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| Moving Day, 1856: "The Last Load: Can you take a few things more?" |
If you are planning to stay more than a year … bring your favorite things with you: books, recipes, paintings, clothes, music, movies and other memorabilia that you like to have around you. Whether you decide to buy or rent a house or an apartment, it will quickly feel like home if you have your ‘stuff’ with you. Sometimes overseas assignments can be extended or the next move is to another country. If you have the things that are important with you then you will be happy to be on the move and quick to settle. Sell everything else!
2. Medical records
Be sure to register with a doctor as soon as you arrive and have your medical insurance in place. The medical records should also include immunizations. This is especially important if you are enrolling students in a school or college as they will not accept students without up to date immunizations. It is also advisable to have a doctor in place before you really need one.
3. Financial records
For a foreigner, getting a credit card or a mortgage in this country was tricky before the global financial crisis. It is handy to have access to your last two tax returns and pay stubs so that you can build a credit history that doesn’t start when you arrive in USA.
4. A sense of humor
This is always a winner as one can always laugh at oneself! Be ready for people to laugh in a theater when no one else laughs or be the only person not laughing and wondering…what is so funny?! After a while you get used to it or something or maybe your sense of humor evolves…it is always fun to hang out with fellow country men for a good laugh! So dust off that sense of humor and lets go.
5. An accepting attitude
Things are different here in America and no one wants to hear that this is not the way things are done back home. Somehow it feels like it will all be the same as we all speak English ... but don’t be fooled. As Winston Churchill said about England and America…two countries divided by a common language.
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