Life as a Nurse in Maryland

Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. To those of you here in the United States and around the world, this is onwards and upwards. My name is Luciana Da Silva. I am in for Friedman today. She is actually sick with covid-19. Her thoughts and prayers are with her right now for a speedy recovery. But in the meantime, onwards and upwards. I've got Kaye travel nurse hacker here with me. Hi, Kaye. Hi, Luciana. Hi. Good morning, everyone. In New York time this morning. Good evening for Philippines. Yes, it's wonderful. We have nurses and an audience and friends and friends all over the world watching us here today. We are going to be talking about Maryland. It is a Mary Maryland and you're going to be hearing all about it from Kaye who has lived there and worked up there. Kaye, tell us about yourself and your background. Let's start there.

Okay. Again, good morning again. I'm Kaye. I've been a north here in the United States since I first signed my contract in 2005. I came here 2006, started New York City and then I started travel nursing as early as the next year. During that time I was able to manage. I was single. So I started living in New York, Boston, Connecticut and Maryland. So each time in that area, majority are in New York City. But every two years we move around like we spent two years in Boston. We spent two years in Massachusetts, two years in Maryland, Connecticut and now in New Jersey. And I'm moving back again to Maryland next couple of weeks from now. Really, why are you moving back? Job wise and kid school is better where we are compared. now, of course, my job is mainly because of my husband's job and for me as a nurse, I can work everywhere. That's true. That's the one thing about there are so many things about having a nursing career. But you will definitely always have a job no matter where you go because there are always people that need your care all around the world, all around the United States. And it looks like you have conquered the East Coast. Northeast Coast, yes. If you ask me about Northeast Coast, I can give you exactly where to eat. Which one is one way? Which one is two way? Are you from New York City? Right. Why did you come to the United States in the first place originally? Where are you from? City and country? I'm from Philippines, Manila. I accidentally sign an application form that says they're nursing to us. Eventually I landed in New York. That was a New York employer that I got, which I have no idea prior to that interview, it was just all coincidence and accidents. Everything happens for a reason. I came and moved to New York City as a nurse. That was petitioned by my main employer back in 2005. And then I lived there in New York as a single NFL and northeast coast for the past 17 years. My goodness, that is quite a long time. So you have lots and lots to share with us. So why Maryland? I know you said about your husband's job, but what made you say, okay, let's go. I'm in Maryland, in a way. I'm a city girl coming from Philippines. I grew up in Manila. I'm a city girl. It has a blend of suburbs kind of feel with a city which is not too far from DC. Where we live is in Baltimore. Everybody knows Baltimore is one of the notorious cities in the whole world or the US, but there actually is not the entire Baltimore. A person lived in Baltimore County, and that's one of the top school when it comes to elementary school. They were like number one. There is an area there which is called Thousand, which is literally like 20 minutes from the downtown. The houses there are like millions. Yes. And people are like that's volume. I was like, no, they have the best school. One of the best universities are there. You have your Johns Hopkins is also in Baltimore, which is a top hospital in the whole world of University of Maryland, because the top hospital, all surgeons go to University of Maryland to be trained for trauma, because that's the number one trauma in the whole United States. Yes. And a lot of people like this is a melting pot for education. This is a melting pot for people diversified culture, good education, the taxes, you would be surprised a little bit higher than where we are at the New Jersey when it comes to property taxes. But you return it in a way of education, which is also good. You just gave us an amazing rundown right there. Yes. Awesome. Everybody stay tuned because we are going to be talking about each of those points that she just made. And you said that you arrived in Maryland. When did you get to Maryland? So the first time I was in Maryland, actually, my family lived there as soon as they landed in the United States. I went to Maryland to celebrate my weekend with them already. So I landed in Fort Washington. Fort Washington. It's a Southern part of Maryland close to DC, which is 20 minutes away from the downtown DC. And a lot of the Filipinos who migrated there back in 1980s were Filipino nurses. A ton of Filipino nurses migrated in a county called Prince George County. So in the map, you're looking at south, like all the way south. You see Bali there, all the way down Nurse County there called Prince George's County. And that's a lot of Filipinos in there. The first Filipino nurses that got here in the 1980s. So that's a Filipino area there. Wow. You can see there on that map. If I could ask my director to pull that back up. Thank you. Look at this. So Maryland is really in the very center of several different States in the United States. It's right there in the center. You've got Washington, DC, the Appalachian Mountains of  West Virginia, if you've ever been there. They are absolutely gorgeous. Part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and they are blue. Then we have on the east side, Delaware, right above that, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, right north, right on top. Virginia. It's literally surrounded by 12345 States, just right there on the border. So much to do there. Had you heard about Maryland before you decided to move there or before your family moved there? Yes. So I was doing Philippines. My family again, my relatives moved to Maryland. They like it in a way for school system. It's a very nice suburb area for kids growing up. The only note thing I know Maryland, but the thing I know about Maryland is the crabs. They're very famous for blue crabs. It's very good, very tasty. The Baltimore City is like downtown. When you look at the map, exactly where you're there, the pin is thousand. I live there exactly there where the pin is thousand. So that's the north part of the Baltimore County, and it has one of the best school systems as well in that area. Good for family, good education, good work choices that I have. There's so many hospitals right out of it. It's very accessible to DC, accessible to your nature, sports. So it brought us a lot of everything. So I researched before I went there because we were thinking going down to closer to DC, but actually this place was a better pick at that time. What are the fun things to do there? Everybody wants to have fun. Yes. So I'm very outdoor person. I'm very outdoor, if you like nature and sports. Yes. We very close to all the Rivers. Have you seen the map? You have so much Rivers, Lakes. And again, there is DC not too far from you. Downtown Baltimore will have, like, your theatres as well. So Leis Alan was there when we went there. Of course, Leis Alan is a very famous Filipino Theatre and actress and artist. So there's a huge amount of Filipino community culture in that area that really brought me there because when you're bringing a family, a good support system is very important. Culture is very important to us as Filipino. So that's one thing why I chose that, why we didn't go to Delaware. Why didn't we go to Pennsylvania? Because the culture is something that's very important to us. And having that people in there in case of emergency, which is very important. And also you do outdoor. There's a lot of things you can do in Maryland, camping, outdoor kayaking, river rafting. We're not too far from Delaware, which is also very notorious for very good outdoor activities. So you have the best of everything when it comes to city activities. Downtown Baltimore, what do you call this one? Baltimore downtown has the marinas as well. So you have your boardwalk as well in there. And you get the food, you get the downtown, you get the city vibe, you have your nature. So you have the best as well. Take a look at all of these photos here on the screen. Right now. You have National Harbor, Western Maryland. Of course, we have Baltimore, Ocean City, Chesapeake Bay, very famous as well. And you can see that there is a very great Filipino population there. But it is an international city. There are people there from Brazil, from Europe, from Japan. I could keep going down the list. I could name 300 countries right now that are all there in this space. And I'm sitting here from the chat. By the way, I wanted to say hello to everybody in the chat. We have so many comments here already. Keep your questions coming. I'm still learning from Tanya on the double tasking of taking the comments and speaking to UK. So bear with me, our sweet audience. We have Romel from the Philippines here. We also have hello from Fort Myers, Aldrin. Hello, Aldrin. Fort Myers is the best place. We'll be talking about Florida another week. So definitely stay tuned for that onwards and upwards. Also, we have a nurse, Patrina from Ghana. Hello, everybody. And welcome. Oh, and we have someone from Waldord, Maryland. Welcome to you too. I am being asked right now, I cannot see the user's name, but it says it asks if it's safe there. Do you feel safe? I feel not safe on some areas. That is correct. In any part of the world or any part of the US, there's always one area that is notorious for some places that you don't want to go compared to Philippines. Philippines. We all know it's a developing country, but there are places that you're going to be secured. So there is a difference between secured and safe. So when you're safe, you don't need police officers around. That's how I do. It like New York City, Harlem, is it secured? Everybody knows Harlem. It's one of the secured places on Earth. I'd rather walk in Harlem than walk on certain streets in Baltimore that is notorious. There something like that. So there's always some areas like a couple of walks will be like notorious and a couple of walks will be like, hey, this is a good area. So there are places that are very high secured and they're very safe. Literally States that even though without security you'll be fine walking. So it's technically everywhere. So where I was. So you got to be very specific with researching where you live. So where I was, everybody said Baltimore is very ugly, very dangerous. But then I know, right? I don't think it's ugly at all now. And I showed them, look at the school. This is the number one school there in thousands. The community build their own school and it was fully funded because they said the kids here actually were performing great. So we're going to sponsor the school. So they build a new school in there. And it's still part of Baltimore County. If you look at the houses there, when we look at houses six years ago, five years ago, the houses were reasonable. We're reasonable, but on a higher scale. So now a rental will cost us $3,700 for a family super punch area. Exactly. So there are good areas and there are bad areas. It's not the entire place. It's bad. So if it's secured, if it's safe, I would say secured, yes. But if it's safe where you want in a big city, all the cities in the world, you have those few streets that you have to, as my mom always said, keep an eye watch. You have to watch. And it's all over the world. It's like that. Exactly. So many States in the United States, all big cities. You have to really watch where you go, find out from locals where not to go. But then there are, of course, all around the entire state of Maryland. Not everything is a big, big city there. There are definitely lots of suburban towns, very quaint neighborhoods, very safe areas. And I'm seeing here in the shop, it's blowing up here. We've got watching from Dubai, fist bump. Uta is in the house to someone. Marianna from Brazil is going to Maryland. Mariana Rockville. That's a good area. Montgomery county. That's very good. You have to be Phillies as happy in Portuguese, very excited. We're happy for you. And we just want to let you know as well that Connetics USA nursing recruitment agency. We have a 50 States guidebook just for you, completely free. If you take a look at your screen right now, there is a QR code. Scan that QR code on your phone. It'll take you to a page. We have a booklet. It has every single state in the country. All of the information that you need about that state cost of living, what to do. There some great cities. So make sure you get your phones up. Scan that QR code right now and download this booklet. If you are a nurse looking to move to the United States, please make sure you go to our website and apply another QR code right there. It's got your phone still in your hand. Take it. Scan this one, too. It'll take you straight to the connetics USA application and you can apply to start your American dream in the United States, in Maryland, in New York, in Nevada, in California and Florida. We have positions with major clients all over the United States that are waiting to speak with you. Back to the conversation here. I am told Liesl wants to know about Randallstown. Do you know anything about Randallstown? Yeah, Randallstown is next to us in town. We're very close to it. It's a good area as well. Yes. If I'm going to that place, trust me, I've researched that. I have kids and family. I make sure that this place is a very good area as well, that we're moving as well. And I see there that one is coming from. I think that's Waldorf Waldorf is a very nice suburb as well. Carroll county. How about Carroll County? Carroll county is towards the Northern part of Maryland as well. So you're a little bit off Baltimore, which is also a good suburb area. And we're seeing here someone from our LinkedIn feed. Someone watching us on LinkedIn is asking if there's anything related to medical laboratory technologies. The answer is yes. We do have Med tech positions available as well. Our clients do. And we will connect you with those positions again, conneticsusa.com/application back to the conversation. Let's talk about the climate. Are you cold right now? Okay. Okay. I'm wearing a shirt. The climate is similar to, I would say, if you guys from Philippines or somewhere, I guess we're all over, right? So I'm everywhere. So Northeast Coast have four seasons like New York, New Jersey, Maryland. It just gets warmer faster than New York and New Jersey because primarily during the south, they're in part of America. But you will still get the same cold if one day it will be 2029 degrees freezing. It can be happening here to New Jersey. It can also be happening in Boston. It's just one day that you will have more in Rochester, New York, than having that possibility. In Maryland. They also get snow. The kids love snow. Snow until they start cleaning the driveway. But there's nothing like a snow angel, right? You like, lie on your back home ever done made a snow angel? You lie on your back and you go with your legs and your arms. You're so cold. But it's so good. Yes, we get that winter, too, as well. We get the fall, which is just recently a couple of weeks ago, it was Cherry Blossoms Festival, which is very pretty. So we were there in Maryland, DC area doing that. So it's very fun. You get all those kind of weather as well. Four seasons like Northeast Coast, but you have more activities as well there like that. It's very well known. Cherry blossoms. Absolutely. It reminds you of Japan because in Japan, the cherry blossom season Hanami, where everybody goes and they sit underneath  he cherry blossoms in the park all day. And it's the same in DC and in that area of Maryland because you have these cherry blossoms everywhere and you sit and it's like petals of snow. It's like it's snow and pedal. Yes. It's very wonderful to see that. It's one of one in your life opportunity. You can see that. I can see that every year. Every day. I mean, here on springtime. But we have cherry bottoms here outside New Jersey. We just have tiny but there is just like everywhere. It was just so pretty to see you know, it's springtime when the flowers start blooming. Right. And on that climate now, does it get really hot in the summer? Because if you're in Miami, it's like you walk outside and your glasses immediately in July. What's it like in Maryland? In Maryland, it doesn't get as hot as other parts of the warm, like Arizona, Miami is very hot. California parts of them are very hot as well. In Maryland, one of the average summer season will be around 80s and 90s as well, just because of the breeds of the water when you're close to that. But when you're more inland towards Northwestern of Maryland, then you get more land, which is dry. But when you're closer to the coastal side, then east side, then you get the breeze of the water as well. Even if you go to the water, to the beach, the beach is a little bit still cold. That's the beauty of Maryland. If you take a look at where it's located, it is surrounded by water. Yeah. And I always say water is life. I've lived in a few cities that did not have even a river. And you're like, oh, I'm thirsty because you see that water, if it's the ocean, if it's the Bay, if it's a river, there's life running through there. There's an energy there. And there's a lot of things to do, lots of fun things to do. As far as we were seeing on your pictures, you have all sorts of water sports happening. You're at the beach, and then you're at the opera another night. What is it? No, not parasailing. It's a wind sailing. Wind sailing. That's called. Yes. And we do kayaking as well. I personally have my own kayak here. We're not too far from what do you call this one? The Six Flags, where they have the water parks there during the summer, which is awesome for the kids as well. Yes. Six Flags big theme park. Okay. It's like Disney, but it's more adult in terms of that. It has really crazy roller coasters that you might not want your kids to be on. Right. Because they go down and up and around. And so it's this massive theme park. So it's really fun to go for an afternoon. And yes, it is absolutely kid friendly. They have lots of kids rides there. But that's the major difference between Six Flags. And let's say like a Disney Disney because it's much more let's say like intense roller coaster. And so then the Six Flags, they have the theme park, but then they also have the water park. Yes. The water park is flip and slide. It's closer to home. Water. Yeah. I like it in a way that it's closer to home. The kids will have the same fund going to Legoland when they're six years old. It's the same fund they're going to have when they go to six packs. So maybe later on for me, I think they will appreciate more those Disney when they can remember things and it brings the same you bring them to the playground, it's going to be the same fun they're going to have for the young kids. And they serve beer in that place. Exactly. They serve beer. We get a wristband beer that you're allowed to drink. They even keep it really organized for you so your kids don't get in trouble. Now let's talk some more about the Maryland fun. I love talking about fun in different places. So what is the shopping like? We definitely have some shoppers in the room right now and in house watching our show right now. Please name your favorite store to shop in the chat. Let's all take a look at what are your favorite stores and we'll find out if they are in Maryland. Shopping. Shopping anywhere in the country. We have outlets. Most two premium outlets. Premium outlet stores. I love it. I like more actually shopping on Facebook marketplace locally. Why? Because there's a lot of students in this area. As soon as school closes down, there's a lot of universities in this area. As soon as closed down, they're selling their computer laptop for cheap. So that's me. I like those kind of secondhand things. But I do love shopping in premium outfits as well. The only difference where I am right now, New Jersey versus Maryland. New Jersey has no sales tax when it comes to closing. When it goes to Maryland, there is that's the print. But I'm not really into so much personally, like shopping clothes. I'm very minimalist person, but I do love to dress up if there's a dress up occasions as well. I got done from my New York training that it's nice to dress up, especially Springs. Nice. Good for pictures. Shopping. Shopping for exactly. But like every big city in the United States. So Baltimore, you'll definitely have your Gucci, Versace, Prada, Chanel, all of those stores are there. But then you have outlets. Which outlets in the United States are really cool thing. That it's new clothes, that it's like clothes that didn't sell or they have bought too much. They get all these extras and they sell them for a cheaper price. And they have big shopping centers. Nothing. But these stores there. So you can get really good deals. Yes. And they also have a strip, which is in DC. They also have strip of shopping areas in there. In Maryland. I like it in Baltimore. There's like a trip there that they've developed. It's really nice. I feel like I'm being in Manhattan in a smaller version. Yes. So they developed that. Baltimore Inner Harbor. Inner harbor. When you go look it up, you can see there is a big mall in there in front. And then right across is your marinas, your beach area. It's really nice. The water area. So that's a very nice mix of the mall, the city and the water. You can eat fresh Seafoods right in there. Freshly caught Seafoods. Now you're going to make me hungry for lunch. Let's talk a little bit more about the food. Let's get into the food. You were talking about the crabs. Crabbing. No, crabbing is actually a sport. Is that right? Yes. People do it for a hobby. They just go out and then they collect the crab because it's everywhere. The crabs are crawling on the streets, on the highway. That's how crab crab is in there. We can do this at home doing it, too. Wait, my kids Margarita there. But you actually go to the shore with a net and a bucket. How does that work? So my friends do it. I personally just eat it because I personally said, don't warn me on those kitchen. I can make your drinks. I had my mythology course. I Cook it. I have my certificate for mythology. So I said, I'm going to drink. You guys do the food. So that's a distribution of work between me and my friends. A nurse and a mixologist. You probably make the best title. Yes. I said to them, Party is never the same after I took that certification. That's why. So my friends do it. Yes. So they just get bushels in there. They collect stuff through the net. They get their kayak, fishing, kayaks or boats. So they do that. And then I just watch them and eat it, too. Because when a kid is so hard to put them in the boat, when you have smaller kids, I said, we'll just watch it. But I love to come one day, literally. But he showed me how to do it. So my cousins actually do also fishing. They are big in fishing. And you can do it everywhere in Maryland because it's just River, Lakes, water everywhere. So as I said, if you love outdoor activities for your kids and family, this is probably one of your best spots here that you can do that. And that's the beautiful thing, too, about what we were saying in the summer, it doesn't get insanely hot there. Very nice. So you can go out on the boat and spend all day fishing. You are not going to be cold. You don't need a sweater. But you're also not going to be so hot that you're like you have a sunburn and you can't walk the next day. That's correct. It's not as humid as Singapore. It's not as humid as Philippines. It's not as dry as Dubai, because I've been Dubai. It's not as hot as Miami. California is notorious for cold summer. It can be especially up in Northern San Francisco. Yeah, it gets super windy up there. Yeah. Just the coldest summer I've ever had in my whole life. I think there was a famous writer that wrote that as well that said California was the coldest summarize. Yes. That is actually a quote. Let's see here. For some reason, I am not seeing all of the names who are writing to us right now in the comments. So I'm seeing here that I am a single parent. I have two attendance, 19 year old daughter and an 18 or an eight year old son. How many bedroom apartments should I need? And how much is the cost of living in Ellicott City? So first of all, let's talk about the dependence. So you have a 19 year old daughter and an eight year old son. I'm guessing they might want separate rooms or there might be a lot of arguments happening. Do you have any brothers? Did you grow up with that at all? I grew up with my brothers. I never had my personal room until I came to the United States at age 22. That's my first ever solo room ever. And that's the thing with the United States is that everything the houses are big. Everything is bigger just in general. And so you do have it's very common here that the kids have their own rooms within the house. And especially if you have a 19 year old daughter, she might be getting to that point, might be taking a long time in the bathroom. In the morning, I would say. What would you say? Three bedrooms? I would say three bedrooms. Yes, three bedrooms. One bathroom should be fine. If you guys are in the Chat, if you're watching and living in the United States, let us know what you think. There's the single parent, two bedroom or three bedroom. Let us know what you think, and we'll be going through the Chat and the cost of living. Ellicott City, are you familiar with Ellicott City? Yes. Actually, that was one of our options to live there. Actually, Ellicott City is very west of Baltimore. If you see between Baltimore and Frederick, it's somewhere around that area. Baltimore and then Frederick on the left side. That's where your Alica City is, which is a very good area, developing area since 2019, actually, 20 17, 20 17. It was a very good place to start moving there because it's a growing community. Now you have big houses in there, which is very good. The school system is also good in that area. They have a lot of Asian food. If you're from Philippines, that area is a melting pot of all the people who finally work around DC and Baltimore area, and then they finally settle down. They want to move there. We have friends that are Indian. We have friends that are Mediterranean. We have friends that move there who are Chinese. We have friends that are Filipino, Korean. It's like a melting pot. It's a very diversified culture in there. And I like it. I love the city. If that was our option, that actually is our option also to move. But we are closer. We're trying to see closer to Baltimore because of our jobs. But if that wasn't right, about 30 minutes from downtown Baltimore, 30 minutes, 30 minutes drive. Yeah, it's not too bad, but the traffic can kill you. It will take you probably another 50 minutes because of the traffic, because everyone in the United States drives a car, which is a great reason to segue now to transportation there. But first, I wanted to get to the second question, the cost of living. So let's say we do the three bedroom apartment in Ellicott City. Monthly rent. What would the rent look like? Their ballpark. You're probably looking ballpark at this time of the year, like literally April 2022. You can easily look around 2500 for a good living. Okay, again, that's 2500. Now, if you go to the cheaper side, you can probably see around $2,000 in the 2000 to 2500, but definitely no less than $2,000, in my opinion, if it's a solo family. Now, if you're going to rent from somebody's house and they're living, they're co sharing, they're on the top floor and then you're on the bottom floor, then probably you can get around about close to 1500 hours for that kind of setup. Comfortable leaving. Okay, three bedrooms. Yeah, it's going to be tough right now, but if you asked me a year ago, it's going to be a different answer. Probably right now for a three bedroom, one bath or one and a half bath or three bedrooms, two baths, you're looking around probably around close to $3,000, close to $3,000. Because the good news of all of that I know it seems really the good news of all of that is that as a nurse in the United States, you're going to be making a good living. There's so many nursing jobs here in the United States. Do not be scared by that number. That number can seem really scary. But whenever you come to the United States as a nurse and you start working, you will have the money to be able to afford that so many other things that you want and need. But then also your wants and your wishes in life. Correct. That number scare you at home. It's all part of this American dream, as is your new car. That's why I said to them, it doesn't matter if you go in there, you have free education, you have single mom, you have free education in there. The school system is very good. So you're taking it back. And a good thing if you buy a house, that's property tax deduction, also from your taxes. There you go. There it is. You can get it back in a way, it looks big up front, but actually, there's a lot of tax breaks as well when it comes to owning a house like that. And we have so many kinetics nurses out there who share their stories. If you've watched shows of Hours and Different testimonials, so many nurses come here and within a year, two years, they bought a house. Not like a little shack. They are buying like these beautiful houses where circular driveways. It's absolutely wonderful to see the success. So if you want the success as well, get out your phone. Here comes the QR code so that you can apply to connetics usa. So make sure that you go to conneticsusa.com/application. or take a quick snap of that QR code right there and it'll take you right to the application so you can start filling it out. Connections that we have recruiters online right now taking your applications, and that will be reaching out to you as soon as possible so that they can start speaking to you, learning more about you and getting your American dream in full drive. Let's put on the gas and let's move to transportation. We are there transportation. You got to have a car. But from what I understand, Maryland, the DC area, there's actually a lot of public transportation. Correct. So if you are around close to DC, you got your bus in there. That also not only in DC, it's actually a bus that goes to Maryland locally on a daily basis. So people commute left and right between DC and Maryland. And it's very doable. Now the question is how far is the bus stop from my house? It depends. If your bus stop, it can be like literally right in front of you where we live in Towson, the bus literally stops by the gate, by the entrance of our apartment complex. So the bus stops when you have kids, the bus also stops right in front of it. So the kids literally and you as the parents, if you commute it's doable. But majority of the town, I mean, a time that if you need to go on your daily errands, of course, it's better to use the car as well. So it's very nice to have a personal car. But if you're going in and out of the DC or just in Maryland, per se, like Metro, there are also buses in New York. I can commute to my work with the bus as well. When you live in downtown Baltimore or even suburb of Baltimore, it's doable by the bus. And there's also train in there as well. There's train there. You have your local train and you also have your interstate trains. Interstate trains. If you want to go to New York, you don't even have to drive. You don't even have to drive. You can use the bus. Actually, if you go to those busy DC, New York, you don't want to bring your car, just take the bus. Based on my experience, I've lived in Boston, we live in New York City, we lived in DC. Don't take your car in the downtown places. But I would say and would you agree with me, though, that it's good to have a call? Yes. Advice for your day today, if you want to go city, the city or right around in the inside of the city. But all in all, and this is a good rule of thumb for any city that you move to in the United States. Get a car. Yes, it will help your freedom and your life and your because unfortunately, the rest of the world has very good public transportation and very intricate. And in the United States, we have very sophisticated highways. The one thing that we did do right and as this train and bus system that you were staying between all these Metropolitan areas, especially on the Northeast Coast, right in there is what you were talking about. And what about driver's license? How did you go about that when you got into I got to United States. I don't have any driving experience. So actually, when I got here, that's the only time I actually got into driving school. And it's not hard to get. It's really not hard to get. And the good thing is majority of the cards are automatic versus to where it comes came from. A couple of them are stick shift. Sorry. In America, it's easy because now, especially with the technology right now, the cars are equipped with a lot of safety features, backup camera, side blind spot area. It's so easy. And I said it's good to have a car in Maryland. And don't be scared if you don't know how to drive in your country before there are school systems. I mean, driving schools in here which are very efficient, they are very high standard for driving because primarily driving America can be dangerous if you don't know and you're in the highway. That's why driving schools here are very strict and they're very good in teaching that the kids are young people who doesn't know how to drive. And after that, after the school, just one school, I was confident to drive. I had no problem at all. I absolutely love driving. You hit the highway, you put down the windows, you turn up the stereo. I like to sing. You might be able to hear me. I'm in California all the way in Maryland, singing in my car. You'll have to go like this. I'm so sorry, but I actually have Amanda here who is asking if you can please have the QR code for the places in the United States. So our 50 States booklets so that you can learn more about California. You can learn more about Maryland. Here you go, Amanda QR code. Your wish is granted. Please take a moment. Scan this URL and it'll take you right to our website so that you can get your 56 guidebook. And while you're there, make sure you apply to conneticsusa.com. There is a button up at the top of this 50 States page that you can just click and it says application and then we can get on with changing your life, moving forward into the direction of the United States of America. Now when you arrived in Maryland, did you search for support network? Say that again. Did you search for support to a new place. Yes. It's hard to do it alone. Yes, exactly. The place when I started there, the people, the culture of my employees, they're very helpful. I'm comparing this from where I came, also in New York, it's tougher to penetrate a support network. In New York City. It's easier in Maryland, people are very warmer. They're very downward. People are very helpful. It's just because it's the less hassle and muscles, people are just chills. They're very relaxed, they're not very stressed. That's one of the reason why we chose Maryland for a long term decision for us, because the culture, the support system is important, as I said, and it's not hard to penetrate to have a support system. People are very warm, very helpful. When they know that you're there, you're a new person, they're going to be very helpful for you. I'm a traveling nurse. I am always used to different hospitals. I'm always new to the different places. And I can tell you this is one place that I felt like I fell home in a couple of a month. People that are very nice and very helpful, they will treat you like a family. Well, how about the treatment of your family, your spouse and your kids? How did they settle and what kind of support did they have whenever they arrived? So my husband is not Filipino, so he's South American. He actually enjoyed it more, too, because now he gets oriented or he met a lot of friends that are not of his culture. Bolivians are very hard to find in America. So I'm telling you that he told me I was lucky to find him. I'm a lucky one man. So this is something that it was easy for him to take because the support system, again, the people are warmer and welcoming to him. And I'm talking that because he found Bolivians. No majority of his friends were very welcoming. One of his bosses, Indian, Mediterranean, as they said, non Filipino, non Bolivia. But they're very welcoming to us as well. And what type of community support systems are there? Are there any sort of organizations that you think that nurses who are moving to Maryland should reach out to in order to have that support? Absolutely. There's a lot of events. you talk about events, cultural events, there's a lot, especially in DC. So you will have all those your Latino festivals, you will have your Filipino festival, you have your Japanese celebrations in there. So you will always find those communities in there. Before, it was harder to find those support system. But now because of Facebook and social media, if you go to Facebook and you join like a certain group that says there, for me, Filipinos in Maryland, there's actually Facebook group there, let's say valuable group in Maryland, which I also joined before New York. So I joined a social group of New York valuable players. So then I just joined. And so I went in there and I meet a lot of people who play volleyball. So I've never met them in my whole life. But we all have one in common, which is valuable and friendly, which is a good thing. Now it's not hard to adjust compared to ten years ago when there was no Facebook, yet there was no way of social media. Now use those tools. Those are very helpful tools. Find something that you like and then you find that in that Maryland, Maryland, let's say Maryland hobby for cars, something like that. So there's a lot of social connection that you can make in there outside your own personal network. You can use that tool. And if you have something very common, it's easy to help to find them. And also, you were talking about volleyball. There are a lot of pro sports teams in Maryland. Disaster. You have the Baltimore Ravens, they actually won the Super Bowl of people. And so there are lots of sports events that you can go to and there's nothing more. I think that brings people together and it's so interesting. And so I want to focus, like you were saying, with volleyball, we don't know anything about each other, but high five, we're playing volleyball and we're on the same team. It's a great way to also meet other people. And there are people from all over the world. I'm looking over here at the chat. We have Marie, who is watching us on LinkedIn. For me to get a job in the USA, is it mandatory to have NCLEX? So, Marie, here's how it works. You do need to have your NCLEX exam passed in order to be placed with a hospital. With a hospital that connetics matches you with the IELTS exam. You will also need to pass. However, you can get your NCLEX get placed. And then while you're in the process of the immigration process, there's the immigration process, depending on where you're from and the Covid virus. I'm not a lawyer, so I cannot give you a time. But when you are in that process there, you take the IELTS, you past the IELTS. Okay. So, yes, in order to work, you need to have your NCLEX and your IELTS. But in order to be placed, you need to have your NCLEX first. Another good point to make that Connetics USA, we have started an NCLEX scholarship. What that means is that connetics pays and it's not a small payment. We pay it forward and pay for the nurse to take an NCLEX course, an NCLEX study course. It's a fantastic course. Super high pass rate on it. So then connetics will pay for you to take this course. You will pass the course, and then you can be placed with a hospital that connetics works with. It is direct hire. So connetics is not hiring you. The hospital is hiring you, which means you get a green card. It means that you get the same benefits as an American nurse. And even more importantly, it means that your journey to the United States beginning.

So conneticsusa.com/application. And when you do it, we're going to be doing the crap again. You're going to be there. Look for me there. I'll be everywhere. There are a couple of hospitals there. Exactly. Now we have Garcia, who is also watching us on LinkedIn. Wow, our LinkedIn audience is really growing. I have three year diploma in nursing and also a registered nurse in Dubai with two years of experience. How can I apply to work in the US? I'm going to say it again, conneticsusa.com/application. need to make that into a song. And that is how, right there, it's at the bottom of the screen. Take your phone out, take a click and make sure to go and apply. Because right now we do have open positions and wonderful places like Maryland and elsewhere in the United States. And Kaye has been to all of it. She can tell you about it for sure. Now I want to go back into the Maryland culture again. I want to talk about the ethnic foods there. So we talked about the local foods. We talked about the crab and the fish. And of course, if you're at a Raven's game, you have to have a hot dog. What about the ethnic foods from around the world? For me, I love a place that will deliver me all the kinds of food because I'm the person who will be like, hey, I'm waking up one day, I want to order Vietnamese food. Hey, next week I want the Indian food. Hey, next week, let's say per se, I want Brazilian food. Ronaciios, I like those skewers on the live grill and they're serving right in front of you. I love the transport. Yes, I love exploring different kinds of food. My husband's South American. So we love Peruvian food, Bolivian food, South American culture. We have it there as well. Name it. We have it. So it's not something that you're creating for. And we don't have it. I mean, New York has the most, but Baltimore has it best, too. And the good is cheaper than New York City because they can deliver it. You can deliver it since it is a school kind of University area. That portion of Maryland are very good in University, well known for students, not only high school students, but you're talking about University College as well as residents, because now you have Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, University of Maryland, which are very good for medical program in the whole United States. So you have tons and thousands of residents there. And of course, when you're a student, when you're a resident, you're not going to be spending $50 for food. You can buy it for 20 or less than that. And it's still good quality. I am telling you, Luciana, because one thing I like about Maryland you can buy it cheaper and with quality. Maryland has much less of a cost of living. If you look at Maryland versus my gosh, so many other States that the cost of living there is very affordable. So it may seem like we were talking about earlier that rent might seem high, but everything that you can do, even the gas is much cheaper. And the housing, when you go towards, I would say more inner, like we were looking at one point, Hagerstown area, which is part of Maryland, more inner Western Northern. Oh, you can get as easy as 1500 for rent there less than that. So there's areas there. And it's not a bad area. It's a developing area, which is, I think, for me as an investor. Hey, go there. Your house can be times too already in ten years from now. I'm telling you, that is a growing when I go to places, I look at the potential and I see potential in Maryland, primarily because a lot of people are moving out from the Metro DC, working from home. And now if you go in there, you buy your property. I'm pretty sure that's going to appreciate a couple more years. It's a big potential there. You mentioned all the different hospitals and universities. It is a very educated area of the United States. Everybody there is very educated. Yes. I want to know the differences between, let's say, a hospital in the Philippines versus working in a hospital in Maryland, let's say top three major differences. Clinically, clinically, not pay. Right. I was earning $50 per hour back in the Philippines. We get it. That's right. Welcome to America. There you go. When I got here, I got $30 an hour. That's a big jump for me. Big life changing scenario for me. They say America has higher cost of living. That is true. America has higher cost of living. But when you compare higher cost of living first and page versus the salary, it's exponentially way more here than in the Philippines. Absolutely. But anyway, clinical wise, you have so many again, because a lot of here at University Hospital, you have Children's Hospital not far from Maryland, which is just by the DC area and Maryland border. You have your big University hospitals around. You have your community hospitals as well. You can get a lot of experience from these hospitals. And the thing is, a lot of them are funded also.  So when you're funded, you bring their newest technology in there. The hospital will bring in the best experience as a nurse because they have the best technology. The first time I saw a robot, like for bone surgery. What's in there? Yeah, robot. Yeah. Before, a robot was just for abdomen surgery. Now you're talking about implanting your joints, your bones, your knees. So it's a robot or topped it yet. So we have those. The first time I saw it was wow. I saw it there in Maryland. My goodness. Yeah. As you said, John Hopkins Percy is wonderful. We actually also have and there's another really great healthcare system there called Adventists that are one of the clients. They're also fantastic latest technology there as well. And it seems from what I've noticed that I am not a nurse or a doctor, but what I will say that I have heard a lot of feedback from our nurses are the community within the hospitals, and that teamwork, the sensation of teamwork, no matter where you're from, you could be in a room and everyone has an accent from a different area of the world. Do you feel that cohesion going on within the hospital there? Does all of that kind of leave it at the door mentality? Here we are. No, actually, that's why when I started traveling there as a nurse, initially, everybody was so warm. Maybe my caller maybe a different color. They are just treating me just equally the same. There was no like, oh, you're a different person. You're different culture, richity, different. No, there's no such thing as that. That's why I enjoyed it. That's one of my favorite travel contract ever in Maryland as well. And the kids enjoyed it too. The kids loved the neighbors. They were very warm and nice to us. Even up to now that we're not there for two years, three years now, my kids are still communicating to their friends back there. They're still talking almost every day. Still almost every day. One of my son's best friend is still there. They would communicate and they would exchange before letters as well. And then every time we go there, we still visit them. The warm, the culture, the people are very warm. I'm comparing this to, of course, but I came from New York City. It was like when people are nice to be in New York, it was like, what do you want from me? And not only me calling as an immigrant coming to New York, I think even local Americans would come to New York City and be like, these are kind of like, oh, what's wrong with him? And there's a little tension before you penetrate. But when you penetrate New York City culture, you will feel that they're like a family to you, but it takes a while. But in Maryland, they gave it just like that. They're just nice to you. I'm like, what is she? Why is she nice to me? And then it would even bring like, oh, yeah, I Cook some food, you want some? And they would share it to me as well. Hey, there's a birthday coming in. I'm a traveler. I'm a traveler in my mind. I'm a traveler inviting me. Oh, yeah, bring your family. Bring your kids like that. They were just so warm and nice. That's why when my husband and I were deciding where we're going to move in a long term, then we finally decided Maryland was a good choice for us as well. I absolutely love hearing your stories. I'm loving seeing all of these questions here in the chat. I wish that we could get to more of them because we are running out of time now. But I do want to just make one more point about Maryland is that people there are very warm, like you said, people there are very helpful in helping you get your life together. That's that type of support and then supporting you throughout that time as you are living there and hopefully staying there permanently and for a long time and making it into DC and walking around the mall in DC with all of the monument and the White House and everything else. And then you can just skip on over to Delaware, take a look at the Atlantic Ocean, and then why not go back west and take a hike in the Appalachian Mountains? The United States has everything to offer. If you could offer one piece of advice to our viewers all over the world, what would it be? It doesn't have to be about Maryland. It could be. It doesn't have to be immigrating to the United States. What is one piece of advice? The one piece of advice is once opportunity comes, it will never come back. Your opportunity is there. Grab it. That's what I'm saying right now. Go call her. I'm not getting Commission from her. But I'm just saying if opportunity comes in, it doesn't matter how skillful you are. But if you don't have opportunity, you will never be successful. If now you combine it with your skills and your talent and now combined with your opportunity, you can be whoever you want to be. I got chills, as you were saying that at home, if you could see my arm, it's absolutely beautiful. And you are so right and so true. And I want to thank you so much for joining us today. Hey, it's the second time I've had the pleasure of interviewing. I'm really glad that you joined us. And again, to those of you at home, I'm going to show those QR codes another time on our screen. Our wonderful director. Her name is Melanes, by the way. She actually is the one that makes this whole magic happen of this onwards and upwards show. So first we have the 50 States guidebooks so that you can learn about the state of Maryland and all the other States in the United States. Scan that QR code right there. It's a very cool booklet. Get the digital version printed out. Absolutely fantastic. We'll also let you know, of course, conneticsusa.com/application just like Kate said, take opportunity. This QR code right here, it says opportunity. And no, you can't. It doesn't seem like it, but it's written. Make sure that you scan that code and take this opportunity. We have Patchu in the chat right now that says opportunity never comes again. So make sure you're scanning this QR code, fill out the application. One of our recruiters will be getting in touch with you. We also have some several other initiatives that we are doing here at connetics. This graphic might look really familiar because we really love to let you know that we do have a free IELTS Scholarship which the two scholarships, the IELTS Scholarship and the Enquiry Scholarship are both to where Connetics USA pays for you to take a course in order to pass your connetics care package that we pay for your success. There's also a $1,000 referral fee going on right now so if you know a nurse with NCLEX you can refer them to connetics usa. We'll give you $1,000. That's conneticsusa.com referral very easy to remember. Go to our main website, you'll see it up at the top. Refer a nurse refer your friend. Let them get started on their American dream and we just extended it to May 31. So you have a little bit of time but don't waste the time. Make sure to get your friends into the United States and introducing them to Connetics USA. We also have our podcast Nursing in America. That's actually where you may recognize me. I've been guest hosting the podcast Nursing in America for the last few weeks. We're about to start a new season so please tune in for that. As we said before, we are direct hire. We have a nurse aide program that we are now beginning. If you are a nurse aide you can apply to Connetics USA. Onwards and Upwards show this is where we are right now. Every Friday, same time, 07:00 p.m.. Pacific Standard time. That's in the West Coast in California, 10:00 a.m. On the East Coast in New York and Baltimore, Maryland every week. So make sure you turn in and we also have our allied needs. So people were asking earlier if we medical labs, technologists, technicians, respiratory therapists, surgical techs. We are absolutely matching these professionals with wonderful top quality health care systems in the United States. One more time again. I am so happy that you joined us Kaye. I'm so happy to all of you at home who also took the time to join us on our show. We will see you back here again next week. All love and thanks and the best of thoughts go to Tanya who again is sick right now struggling with Covid. Our thoughts, prayers are out to heart. And in the meantime onwards and upwards everybody. Thank you for joining. See you next week. Thank you Kaye. Bye.