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My personal US survival Kit Kishore C.S. (June 2000) Staying
a few months in US has certainly given me experiences I need to remember. The
following are a few things that an Indian may have to learn to be able to
survive in US. This list compiled for my reference and should not be
misinterpreted in anyway. All the following are noted from my personal
experience and hope they will be useful to others. Phrases of language It
is very important to use appropriate language and phrases to get along in US Don’t
use complex language and compound words. While interacting with Americans use
relevant phrases to be able to communicate successfully. The following is most
essential list of phrases one should know.
Courtesy Always
greet people when you encounter them. Don’t hesitate even if you don’t know
them. Behavior and Conduct Doing
things that are not common will irritate locals. So it is important to
understand expected conduct and avoid the same as soon as possible. On
roads: -
If you are pedestrian cars will stop for you to cross. So don’t confuse
car drives with hesitant steps In Hotels
Buses: Always get down from back of the bus Greet the driver when getting into bus and thank while getting down Ring the stop bell when your stop nears. Do it well ahead of the stop Display
pass (if applicable) to driver while getting into bus. Always
carry required change Buses will always come on time. Rely on the timings You need to deposit appropriate change/money in the box next to the driver Food for Vegetarians Each
food restaurant will have specific items for vegetarians. Visit the same with
who already knows the items and mark the items you can order in future. Don’t
forget the items. It is difficult to make out from Menu which is vegetarian and
which is not.
The
above are a few items I am comfortable eating and survive on them. A
few things difficult to get used to so easily Distances: As
speed and distances are measured in miles, one tends to get mislead. The first
time I was traveling in a car with a friend I saw him cruising at 60 and I
thought he is not going at a high speed. It was only after sometime that he was
traveling at 60 mph and not 60 kmph. Even now when I see speed limit signs like
30 miles I wonder why the speed limit is so low. It takes a lot of time to get
used to the new way of measuring speed and distance. Directions: Left
and right are interchanged. It takes a quite an effort to remembers. Initial
days it is very easy to cross the road and realize that we are on the wrong side
of the road to catch the bus etc. Getting used to this is very important. Currency: Being
used to paying money in Hundreds back in India, when we go to buy groceries we
pay only 70-100 dollars in US. We still feel as if we are paying only 70 rupees
for all the items we bought. Only when we convert the currency to Indian rupees
we realize how much we have really spent. 5 rupees in India may be very small
amount but 5 dollars is high amount even according to American Standards. So
keep this mind while shopping lest you regret later. Understand realistic prices
before shopping for high cost items. Time
zones: Coming
out of India for the first time it takes a long time to get used to different
time zones. With changing time zones, keeping the time at back of mind is very
important. We end up making phone
calls which are convenient to us but very inconvenient to others. Calling up at
9 pm on Pacific time will be waking up someone at 12 midnight in Eastern Zone.
In India we are used to traveling for a night and we still don’t need to
change our time. In this we travel for 4 hours and then you need adjust your
watch. While making reservations, travel plans the time difference needs to be
kept in mind. |