This time I decided to do upgrade using “zypper dup” and followed all the suggestions to prepare the system for System Upgrade

To be safe I used the option –download “in-advance” in case something goes wrong and the upgrade is interrupted. And the whole command is:

# zypper dup –download “in-advance”

After all the packages were downloaded and installed , the system was restarted and it ended up in emergency mode.

Welcome to emergency mode. Use “systemctl default” or ^D to activate default mode.
Give root password for login:

There was another line on top of the screen

failed to execute: `/etc/sysconfig/network/scripts/ifup-sysctl` `/etc/sysconfig/network/scripts/ifup-sysctl lo -o hotplug`: No such file or directory

but I was sure that the problem is somewhere else, because it performed “fsck” on all partitions and maybe did not like something in /etc/fstab.

Anyway, I searched Google and found that system manager has been changed and now the system boots with systemd instead of previously used sysvinit.

So, I typed my root password and logged in the system and could even start KDE
with “startx”

Then I installed previous system manager package sysvinit-init and uninstalled systemd-sysvinit package

Rebooted and everything went fine.

There is another way to ignore systemd: at boot press F5 and choose system v from the drop-down menu.

But since systemd is going to be the default “init” in the future, it is better to read more about it at openSuSE-Systemd. I also did so and re-installed it again. The boot problem that I had was caused by my Windows partition, which I set to “noauto” ( this means the partition is not mounted during boot ) in /etc/fstab and the system boots normally now.

Enjoy one of the most powerful Linux distributions.

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

http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/

The submission process usually starts early October and last for a month, and the results are available to check in the Spring of next year. All dates are posted on the web site mentioned above.
Here I would like to share, from my own experience, certain things that could be helpful and could save some time to all applicants.

There are fraudulent web sites and companies, that charge certain amount to assist with the application process. There is no charge for the application imposed by US Department of State and anybody is expected to do it themselves at the designated web site.

Before starting your application check:
- if your country is in the list for the current year ( some countries are excluded due to high volume of immigrants for the last 5 years )
- if you meet the minimum requirements to apply: high school diploma or its equivalent or 2 year experience, from last 5 years, in occupation that requires at least 2 year training (list of all acceptable occupations is provided).

During the submission a unique confirmation number will be issued. Make sure you print that number and keep it – the only way to check the results later is by using this number. If you lose it, your submission is gone.

If you are among the selected successful applicants you will receive all the instructions, when you check for your entry status, to process further as well as appointment at US consular office for visa interview. You will need to fill more papers, pay certain fees, do medical examination and vaccinations and finally go to your visa interview.
Start your preparation as early as possible. There are many things to prepare:
- make sure you have enough funds to immigrate
At the interview you need to show evidence that you have enough money: bank statements, titles for property you possess, pay checks from your employer, tax return for the last year etc.
If you have friends and relatives living in the USA and if they agree to give you some help, they can send “Affidavit of Support” as additional help at the Consulate.
- you need provide a valid US address, no PO Box
Your friends or relatives can help you again, because you also need to leave this address upon arrival at US Immigration for your green cards to arrive at.
- translate and legalize all your diplomas and certificates
- use the remaining time to master your English language
- make sure your passports are valid for at least few years, before visa stamps are put in.

If you successfully pass the interview, 6 month entry visas will be granted immediately to you and your eligible family members ( spouse and children under 21 ).
You are supposed to enter USA within next 6 months or you lose your right. If your family wants to also have permanent residency, they should accompany you in your first trip. To bring them later will require additional time and money because it is separate procedure while you are in the USA.

After all steps finished and visas are granted it is time to prepare for actual immigration.

Good luck,

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

I also started reading science fiction like crazy, but there were also no answers . So, I turned to atheist and stopped my quest for God. Until the age of 42 when serious incident happened and I got all the time to think about the purpose of life on Earth.

And a magic series of happenings started:
A friend of mine gave me “Autobiography of a Yogi” ( it was not officially translated in Bulgaria at that time, but someone did it on his own and the book was forwarded from person to person in two parts ) and I finished the first part overnight. I was so much impressed, that immediately sat on the computer and typed “kriya yoga” in the search box. And the first link I clicked on was Cyberspace Ashram for Kriya Yoga ( never clicked on another link ). This is how I found Hans and I visited him in Germany. Ten months later my friend offered me to accompany him in his trip to Germany for free and I visited Hans again. Soon after that kundalini “awakening” started and I spent 3 days without sleep, most of the time lying on my back with tremendous flow of energy throughout my body and humming sound in my ears. A month later we immigrated to the USA.

Here I started to consciously feel the spiritual presence and spiritual guidance in my life.

One day I picked up one of those free newsletters offering jobs, opened it somewhere in the middle and the first thing I saw was posting by a company offering caregiver positions and free training. Instant flash in my mind “That’s it!”. I had always avoided direct contact with elderly, ill and dying people and facing death in general and that was exactly what I needed.

A bit later something similar happened to find nursing aide / CNA profession – this time with a posting card for preliminary CNA test.

And it went on.

Here I want to mention that, at that time, I was already doing Kriya Yoga on a daily basis, purifying my physical body by regular fasting ( clean water only ) and strict vegetarian diet.

How I perceive my spiritual guidance

It comes into my mind in the form of a thought, but not as result of my own brain activity. It appears in my mind instantly, the first thought ever, especially when I face a few choice situation. Just to give you an example: imagine you go to the store to buy certain thing and the associate there tells you that they have it in different variations. Before he even finishes his explanation, you already got the right one in your mind.
Now, I would like to confess that sometimes I disregard my spiritual guidance and do the things my Ego way. And I always regret about that and pay high price for my Ego decisions. Such happened last year, when I broke my leg, during my visit to Washington DC to renew my passport. I instantly got the right choice at Bulgarian Embassy, what and how to do it, but I disregarded it. I mention this just to show you how high the price might be.

Another thing to mention about my spiritual guidance is that sometimes I lose my awareness about it. It usually happens when I am pulled deep into “material world” like shopping or focusing too much on certain problems.

Spiritual presence in my life

It started early 2001 in a dream with Gurudeva. Later when I increased my kriya yoga practice I started feeling it regularly, especially when I am involved in loving actions.

How do I feel spiritual presence and who do I feel

Whenever I do something that creates happiness in other people I feel God and God’s Love. My Sahasrara chakra instantly opens and God’s bliss starts flowing through my entire system. Or whenever I approach people who need spiritual advice and ask for it, when I start talking God descends on the scene – all is light around. The same happens when I exchange pure love ( heart to heart ), no words, with certain people who are open. Needless to say: it always happens with my wife, when we look at each other eyes longer.
I also feel my Guru’s presence. I feel his aura and his love across the planet.
I also feel other beings if they are around, but when it is about God I only trust Gurudeva and do not pay attention to others.

God is Love and anybody can feel it even in a physical body. Change your mind, change your life, make love the only priority in your life and you will also start feeling it.

God bless you

Why? Because of the war between male and female world since thousands of years.

We had such situation many years ago and it was automatically solved after Spiritual marriage counseling done by a true expert. Happy life was the result and I have never been attracted by another woman ever since.

Now, a brief marriage counseling below.

To all women who are in the this position:

“Did you ever ask your husband what he would love to receive from you as a woman and how?”

If not, please do it. Make sure you have the most loving attitude and ask your him about all his dreams and desires. But before doing that, be honest and answer the questions:

“Do I love this man from the bottom of my heart? Do I want to forgive everything and anything? Am I ready to give him all?”

If your answer is positive, then just turn into sweet and loving wife ready to say “yes” anytime and you get back the best husband in the world. I assure you. Your happy life is just a second away from your “YES”.

If your brain, for any reason, prevents you from giving all to your husband anytime, or you are too proud to do so, then sign a divorce paper and give your husband freedom. This might be the most loving act you have eve done for him.

The lines below is my wife’s part of this marriage counseling:

If your husband is cheating, it is a warning that you fail to make him happy and truly love him. You have to understand with your heart what he is seeking outside your marriage. If you love this man and you feel you still want to spend your life with him in happiness just forgive him all now and attract him back in your home and in your heart with sweet angel love. Just say:

“Honey, I love you, I have been always loving you and I want to love you forever with all my heart and soul!”

Men are just like us women – human beings with hearts and souls hungry for love and care. Love each other again and dissolve the past mistakes in the power of your love – this is just the way we learn and spiritually progress to grow stronger in our hearts.

God bless you

galina and georgi

Honeymoon is a great “tool” for refreshing and re-establishing your happy life and is advised to be used on a regular basis.

Depending on your budget and preferences, honeymoon location could be an exotic Philippine island, green mountains in Nicaragua or any other place in the nature. The location has to be something both partners fully agree on. Avoid crowds and commercialized tourist destinations – all you need is but peace to make honey-love freely flow.

During your honeymoon do what you both love to do most together. Put away your watches, cell phones, laptops or other distractive gadgets. Forget your schedules and appointments. Forget about “civilization” – you can easily live without TV and newspapers and be more happy. Take all your time for each other and love each other anytime, any place.

Talk to each other and tell each other all that is important and has been withheld past months or years. Make sure there is nothing hidden or unspoken left between you two. Clear anything and everything with love.

Set a common and true goal in your life, if you have not already done, and commit to each other to achieve this goal side by side in good and bad times.

Of course, the best honeymoon would be if it is combined with spiritual retreat to speed up your spiritual development. Because God should be part of your relationship. Happy life is just impossible without God, since God is the source of all Love and happiness is but a result of applied love.

The text below is my wife’s share for this recipe:

Honeymoon is time to be spoiled with love – give each other a sweet, gentle massage or a bath; spend time in nature: swim in clean water, walk in a forest; eat fresh fruit and vegetables of your choice. Have fun together – dancing, singing, play your favorite music or enjoy the songs of the birds.

May love prevail and your life be always happy!

galina and georgi

The obvious benefits are:

• things are getting done faster and smoother with a “helper” who loves you
• the presence of such helper is always inspiring
• another point of view gives bigger chance for the best solution to be found

Start with something as simple as cooking together. This is a fun “task” and could bring lots of joy for the entire family. And every “cook” puts their own love ingredient to the food taste.

Then move on toward more demanding tasks like improvements and repairs in the household and else, where man does the “man” part of work, of course.

One day you may achieve such synchronization in doing things together, that even a non-technical person can perform purely technical job as to completely disassemble Acer Ferrari 5000. The last was done twice by my wife and me together.

Doing things together applies for the whole family, of course, and if you have small children let them give their share as children are always willing and happy to help their parents.

And the last point: the ideal situation for all would always be to have all your business at one place – your home.

Doing things together with your partner is but another way to have fun and filled with love content of your life.

May love prevail and your life be always happy!

galina and georgi

I, myself, enjoy very much all parts of my wife’s body, especially when lying in bed and I can touch many of them at the same time. I have always wondered at other people / couples wearing pajamas or any other clothes in bed. Because they all miss the sweet and tender love flowing from your partner’s body to your own body all the time, even while sleeping.

But there is something very important to really enjoy the physical touch – no make ups, deodorants, perfumes or anything that kills the natural sent and odor of your partner’s body.

All should be natural – God’s made.

If there is a problem with your natural body odor, that means something is wrong in your life style and you should consider changing it immediately – vegetarian diet and more outdoor activities will certainly help you.

And here is my wife’s share on this topic:

Being skin to skin next to my husband is very special sensation – each part of the body feels the touch in a different way.

God created our physical bodies with millions of touch receptors in our skin to accept and absorb love from a gentle loving touch and healing massage.

Sleeping skin to skin and hugging all night gives as sweet angel dreams and very relaxing and recovering rest.

May love prevail and your life be always happy!

galina and georgi

Nature is one of the most important factors for our physical and spiritual health, for a happy life, and, as shown from my recent experience with a Ginkgo tree, could also be a strong mediator for our connection with God.

Last week I went to the city’s central park where there are 2 medium size – around 12 m high – ginkgo trees. I leaned my back against one of them and stayed 10-12 minutes with closed eyes. my Sahasrara chackra immediately opened widely and the vibration started to gradually increase more and more. shortly I almost lost my physical body – the state I reached was similar to one, after hours advanced kriya, and it lasted for a long time. This is by far the highest ever vibration experienced with plant.

Since then I visit the trees for several minutes each time I go to the city. The “silent lovers” are always ready to give and make happy unconditionally.

And for those practicing Kriya Yoga, if you have Ginkgo trees in your neighborhood, take the chance and go to the trees BEFORE your Kriya Yoga session. There is a big difference in the quality, which could be compared with a biker going downhill and uphill.

Use the natural “boosters” to facilitate happiness in your life.

God bless

georgi