Friday, September 27, 2013
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Speak Deutsch with me
We have just had a lunch with a German colleague of my husband and he said that he could recognize that I speak German with an austrian pronunciation:) I hope he wasn't trying to flatter me since I don't mind at all speaking like Austrians do:))
Monday, September 23, 2013
USA vs Austria
A friend of mine was on a business trip to Santa Clara and we spent several evenings together. Of course he asked about our plans. If feel like staying in US and settle down here. We answered simultaniously without a second of hesitation though we haven't yet really discuss the topic. Really, we don't see any single reason to prefer to stay here. The only one possible could have been the climate. But right the next day after that conversation it suddenly started to rain and didn't stop for about 2 hours. It was first time we've seen rain during 2 months spent here:) So, no, for the moment we don't feel like staying here forever. Let's see if it's going to change or not.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Unpleasant accidents with Caltrain. With me and Caltrain.
I'm commuting to San Francisco these days 2-3 days a week for my "volunteering" activity. The tickets system works in the way that you cannot just buy several tickets for next trips, each one-time ticket you buy is only valid the same day. Once when I didn't now about that yet I was very happy to see an option in the machine "save money, buy several tickets". Luckily I only had money enough for 5 or 6 tickets tickets, that's why I lost only about 40 dollars....
Also caltrains sometimes get late. This week it happened to me twice. Once it was late for about 40 minutes and then they decided to combine two trains into one and make it one and not to insult anybody from any train they made it stop at every station.... Also at one of the stations, San Bruno it stopped for about 20 minutes due to some problems in the tonnel. Finally my trip took that time about 3.5 hours instead of normal 1.5-2 hours.
And yesterday happened something I couldn't even imagine. As I said already you can only buy single tickets for a day. And what I don't like in this system is that you can never forsee people traffic, especially at the Sunnyvale Caltrain station which only has 2 machines selling tickets. Sometimes there is nobody, sometimes you have a row of about 10 people like here:
But of course there is a solution for frequent travellers. It's clipper card. A plastic card which you "load" with money and then you don't have to stay this row. You only have to tag-in and tag-out with your card at the starting and final stations. Which means that you have to bring your card close to the special machine, those are much more frequent at the station. But you have to do this, you have to keep it in mind.
So, yesterday I was going back in the evening, completely tired and full of my thoughts. So I really don't believe if I tagged-in at San Francisco Caltrain Station. I think I did but I'm not completely sure. But San Francisco is a terminal station and it has it's advantages. One of them is that they check tickets at boarding. They open the gate to the lines and two employee are staying at the gate and checking the tickets of every single entering person. So they did with my card and never said anything was wrong. So I boarded and relaxed with the "To kill a mockingbird" which I've just started after finishing "Russen sind anders" (recommend it to everybody by the way who has something to do with Russians and wants to know more about our mentality. The book is written by a Swiss guy from somewhere near St Gallen who was making and still makes I believe business in Russia. He describes life of simple people as well as business environment starting from Soviet Union times to the after Perestroyka-times. For me it was very interesting to read since I recognised from one hand real life, mine and of my parents and read it from the view of a European). It was only 2 stations to mine. Next was Mountain View and then Sunnyvale. And before Mountain View came ticket control. The lady (I recognised her, she was the one of two who checked our tickets at SF, though not exactly the one who checked my ticket) checked my ticked and showed me a big red NO on the screen. I was confused. She explained that I didn't tag-in my ticket and normally would have to pay a 250 dollar fee. I was confused even more and told me that I believe I tagged in. She asked where I boarded and I said that in SF. She asked if my card was checked and I said that of course. She asked by whom, I answered that by her and her colleague, probably it helped me to make her a bit softer. And also, of course that I don't look like person who wants to cheat for the sake of 7 dollars I hope:) So, finally she proposed me to get off at Mountain view and tag in there and to make an "zone upgrade". Of course I have no idea how to do it and told her about it. She meant that I would have to go to the other machine to do it but when she understood that I won't be able to figure out fast enough how to do it and will lose the train than she told me at least just tag in in Mountain View. While we were approaching the station I tried to call my husband to come and pick me up from there since I didn't feel like going back to that train at all and Mountain View is just like 15 minutes from our home. But the lady was following me to the machine to tag in and even kept a train not to departure without me. But the story didn't end at that point! I tagged in, went back to the train, she checked my card with her machine and there was again NO! She said I don't have enough money on my account which I argued with the confidence since I just loaded it a couple of days ago and already used it after that so I had the opportunity to check that my 50 dollars had arrived to the account! Then she brought the machine to the card again and that time it was YES. I happily departed and in 5 minutes was at Sunnyvale where I tagged of but unfortunately didn't check the indication at the machine since I was already too much confused with the whole situation. And now I think that probably I did tag in in SF as well and what kind of transactions took place to my account now I have no idea.....
Also caltrains sometimes get late. This week it happened to me twice. Once it was late for about 40 minutes and then they decided to combine two trains into one and make it one and not to insult anybody from any train they made it stop at every station.... Also at one of the stations, San Bruno it stopped for about 20 minutes due to some problems in the tonnel. Finally my trip took that time about 3.5 hours instead of normal 1.5-2 hours.
And yesterday happened something I couldn't even imagine. As I said already you can only buy single tickets for a day. And what I don't like in this system is that you can never forsee people traffic, especially at the Sunnyvale Caltrain station which only has 2 machines selling tickets. Sometimes there is nobody, sometimes you have a row of about 10 people like here:
But of course there is a solution for frequent travellers. It's clipper card. A plastic card which you "load" with money and then you don't have to stay this row. You only have to tag-in and tag-out with your card at the starting and final stations. Which means that you have to bring your card close to the special machine, those are much more frequent at the station. But you have to do this, you have to keep it in mind.
So, yesterday I was going back in the evening, completely tired and full of my thoughts. So I really don't believe if I tagged-in at San Francisco Caltrain Station. I think I did but I'm not completely sure. But San Francisco is a terminal station and it has it's advantages. One of them is that they check tickets at boarding. They open the gate to the lines and two employee are staying at the gate and checking the tickets of every single entering person. So they did with my card and never said anything was wrong. So I boarded and relaxed with the "To kill a mockingbird" which I've just started after finishing "Russen sind anders" (recommend it to everybody by the way who has something to do with Russians and wants to know more about our mentality. The book is written by a Swiss guy from somewhere near St Gallen who was making and still makes I believe business in Russia. He describes life of simple people as well as business environment starting from Soviet Union times to the after Perestroyka-times. For me it was very interesting to read since I recognised from one hand real life, mine and of my parents and read it from the view of a European). It was only 2 stations to mine. Next was Mountain View and then Sunnyvale. And before Mountain View came ticket control. The lady (I recognised her, she was the one of two who checked our tickets at SF, though not exactly the one who checked my ticket) checked my ticked and showed me a big red NO on the screen. I was confused. She explained that I didn't tag-in my ticket and normally would have to pay a 250 dollar fee. I was confused even more and told me that I believe I tagged in. She asked where I boarded and I said that in SF. She asked if my card was checked and I said that of course. She asked by whom, I answered that by her and her colleague, probably it helped me to make her a bit softer. And also, of course that I don't look like person who wants to cheat for the sake of 7 dollars I hope:) So, finally she proposed me to get off at Mountain view and tag in there and to make an "zone upgrade". Of course I have no idea how to do it and told her about it. She meant that I would have to go to the other machine to do it but when she understood that I won't be able to figure out fast enough how to do it and will lose the train than she told me at least just tag in in Mountain View. While we were approaching the station I tried to call my husband to come and pick me up from there since I didn't feel like going back to that train at all and Mountain View is just like 15 minutes from our home. But the lady was following me to the machine to tag in and even kept a train not to departure without me. But the story didn't end at that point! I tagged in, went back to the train, she checked my card with her machine and there was again NO! She said I don't have enough money on my account which I argued with the confidence since I just loaded it a couple of days ago and already used it after that so I had the opportunity to check that my 50 dollars had arrived to the account! Then she brought the machine to the card again and that time it was YES. I happily departed and in 5 minutes was at Sunnyvale where I tagged of but unfortunately didn't check the indication at the machine since I was already too much confused with the whole situation. And now I think that probably I did tag in in SF as well and what kind of transactions took place to my account now I have no idea.....
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
People around. I'm not completely alien finally.
Several days ago when I was doing my usual route SF-Sunnyvale a guy asked me in the bus in SF to advise where should he get off. Turned out that he was also going to the Caltrain station so I assured him that I know the stop for sure. When we went out of the bus I also showed him the way to the station and then he told me that it was his first time in SF and in US at all. So I helped him to buy the ticket, to find his train. We took the same train and chatted along the way. What an incredible feeling was it to be in the position of the one who has been living in the area "for a long time already", to tell, explain, answer the questions and advise!!! I have been permanently experiencing the feeling of "I'm alien here" since March and it's a pure pleasure to give it up at least for a while.
The day before yesterday on my way from Target parking to Sunnyvale Caltrain Station I was crossing the road together with a women dressed as she was jogging/walking. Suddenly the woman started to speak to me. She told that she had just recently retired and now is supporting active life style by morning walks about 3-4 miles. I asked if she is doing the same route every day, she explained that more or less, but still not the same. But she always has to cross the railway in the same place, exactly at the Sunnyvale station. Also she told me that every train has it's name, after one of the city. This train's name is "MIllbrae". Though I forgot to check any other trains on my way that day.
The day before yesterday on my way from Target parking to Sunnyvale Caltrain Station I was crossing the road together with a women dressed as she was jogging/walking. Suddenly the woman started to speak to me. She told that she had just recently retired and now is supporting active life style by morning walks about 3-4 miles. I asked if she is doing the same route every day, she explained that more or less, but still not the same. But she always has to cross the railway in the same place, exactly at the Sunnyvale station. Also she told me that every train has it's name, after one of the city. This train's name is "MIllbrae". Though I forgot to check any other trains on my way that day.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Finally found the perfect route to San Francisco
So the perfect route is still using Caltrain. But there is a way to adjust it! First of all you should use the ClipperCard which allows your to make rides by train a bit cheaper and second to make rides by bus easier. The thing is that when you ride a single-trip by bus you have to pay 2 dollars and they don't give you change. They just don't give it. Which lieterally means that if you don't have exactly 2 dollars you can't take the bus. With the clipper card you just have certain amount of money on the card and just have to touch the monitor at the bus entrance.
And the seond genious idea which came to my husband's mind was to park at the garage of Target shop which is just 5 minutes walking from the station, it's covered, free and there are no duration restrictions.
That's how it look like:
And this is how looks other parking space even closer to the station. First you are overwhelmed with it's size and free spaces availability but then you notice this small sign:
And the seond genious idea which came to my husband's mind was to park at the garage of Target shop which is just 5 minutes walking from the station, it's covered, free and there are no duration restrictions.
That's how it look like:
And this is how looks other parking space even closer to the station. First you are overwhelmed with it's size and free spaces availability but then you notice this small sign:
4 hours is even a lot, mostly there is 2 hours limitation for the parking spaces in the city. But we shouldn't forget that it's not San Francisco, it's Sunnyvale, a small town.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Some cross-cultural exchange
Finally got the book! It took Amazon unexpectedly long to ship it to US, longer than it would take to Austria...
UPD: it turned out that it didn't take long because of the shipping to US or to Austria but only because that it wasn't available at Amazon, only at some other partner of Amazon. I didn't understand my husband correctly. This kind of miscommunication is going on often if nobody speaks the language of the other one fluent.
Thanks for recommendation, mitgeschmack:)
Monday, September 9, 2013
Governmental services. I'm surprised and irritated.
Just to emphasize - I'm from Russia. The country with very high level of bureaucracy and complexity of governmental services. In Russia we learn from the very early age that all governmental procedures are designed not in the way to help and assist people, reduce their time and money costs and make the processes clear and simple but exactly on the opposite - to make them not seek too much help from the government, not to apply for any services, just not come and not disturb the system and if come then pay with the time, money and nerves. People are not the customers, they are interference, they are supposed to feel guilty and indebted towards the system overall and it's single representatives. It changes lately or it tries to change, but it's still there and I am still used when I have to deal with any governmental services to be cheated, badly informed, badly treated, to be ready to fight, prove, find the ways etc. I know that the world is not perfect and that no country is perfect. But I still thought that probably it's somehow better here. It is, but there is an example how I really almost got cheated by the procedure. Not intentionally, obviously, it's just the bad thought process.
There is such concept as Social Security Number. In few words it's a unique number assigned to individuals including but not limited by US citizens based on certain criteria which serves the purpose of supporting and tracking their Social Security status. Even before coming to US I knew that it is very important to have SSN, that you literally are not allowed to work without it. At the same time it's not the same as to have work permit. To be allowed to work you also have to obtain some certain papers confirming your work permit. I'm not aware about these processes for US citizens and Green Card holders but for my L2 visa I am not allowed to work until I get EAD (Employment Authorization Document). So, generally my visa allows to work but only after receiving this EAD. In comparison there are types of visas which not allow to work under any circumstances. That's why I was so concerned to apply for EAD asap, I'm not allowed to work until I have it in my hands. And here we are coming to the interesting part. When you read the rules of receiving SSN you read there clearly in English:
"To apply for an original card, you must provide at least two documents to prove age, identity, and U.S.citizenship or current lawful, work-authorized immigration status. If you are not a U.S. citizen and do not have DHS work authorization, you must prove that you have a valid non-work reason for requesting a card."
I am exactly that one, who is not a US citizen and I do not have anything that I would consider "DHS work authorization". I'm waiting for it for 2 months already and praying each day to get it asap. So if you follow the standard logic you will come to the conclusion that you can only apply for SSN as soon as you have your EAD approved.
Even more. I was even not the only one who read it like this. Simply googling I found several immigrant forums where people come to the same conclusion and advise others to do the same. Even more, our swiss friend, who came here just 4 months earlier also read it like this. And I was also waiting to get EAD and only after that to apply for SSN.
And then just last week I don't even remember why I started to doubt this opinion. I've called to SS Administration office and asked the girl if I'm eligible for SSN with my L2 visa before I have EAD. She needed to keep me on hold for some time since she didn't know the answer and then she came back and said that looks like I am, I just need to bring my marriage certificate with me!
So, today I went there, the only documents that she checked were my passport, my marriage certificate with NOT-notarized translation and my I-94 number which she also awaited to get printed from me and I had to explain to her that it is not being issued in paper since something like 3 months already, you apply for it online and just get the number and no stamped papers.
So, now in couple of weeks I'll get my SSN and hopefully in not later than a month my work permit and I will be allowed to work. If I would not check, the process would take longer. That's how it is.
To be completely honest these paper things didn't go smoothly even with my move to Austria. There we, my husband and I, also had to make lots of additional investigations, calls, to come personally to the embassy in Moscow and to the registration office in Austria to find out how the procedure should be applied in our case. And we also received different answers from different employee and most of them were quite sure of their opinions, even those who were how we found later completely wrong.
There is such concept as Social Security Number. In few words it's a unique number assigned to individuals including but not limited by US citizens based on certain criteria which serves the purpose of supporting and tracking their Social Security status. Even before coming to US I knew that it is very important to have SSN, that you literally are not allowed to work without it. At the same time it's not the same as to have work permit. To be allowed to work you also have to obtain some certain papers confirming your work permit. I'm not aware about these processes for US citizens and Green Card holders but for my L2 visa I am not allowed to work until I get EAD (Employment Authorization Document). So, generally my visa allows to work but only after receiving this EAD. In comparison there are types of visas which not allow to work under any circumstances. That's why I was so concerned to apply for EAD asap, I'm not allowed to work until I have it in my hands. And here we are coming to the interesting part. When you read the rules of receiving SSN you read there clearly in English:
"To apply for an original card, you must provide at least two documents to prove age, identity, and U.S.citizenship or current lawful, work-authorized immigration status. If you are not a U.S. citizen and do not have DHS work authorization, you must prove that you have a valid non-work reason for requesting a card."
I am exactly that one, who is not a US citizen and I do not have anything that I would consider "DHS work authorization". I'm waiting for it for 2 months already and praying each day to get it asap. So if you follow the standard logic you will come to the conclusion that you can only apply for SSN as soon as you have your EAD approved.
Even more. I was even not the only one who read it like this. Simply googling I found several immigrant forums where people come to the same conclusion and advise others to do the same. Even more, our swiss friend, who came here just 4 months earlier also read it like this. And I was also waiting to get EAD and only after that to apply for SSN.
And then just last week I don't even remember why I started to doubt this opinion. I've called to SS Administration office and asked the girl if I'm eligible for SSN with my L2 visa before I have EAD. She needed to keep me on hold for some time since she didn't know the answer and then she came back and said that looks like I am, I just need to bring my marriage certificate with me!
So, today I went there, the only documents that she checked were my passport, my marriage certificate with NOT-notarized translation and my I-94 number which she also awaited to get printed from me and I had to explain to her that it is not being issued in paper since something like 3 months already, you apply for it online and just get the number and no stamped papers.
So, now in couple of weeks I'll get my SSN and hopefully in not later than a month my work permit and I will be allowed to work. If I would not check, the process would take longer. That's how it is.
To be completely honest these paper things didn't go smoothly even with my move to Austria. There we, my husband and I, also had to make lots of additional investigations, calls, to come personally to the embassy in Moscow and to the registration office in Austria to find out how the procedure should be applied in our case. And we also received different answers from different employee and most of them were quite sure of their opinions, even those who were how we found later completely wrong.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Commuting to San Francisco and some my impression about this city
Lately I had to commute to San Francisco 2 times a week. I have tried to do it with the car which costed me enormous amount for parking. First of all it costs 2 dollars per hour (only in quarter coins. no other paying option available!!) and secondly you have to move your car every 2 hours since otherwise it will be towed away and you'll get a ticket.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Restroom gaps
Most if not all of public restrooms are designed here the way that you can quite clearly observe the inside of the cabin. 
Monday, September 2, 2013
Crossing Golden Gate Bridge
This weekend was prolongued due to the Labour day celebration on the 2nd of September. We didn't manage to plam something really huge, but in the last moment a german collegue of my husband proposed us to stay at his girlfriend's place in San Francisco and we've accepted this proposal with pleasure. We've already stayed there once and when we do so we have an additional task - to take care of the cat, a little sweet creature.
One of the impressions of this weekend you may enjoy on youtube. I've filmed the crossing of Golden Bridge in the direction of San Francisco. The sound is not very nice since it's very windy there so better turn it of:)
Enjoy:
One of the impressions of this weekend you may enjoy on youtube. I've filmed the crossing of Golden Bridge in the direction of San Francisco. The sound is not very nice since it's very windy there so better turn it of:)
Enjoy:
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