Three months without a paycheck, a cozy evening with Jimmy Fallon, a 40-minute walk to and from work every day, a wedding—yes, this is all part of Work and Travel USA.
My introduction to the culture began with a wonderful week in a cozy house near Boston, where the parents of my then-future husband live. By the way, he studied at my university in Yaroslavl as an exchange student last year. Back then we hosted him, now he hosts me! In the best sense of the word, a typical American family warmly welcomed me and showed me ordinary "American" life. We had evenings on the porch with barbecue, kilogram-sized tubs of ice cream, grilled burgers, and iced coffee. A big house, two dogs—everything you could dream of. We walked around Boston and heard firsthand about the terrorist attack during the Boston Marathon a few years ago.
Very soon, I left for work in New York State, on the most expensive land in America—the Hamptons. That’s where our adventures began. People there were so rich that for an hour and a half of help at one beach party for 15 people, we were paid $150 each.
Kristina (the other girl in the program) and I arrived at our restaurant (the "Kitchen Nightmares" kind), although it seemed quite cute. They put us up on the second floor of the restaurant, which was a bit illegal, but they promised to move us to a staff house soon, where we ended up living with 5 Mexicans and a drug dealer, haha. But the most interesting part started later, when we didn't receive our SS Cards after two weeks of applying. We kept writing and writing, but they were constantly getting lost, either in transit or at the post office. Without them, we weren't paid our salary (. But then, as it turned out, there was another reason. The restaurant owner just didn't give anyone their money. I received my card at the end of July, Kristina on August 31st, a few hours before our departure. And you can imagine on which day we received our first and last paycheck! Around that same day—August 28th! We fought for that check as hard as we could, and in the end, we had to sue the owner! Only after that did we see the long-awaited check.
To survive, we took another job at a super posh and huge hotel-restaurant, where you even had to breathe carefully. We walked about an hour to get there and the same amount back. We left at 6 AM, worked from 7 to 2, ran home, and then worked from 4 to 11 at our own restaurant. We also walked an hour to the store for food on weekends, and an hour back. It was something else! But we had to live on something. And at that same time, my boyfriend proposed, and we decided to get married while I was in the USA. He is from Boston, and we decided to hold the wedding at home with his relatives.
Thanks to the fact that I had another job, I didn't worry about the wedding.
August 21st, a priest, bridesmaids, his crying parents at the table—mine via Skype—everything went incredibly well, just as I had dreamed my whole life. At the end of the day, we left for our honeymoon in Maine, and the relatives surprised us by decorating our car—Just Married, flowers, tulle, and cans—it was all like in the movies, and we loved it.
Oh yes, while working at our main restaurant, we sometimes closed on Mondays in June, and Jimmy Fallon would come by—a good friend of the restaurant manager. So, Kristina and I prepared a delicious dinner for the four of us, and we sat and chatted all evening. No one else around, just me, Kristina, the manager, and Jimmy Fallon. And he happened to be my idol, by the way! So the trip was definitely memorable!
America turned out to be a country that is closer to my soul. As I say, "everything is for the people" there; everything is so convenient, comfortable, and safe. Very polite people, turning right on red—which I always dreamed of in Russia—all cars stop when an ambulance passes, and hospitals look like our airports. Of course, the myths that all Americans are stupid were debunked, haha—of course, I never thought that, but I confirmed my thought that all successful people there are real workaholics. And they don't eat fast food as much as we do. The only thing I haven't gotten used to yet, and which, of course, surprised me, is the constant talk about various sexual minorities and feminists, and the taxes on everything in stores!
But I will have time to get used to it, because in July I am moving to Texas, as my husband is an American soldier, which I am very proud of! Yes, by the way, I was also struck by the attitude towards the military in the USA. At every step, we were thanked for our service, and all stores offer discounts. That is what real patriotism means!
It was a crazy summer, but I would gladly live it all over again)
