I don't really know why, but I just didn't feel like writing even to my Russian blog, not talking about the English one. Maybe I was so mentally exhausted by all the situation, by all troubles I have had to go here through. And now something is changing again. We are planning our move back to Austria (for me it's not totally "back", only to some point). We already have most of the tickets and most of the details of our trip planned. We just had to do it, because we had to provide the tickets to the Austrian embassy showing that we are flying to Austria. Flying together also helped us to avoid paying the visa application fee which is kind of nice. Austrian embassy is located in Los Angles, so we had to do this trip last Friday. It is my second experience of applying for a visa in a foreign country embassy (first was US embassy in Austria) and I am again astonished. How is it possible, that when I was applying for an Austrian visa, the same type as now, in the Austrian embassy in Moscow I had to struggle with that bureaucracy and here everything went smooth and easy? Why were the employee of the embassy in Moscow so rough and angry with me and the employee in Los Angeles so nice, friendly and helpful? I'm really starting to get used to a civilized way of solving problems. USCIS, the authority that issued my work authorization was probably an exception or maybe my case was an exception. In all other situations I only see (and here from my fellow-immigrant friends) positive examples of interaction with the authorities abroad. I hope I will never have to deal with authorities in Russia again.
As for the rest. Our overall impression of the US (or better to say of California, because as far as I understand the state of things may vary a lot from state to state) is very good. It is a very nice place to live. I totally understand those who say that they are very happy that they got to move here. Many things are organized really good here, it is the place where you may live and enjoy life. Of course that is all given that you have a job or some other stable source of income.
What I really like here is traffic conditions. Roads are broad, each lane itself is wide. Traffic lights and signs are organized smartly. I'm totally fascinated with such a measure of reducing the traffic as Carpool lane (it is the lane which is only available for vehicles with 2 or more persons in it during the rush hours). I am also impressed by the driving style in California. People are polite to each other!!! If you want to change your lane and start to blink they let you do it!! Somebody who like me live in Moscow the whole life would understand how shocked I was when I saw it.
Also the infrastructure is great here. You can buy everything you want almost anytime, in the evening, in the night, on weekend. Things are being solved quickly, pay and go, no need to arrange appointments, wait etc. Of course, it's not always and everywhere like this, but for the majority of things.
It is only our personal situation that really makes it senseless for us to stay here in the US and prefer to go to live to Austria. If I would have to choose between Russia and US I wouldn't have any single doubt about it.
I was lucky enough to find a perfect job for my situation. I have great working hours, there is no stress and pressure at all (I have never had such not-stressful job in my whole life!!!), my colleagues are mostly nice, I'm being paid surprisingly good, I'm pretty free to take day-offs.
Thanks to this we were able to visit a lot of things around. Actually we have been (or going to visit before our departure from US) more places than many people who have been living here for many years. But it is of course partly because of the short-term nature of our stay here. We know that we have time limits that's why we use possibilities as much as possible.
As for the rest. Our overall impression of the US (or better to say of California, because as far as I understand the state of things may vary a lot from state to state) is very good. It is a very nice place to live. I totally understand those who say that they are very happy that they got to move here. Many things are organized really good here, it is the place where you may live and enjoy life. Of course that is all given that you have a job or some other stable source of income.
What I really like here is traffic conditions. Roads are broad, each lane itself is wide. Traffic lights and signs are organized smartly. I'm totally fascinated with such a measure of reducing the traffic as Carpool lane (it is the lane which is only available for vehicles with 2 or more persons in it during the rush hours). I am also impressed by the driving style in California. People are polite to each other!!! If you want to change your lane and start to blink they let you do it!! Somebody who like me live in Moscow the whole life would understand how shocked I was when I saw it.
Also the infrastructure is great here. You can buy everything you want almost anytime, in the evening, in the night, on weekend. Things are being solved quickly, pay and go, no need to arrange appointments, wait etc. Of course, it's not always and everywhere like this, but for the majority of things.
It is only our personal situation that really makes it senseless for us to stay here in the US and prefer to go to live to Austria. If I would have to choose between Russia and US I wouldn't have any single doubt about it.
I was lucky enough to find a perfect job for my situation. I have great working hours, there is no stress and pressure at all (I have never had such not-stressful job in my whole life!!!), my colleagues are mostly nice, I'm being paid surprisingly good, I'm pretty free to take day-offs.
Thanks to this we were able to visit a lot of things around. Actually we have been (or going to visit before our departure from US) more places than many people who have been living here for many years. But it is of course partly because of the short-term nature of our stay here. We know that we have time limits that's why we use possibilities as much as possible.
