Tuesday, October 20, 2009

How not to get bored on H4

H4, the dependant visa for spouses of H1B workers, is thought to be the most dreadful visa. True, but only if you're the career-oriented types. I've been in H4 status for 2 years and I do agree that I would have been standing with pride on a higher rung of my career ladder, had I not confined myself to home-making. But then, those have been the best years of my life, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enjoyed that much with 40-hour work weeks coming in the way of family life. Career apart, the next common complaint I keep hearing from H4 spouses is "boredom". For me, the total number of days I really must have got bored can be counted on fingers, and may be toes taken together. :) That's because I saw the H4 period as a long vacation and kept myself busy with so many activities I never had time for all those years as a student and employee. And finally, people say they get depressed being on H4. When I came to the USA post marriage, I told myself I'm going there on an extended honeymoon. :) Yes, a typical honeymoon lasts anywhere from few days to may be few months. Mine took two years.. :) So have a positive attitude, you're not going to stay forever on H4 and then they'll be days when you so wish you stay back at home instead of slogging at work. Enjoy your vacation, you might never get so long a break again!

Now, this post summarizes what all things you can do while on H4. Following are all what I figured out over time, if you know more, leave me a comment..
If you want to make a "productive" use of your time, then:
  1. Regardless of what your plan A is, try to get yourself an admission into some Master's degree program in any which school. That should be your plan B. Looking back, my only regret is not joining the MS program, with an admission in hand. Pursuing higher studies is always a good fall-back option for three things: 1. if you don't already have a Master's degree, this is your chance to arm yourself with one. 2. after the course completion, you are entitled to a 19-month work-permit in the name of OPT. So, you can for sure, get back to work after 19 months. and 3. a good explanation for the gap in your career.
  2. If the H1B quota for the year didn't run out yet, find yourself a full-time job. Again don't spend too much time looking for full-time jobs, because the H1B numbers might become unavailable anytime. May be, try hard for about a month or two and then, only then, find a decent consulting company to apply your H1B. Finding a full-time job should be your first preference, since 1. that's the legal path to employment, and 2. you would anyways have to search jobs after the consultant's H1B gets approved. So why not do that initially itself? That'll save you money, and unnecessary tensions as to whether or not the consultant's H1B gets approved.
  3. If the H1B cap is filled, or for some other reason you can't get an approval, explore the option of working for non-profit organizations. By this, I don't mean volunteering. There are these NPOs like Universities and Hospitals that are H1B cap exempt. That is, they are not counted under the annual H-1B quota. You have separate job boards for jobs in universities, and NPOs. If you find an appropriate position, go ahead and apply to the job. If all goes well, the NPO would file a H1B petition for you and you can start working for them.
  4. Again, if you aren't lucky with H1, you could explore this other option of work-study programs called "co-op" programs. A few colleges in US offer Masters degree program with full-time CPT right from the first day of joining the program. With the full-time CPT you can work full-time and attend school during evenings/weekends. HTIR website contains the details. These schools are not-so-popular, but then you have the advantage of full-time CPT.
  5. If you're willing to invest some money, and don't want to spend two years earning a degree, Management in Information Systems (MIS) is the way to go. Do your research, and you'll find a bunch of schools offering this degree program. Not much of a value addition to your resume, but in one year, you'll get the OPT. Another caveat here. If you're interested in pursuing this option, try to find a school that is registered in the STEM category. Why? STEM guarantees 29month OPT. Happy life! you don't even need to pay Medicare and Social Security taxes while on OPT, that's a lot of $$$.
  6. and finally if nothing works out, make a "citizen" baby :) so that he/she would not have to face the same hassles as you do should you choose to send him/her here. I'm not joking, if you really like the idea of having babies, this is an option worth pursuing unless you have other reasons not to. The best prenatal care you can give yourself is leading a stress-free life, pampering yourself at home. Any expecting mom has to agree with me on this.
If, on the other hand, you want to enjoy your long holiday, here's just a small subset of what all you can do:
  1. Learn car driving. The best days of my H4 have been after me learning to drive. You will begin to feel independent again as you zoom. Plus, if you're into window shopping like I am, US is the place to be. Plenty of one-of-a-kind shops where you can spend hours casually browsing the aisles and unlike India, nobody here puts up awkward expressions if you leave without purchasing a thing or even bother you as you casually walk around the store.
  2. Now is the time to pick up all those hobbies you left to make time for your studies.
  3. If there's a community college near you, check out their course schedule. I don't mean the educational ones. Most of these colleges offer sports lessons, swimming and music classes, etc for as little as 20-30$ for the entire semester.
  4. Blogging. The best outlet for your several thoughts. Start writing a blog to post your random musings or some cooking or crafts blog or anything. Blogging is fun and you will slowly learn to become more expressive.
  5. Reading. If you enjoy reading books, you will never once get bored here. For the public libraries here are pretty amazing! Become a member and read as much as you can.
  6. If arts and crafts interest you, visit the store "Michaels" to get some ideas.
  7. Make vacation plans. There are plenty of places to visit in the US, while there are hardly 4,5 long weekends an year. Unless your spouse is into travel planning, you take up the task of planning your vacation. Most of the State Tourism Boards publish travel guides and mail them out for free. This info can be obtained on the Internet too. But, if you prefer lying back and reading all that a State has got to offer, order these travel guides and start planning.
  8. Every now and then, keep revising what you already studied and learn what's new in your field of expertise.
  9. Keep in touch with friends, professional contacts and with world, in general.
See, we came here on our choice. Nobody forced us into marrying an H1-B dude. So why crib? If not this year, you can apply for work permit the next year or the next. As long as you are hands-on with whatever your resume highlights, getting a job is not at all difficult. All it needs is confidence to crack an interview, assuming you already have the required skill-set. If you start getting depressed, it will only affect your relationship. Always remember, there's a contingency plan for everything. So relax at home and have fun!


Posted by Manjusha at 2:47 PM 18 comments  

Labels: , , ,

Friday, October 16, 2009

Disneyland

So Disneyland - what's in for adults huh? Do adults have anything to do at all at DL? What if I'm not that much into cartoons? With these and several other questions bothering me at the very thought of visiting Disneyland, I kept postponing the trip telling myself I'll go once my kids grow up, yes "grow up" which would be several several years later. Anaheim is just 1.5 hours from where we stay, so one fine day I decided to visit Disneyland at Anaheim, CA come what may. Quickly browsed through the park website and saw the list of attractions and thought again, should we really go? Instantly closed the browser and told myself - no research this time, if I read any further, I might never visit so let me just go and explore Disneyland.

A little background about me:

- I don't once tune in to a cartoon show on Television
- I never watch any animation movies
- the only disney characters I know of are Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Winnie, the Pooh

and yet, I had fun at DL!



So having spent a whole day at disneyland, I can assure you that disneyland is not just for kids, and adults can have fun too. Its not only a home of the cartoon characters we grew up watching, but there are some thrill rides, slow rides, fireworks and in general, the park carries a colorful, happy, festive look that you just want to sit back on the side-walk and enjoy. I have a huge list of traveller's tips for you when you plan a visit to DL. The park is huuuuuge, and the density of population is quite high (much more than Universal Studios and Sea World) even on a regular weekend. If you just have a day to spend at Disneyland Resort, Anaheim,
  1. do your homework right. Look at the list of attractions on the park website and make a short-list of what you find interesting. Inside the park, all you have is a park map and never ending lines of queue at most attractions. So, there's no point wasting time on something not worth seeing. This is the most important step of your DL trip preparation. There are too many places to visit inside Disney, so if you fail to do this step, you would end up wondering what to see, and what to skip at each and every attraction.
  2. make the best use of the FastPass service. On your trip list, add a star next to the FastPass attractions. When you decide to do a thrill ride or something else with a FastPass, go grab a pass for that asap. That way you can avoid the long queues and cover other smaller attractions during the FastPass wait-time.Make the optimal use of your time inside the park.
  3. for adults without kids, I suggest you visit Tomorrowland first. Its got a bunch of rides, and a futuristic place called Innoventions that's worth a visit. Once you're done with Tomorrowland, you can walk across to Adventureland, Frontierland and the New Orleans Square. Those are all the not so kiddish zones of Disneyland. Leave Fantasyland and Mickey's Toontown to the end.
  4. atleast do a quick walkthrough the toontown. Everything there is so damn cute and pretty. Exactly like what we see on cartoon shows.
  5. make sure you find yourself a good vantage point for watching the night show, Fantasmic. Its one of a kind laser-fountain-fireworks show that you don't want to miss. Now there are two night shows - Fantasmic at 9 and the regular fireworks show at 9:30. You can't catch the best view of both unless you stay till 10:30 for the repeat show. If fireworks behind the castle are what you're interested in, find a spot on the main street. People literally sit there like 2-2.5 hours in advance for the fireworks.
  6. Celebrate, the Street Party. Another fancy event, but ask the park staff for the exact show time and if they anticipate any delays. When we went, the show was delayed by half-an-hour, waste of time :(
  7. there is a whole strip of hotels right across the road from Disneyland. Next time, when we plan to visit, we'll make sure we stay there for the night. That way, you can comfortably tour the entire park in a day as the park is open from 9am-12am.
  8. not all events are scheduled on weekdays. So take a look at the park calendar before scheduling a trip to DL.
  9. finally, unless you are visiting So. Cal during holidays, DO NOT VISIT DISNEYLAND DURING HOLIDAYS/LONG WEEKENDS. We went on a regular weekend and the queues were crazy, about 80min wait time at some attractions. Isn't that insane? 80min is the time it takes to drive from Disney to my house. :) I'm sure I wouldn't even be able to do 20% of the park had I gone during holidays.
So, go visit Disney and feel like a kid again as you walk through Mickey's Toontown :) Disney is definitely worth checking out.

Oh yeah, another thing not quite related to DL. I have the habit of bringing back fridge magnets as souvenirs of interesting places I travel to. This time, instead of buying one, I made one at home. So much fun! Here's all you need:
  1. Photo printer
  2. Photo paper
  3. Adhesive magnet sheets (can be purchased at Office Depot)
  4. Scissors
Photos are the best souvenirs, so the nice thing about making a souvenir magnet at home is that, you get to be a part of the picture on the magnet :D Don't you agree ?

Choose a picture of you with appropriate background of the place you've been to, print it in a desired size using Windows photo printing wizard (if you don't have a photo printer at home, you can order a wallet-size print at walmart et al), paste it on the magnet and cut the magnet into whichever shape you want. Next time, I'll take a pic of the magnet I made and put it up here..



Posted by Manjusha at 4:46 PM 0 comments  

Labels: ,

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The great American Shopping List

The onset of the marriage season in India reminds me of my own wedding and all the shopping before and after that I did. When you decide to make the United States your new home, there's this long shopping list that makes its place in your handbag. You are allowed to carry 'n' pieces of baggage with 'm' kilos in each, so you begin jotting down the optimal list of things that can be carried in 'n*m' kilos. Whether you're going to the US for the first time, or for the tenth, you are bound to make this calculation. There's always something to bring back from India. Before coming up with my list, I asked some of my friends who were already living in the USA at that time to suggest me what all things should be brought from India. They were kind enough to share their thoughts, and right now I'm going to blog the list of "essentials", "not-so-essentials" and the "just-not-worth-the-load" items below. Basically, I categorize the immigrants into three categories:
  1. Joining their spouse in the USA following marriage
  2. Coming with family for the first time, and
  3. Students
I'll start with category#1.

The essentials:
  1. Electric mixer: You do get mixers here, but they aren't designed to grind our dals and pulses. This is a must have in any Indian kitchen and I'm pretty sure you are going to miss this if you forget to get one.
  2. Pressure cooker: If rice and dal constitute your staple food, do carry a pressure cooker from India. US has some good rice cookers though. So, you don't have to carry the electric ones. When you purchase a pressure cooker, remember to also buy enough number of gaskets, safety valves and a spare whistle too.
  3. Stainless-steel ware: Steel is ridiculously expensive here. So bring whatever you can think of. All those cooking utensils, ladles, other speciality steelware.
  4. Kadai/frying pan/wok: Get the aluminium ones from India, non-stick can be bought here. Also, make sure you buy the flat-bottomed kadais like this and not the rounded ones like this. Since most of the stoves in the American kitchens are electric, if you use a round-bottomed kadai, it'll end up dancing on your stove-top :)
  5. Other miscellaneous kitchen essentials: Coconut-breaker, coconut scraper, idli plates, chopping board with knife attached (you can't find one here)...
  6. Groceries: Tamarind (what you get here is mostly black) and all those special "branded" stuff like masalas, pickles, etc.
  7. Devotional stuff: If you are religious and do your prayer everyday, bring all those idols, religious texts and other puja material.
  8. and most importantly, bring with you lots of confidence to achieve your American dream :)
Not-so-essentials:
  1. Medicines: They would not add much of weight, so if you have the time, shop some antibiotics and other drugs you just can't do without. First-aid and regular cold-cough-fever medications can be purchased over the counter here. but antibiotics and other speciality medicines are sold only on prescription. But yeah, if you prefer gulping down the same things you grew up with, its better to get them rather than miss them in times of need.
  2. Home decor: My major complaint about the USA is that the only fancy decorative stuff sold here are candle stands and photo frames. How bland! If you like to add a vibrant, desi feel to your home, get them from Desh! Again, when you're coming for the first time, you won't really have an idea of what to pick. My suggestion is, get some light-weight wall decor and may be a bunch of figurines for your TV stand and side tables. We generally don't have India like showcases in the houses here. So don't bring too much stuff either.
  3. Plastic-ware: Plastic is dirt cheap here. But, most of the plastic food storage containers you find here are short and wide, unlike those tall tins in our mom's kitchen. If you have some room in your baggage, get those tall plastic containers for storing pulses and other groceries.
  4. Other Cookware: Like chapathi rolling pins and base, a tool to sift flour, (jalleda in Telugu) etc etc.
  5. Media: All your favourite music CDs, movie DVDs that you keep watching over and over again, unless you want to do some piracy and download from the Internet :)
  6. Woolens: Just bring one jacket for your flight, nothing more. You'll be amazed surfing the woolenwear aisles in the shops here.
Just-not-worth-the-weight:
  1. Non-stick cookware: You can get really good ones here.
  2. Tableware: By this I mean, plates, spoons and forks. Can be bought here.
  3. Other steelware: Knives, peelers, graters, etc etc.
  4. Linen: Bedsheets, bath towels, etc. A big waste of baggage space if brought from India. They are not at all that expensive here.
  5. Groceries: Most of us carry all those pulses and loads of groceries that are readily available here just for the sake of saving some dollars. If you have the space in your baggage, go ahead and purchase. IMO, this should be the last thing on your mind when you shop for US. I usually fill in my baggage with lots of decorative and all other goods and finally hit the departmental store just before sealing my baggage. What you save may be 50 or 60$ which is equivalent to what you pay for eating out may be 3times. So, do you see, groceries are just not worth the weight.
  6. Books: Unless you are a student or a serious reader, you can safely leave all your books back home in India. Public libraries in the US are huge and rent books for free. You can find virtually every book here. For books that you refer to very frequently, better get them from India for they cost a lot to purchase.
If you are going to land in a desi hub like Los Angeles or New Jersey, you can do without carrying even the ones on my "essentials" list. These cities have huge Indian bazaars that sell everything from a diwali lamp to Gold ornaments. Another thing, if you plan to bring any electric gadgets from India, remember that America runs on 110V supply, so your 230V devices are not going to work directly here. Also, if you are coming from the state of Andhra Pradesh, there's this shop in Hyderabad called "Sanath Nagar Steel factory" that's worth checking out.. Its a huge warehouse like store that sells 110V items. That ain't my uncle's store :), mentioning because I find it really good.

For category #2, #3:

The biiig advantage that people falling in cat #1 have is, one: a car ready at their disposal and two: a US guide aka husband :) So even if they come empty handed, they can purchase most of the above within no time. But for the rest of you, I say, get a month's supply of toiletries, linen, some groceries, stationery/college supplies, medicines. Fill up your suitcase with whatever you use as part of your day-to-day life.

This list is by no means a comprehensive one. I'll keep updating this as more entries come to my mind. Feel free to leave me a comment if you think of something else, so that I can add it to my list.



Posted by Manjusha at 2:21 PM 2 comments  

Labels: ,

Newer Posts Older Posts Home

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)