"I have the clothes I'm wearing-- oh, and this." He takes a miniature claw looking object off his belt. "Today is the first day I encountered dollars, and I have no idea how much they are worth."

"...I'm going to put that down as a 'no,'" Aurora says, "even if you have really expensive robes I really don't think that's what they meant. Do you have any current source of income, or do you expect to have one soon?"

"I have a tentative job lead with the Portland friend, but nothing current."

"What's your occupation?"

Good question. Real easy to answer, too. "I don't currently have one. I was in the police force." as of eight hours ago. Before he ?fell into the future?.

She swipes a rectangle through another rectangle. "This is your food stamps card. You get $234 a month and you can spend it on any food item you want. I've also set you up with a bank account at Chase, which often works with immigrants who don't have any assets. You'll get $1000 a month that you can spend on whatever you want. When you get a job, go to your local immigration office and tell them how much money you're making and they'll reduce your benefits accordingly. It phases out gradually, so you're always going to earn more money by working than you would by living off welfare."

Nodnod. "Thank you."

"All healthcare that the Cascadian government deems cost-effective is free and paid for by the government. We do ask that everyone go through a complete physical to be allowed in the country to look for any underlying medical problems we can treat."

"Of course. Is there a place I should go to do that?"

"Yes, I'll walk you over when we're done here. --Would you like to make an appointment to see a therapist? Seeing a therapist doesn't necessarily mean you're mentally ill. It's someone you can talk to about things you're going through in your life-- someone who is trained to be kind and nonjudgmental and a good listener. Therapy is confidential, which means that the therapist is never allowed to tell anyone anything you say, unless you're an imminent physical danger to yourself or others or you confess to currently abusing a child or elderly person. A year of therapy is free for all immigrants, and therapy might be free for longer if your therapist thinks you need it. You don't have to make a decision now, you can have your year of free therapy whenever you want it."

"I'll take some time to think it over." Aka found out what on Earth it is before he signs up for it. Not that it sounds like a bad thing? But presumably there are therapists in Portland.

"We also have a variety of support groups if you're interested in talking to your peers rather than professionals. Some of them meet in person, some over video chat, and some over voice chat. There are a bunch of, uh, special interest ones but I don't think we have enough Chinese people to have their own support group-- you could join one for immigrants from uncommon countries, or one for queer immigrants--"

"I might have a look into those." Because while he does not want to be here long term, it's probably worthwhile planning for the long term. And that involves knowing people who aren't Lev or a gaggle of small children.

"We also offer a range of free classes for immigrants--"

She offers him a piece of paper that has the following classes:

-History, Science, Math, and Literature, all of which come in Remedial and For Gileadites and For Catholics variants 
-Comparative Religions And Philosophies
-Biblical Criticism and History
-History of Christianity
-Faith and Reason
-Philosophy of Religion
-Cascadian Civics 
-Statistical Literacy
-Life Skills For Women 
-Life Skills For Men
-Sex Education
-Getting A Job
-Mindfulness-Based Skills Training
-Cognitive Behavioral Skills Training
-Coping with Intense Emotions
-Insomnia and Nightmares
-Relationship Skills 
-Parenting and Alloparenting Skills 

Well, if he ever needs to know about Christianity, the Cascadian Government has got him covered. He takes the paper. He's probably not going to look into any of these... actually know, Civics might be useful if he gets stuck here long term and needs to do more than smile and nod about democracy.

"Do you have any questions?"

'Actually I have loads of them, but they're about very basic things I don't even have the vocabulary to ask about' is not a helpful answer to that question. "Not at the moment."

"All right, you can wait for the nurse."

Back to the waiting room! More opportunity to look at pamphlets!

He sits and waits, with only the pamphlets he currently has.

And then eventually a nurse will return and ask him to do a series of things. He should stand here and be weighed! He should touch his nose! He should put his arm in this thing and it reports a number! He should have this thing put in his mouth, and this thing put in his ears, and this thing put on his chest. The nurse wants to poke him in various places. The numbers all seem to be good numbers judging by the nurse's incomprehensible patter that she seems to expect him to understand. 

He will go along with what the nurse wants him to do, even though he has no clue what's going on! Medical things sure have changed! He has no feelings about this!

The nurse would like to know if he smokes marijuana or drinks or uses tobacco or takes psychedelics or takes MDMA or takes modafinil or uses any other mind-altering substances! How many sexual partners does he have and do they have penises or vaginas and does he use condoms! Does he exercise regularly! How many servings of vegetables or fruit does he eat every day! How many servings of dessert or fried food does he eat every day! Is he getting enough sleep! In the past two weeks has he been bothered by little interest or pleasure in doing things or by feeling down, depressed, and hopeless! Has he had any of this long list of diseases half of which he does not recognize! Does he have family history of any of this long list of diseases half of which he does not recognize!

Is alcohol mind-altering? If so, yes to that, and not the other things. He doesn't know what half of them are!

His sexual partners are zero! Also, what the heck is a condom!

He exercises, and eats food! He is good at this exercising and eating thing. ...please do not ask him about the details of his food, he is making wild guesses about servings and what counts as a vegetable around here.

He is good at sleeping! He is very practiced at it.

He is also not depressed at the moment! He is not going to mention that there's a chance once his situation catches up with him that this may change!

He sure hopes he does not have, nor has a family history of, those diseases!

Condoms are a piece of plastic that you put on your penis to prevent babies and the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. They make sex less spontaneous and pleasurable so lots of people don't like using them. If he wants to have sex outside of a monogamous relationship and doesn't want to use condoms he should get tested for sexually transmitted diseases every three to six months and go on pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV. That's a pill you take every day and as long as you take it every day no matter what you almost certainly won't get HIV.

As someone with a strong interest in not catching Mysterious Acronyms, he will take note of this!