Thread: My future traveling in America

I said it because I have many friends which bring $1000-2000 home, working as cook and as rickshaw (excluding their living in USA and program payments).

Your friends are probably your best resource. "rickshaw"? I would think human rights folks would be all over that one.

Very cunning, Hanna. And very true.
I wonder what's the point of all these questions, when it's obvious that people have to lie to look better, and employers know that people are lying. Or do they really believe in all this gibberish?
On second thought, "gibberish" is too strong a word, probably, because people still express their own opinions and desires, only sugarcoat it a bit, and add quite a lot of flattery. For example, "having interesting job" translates nicely into what you wrote, indeed, and it's not an outright lie.

Originally Posted by Nerms

"rickshaw"? I would think human rights folks would be all over that one.

I hope they were velo rickshaws, at least. Not the running ones.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Very cunning, Hanna. And very true.
I wonder what's the point of all these questions, when it's obvious that people have to lie to look better, and employers know that people are lying.

@gromozeka: Well in England at least (and the US) everyone pretends that they mean/believe these types of statements... I think the "point" is to prove that you can "play the game", that you are comfortable with blagging and that you understand what their priorities are, and don't have any illusions. You can hint at your real reasons as long as you pay due to what they want to hear. I think some people do mean it (nurses, teachers, social workers), but not those who work in private corporations. The higher you get on the "corporate ladder" the more BS you have to be able to produce...


@rockzmom: I share your worries.... Not sure if he can follow all that you wrote though. Without adequate language / culture skills, the participants will end up with the jobs that are just one step up from what illegals have, but still paying taxes.,. I suspect the same as you do; this will be a real culture shock and it will be very hard to save money in the US, or even earn enough money for anything but living expenses. What happens if he can't find a job? He has to go back with nothing but set back a grand or two. If this project is intended to help young people have a nice and productive stay in America, then they should provide more assistance to the participants.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Very cunning, Hanna. And very true.
I wonder what's the point of all these questions, when it's obvious that people have to lie to look better, and employers know that people are lying. Or do they really believe in all this gibberish?

Very true! This is the disease that has gripped America. People lie to them selves and lie to get jobs. People step over each other to tell the biggest lie and the employers approve of all this. People believe their own lies now. It is a form of political correctness. This is why I would advise Russians not to go to America or most other Western countries, like Britain.

Originally Posted by n8m

"want to have intersting job in america, want to practice my english and earn some money" correct please.

When you answer a question like this, you have to give a reason that is *really* what THEY want, and not what you actually want... You should "want" something that is good for them. I suggest that you say something like this:

• Improve my understanding of the US style hospitality for which Disney World is famous.
• Help in any way I can to give all Disney World visitors the experience of a lifetime! I'd be particularly happy to assist Russian speakers should the need arise. I am a native Russian speaker.
• Improve my spoken and written English and gain an insight into American culture and traditions.

(you should never mention money, even if that's the only reason you are interested in the job.....)

n8m...

Let's say you do get paid $10 per hour and you work the normal 40 hour work week. Even if you claim you are exempt from taxes as you are a student and a foreigner, you may still have to pay some taxes (like in California) and that comes out of your paycheck.

So, your gross earnings for one week is $400 minus taxes in California your net paycheck would be about $388. Out of that you will have to have some expenses. Even if you are lucky enough to find a job where you can get a free meal (many only let you have a discount off the cost of the meal) you still need to eat the other times during the day and on your days off.

You also have your housing expenses (and maybe utilities if they are not included) and laundry and sundry items (shampoo, toothpaste, razors, shaving cream, toilet paper, etc.). And let's assume you can actually walk to work so you are not spending any money on transportation. AND you don't travel ANYWHERE to sight see while you are here. You still have eaten away at a good portion of that $388.

Now one more thing... you are paying a fee to CCUSA AND the costs for both Visas AND the flight to and from Belarus AND the ground transportation to and from the airport in the U.S. How much is all of that going to cost you? Are you certain you will break even in only three or four months? How much of the $4,600 that you might earn in three months have you already lost before you even set foot in the US?

If your goal is to be able to send money home and not lose any money on this, I am not certain it will happen.

If your goal is to come to the US and be able to have an experience, practice your English, travel and so forth... and maybe not lose money on the trip...that is more realistic.

You can get by on the cheap (I'm one who lived on pasta nightly for months when I was younger so I could make ends meet) but even if you do, you might still have a hard time. And if you do decide to travel and see more of the US while you are here, or go to the movies or the beach or something.... you wouldn't want to feel guilty about doing so and not sending what little money you have back home.

There are no Germany or England programs available for (to) me.

The thing is, you don't need a program to go to Germany. As far as I can imagine, you just need to go to Poland and catch a bus/coach to Germany. Inside of the EU there are no border checks at land crossings (train/bus). You can travel anywhere you want.

You couldn't get a legal job but you could definitely get an illegal job that would pay as much as you'd get in America, probably more. The minimum wage in Germany is 10 Euro per hour. Such jobs are builder, in a restaurant or in agriculture. If someone is caught by immigration police, there is no punishment or problem - they would just say; "you don't have a work permit, go home." It is the employer who gets punished and has to pay a fee. When they find an illegal worker they sometimes do nothing, and sometimes buy the person a ticket home.

I am not saying this is good or right.... But that is what I would do if I was Belarussian and wanted to make Euros or Dollars fast. I would not go to the USA - it's too far away, costs too much and has less social welfare than the EU.

The very best way to take care of your future is to get a good education.

Type of position you are looking for: (check all that apply)
Internship
Entry-Level
Mid-Career
Mid-Level Management
Executive
Senior Executive What I should mark here

Internship and Entry-Level

an interesting job
American
English
Russian
Russian is my native language.

>Один вопрос, можно ли в английском вот так однословно отвечать?
Не всегда. В вашем случае нужно сказать I agree. Когда во фразе есть глагол, нужно имя сущ. или местоимение. Short-form adj. too, like согласен.

Сколько из $ 4,600, что вы могли бы заработать в три месяца вы уже потеряли прежде чем вы даже ступить в США?

I lost 2000 $ (program cost + all documents (visas, permitions, sevis...). It's important for me to learn English, see american culture, american lifestyle.., but I want to earn money too. I want to find "golden mean" (золотая середина). rest vs earning

As I said, A lot of people (Much people) came back with overearning program(окупили программу). And they're not work too hard as we can imagine.

Originally Posted by n8m

I lost 2000 $ (program cost + all documents (visas, permitions, sevis...). It's important for me to learn English, see american culture, american lifestyle.., but I want to earn money too. I want to find "golden mean" (золотая середина). rest vs earning

As I said, A lot of people (Much people) came back with overearning program(окупили программу). And they're not work too hard as we can imagine.

n8m.... okay, I hear you. I guess that begs the question then of what types of jobs did all these people have while there were in the U.S. and earning all this money and not spending everything on living here AND where did they do this? It would seem that would be a great starting point. Just as capecoddah is going to try and get in touch with past employees to get information, you should find out from others who have done this HOW and WHERE they did it.

Then, you can post that information and we can hopefully tell you more about the jobs and locations from our points of view so you have a more complete picture and make an informed decision.

Sound like a plan?

I'm trying to get in touch with some of the Belorussian "kids" that have stayed here. They all survived and came back for second and third summers. Natalia is a citizen in Chicago now.

There is a private group that helps J-1 kids get housing for $100 a week on the outer Cape.
Agency - LOWER CAPE J-1 SUMMER HOST HOUSING PROGRAM

Bread $2, Gallon of Milk $4. Sponsor programs have insurance. Ride a bike, I see swarms of them in the summer and I make sure "my kids" get good deals AND lights so they don't get hit by cars. Some larger resorts have housing at an OK rate.
Work in a Mom & Pop restaurant and hotel; better pay, work and yes a meal. A business owner will treat you better than a manager at a chain. Corporate places pay based upon Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. FLCDataCenter.com Small businesses round up to the nearest dollar.

This is an example of jobs available. Not a bad place to work.
Cape Cod vacation rentals, Cape Cod hotels, lodging and weddings

Over 2,100 J-1 students worked on Cape Cod in 2009. Don't worry too much, you'll be fine wherever you go...

Disney: I've worked in the Hospitality biz for 10 years off and on and have met former Disney employees. Favorite thing? Quitting Mouse Town. Orlando is brutally hot 95° in the summer with humidity that takes your breath away. I've spent a few summers in Florida.

Rickshaws: There are Pedi-Cabs in a few cities. Good job if you are fit. Don't try this in Boston if you value your life. Provincetown has them. Google Provincetown, it might be a lot to adjust to; plenty of work there though.

okay.
I Tell something about friends who were in America by this program.
Nadya - worked in WildWood for 2 monthes, lived for 2.5 monthes. Brought home $700, bought in America some clothes, photocamera ($600). Worked as housekeeper. She payd few for house and payd nothing for a meal.
Andrey - worked in some part of New-York as rickshaw. Brought home near $2000-$3000.
Fedya - worked in Casino as a special technician, cleaning floors. He was work hard without weekends (без выходных). He was overworking. His wage was $8.5 per hour. Brought $2000 excluding program payments. Lived near Florida in small town.
Anton - worked as cock. Окупил программу.

There was happy examples. Also I can show you worse examples, when people went in minus ("уходили в минус"), but I will not do this.

When you'll answer me, please mark in red my mistakes in quote.

Originally Posted by n8m

okay.
I will tell you something about my friends who were in America with this program.
Nadya - worked in WildWood for 2 monthes, lived for 2.5 monthes. Brought home $700, bought in America some clothes, photocamera ($600). Worked as housekeeper. She payd (payed) few for house and payd nothing for a meal.
Andrey - worked in some part of New-York as rickshaw. Brought home near $2000-$3000.
Fedya - worked in Casino as a special technician, cleaning floors. He was work hard without weekends (без выходных). He was overworking. His wage was $8.5 per hour. Brought $2000 excluding program payments. Lived near Florida in small town.
Anton - worked as cock (a cook). Окупил программу.

There was happy examples. Also I can show you worse examples, when people went in minus (got into debt ) ("уходили в минус"), but I will not do this.

When you answer me, please mark in red my mistakes in quote.

I have done my best and did not know where the red marker was, so tried to put things in bold and underline them.

When you say "got into minus" I think you mean "got into debt". (debt is pronounced det).

Also, cock/penis= пенис (I got this Russian off google translate, so it may be wrong)
You may have meant "cook"?


"correct me, please. I'm a Russian native speaker (can I say "I'm a Russian native"?)"

okay.
I will tell you something about my friends who were in America with this program.
Nadya - worked in WildWood (New Jersey?) for 2 monthes (it's hard to see the correction, but months does not have an e) and lived for 2.5 monthes. She brought home $700 and while in America she bought in America some clothes and a , photo camera ($600). She worked as a housekeeper. She payd (payed)(in American English it is spelled... paid) few for house very little for rent (or you could say housing) and paid nothing for a meals.
Andrey - worked in some part of New-York as a rickshaw. He brought home near around $2000-$3000.
Fedya - worked in Casino as a special technician, cleaning floors. He was worked hard without weekends off (без выходных). He was overworking overtime. His wage was $8.5 per hour. He brought home $2000 excluding program payments. He lived near Florida in small town.
Anton - worked as cock (a cook). Окупил программу.

There was These are happy examples. Also I can show you worse examples, when people went in minus (got into debt ) ("уходили в минус"), but I will not do this.

When you answer me, please mark in red my mistakes in quote

.

Originally Posted by SomeEnglishGuy

I have done my best and did not know where the red marker was, so tried to put things in bold and underline them.

When you say "got into minus" I think you mean "got into debt". (debt is pronounced det).

Also, cock/penis= пенис (I got this Russian off google translate, so it may be wrong)
You may have meant "cook"?


"correct me, please. I'm a Russian native speaker (can I say "I'm [m U]a Russian [/U]native"?)"

it is a little difficult to make the corrections using quotes. I usually don't use the color RED as it reminds people of school and bad memories;however, for you, I will try to remember

@n8m, серьёзно, тебе нужно расставить приоритеты. Ты хочешь, как мне кажется, совместить несовместимое.
Если ты хочешь заработать деньги, поверь, гораздо проще их заработать в России. Приезжай в Москву и молоти на здоровье. Те же деньги (если не большие) можно заработать и здесь, при этом ты сильно сэкономишь на проезде.
К тому же, у нас, вроде, безвизовый режим.
Если же главное -- выучить язык -- тогда да, язык лучше учить в стране с носителями. Ты же, как мне кажется, пытаешься и рыбку съесть и ...

I wish Ramil had done a J-1 summer with me. He would have great stories!
Maybe Rocksmom has a spare bedroom to rent for less than market?

It's difficult to express the Я люблю for J-1 Kids...
Olgaa a member of the forums has been here but she is too Moscow cool now.


Annya, Irina-1 Irina-2 Natalia, Tania, Tatania, Roman, Max, and Dima are the Belorussians that have spent a day/night at my house. I think I have forgotten a few too.

The Russian list is huge.

I had 20 or so cards for my father's funeral that I had to translate. These idiot J-1 kids are my friends.

I look forward to your visit.

Originally Posted by capecoddah

I wish Ramil had done a J-1 summer with me. He would have great stories!

Hmmm.....

Capecoddah, you have mentioned your business so many times now that I think you should clarify exactly what it is that you do... I can't be the only person who can't work it out and is getting curious.

I thought at first that you were running an orphanage or a summer camp. But later, it sounded more like you were talking about domestic staff.

What precisely are these people are actually doing for you? Are you talking about maids and gardeners? Or are they cleaners, reception and room services at a hotel or B&B that you are running? Or waiters at a restaurant that you own?

If you are running a business that requires seasonal staff then I think you should really consider saving an opening for n8m!

-------------------------------------------------------------

So after reading n8m:s post, I got interested in what you can actually get for $1000 in Belarus. The first thing I found out that as a Belarussian citizen you can stay at a Belarussian sanatorium for almost 2 months
(!) or 3 weeks if you are an EU citizen. Interesting.... Would be quite healthy after that I imagine!

Originally Posted by capecoddah

Maybe Rocksmom has a spare bedroom to rent for less than market?

Ahhh, if only I could... then I could have first hand help with this darn book that I believe I will never finish. I guess I haven't talked enough about my hubby's family who lives with me! It is due to them that my girls still share a bedroom!

But.. from my book research, I have found some "houses" in New York City he might be able to stay for a short period of time or if he just wants to visit the city for a few days! I had not even thought about them until now!

Seafarers & International House
Seafarers & International House : Guest House

Menno House
- Long-term residents

The Penington Friends House
Penington Friends House in New York City Long Term Residence

I usually don't use the color RED as it reminds people of school and bad memories

I haven't got any bad memories of school)

@n8m, серьёзно, тебе нужно расставить приоритеты. Ты хочешь, как мне кажется, совместить несовместимое.
Если ты хочешь заработать деньги, поверь, гораздо проще их заработать в России. Приезжай в Москву и молоти на здоровье. Те же деньги (если не большие) можно заработать и здесь, при этом ты сильно сэкономишь на проезде.
К тому же, у нас, вроде, безвизовый режим.
Если же главное -- выучить язык -- тогда да, язык лучше учить в стране с носителями. Ты же, как мне кажется, пытаешься и рыбку съесть и ...

Расставил. В америку я еду по-любому. Про деньги вроде уже написал, что хочу заработать по возможности больше. Ведь можно работать официантом за 5 $ в час и поваром за 8$ в час (для примера). Оба случая вполне возможны для J1 студентов. Я стремлюсь ко второму варианту.

capecoddah
i'm sorry, but i didn't understand anything in your post. What you wanted to say? For who's visit you look forward? (maybe i'm stupid)