Pools, cleanliness and honesty: the hallmarks of quality of life in the US - ForumDaily
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Pools, cleanliness and honesty: the hallmarks of quality of life in the United States

User community "Pikbushniki North America" ​​under the nickname Diaver spoke about the quality of life in the United States.

Фото: Depositphotos

Accomodation

To start talking about housing in the states, you need to talk about how cities in the states are organized. A city in the states, as a rule, can be divided into two zones: the central part of the city - with tall buildings (in large cities these will be skyscrapers) and the rest - one or two-story buildings with a fairly low population density.

This photograph of Los Angeles clearly shows that the central part of the city with skyscrapers occupies a relatively small space, and the rest of the city is essentially low-density development. Low population density provides many bonuses to quality of life, especially in terms of traffic and noise. The population mostly lives in private houses or small apartment complexes.

Фото: Depositphotos

In normal apartment complexes, as a rule, a pool, gym, community room (a room where you can invite your friends to celebrate an event) are available to residents. My colleague has a pool table, grill for frying meat and other buns, depending on the complex. In my complex, all utility payments are included in the price, except for electricity.

Open pool:

Photos from the author's blog

In my case, one apartment is given one free parking space in front of the house and one space in the underground parking for 30 bucks per month. In the underground parking, each has its own designated place; in the open parking, you can occupy any free space.

Entrance to the underground parking:

Photo from the author's blog

Outdoor parking:

Photos from the author's blog

Houses and apartments in the states are rented without furniture. When you move, you must either buy all the furniture, if you do not have it, or carry your own. The apartments for rent will be only the necessary appliances: stove, washing machine, machine for drying clothes, extractor, fridge, air conditioning.

Housing features

- There are no closets or walls; instead, the houses have so-called walk-in closets - special rooms for things and clothes;

Photos from the author's blog

— The number of rooms is measured by bedrooms. In the states, it is believed that in bedrooms one should only sleep and work to improve the demographic situation; for all other activities there is a living room (one can call it a living room). That is, when you rent an apartment with 1 one bedroom, this means that there will actually be two rooms. Americans are very surprised when you tell them that in Russia a one-room apartment is actually one room;

— The kitchen can be combined with the living room in one space - this is very convenient;

— Sizes of apartments. In small towns you can easily rent very spacious apartments of 100-130 square meters. In large cities, apartments are usually smaller, 70-90 meters, more spacious ones will cost much more;

- If you have children, then you will only be rented apartments with two bedrooms or more, at least in Wisconsin;

— In my complex, on the patio, you can put an electric grill and fry meat;

— Washing machine + dryer. Americans don't hang their clothes out to dry; they use a dryer, which dries the clothes in a couple of hours.

— Almost all large-sized household appliances;

— Thermostats. The apartments can be set to individual temperatures using thermostats. Heating is paid individually; the more you use gas or electricity, the more you pay. You can buy smart thermostats that will save money by turning off the heating when no one is home.

— According to the rules of my complex, things cannot be stored on balconies, and curtains in bright colors cannot be displayed. We have a whole list of everything that is not allowed.

Aborigines

Outside of major cities, people are very friendly and smiling - this is part of American culture. It is believed that if you do not smile and are not friendly, then you are rude and a jerk. If you meet an American and he smiles at you, it doesn’t mean anything, he’s just trying to be polite and that’s all. Americans are also very sociable and quite open. You can walk up to almost anyone and start a conversation.

If you walk around the store, on the sidewalk and intersect with someone's eyes, then in this case they greet and smile.

Cleanliness

Photos from the author's blog

— It is very difficult to find dirt on the streets at any time of the year, including on the roads. I've washed my car 5 times in almost two years, and it's clean. You can drive through the entire city in the slush in winter, and the car won’t get particularly dirty. Suffice it to say that I only filled the car with washer fluid once. In houses, again, almost no dust accumulates. If you leave your car outside for a week, it will not become covered with a layer of dust. You can sit directly on the asphalt and your clothes won’t get dirty.

There are several reasons why there is no dirt:

— There is almost no open land, all the land is covered with lawns, gravel or sawdust;

Photos from the author's blog

Photos from the author's blog

— Studded tires are prohibited in Wisconsin, as a result of which fine dust from asphalt does not form;

- In winter, the roads are not watered with all sorts of muck mixed with clay and sand, as they successfully do in St. Petersburg - they are cleaned! On the second day after heavy snowfall, the roads are already clear, and on the third day they are dry, the magic is no different.

As for the garbage, it all depends on the place. In large cities, this is worse, such as in New York, where it is very dirty, but on the whole, everything is very good. The people are cultural, they even clean up the waste behind their dogs and they try not to litter, especially in good areas where more cultured people live.

Law abiding

Americans are very law-abiding, for the most part, comrades. They are accustomed to this from childhood. This can be illustrated by a number of examples.

Before entering the parking lot of my apartment complex, this is the sign:

Photos from the author's blog

The sign says that parking is only for residents of the complex. Interestingly, the administration of the complex does not ask for car numbers from tenants. In fact, anyone can park a car, but nobody does this. Visitors to the pool opposite, which lacks parking, park their cars on the sidelines.

The second example: Americans order a lot via the Internet. Postmen can simply leave the parcel at the door, on the first floor of the porch, or even just on the street:

Photos from the author's blog

And no one steals the package, and there is no protection, there are no barriers and, in general, no one could interfere, for a very simple reason:

Stole and you got caught -> Got a record in my business -> You can forget about college -> You can forget about normal work -> There is nothing to pay high taxes on housing -> You go to live under a bridge or into the city from trailers. Therefore, only the most marginalized, who have nothing to lose, steal.

The third example: I lost my wallet with money, rights, bank cards and so on for a walk in the park. The next morning, at 9 in the morning, the doorbell rang. The policeman brought me a wallet, gave it away and left. All the money, documents, in general everything was in place.

Recreational

In cities, as a rule, all sorts of parks for recreation. Parks are equipped, including toilets, benches, playgrounds for children and grills for roasting meat.

In general, American parks for recreation are quite monotonous: it will be a large open meadow, a playground, a shed with tables, and several grills for roasting meat.

One of our favorite places to relax is a lake with two beaches and hills around it.

Photos from the author's blog

Photos from the author's blog

Photos from the author's blog

In our city often in the parks there are fields for playing tennis. The grid is stretched, it can come to play, who wants, for free. Even if in this park the fields are occupied, you can go to any other. Finding free courts is not a problem.

Corporate email-login

Mail is worth a special mention. In America, a huge part of communications with the government and private companies passes through the mail, even spam is spread through mail. The advertisement will contain your address and the amount that the company paid to send you this advertisement. If you decide to get a license, then the post office will also deliver them to your home. Postal service is a critical service from the government's point of view.

The postman comes every day to such a funny typewriter:

Photos from the author's blog

Parcels can be left at the door, on the first floor, or even on the street near the entrance.

There are many delivery services in the states, such as USPS, USP, FexEx, DHL. I especially remember DHL - they once delivered a package for my hobby from Hong Kong for 20 bucks in less than 3 days. On the 17th the parcel was still in Hong Kong, and on the 19th I received it at home. In general, the mail works excellently and very quickly. The usual delivery time for a parcel sent from the other end of the country is 3-5 days.

Government services

In general, the quality of work of state services depends on the state, but on average in a hospital it is very high with a minimum of bureaucracy. You can get a driver's license in one day, a passport takes 10 minutes and is done by mail for 30 bucks, after which within a week or two the passport will come to you by mail. In general, everything works very smoothly and quickly.

It is important to note an interesting fact: each state capital has a capitol - the main administrative building of the state.

Photos from the author's blog

This is a very interesting old building in which the state administration works. So, this building is free to visit. Anyone during working hours can go into it, climb the observation tower, take pictures and so on. There are no guards, nobody will ask your documents. Moreover, such a regime works in all state services, except secret ones. You as a tourist, a visitor, you can go to the police, fire department, the mayor’s office, almost anywhere, take photos, talk to employees, they can even arrange a tour for you, especially in small towns where nothing happens.

Police

The quality of the police, like many other services, depends on location: the more money is spent on the police, the better it works, but in general we can say that the police work well.

Фото: Depositphotos

In the states there is no baton system as such. If you violated something, it is easier for the police officer to give you a warning if this was, of course, not a very serious violation.

The main thing is to behave as politely as possible and say that you are a fool, you violated it by accident and will never do it again. If the policeman is in a good mood and you haven’t just knocked down a dozen grandmothers, then they will have a short conversation with you, after which you will be released. Police officers, as a rule, are very loyal; they want to spend this day calmly and come home.

Important rules of conduct if you are stopped by a policeman on the road.

After you stop on the sidelines, you need:

— Turn on the light in the cabin;

— Lower the driver's side window;

— Keep your hands on the steering wheel;

- Speak extremely politely and do not argue;

- Even if you violated something and the policeman asks you “do you know why you were stopped?”, you must answer “no, sir.” This is necessary in case you were stopped, for example, for one violation, but you thought it was for another.

If you follow these simple rules and your violation was not very serious, you may just be let go with a warning.

Roads

Roads are one of the many great things about the states. All states are connected by a network of interstates. Each such road has at least two lanes on each side with a speed limit of 70-80 miles per hour (110 - 130 km). There are no or almost no cameras that record the speed limit, but you shouldn’t break too much. On the interstates you can find police patrols, including undercover ones, that is, without identification marks. It’s not worth violating, because it’s very, very expensive. Fines can reach 1000 bucks, in addition, each such fine is an increase in the cost of car insurance for the next three years.

The quality of roads between cities at a high level. In large cities, the quality of roads is somewhat worse, such as in New York, where the quality of the coating leaves much to be desired, although there are no large holes.

Another interstate are good because you can drive through the whole continent from one coast to another and not meet a single traffic light or intersection.

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