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Airport Ground Transportation
Most airports post has very clear signs to guide you to ground transportation facilities. Take your time, orient yourself, and ask for help if necessary. Airports are full of uniformed personnel who will answer your questions, if you ask politely. Be careful not to trust your luggage or give money to anyone who may not be an authorized representative of the air terminal or one of the transportation companies.
Renting an Apartment
Apartment rentals are usually the first step in the process of joining an American community. When you rent an apartment, you will be the "tenant" and the person or company you rent from will be the "landlord". State and local law will regulate the relationship between you and the landlord. There might even be a special court in your area just for landlord-tenant disputes. You will sign a legal document called a "lease," which states the rights and responsibilities of both sides. In many cases, however, the law will differ from the terms of the lease. The law will usually control in such a case.
Apartments can be found directly through advertisements, through word-of-mouth or through apartment brokers. The apartment broker might charge you a fee or the landlord a fee, depending on the locality. Make sure there is no misunderstanding about who pays the fee. As to affordability, the general rule is that no more than 25% of a person or family's monthly income should go for rent, though this is not always possible given the high costs of real estate today. People who live in expensive cities may have to pay up to half their monthly income for rent.
What to Look For in an Apartment. When looking for an apartment, pay attention to many of the minor factors (other than neighborhood, size of rooms, price) that will affect your enjoyment of the apartment. Are things falling apart? Is a paint job needed and will the landlord pay for it? Do the windows work properly? Are there laundry facilities in the building? What about security? Is there a doorman or a reliable buzzer-intercom system? Are pest control and extermination services provided on a regular basis? Is there a regular superintendent or building staff to take care of repairs? Are the mail boxes secure?
The Yellow Pages
The "Yellow Pages" are telephone books, available in every locality in the United States, that list businesses alphabetically by type. In smaller communities you will find the yellow pages at the back of the local telephone directory, while big cities may have an entirely separate yellow pages book. In either case, look for the distinctive yellow pages. (The regular telephone book, which lists telephone numbers alphabetically rather than by business type, is known as the "White Pages.")
The Yellow Pages will list virtually every business of any size in the area. In addition, many businesses purchase advertisements in the yellow pages. If you want a particular product or service, you can go through the main body of the Yellow Pages in alphabetical sequence until you find the appropriate section. If the product does not have a section of its own, look in the index, usually at the rear of the book, to find out in which section the product or service you are looking for is located.
For example, the Yellow Pages for Manhattan, which is part of New York City, have more than a thousand pages of listings from everything from Abdominal Supports to Zoos. Following this section is a full index. If you were looking for furniture stores, you could find a separate listing about 10 pages long. If you were looking for someone to duplicate a house key, and you looked under "Keys" in the main part of the book, you would not find a section. If you looked under "Keys" in the index, you would be told to look under either "Hardware" or "Locks and Locksmiths". Once you use the Yellow Pages a few times, you will have no trouble finding just what you want. Most telephone directories have several pages in the front of the book that explain how to use the book.
Food market commonly called grocery stores
The primary outlet for retail food in the United States is the supermarket. Supermarkets carry a large number of brands for each item. Often the items from coffee to packaged meats come in several sizes. In suburban areas, supermarkets can be immense, with pharmacy departments, on-site bakeries, even aisles where you can buy motor oil and hardware. A truly giant supermarket might have a separate aisle for dog food and another for cat food. Small supermarkets in cities often offer less variety. In America, a trip to the supermarket can be a major expedition. Financially astute consumers often make shopping lists in advance, and take advantage of "cents-off" coupons and weekly specials.
Supermarkets offer products under their own brand names as well as national brands. The supermarket brands cost less. Supermarkets also offer products in "generic" or "no name" packages, which cost even less. Often these products are exactly the same as the more expensive, nationally advertised brands.
Enrolling Your Child in School
Enrolling your child in an American public school is a fairly simple process. There are no citizenship requirements. The basic requirement is that you and your child live in the district. You'll need some proof of residence with your name and address on it, like an apartment lease, though telephone and electric (utility bills) are widely preferred proofs. There will also be a health requirement, proof of recent medical examination and of vaccination.
Discount Stores
Discount stores offer fewer items at lower prices than department stores. The merchandise is usually displayed in one huge room, with separate aisles for various types of products and centralized checkouts. In cities, discount stores take the form of the "five and ten cents" store, so-called because F.W. Woolworth's began offering products for five and ten cents more than 100 years ago, though the numbers of these stores are now dwindling. In suburban and rural areas, discount stores can be immense. Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target are some of the largest American discount store chains. Certain large discount stores specialize in just one type of product. Often these stores are part of regional or national chains. These include household and electronic appliance stores, record stores, clothing stores, liquor stores, home improvement stores, and furniture stores.
The Post Office
The U.S. Postal Service is run by the federal government. Post offices are located in every town and neighborhood and are usually open from 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. weekdays, and until noon or 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Some large city post offices have a section that never closes where you can buy stamps and deposit mail at any hour. The postal service delivers mail to homes and business six days a week, though no business is conducted and no mail delivered on official national holidays.
Public Libraries
All of the materials in this section on resources are available in public libraries. Should you have any trouble finding or using any of the materials in the library, the librarians will be happy to help you if you ask them nicely, and especially if you come at a slow time. Most libraries have consumer information collections, books on getting the most value for your dollar, orientation lectures and booklets, and free consumer-oriented publications and pamphlets. The public library is simply your best source for information about practically anything. Visit it just to familiarize yourself with the facilities. If they offer an orientation lecture, take it as soon as you can.
Health care
The United States has many advantages to offer the newcomer, but a stable, affordable health care system is not one of them. The phrase health care crisis is perhaps too mild. Costs are skyrocketing, lawsuits proliferating. Special interest groups aggravate the problems. Racism, poverty, drug abuse and AIDS make matters worse. Significant portions of the population can no longer afford adequate health insurance. As a result, to get good health care in the United States you have to know what you're doing. You just can't afford not to be fully informed, since health care is the one area where the American system can do you the most damage.
Everyday life
Every country has different everyday ways. To get to know Americans, it pays to know certain mannerisms and habits most Americans share.
Greetings. Americans shake hands firmly with each other when first introduced, or when they meet again, but rarely when they part (a more European custom). Social kissing, as a greeting, is also sometimes acceptable between men and women who know each other well and between women. American men rarely embrace each other or kiss on both cheeks.
Distance and Eye Contact. When two Americans are standing and talking to each other they stay at least 16 inches away from each other, yet they do make eye contact.
Making Conversation
Americans can become fairly intimate and personal in conversation, though controversial subjects like sex, religion, and politics are often best avoided, at least until you get a good idea of the views of the people you are talking to.
Etiquette and Behavior
Introductions. If you meet someone you know on the street while you are with someone else, it is polite to introduce the people to each other.
Foreign Languages. If you are with a group of mainly English-speaking people and the conversation is going on in English, it is not polite to speak in your own or another foreign language for more than a few sentences. Whatever language you speak in, try to avoid swear words. Of course, you should avoid "dirty," "off-color," or sexually explicit stories or jokes.
If you are in a movie theater or at a concert or play, it is never polite to talk during the performance, even in a whisper.
American community
America is urban, rural, industrial, agricultural and suburban. American communities take all shapes and sizes. To live successfully in America, you need to know how to find a place to live, settle into it, maintain it, and become part of the community, all subjects of this chapter.
The Driver's License
Many Jurisdictions. Every state in the United States has a separate department authorized to issue driver's licenses. Most are called bureaus or departments of motor vehicles. The driver's licenses from the fifty states all look different, some with photos, some produced like credit cards. A driver's license from any one state is valid in every other state. There is no national identity card in the United States, and the individual state driver's license is the most respected and widely used form of personal identification. To obtain a driver's license, you must first locate the state agency responsible. Most telephone books have special sections for government offices. Or ask any policeman.
You will need identification proving date and place of birth: a birth certificate or passport. After filling out some forms (you'll have to fill out many forms) you'll probably be given a small book of vehicle regulations to study, which you might later be tested on. Expect a vision test, and perhaps a required class in safety. You might have to be photographed. Finally you will take an actual road test with an examiner in an automobile.
Credit
Credit makes life in the United States much, much easier. Credit cards are major pieces of identification. You will have difficulty renting a car without a credit card. You will need to establish a good credit history to rent an apartment, get any kind of loan, begin telephone or utility service without a deposit, and for many other purposes. With credit cards, you won't have to carry cash around. But getting and maintaining good credit takes care.
Buying a Used Car
Buying a Used (Pre-Owned) Car is even more dangerous than buying a new one. The "used car salesman" is a cliché‚ in American culture for a predatory merchant. "Would you buy a used car from this man?" is a metaphor that questions a person's honesty. Of course there are many reputable used car dealers. Just bear in mind that a car can be made to look beautiful on the outside and is diseased on the inside. It's easy for a dealer to tell you that "The car was owned by a little old lady who only used it to drive to church on Sundays."
Many new car dealers also sell used cars. If the dealer is reputable and has a good service department, you might find a good deal. A "late-model" used car, which is only a two or three years old, can--theoretically--be an excellent deal, since most of the depreciation (decline in the car's re-sale value) has already taken place. Of course a used car sold by a major dealer may cost a little more than a car sold by a "no-name" lot.
You can also buy a used car from a private individual. People advertise their cars in local shopping magazines ("Pennysavers"), newspapers, or even by placing signs on the car itself. It's up to you to judge who you are buying from.
The Driving Test.
If you don't know how to drive, many reputable driving schools exist. They can guide you through the paperwork and provide a vehicle you can use to take the driving test. Once you pass the test, you'll probably get a temporary license. The real license will come a few weeks later.
City of Chicago, with Buckingham fountain in the foreground.
Cincinatti ,a city which never sleep.
Grand Canyon, a scenic beauty in Arizona