania where you are not allowed to smile in an official picture. I got my USA driving license.
We went to the bank to apply for
an account and credit card in order to start our credit history. We went to
Bank of America guided by Adrian and we received immediately a debit card and
after we transfer our savings from Romania we went back to apply for the credit
card. Because none of us had jobs we could only apply for a secure credit card.
You guarantee the amount on the credit card with your own money. This is for an
year. After that if you pay on time you can get a regular credit card. This is
a good way to start building on your credit score. Without a good credit score you can not apply
for renting a house, leasing a car or buying a house. Actually you can but the
interest rate is much higher.
SUA is a country that impressed
me not with its sky scrapers or its big stores or its people diversity but with
their systems that really work!!! People
are always smiling, say Hi on the streets, are relaxed and that is visible from
the planeJ
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