Cyprus: Travel guide, visas and free housing · 2026

GGuestUserDec 20, 2022Read

I'll start by saying that I signed up for the program in 2020, but was only able to fly out two years later. Only my closest family, my mom and brother, knew about my trip. So, two years of my life were shrouded in secrecy. The closer the trip got, the more questions arose. Why fly to Cyprus in the winter, of all times? Even more confusing, why go to the same small town in Belarus twice? It’s not like I was going for sausage and cheese... (Though they turned out to be very delicious). Over those two years, I went through all the stages of acceptance: from denial: "The embassy in Russia is closing?! A pandemic?! It can't be!" to depression: "It means I'm not destined to fly to America." In the end, I was ready for any outcome. But I kept believing and did everything possible to make my dream come true. Here I am, sitting on a plane from Moscow to Tashkent to New York. My head is in a fog. I’ve waited for this for so long that I can't believe it's happening. In the last few weeks, I was afraid to even think about it. After problems with getting a visa, vaccinations, and the start of the war, it seemed to me that a meteorite would hit or aliens would arrive and enslave humanity before I ever flew to America. That’s how my journey began, which would open up a new world for me and bring me wonderful new friends. We joked among ourselves that what happens in America, stays in America! But I will share what happened! I don't really have the desire to write dry facts or observations about America; I just want to express my feelings and emotions in a stream of chaotic thoughts. While in Russia, I never once thought about my national identity. However, in America, the question came to a head. Answering the question "Where are you from?" for the fifteenth time, I suddenly wondered, "Where am I really from?" How do people see me, and what does that mean for me? Usually, the first thing people offer are stereotypes. Bad or good, they can be quite funny. By the end of my work, my colleagues were boldly joking with me that in Russia, bread is given out for free and that, in general, we have nothing else besides bread and potatoes. Honestly, I laughed from the heart. Meanwhile, the idea that "all Russians are serious" – for me personally, this stereotype was quite unexpected. Most likely, I couldn't refute it, as I often walk around with a gloomy face myself. I admit, at first, it bothered me that people around me were smiling and asking how I was doing. Everything in me resisted answering and asking back. But as with anything, the main thing is to start. Just as Columbus once discovered America, America discovered people for me and taught me to be friendlier. What surprised me was the large number of different nationalities. My roommates were from Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. I liked watching what they ate and how they behaved. For me, it became a kind of hobby to learn something new. I am grateful to my roommates for teaching me to love my body and not be shy. All you need for that is a couple of parties with Latin music and dancing. And consider your self-confidence in the bag! Taste habits are also an interesting topic. I watched how some could eat rice every day, others noodles. I, on the other hand, can eat buckwheat every day. Sometimes I caught strange looks when I tried to explain what buckwheat is and how to eat it, so to speak. In America, it is practically not sold, and most Americans haven't even heard of such a grain. In the end, after two months, I started looking for it in all the stores and all over the internet. That’s what taste habits mean! Since I had to forget about buckwheat, it was time to test my stomach's durability. Mexican, Italian, and Asian cuisines came into play. In the morning, there were powerful smoothies with acai berry and spirulina powders, wheatgrass juice, and turmeric shots with pepper, all because I worked in a vegan smoothie cafe. Frankly speaking, at first, I was skeptical about American prod

АГАлександр Горбачевmenus12 · Jun 10, 2010Read

It has been a month since we arrived. Lots of impressions, experience, failures, jokes, and even more to come. But not for everyone… The captain's loyal companion decided to head back to his Russian land. Saying, "I wouldn't have seen this America for much longer anyway." The situation is truly depressing. There is no normal work as such, and by "normal," the captain implies not only the jobs they hire Mexicans and J-1 holders for, but also the locals. Our work is strictly manual labor in any service sector for these locals. After all, locals can't serve locals xDDDD. All this is aggravated by a chronic illness. I won't go into details, but the point is that Jedi Pablo cannot lift heavy things and needs to eat a lot and on schedule. Any work here implies physical labor for us, and it's not a fact that you'll manage to eat more than once a day. Although, it would seem, working in a restaurant, they should feed you and all that. Yes, of course, they will give you food (and not a hot dog, but something fancy), but on busy days there is no time to eat, you won't even sit down until the evening, and then you just want to get home, have a beer, and die sleeping with terrible pain in your legs. Moreover, this work is not permanent for everyone; some waiters need their busboy only on weekends, and on other days one busboy can help several waiters. Money flies away quickly, nothing is left for food and housing, there are Jews everywhere, and there is no one to expect help from. That's when you think – "I could care less about this place, back home there is family, friends, a car, livestock, internet, local hoodlums… streams, birches." Also, they are telegraphing from home – "what are you still doing there? fly home sooner." The decision is not easy, but for some, it is the only one. Moreover, changing the departure date from the States also costs money – 50 euros (65 dollars), and they won't set your departure for tomorrow, but for a time when there are free seats. Therefore, if you have serious health problems – don't even try to conquer/punish America. At the time of writing this post, Jedi Pablo has been successfully delivered to Moscow, via Milan with a 6-hour delay. Ahead is another plane to Tyumen. The captain was also tempted to deport himself to his homeland, but the captain still doesn't understand how one can wait a year, sink 3 kilobucks into this business, and leave after a month? For that money, one could have spent until the end of August lying in a 5-star hotel in Turkey or Cyprus. The captain is an iron man, he can not eat, not sleep, functioning exclusively on tea, cigarettes, and instant noodles for at least 3 months (but cigarettes are expensive here, and instant noodles are small and not tasty). I like to move it, move it… By a happy coincidence, our neighbors were also kicked out of their place and they moved the next day. The captain didn't want to tempt fate and found his shelter with them. Manhattan Beach is a great quiet area, not far from Brighton, 15 minutes walk to the subway. A private house, we were given a semi-basement with two rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. There is enough space for now, we did a general cleaning, all that's left is to fill the fridge with something. Regarding furniture. Initially, there were only 2 sofas in the house. I didn't want to sleep on the floor. When the captain was living out his last days in the building, we went to the laundromat, and OH MIRACLE! Someone threw out 2 sofas, armchairs, and a couch. And the couch was a good one, single, folding, just needed a small correction of the legs (they were missing). Without thinking twice, we carried it to the 10th floor and left it for better times. When those times came, we dragged this thing to Manhattan Beach. We dragged it because the services of movers cost from 50 to 100 dollars. The crap, i.e., the couch, turned out to be heavy and we dragged it in pieces. One piece was left lying in the parking lot of the neighboring house