Turns out writing a blog is incredibly hard work—everything under the sun distracts you, and the main demotivating factor is plain old laziness, how could it be otherwise? Anyway, I don't see much point in describing the 36-hour train drama, so I'll get straight to the fact that we arrived, a trio of losers, in the glorious city of E. Angry, sleep-deprived, angry. At three in the morning. And until 8:30 AM, we indulged in blissful sleep in the well-known premium lounge. We shelled out five hundred rubles, by the way. Not cool, comrades.
After storming the equally glorious E-metro, by 9:30 AM we were standing like statues guarding the entrance to IT. Here, by the way, it's worth mentioning the aforementioned unhealthy state of mind at that moment. Amidst a rather hysterical perception of the world, a sudden, unhealthy indifference washed over me, which meant I wasn't afraid at home, at the station, on the train, etc. So, standing before the long-awaited consulate and hearing the gloomy reports of mass rejections, I became genuinely amused. No, actually, I was overcome by, pardon me, a fit of laughter of the same unhealthy nature.
The realization that some stranger had to discuss the weather with me and pass judgment on whether I was worthy of visiting the USA was, to say the least, infuriating and... amusing. So, being in this, to put it mildly, elevated state of mind, I stumbled into the consulate, and after going through the standard procedures, accompanied by heavy doors and anxious faces of applicants, I waited tremulously. Free translation: Me - Hi, how are you? Consul - Oh, hi, not bad, not bad, and you? Me - Oh, everything is just wonderful, what a marvelous day, what a marvelous me and my song. C (eyes bulging) - A marvelous day?! It's pouring rain out there! Me (inspired, making it up) - I adore the rain and, in general, any day is marvelous. C - [mumbled gibberish]. Me - O_o Sorry, what? C - If you love the rain so much, have you been to such-and-such a site where you can listen to this rain? Me (inspired by the fact that I actually had) - Is it a site where you can listen to different nature sounds, like waves or forest noise and birds singing? Yes, I love it. C - Okay, what is Viva Bene? Me - It's the place where I'll be working in the state of Massachusetts in the city of Worcester. C - What will you be doing there? Me - You mean my duties? C - Yeah. Me - This and that. C - Okay, and how did you find this job? Me - By myself on the internet. C - And where else have you been abroad? Me - Here and there. C - Okay, your visa is approved. Walking out of the consulate with a goofy grin on wobbly legs, I felt the full intensity of the emotions I should have felt at the entrance. That's when it hit me. Dry facts: The interview lasted about a minute, and it was a young consul. The approval rate on May 4th, by my observations, was about 30-40%. They were rejecting people with poor language skills, a strong accent (!), monotonous answers, and a face like they were heading to the gallows. So, everything is in your hands. For example, a visa and a ticket to America for May 20th.
Upd: Someone with some intelligence, explain how to make dialogues look human and master the art of paragraph control?
