Tips for When Moving to America

The past 2 weeks have provided me a great learning experience. The difference between Kenya and America are striking. To my past me, I would have emphasized the following lessons:

Buy your own hair clippers: Cutting hair in America is expensive, an average of USD 20 depending on where you are. I don't know why, but I think minimum wages (USD 8.75/hour) are to blame for such high prices. That is the equivalent of about 10 hair cuts in Kenya at my kinyozi(at the rate of KSh. 200 per hair cut; assuming 1USD = 100Ksh.). I have already bought one, and I am now in the processing of learning how to cut my own hair.

Learning to cut your own hair will save you a tonne of money

Be prepared to eat odd things: every time I eat a burger, I know I am eating frozen meat from as far as Australia, fish from China and so on. The fast food business is booming and is not about to die. I have learnt to enjoy Chinese food including General Tso's chicken; all this while missing ugali and mukimo.

General Tso's Chicken - a favorite Chinese food

Learn to use a smart phone, and some apps will be handy: Uber/Lyft - to carry me to those odd places, Airbnb-cheap places to stay before finding more permanent place, Powervoip/Rebtel - cheaper alternative for calling home.

Contracts, credit cards and credit scores: a simcard requires I sign a contract where I am billed monthly, and they are not cheap either. Credit cards ensure you can buy stuff you don't need and not really feel it; credit scores measure how credit worthy you are. Credit scores are so important, that some people will not rent a house to you, or sell you a car if you don't show a credit history!

Credit scores run this country

The standard of living is high; a lot of services work, but it it expensive to live here. So, one needs to be careful with money so as not to go bust in a couple of months. Otherwise, let's live the American Dream!

Comments

Analyzing a carry trade proposal: Short USD, go long on bitcoin

I recently completed an assignment for an International Economics Policy class which entailed designing a carry trade. A carry trade is a financial transaction that involves borrowing (short) in a low interest currency, and lending (go long) in a high interest (yield) currency. For instance from Bloomberg 's rates for bonds, this would involve borrowing in Swiss francs (rate is -0.15 percent) and lend in New Zealand dollars (rate is 2.83 percent). All else remaining equal, the carry trade would yield a rate differential of 2.83+0.15 = 2.98 percent. Note: this is an unusual case where the interest rate we are borrowing from is negative; usually, this would involve subtracting the first interest rate from the second. For instance, borrowing in Japanese yen (0.04 percent) and lending in Kiwi dollars (at 2.83 percent) would yield 2.79 percent as profit. My carry trade in this case involves borrowing in USD at a rate of 2.33 percent, and buying bitcoins. But, what, you may ask, is the...

They told us to wait

They said we should wait. The wazees were deliberating. They were discussing "important" issues of national security and interest. So, we walked out. We stood by the door. It was raining hard, and we strained to stand as close to the wall as possible, to avoid getting drenched. Inside, the air was exuberant. The wazees were laughing heartily as they imbibed to their fill with nyama choma and Tusker baridi . My stomach was grumbling. I looked around at my friend. She was shivering. "She's going to catch a cold if we don't get somewhere warm soon," I thought to myself. I could stay here and wait to see the wazees and tell them why we had come. Or I could save my skin and call it a day (or night). I chose the former. I motioned to Wanjiku to follow me. She seemed shocked. We had come so far, having walked in the wind and rain for two hours. She was heavy with child, and due any day now. We passed the Toyota VXs that had transported the wazees to ...

Amka Afrika

The rise of the continent of Africa is imminent, it is ongoing and it is unstoppable. For a long time now, the land that is the home of the Black Man has been downtrodden, allowed only to eat the scraps, the leftovers from the white man's rule. This is changing. We are seeing more nations of Africa freeing themselves from the bondage of complete dependence and servility to nations of Europe and the Americas. Our people are standing tall. But this cannot be one man's dream. Nor can one nation go it alone in the process of gaining complete autonomy from the rule that keeps him serving the selfish ends of corporations. We must unite. We must unite not only to move forward, but also to survive. It is imperative that the nations of Africa see themselves as a brotherhood for the black soul. One nation alone will not survive the onslaught that is coming to anyone that dares challenge the status quo. We have seen what happened to those who dared go alone in the liberat...

Munene, the journey...

Search This Blog