Congrats to Gator and his Woman...

[Mamma D]

My suggestion would be to try and provide items they will miss most.

With my Russian born daughter and grandson that was a piano.....
Basil swore he played every piano in Denver! He is a classical pianist and Irina has a degree in music....So this was high on the list.....and still is.

Irina took driving lessons before she came here, So that drivers licence was an important item, as is her car.

Cable and computer provides contact with home and family. Phone rates are less expensive now...

Give all those great ladies a big hug.....

Mamma D

Basil has settled into life at Stanford and is doing well, growing up and learning Independence and the freedom to make his own mistakes. These are lessons that we all have to learn one time or another. He loves the Palms and beaches.....

As for school.... mainline as soon as possible. The language seems to come sooner when there isn't the confussion of Mexican and English in ESL classes.

When they visited him at school....They found him at the piano in the entry of his dorm.....
Great ice breaker!

[mendeleyev]

Gator, what a happy time!  May God grant you many years of happiness together.

[Jumper]

congrats gator..

She settled in quickly in the past, i'm sure now that the children are also along things will get settled into a nice family routine  very quickly..

[Gator]

The good wishes and congratulations keep pouring in.  Thank you.

Mama D, your Russian grandson is doing very well.  You are justifiably proud.

[Gator]

The No.1 priority went to schools.  I had applied before their arrival, and we are now in the interview stage.  Private schools do not have ESL so we have some tutoring to do before the school starts in August as a private school will leave a kid behind.

No. 2 was cosmetics.  We did Nordstrom’s where the service was perfect (has to be to justify the prices).  It did not take long, spending at the rate of $15/minute. 

No. 3 was wedding rings – available in 10 days.  She wanted to get married somewhere on the way home from the airport.  With the rings, I no longer have a reason not to.

Social security number should be done in 2-3 weeks.  Her existing international driver’s license issued by Russia allows her to get a driver’s license without a SSN; however, the State reserves the right to test.  Rather than risk failure, she will drive for a month or two on her existing license and become comfortable with signs, miles per hour, and some practice tests.  She did well on the practice tests except with distances and with certain phrases.  This upset her as she asked sarcastically, “Why does America not have metric?” and “Why not write ‘can not see’ vs. ‘obstructed view’ ?” 

This week’s mission is a car.  Next week, a couple of trips to the outlet malls for clothes for everyone.  Piano comes before dog.  We still have not had the long family discussion about responsibility for taking care of the dog.  I conceded under protest to a Great Dane.

What surprised me was that cell phones did not make her top 10.  My house was already set up for Wi-fi, so she was off and running with email and the Internet as soon as we went to Radio Shack for an adapter.

All in all, very smooth.  She is not upset that I am leaving her this coming weekend for a long planned golf trip – fraternity reunion.  She will probably rearrange everything that weekend.   

[roykirk]

All in all, very smooth.  She is not upset that I am leaving her this coming weekend for a long planned golf trip – fraternity reunion.  She will probably rearrange everything that weekend.   

You mean she will rearrange the list or rearrange the house?   

[Kuna]

Gator,

I've been away for a while but on coming back to RWD I could imagine no greater news than to hear that your bride to be has arrived!

Seriously Phil,  this is sensational news and I wish you and your whole family the very best for many years to come.

I'm also very interested to read about their adjustment, and all of the new experiences to come.

[AnastassiaAsh]

I suppose with my guess about school and wedding rings I wasn't that far from reality. 

Gator, your leaving her right at that moment is really sad in my book.  But I understand you have been together for a long time, so that is not probably that acute.

Tell her I would be glad to chat with her any time, after all we are Moscovites. 

[groovlstk]

This upset her as she asked sarcastically, “Why does America not have metric?”

Non-metric measurements and temperature piss my wife off to no end

Good luck Gator, I hope everything continues to go smoothly for you and your girl.

[roykirk]

Non-metric measurements and temperature piss my wife off to no end

Good luck Gator, I hope everything continues to go smoothly for you and your girl.

In the beginning, I had to explain to my girlfriend that we did not use the same measurement system that Russia and the rest of the world did.  We're just *that* special.  I had quite a lot of fun for a short time convincing her that we kept a different time than the rest of the world did too.  She said, "Please tell me you are joking!  You don't really have a non-standard time measurement as well, do you?"   

[jj]

congratulations Gator! 

As long as she understands that there IS a priority list after cosmetics, then all will be well.   I am glad we got SS# before the 90days.  It is good to have the #s. We have already changed wife's name to married name.  You will enjoy seeing their smiles now as a family, and as I found out, you will be busy, busy , busy.  Glad you found that special woman.-jj

[SANDRO43]

Phil, add to you shopping list:

- 1 thermometer with C° and F° scales alongside.
- 1 tape measure with cm/m and weird anatomic parts alongside.

[Ronnie]

Tell it could be worse.  She could have married a brit and have to learn about "bob" "quid" "pounds" both in weight and value, not to mention giving her weight in "stones"

Or she could have married a cattle rancher and learn how to measure a horse's height in "hands"

Tell her she's led a sheltered life...maybe she'll stop whining then. 

[SANDRO43]

Tell it could be worse.  She could have married a brit and have to learn about "bob" "quid" "pounds" both in weight and value, not to mention giving her weight in "stones"

I was living in London in 1971 when they switched their currency to decimal (1 £ = 100 NP), much to the relief of my then wife, who had had serious difficulties with shillings, half crowns (2s. 6p.), florins (2s.), and whatnot.

There were a lot of complaints initially, some shopkeepers defiantly declaring they would stick to the old coinage after its expiry as legal tender regardless of fines, but eventually people got used to the novelty.

The British authorities had the smart idea of preserving the size/weight of old coinage for the new one of equivalent value (vending machines, blind people, etc.), and they introduced a weird 7-sided coin for the new 50 NP piece, which had no previous equivalent. They kept their rather 'tall' size for banknotes, though, and I still have a suitable wallet for holding them that I used whenever I visited the UK afterwards.

[ecr844]

Congrats Gator and best wishes for continued happiness and success to you and your lady.

[SANDRO43]

Hey Ecr844, LOOOONG time no hear. How's things ?

[BillyB]

some of my old ways are gone forever.

I guess you won't start any bar-like brawls here anymore! She's got you tamed already! Now we'll get to see a kindler, gentler Gator.

Congrats to you and yours Phil.

[ecr844]

Hey Ecr844, LOOOONG time no hear. How's things ?

**Off topic response**

I'm well sir, and you?

**Off topic message ends, sorry to the OP for the short derailment of his thread...**

[Simoni]

**Off topic response**

I'm well sir, and you?

**Off topic message ends, sorry to the OP for the short derailment of his thread...**

No problem, Ecr844....and welcome back!

[Simoni]

The No.1 priority went to schools.  I had applied before their arrival, and we are now in the interview stage. 
No. 2 was cosmetics.  We did Nordstrom’s where the service was perfect (has to be to justify the prices).  It did not take long, spending at the rate of $15/minute. 

Yeah, I could have got it right earlier, but had to play "dumb" with my answers.  On the evening we had dinner with them, they had already visited the school (on day 3) and the perfume was in a bag on the table.   But Gator--bad influence!!!!  Can't believe you paid THAT much for perfume!

I happen to know how many mintues at $15 bucks a minute they spent in Nordstroms... :usdeyes:

[Gator]

....and the perfume was in a bag on the table.   But Gator--bad influence!!!!  Can't believe you paid THAT much for perfume!

I happen to know how many mintues at $15 bucks a minute they spent in Nordstroms... :usdeyes:

I do not claim to know all types of RW; however, I have known two RW very, very well.  Cosmetics are important to both.  So important that I do not waste my breath.  Besides, I enjoy the fact that she feels high end cosmetics make her even more beautiful.

One chooses his battles and cosmetics is not one of them.  I am more adamant about wrinkle cream because she does not have noticeable wrinkles and there are far better wrinkle treatment products costing less money than French creams.

BTW, it is her decision to allocate her money among various budgetary line items.  As adherence to a budget is new to her, there likely will be shortages over time and I refuse to eat only cabbage and bread for dinner.  She must learn eventually.  It is good practice for realizing her dream to operate a business.

[Simoni]

I was just kidding about the cost of the perfume.   I always simply buy whatever she wants 

My problem now is that Marina keeps buying expensive colognes for me! I have six sacked up here!

By the way, RW call cologne for men perfume.  At least Marina did the first time and got teased by an american female friend!

Of course it was all my fault.... "why didn't you tell me men's perfume was called cologne in English?"  LOL

[Gator]

Simoni,

Understandable. 

The next time you drive to Orlando, see if Marina has the same reaction as my tribe had today.  When I asked them to look for a particular exit from the interstate highway, they really laughed long and hard.  

The name of the exit - APOPKA.    

Maybe our native Seminoles included some Russian renegades from the West.

[Simoni]

Simoni,

Understandable. 

The next time you drive to Orlando, see if Marina has the same reaction as my tribe had today.  When I asked them to look for a particular exit from the interstate highway, they really laughed long and hard.  

The name of the exit - APOPKA.    

Maybe our native Seminoles included some Russian renegades from the West.

APOPKA?  LOL 

We just got back from D.C., where Marina kept asking me about the strange names.  Lot's of native american names up that way, too.  But no Renegade Russians!

However, we did bump into a Russian tour group in front of the capital.  Made Marina wonder how all those folk got visas...

[55North]

Tell it could be worse.  She could have married a brit and have to learn about "bob" "quid" "pounds" both in weight and value, not to mention giving her weight in "stones"

First of all, and most importantly, congratulations Gator.  A bit belated, but I've been grappling with my own pre-nuptials.
 
Ronnie, I think 'bob' (meaning a shilling) has disappeared as a word, whilst the coin is survives as the 5p piece.  The pound was historically a weight, literally 1 pound of gold. Notes are not money.  They are written promises 'to pay the bearer the sum of etc.' on presentation.  Furthermore (and I might well be wrong), this word is the english form of libra in Latin, which survives in the Italian and Turkish Lira.  The mark, crown, florin and shilling as British coinage historically are all recent European currencies.
 
I understand your dollar as a word derives from the taler, whose last user was Slovenia, now in Euroland.
 
I am just now reading an historical novel set in (all the ) Russias in which in the middle ages, it is stated that they are used to calculating in quarters, eighths, etc. but are found not understand tenths or the decimal system.
 
I think that, in time, we've all been everywhere.