Our choice was California, because my wife had relatives in San Diego. I would recommend California to all prospective immigrants for:
- its moderate climate
- lots of opportunities to work
- the state is the largest fruit and vegetables supplier, which means that food prices are lower than any other place
- the great number of educational centers and occupational programs, at low cost or free tuition, funded by the state and the counties.

The last one is crucial for many immigrants, coming from poor countries and have no money for obtaining new profession or to advance their education. Later, when we moved to Florida I had the chance to compare some courses, and they were lengthier and more expensive than the same in California. I also took advantage of those opportunities and acquired a new profession, Certified Nursing Assistant, from one of the community colleges in San Diego.
Example for one such program is San Diego County Regional Occupational Program

All information about occupational and educational possibilities could be found at the public libraries, where there is also free Internet access.

The first recommendation: have enough funds to pay for your living for the first months. To find place to live might be very difficult at the beginning. We could not find such place for over a week, despite the efforts of our relatives. Why? All landlords wanted background check, or credit check ( your credit history ), which we simply did not have because we were new for the system. And that was also the first difference we encountered – we were coming from a culture where a short conversation and a handshake with the landlord do all.
And go to Social Security Administration Office and apply for for your Social Security Cards as soon as possible. You need photo ID ( your green card will arrive soon at the address given at the Immigration upon your arrival ) and SS Card when you apply for job and for other identification purposes.

Finding a job might also be a challenge. You will not have work history in the USA and most of the employers might simply disregard your job application. So, be humble and apply for jobs few only want to do – caregiver would be good choice.

After the initial period, to settle down your place to live and find your first job, things will go smoother.

Living in the USA

First of all I would like to clearly state:
I am glad that I had the chance to live and work in the USA and to meet all modest and humble native Americans, who taught me in one way or another and showed me how to work. I got something from every single person I met here. Some of the essential lessons in my life would not be possible to learn at the pace I did here.

I am aware what image has been created by movies, documentaries, magazines, Internet etc. in other people’s minds about USA and that most people immigrating here have expectations for a bright and carefree life amidst luxuries and lots of money. Living in the USA, however, has its price and it might be very high. Below are some of my own insights and realizations, based on 50+ years active life and experiences through other cultures.

Freedom
Americans proudly name their country “Land of Freedom”, but one of the first things my family and I experienced, was limited freedom. And it is logical. With all the numerous laws, rules and regulations, it is impossible to be free. It is valid even more for minors. They are so restricted in what they do or where they go, that our older daughter even refused to live here in the beginning. And later, the younger one also got fed up and joined her sister in Bulgaria for one full year until they were ready to come back and start working.
Just to give you an idea what I am talking about: I am grown up in Bulgaria during hard communistic time. In my childhood I use to do just anything and go any place throughout the country without “guardians”. And I literally mean “any place” – fields, forests, mountains, seaside etc.

Communication with other people
Another thing we faced pretty soon was: blinds on the windows and locked doors all over. You can live for months in one and the same apartment building without knowing your neighbor. People are scared to go out at dark or to leave even their windows open night time when they sleep. For a reason: too much violence in the streets – something that everybody admits.
I know that there are people who are coming here from places at war and for them it is a big relief to start new life here. But many are coming from cultures where people live true values of life and are but one big family – entire neighborhood is open and everybody is welcome everywhere. Fences are but symbolic.
Several years ago I talked to a Philippina, who could have lived in USA if she wanted, but she told me that it is too much to sacrifice for money. And I fully understood.

Punishment
To punish others for the mistakes they made is within the entire American culture. This is the reason that USA have the highest incarceration rate ( prisoners ) in the world. It is widely practiced by individuals, companies, institutions and even by US government abroad. And it is part of your daily life – where ever you go there is always paper or sign that if you do something wrong you will be prosecuted.

The above three points are, in my opinion, something anybody should consider before taking important decisions for life. There is something positive to learn from any culture on this planet and apply in your life and if you have already set your life priorities for God’s Love, you are safe everywhere.

God bless you

georgi

On the 2nd of May I already started a job in the children department of a hospital – so my wish was realized very soon. Now I am working there being on duty 24 hours 12 to 15 days a month.

In the middle of May my husband returned to Bulgaria also and we settled down in a village where our life is simple and close to nature.

There was another challenge waiting for me in Bulgaria. I knew I had karma to dissolve in person because it was like an illness deep inside:

For many years I had been angry with my mom. Far away in the US I was suppressing this feelings but now, with my return to Bulgaria I needed to face her and get in peace. This appeared to be kind of a problem for me and for a short while I was obsessed by this painful feeling intensively then I had the strong desire to get healed – I did pray to God and focused on love and finally it was all dissolved.

May Love fill our hearts and heal our souls

The first step toward this realization was the story that happened almost 10 years ago.

In October 2001, we spent almost a month on the beautiful island of Busuanga, Philippines. That month is the precious gift I ever had, because we spent all the time with someone who knows God and who has been continuously teaching and spiritually counseling us ever since – our Guru.

The place we stayed was a small garden type resort, where we were treated more like family members rather than tourists. So, we had all the time just for us: to start real husband-wife relationship. My wife was very open for God and got some precious gifts in addition to all the rest.

One day one of my teeth broke at the base ( I had a crown installed just month before and obviously the tooth had been filed too much at the base ) and I went to the local dentist to pull out the roots left in my lower jaw.
The extraction took around 45 minutes with 3 injections of anesthesia.

After all pushing and pulling, on my way back, I started already regretting that I visited the dentist. When I got to our cottage I suddenly remembered that the day before Guru told my wife that pain can very easily be “removed” from the body. I asked my wife to try to relieve my pain with God’s help. So, I lied in bed and my wife bent over me. I closed my eyes and opened my Sahasrara Chakra. And suddenly all pain went away – it was gone forever!

That was the most amazing thing that had happened to me so far.

Later on I have been shown how Love changes people’s hearts and lives, which just strengthened my faith – Love is the complete solution for all because God is Love.

God bless you.

We all do mistakes and they are always costly. But sometimes a single mistake can ruin someone’s whole life. This publication is intended to give you some practical help on dealing with hospital bills and doctors’ bills. I have gone through this twice in my life and learned how to solve such matters within shortest periods of time. All the options below are based on my personal experience and have proven to be successful.

The options mentioned only apply for people WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE.

Lets start with the first story:

In Autumn of 2004 our younger daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. We were out of the country when she went to ER of the largest hospital in Saint Petersburg, Florida and then she was moved to “All Children’s Hospital” in the same city, for eventual treatment. She underwent chemotherapy and got back home in a month. After a week or so the bills started to fill our mail box and we immediately started taking care of them.

First thing to make you aware of is: hospital bill is totally separate from doctors’ offices bills.

Hospital bills

From the hospital you get one bill for anything that has been done, no matter where you have started from – ER or operation room.

All hospitals have financial aide programs ( might be called differently, but is the same thing) to help people with low income or in need. The scale varies from hospital to hospital, but if you are family of 4 with annual income $24-30 000, you will be eligible most likely. So, find who is in charge with that program ( charity or financial aide) and get an application as soon as possible. Different programs have different requirements but be ready to submit proofs for income, bank account statements, and other papers if needed.

Doctors’ offices bills.

You will get as many bills as the number of doctors involved in your treatment. Even if a specialist comes and asks you a few questions.

Start taking care as soon as possible

Very important: avoid phone calls and physically go to the office, face the right person and solve your problem right away. Be ready to pay what you negotiate on the spot. In almost all cases, the right person to talk to, is the office manager – other employees have no power to take decisions. If the manager has no time for you the same day, set an appointment for soonest time later.

Fortunately God always guided me to the right people. In first office I visited, I spoke to the billing specialist there – a very generous person, who understood my situation and revealed before me some important information:

Many know that people without health insurance are being billed at the highest rates. Yes, that is a phenomena but is right. So, she billed me at different scale, as if I had Medicaid. That was a tiny percentage from the initial bill – more than 20 times less! And she also explained to me that it is normal for many offices to just transform the initial bill to another one on the computer. It happened with two other offices later on.

Explain your situation and ask to be billed at different scale ( it does not matter that you do not have it) – Medicaid is best choice.

In another office, my bill there was some $9 000, I set an appointment to see the manager the next day and when I talked to her for a minute, she lowered my bill down to $2 000. I told her that I do not have such money and she said that they will set payment plan for $20 a month. We had some emergency money in the bank account and I offered her $1 000 at the moment, instead of waiting 8+ years for the amount to be paid off. She agreed and I paid with my debit card.

I know that such kind of bargaining may not look worthy for some people, but I am also aware of many very high charges in the health system ( like $500 for a short visit ) as well as some high salaries, which can not be justified. And we are simple working people.

In the last office I dealt with, I encountered zero understanding and I told the manager that I want to see the head of the office – the doctor under whose name the office was operating. They told me that the doctor is very busy, but since I insisted on my right to see or talk to him, they set appointment for telephone conversation a few days later. And when the doctor called I asked him for mercy and I got it.

All the above happened in my home town – Saint Petersburg, but there might be different scenario: when you are away from home.

The second story:

Last year, as a result of gross negligence, I broke my leg in Washington, DC. I underwent surgery and stayed in the hospital for 3 days due to weather conditions.
As you already know, first thing with the hospital was to ask for their financial aid / charity program. So, I got an application and took it home with me. I filled it out at home and sent it by registered mail to their office. A month later I got an approval.

With doctors bills was different because there was a separate billing company in charge with all doctors’ offices bills and I was not able to go for negotiation to all the offices due to my condition.

There is 1 month period, within which you can discuss your bills with them. After that you deal only with the billing company. I could not get their manager on the phone to discuss some of the charges and the payment method ( was funny because the option they had was to pay $8 000 bill within 6 months and I was out of work with broken leg) and finally I quit.

A few months later I got a letter from collection agency. I called them and
explained that some of the charges are abnormally high and I can not accept them and I am not going to pay such bill.

If your bill goes for collection you can make deals with the CA. In my case from 8 000
the settlement was for 4 500, and I had 1 month to pay it off. I told the collectors to send me all details by mail and that I will let them know whether I accept the settlement or no. Then I called the billing company and they said the settlement is for $4 000 and I have 1 month to pay it in whole. As you see the collectors just put extra $500 upon me. 2 weeks later we had 4 000 and I paid the bill over the phone.

Another option to get help is Medicaid

Medicaid is for everybody and it differs from state to state. So, you need to check your eligibility with your home state and file an application. The program covers individuals from different social groups and will pay all your bills 3 months back from the time you file the application if you are eligible. Even people with high income can get help from it. It may also pay your bills from another state ( Florida Medicaid does it ).

In my first story we did not meet the residency ( 5 years for the state of Florida ) requirement to get all covered by Medicaid. And for my second story I did not have dependants to be eligible.

Bankruptcy

You can always file bankruptcy and start new life from scratch if you are ready for this. This could be your best move.

The final words: be open, be honest, ask for grace and mercy to get your normal life back and learn from all the mistakes.

God bless you.

Fortunately, there appeared an opportunity to live in a village, close to the 6th largest city in Bulgaria, where my wife could eventually start her practice as pediatrician later on.

So, it’s been already 2 months since we started our simple life.

What we have now:

• clean and healthy environment

The village is located partially on hills and surrounded by forest, which makes air fresh and clean. The picture below gives you better idea

View of Bogomilovo village

• healthy food and water

Some of the food is coming from neighborhood and our garden: milk, eggs, some vegetables and fruits. The water is from mountain springs on the hills. This makes big difference in the quality. First time since many years I ate fruits from the trees or ON the tree. One of the water sources on the picture

Clean mountain spring water

• far less technology resulting in peaceful neighborhood

We also contributed to this point by using 3G internet connection, which is just one USB stick for the computer – no cables and equipment around the house.

• far less self created environment pollution

Maybe 90% of all is recycled straight back in the nature ( in the ground )

• far less rules and regulations ( I have not seen law enforcement people yet )

This last point makes me feel really GOOD. Just imagine: to live in a place where, to a great extent, you can freely move around, nobody calls police or no police at all. And I really enjoy walking through the fields and the woods.

It is a great pleasure walking through the nature

• and finally we have garden to work in: several mature fruit trees ( cherries, apricots, pears, apples, figs, sour cherries, almonds, walnuts ), strawberries, vegetables, herbs and lots of flowers.

All of the above had huge impact over my entire being: I feel myself fully balanced emotionally and mentally, and physically much younger.

Such a life style helps also to significantly reduce our overall expenses.

God bless

Most people in the Western world will answer back: “How could it be possible to advance in life without education?.”
Let me first give you some facts from my own life.
In February, 2000 we immigrated in the USA. My younger daughter was 13 years old and had completed 5 grades in Bulgaria, before we moved out of the country. After a while she enrolled in secondary school in San Diego, California in 6-th grade just to improve her English.
During the summer of year 2000 she found a special, technically inclined school from 7th all the way to 12th grade, where she wanted to enroll because of the advertised computer program there.
So, she started in the autumn at 7th grade. Shortly after that, they moved her to a higher grade for certain subjects, because she had already covered the material at 5th grade in Bulgaria. After the first week there, her enthusiasm vanished as she found out that computer programming starts in 3 years, at 11th grade! I was also amazed by the greatest, I have ever seen, volume of useless ( for practical life ) information the students needed to learn to complete the year. That was real torture, and if it would have been my will, I would have ended it right away. But it was her decision to go to the end.
In September 2001 I offered my younger angel to go back to Bulgaria and study computer programming taking a suitable course and as well as self study, without attending any other school. And she went back Bulgaria for one full year.
In September 2002 both our daughters came back to the USA and started working. They were still teens 15 and 16 years old.
One day my younger one asked me: “Dad, everybody says I will need high school diploma in a few years when I want to apply for better job.” I explained her that if she has enough knowledge and practice as a coder, she can find good job without diploma just by showing her skills, but if she wants diploma one day I will show her the way to get it.
More than an year later she came and said “Dad, I want diploma. You promised to help me with this.”
I said “OK” and brought her to PTEC in Saint Petersburg, Florida where we had already moved. They had excellent “online” program for GED ( high school education equivalent in USA and Canada ). She took the preliminary test and enrolled in the course. After only 2,5 weeks on the computer at home, she successfully passed all the tests and set a date for the state exam. All went good and a month later she got her high school diploma in the mail box at the age of 17.
The obvious advantages:
- she saved 4 years precious time
- she learned to work
- she studied exactly what she wanted, without wasting time for other subjects
- she had enough income to support herself and do what she wanted
And ZERO disadvantages.

Learn to use alternatives like GED and free yourself from the obsolete education system

If adults look at their past and honestly answer the question “What did I use from my high school education in real life?”, most likely it will be a tiny percentage if anything at all. Or look at the high school graduates: at the age of 19 they are helpless and have zero practical skills. I am sure that people at ACE took into account all this, when they created GED system long time ago.
And if you still have any doubts regarding the uselessness of the Government imposed education system, read the above story again and realize the simple fact that a person, who had never started high school and had been away from ANY school for more than 2 years, was able to pass GED examination, after a few weeks intense study at home, and get high school diploma.

Of course we all need education, but education we manage OURSELVES: crash courses and self studies, while working. All we need is just first 5-6 years at school when all the basics for real life are learned. Then life is our best teacher and we learn whatever is needed as we go. It is also OK for higher education as long as we support ourselves from our own pockets.
In the past decade I also had 2 major profession changes and both times with courses ( 3 month and 6 month ones ), while working.

Learn to be free, grow strong and guide your children with Love and wisdom.

God bless you

Every marriage can be healed and even become stronger and happier if husband and wife want to forgive all pain and emotional stress they have caused to each other and are ready to learn how to heal each other’s heart with love and care!

Healing a marriage is a process of getting in peace and spiritually grow to build a new relation on a base of true love and readiness to create happiness for your partner and family.

We have done it and now we are enjoying a happy life together!

We are ready to offer a marriage counseling to help couples in broken marriage to learn from us how to recover their love relationship and find all the spiritual help we have.

Marriage counseling requires both partners to participate and be ready for all the changes and efforts needed for the healing of their love relationship.

Fahter’s day is comming soon and many women are looking for gifts for their husbands or even brainstorming: What can i get my “hubby” for fahters day? – wasting hours and spending money on shopping.

Lets think together about all material gifts that we can buy, order or create – how long the joy of getting them last – few minutes! Even the most expensive gift – sometimes turns to be the less useful or a burden to carry.

Sending Happy Father’s Day greeting cards from a wife to husband is obvious because it is the wife’s God’s given privilege to create all the happy husband’s days and nights!

Cooking his favorite dishes and desserts we do every day. We do pamper him with a gentle loving massage when he is tired and exhausted, we smile and care all the time.

What about our LOVE – a very special personalized gift that could fill his heart and make him truly happy – to give him the love he wants and needs the most, the image of love he has in his fantasy and dreams.

LOVE is the best gift from a happy wife to the husband who loves her!

We need to take our time, relax and feel the love and tenderness we could give to each other.

LOVE is a blessing that needs to be consumed, absorbed and enjoyed to create the precious feeling of happiness.

Fall is here – the golden season of beauty and bounty, of harvest festivals and celebration like the Thanksgiving tradition.

Nowadays we – the city people mast be thankful with every meal to the farmers who dedicate their life to produce our food and be grateful to God – the creator of this plentiful variety of fruit and vegetables to please every taste and nourish any need!

Soon is Thanksgiving – time to spend with our family, parents, children, relatives and friends – time for more love, time for grace and peace. It’s an occasion to forgive each other for all that went wrong in the past and get ready for the Holy Christmas with purity and calmness in our hearts!

Let’s make this Thanksgiving a feast of Peace, Grace and Love!

Please, feel invited to see and use our Thanksgiving greeting cards

Happy Thanksgiving!

with love

goergi and galina

The urban style of life in the cities isolates us from the nature – from forests, birds, animals and flowers – from the source of life, God gave us for healing and recreation.
Yet some places in Florida still manage to protect the nature as much as possible and preserve the vegetation, maintain the landscape and lakes and protect the birds and animals, including huge alligators.
One such beautiful place is the Reserve at Lake Pointe in Saint Petersburg – Florida.
Along the lakes groups of ibises walk around digging the ground in the search of food, ducks take their morning bath enjoying the water, mother ducks teach baby ducks to swim and great herons are hunting around.

The patios are all decorated with blossoming bushes and huge variety of flowers. Pretty bright colored hibiscuses are seen everywhere because they are better adapted to the dry sandy soil.
For a happy family life a healthy natural environment is the best for adults to get easily rid of the stress after work and for the kids to play outside in the nature and grow up strong and healthy!