Delightful Washington: Free Furniture and Return of Food That Didn’t Fit to Taste

I came to work in the United States less than six months ago. Social acclimatization has been going on for several months; you start to get used to the life here.

Finding decent housing at a reasonable price is not the biggest problem. Living in Washington is very expensive, even by American standards. To get an idea of ​​the level of housing costs in the US capital itself, take a look at the “room for rent” section on the website Craigslist.org.

More expensive only in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The price is determined by the prestige and safety of the area, the availability of the metro, the proximity of grocery stores, restaurants, fitness clubs, the quality of local schools, because children go to public schools only at the place of residence.

Looking for a room or apartment is really difficult, because the market is large, there are many offers, but the best ones sell out in a few hours. I had this happen: I see a good ad in the evening, I immediately write that I can come and look at it the very next day, and in the morning they write to me: “Sorry, they’ve already taken it.” Most options are on the website craigslist.com. Moreover, not only rooms and apartments. On this site, Americans sell everything from cars to museum tickets. There is a separate section free stuff, that is, free things, mainly furniture, with self-delivery. This site also helped me a little to furnish my first completely empty room. And somehow I saw an ad that they give chinchilla in good hands!

Another difficulty here is transport. “A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation,” are very fair words regarding the United States. If in large cities public transport is well developed, then it is almost impossible to leave the city without your own car. I haven’t met any Americans born here who don’t have a driver’s license. There are driving schools here, but most often children are taught by their parents in their teens. For example, in Houston, Texas, the oil heart of the country, there is almost no public transportation, because why? Gasoline is plentiful, it is cheap (as is the case throughout the country), and cars are affordable.

Silver Line of Washington DC Metro now (opened 2014) gets you from downtown. New housing popping up near line pic.twitter.com/mjDVWJ2RlS

- paperbacknovel.com (@paperbacknovel) March 23, 2017

But in Washington, not everyone has a car. The city itself and its suburbs have a good system of buses that run on a clear schedule; you can keep track of all the buses on the route using mobile applications or on the website. There you can also look at the schedule and build a metro route, and also find out the fare. The cost of travel depends on the distance and time. It is more expensive to travel during the morning and evening hours on weekdays. Minimum: $1.75, maximum: $5.90.

Subways are fun !! #dcmetro pic.twitter.com/cFBNLxalbR

- Natraj katta (@ natrajkatta24) March 19, 2017

But on the subway local complain. Now the subway is being repaired, it is necessary to block the traffic in separate sections or branches. But additional buses are launched along the same route, but this does not save the situation very much. Therefore, frequent train delays, “getting stuck” right in the tunnels, crowds of people at peak times. Conveniently, the timetables indicate how much is left before the arrival of the next train, and before the train arrives at the edges of the platform, light bulbs flash. It is inconvenient that there are no clocks at the stations.

Complete and utter meltdown of @wmata Red Line today pic.twitter.com/DXlrGRu7i3

- Luke Bunting (@Luke_Bunting) April 18, 2017

Taxis are very expensive, and taxi drivers insist on tips. If there is no cash, they are madly indignant. Made a revolution Uber. And cheaper, and more convenient, although not so fast. It seems that young people do not use anything else. Even the verb in them is, they say: to uberthat is to go exactly Uberth

People ride bicycles, of course, not as much as in Europe, but more than in Kyiv. There are relatively few dedicated tracks. However, there are still significant problems with the safety of cyclists. Two of my colleagues got into an accident where they were hit by cars - fortunately, everyone was unharmed.

Capital Bikeshare will roll into Prince George's next year https://t.co/dY6O7Bm5Xf #DMV pic.twitter.com/BLTMH4iX85

- Washington DC News (@washdcnews) April 13, 2017

However, I no longer wanted to ride a bicycle to work. Another thing - trails, there are special tracks for running and cyclists. There are several of them in the city, beautiful ones lie along both picturesque banks of the Potomac River.

From the first days of surprise prices in stores, because on the price tags, in the menus of cafes, bars, in the price lists of service establishments, the cost is indicated excluding taxes. On the one hand, when you see one price on the counter and another on the receipt, you feel misled. On the other hand, you clearly understand what part of the cost the store and manufacturer take for themselves, and what part goes to the tax authorities. This is why Americans are so conscious of their status as “taxpayers.”

Incidentally, their salaries are also shown everywhere in the documents without deduction of taxesThat is, gross salary. And unlike us, everyone pays his own sum, depending on the marital status, the presence of children or “dependent persons”, the total family profit, the availability of mortgages or tuition fees (universities are expensive, many students study on credit, and then pay them over the years) and the like. Taxes vary by state. Recently I heard an interesting thought: the United States can be imagined as the European Union. Each state has its own laws, its own power, its own law enforcement system. And, of course, its own tax. Although there are federal, national fiscal services.

Joe Boehner says, "If you don't like it, bring it back!" to Trader Joes, DC. pic.twitter.com/1wKAXAEeOG

- Jessica Clemons (@DrJessicaAnn) January 22, 2015

The cost of products here is very different. You can eat cheap, in general, thanks to the wholesale stores, but high-quality products are expensive. And here is the fashion for "organic" products, which are generally one and a half to two times more expensive. But the clothes can really buy cheap. Moreover, brand things. There are various networks of stock stores, where everything is sold: from luggage to clothes, from small household appliances to cosmetics, from home items to snacks. If you spend a lot of time there and carefully look for good things, you can really buy quality products very cheaply.

The clothes there are mostly from old collections, but there are also things that people returned to branded stores. That is, not second-hand, but not entirely new. After all most stores, unlike Ukraine, have a very flexible consumer protection policy. Within 15-30 days (depending on the product and store), you can return almost everything with a receipt and a barcode label for a 100% refund. And no documents are needed, the cashier punches the barcode at the checkout - and all the money is returned to the card (or in cash) almost instantly.

Top 10 Running Spots & Trails in Washington, DC https://t.co/1lnoWqra57 pic.twitter.com/A2xvf7qNtj

- Alexandria VA (@AlexandriaVArr) April 20, 2017

What amazed me the most was that they give back food here! Once I went to visit and bought wine. I looked at the shelves for a long time, because there wasn’t a single familiar name. I ask the employees for advice, and they tell me: “Take what you want, try it, if you don’t like it, return it, we have a unique system of caring for consumers.” By this analogy, I twice returned the tea I took to try, but it was impossible to finish the first cup. I can’t even imagine where all these returned goods go then.

The original column is published on the website of the Ukrainian Service.VOA". Reprinted with permission from author Maria Prus and publications.

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