October 2007 Archives
Hello, World!
We arrived in the United States last Monday, and we are busy settling in. After arriving at JFK airport, we cleared immigration as we would do normally. The main difference between our previous visits and this one, was that it was quicker to get through the initial screening. Unlike the other times, this time we were not going on to collect our luggage directly, but we were directed to a second desk where they validated the visa. The additional time that we spent at immigration was about 10 minutes, but I think we won that time back by not having to wait for our luggage. After my visa has been validated, all the bags were already together and sitting next to the luggage carousel.
We have arrived in the United States.
Our flight got in last Monday at 8.15pm and immigration was effortless. We did not experience any delays while clearing immigration and customs, and the ride to the house went very smoothly. Our internet connectivity was installed today (Wednesday), so we are back in touch with the world again. I will post a more detailed report on our first few days, and especially immigration, in the next few days.
There is a lot of unspecific information doing the rounds at the moment regarding an intended new law that would require children with a double nationality to relinquish one of their nationalities at their 18th birthday. The original news item is a little more subtle that the all the others. It says:
Buitenlandse kinderen die vijf jaar in Nederland wonen en Nederlander willen worden, moeten voortaan, als ze 18 jaar worden, kiezen voor een Nederlands paspoort of voor het paspoort van hun moederland. Dat meldt RTL Nieuws. Minister Hirsch Ballin van Justitie wil niet meer dat deze kinderen de dubbele nationaliteit houden. Hij doet het voorstel morgen in de Ministerraad.Source: RTL Nieuws
Two days after our goods were picked up, things are going well. Just about everything that was left behind after the movers left has been sorted in to different piles. The piles are meant for different people, for re-use or for disposal.
Unlike the United Sates; in the Netherlands, rented houses need to be returned to the house owners bare; no appliances, floors stripped to the bare concrete, no light fixtures, etc.
The movers picked up our stuff today.
As mentioned before, we decided to use Voerman UTS and the guys that they sent us were excellent.
At 7.55 sharp, the doorbell rang and a team of three movers arrived. After doing a quick inspection round, they started packing up all our belongings. With only a 15 minute coffee break in the morning and a half hour lunch break a little after noon, a second truck carrying our shipping container arrived at 13.30. While the movers were finishing up the last few things, the truck was packed very well and sealed in front of us. At 15.30, our house was empty and we could start cleanup.
Exhausted.
Finding good, affordable, health insurance can be a serious problem. In the Netherlands, we are used to having mandatory health insurance our entire lives. In the United States, such a thing does not exist; everybody is free to decide whether or not they feel that having a health insurance coverage is worth the cost.
1. The hard-drives of my main home server;
2. An external 500 GB hard drive;
3. A portable 60GB USB drive
In addition, I have data on two laptops, but those laptops do not contain anything irreplaceable.
One of the hardest things to do is to find a job in a different country. Job hunting is hard enough as it is, but in a market in which you do not have much insight, it is much harder.
Having realized that the whole job application process is much shorter than it is in Europe, I decided that I needed to get a good grasp on what kind of jobs are available in my targeted area. I started putting my feelers out about 8 months (!) before I started looking for a job seriously. I am in information technology, which influenced my choices on how I approached the job market.
