I'm a Russian woman in America now

[Natasha_S]

Hello everyone,
My name is Natasha and I'm new here on this forum. I'm from Moscow and I have been here in the United States for 2 months now. I really love things here.
 My husband is another member here by the name of Lee08. He is always reading on this website and he got me looking at it and it is interesting for me. I hope that I can contribute some information here that may help others.

Natasha

[Faux Pas]

Welcome Natasha! We'll look forward to your contributions and insight

[ECOCKS]

Welcome, we can always use more FSUW perspective on issues. Keep us honest!

[Shadow]

Welcome Natasha, and I hope that you will not be chased off by some guys who are such experts on Russia and women that they know better then a Russian woman.

We hope to see some more of your posts, feel free to give your opinions.

[GoodOlBoy]

I really love things here.

Welcome to RWD Natasha_S.

Please tell us what you really love the most about the GoodOl'USA right now (besides your husband). 


GOB

[2tallbill]

Welcome to the forum!


Udachi

Bill

[Natasha_S]

Welcome to RWD Natasha_S.

Please tell us what you really love the most about the GoodOl'USA right now (besides your husband). 


GOB

Thank you everyone for the welcome.

First, I really like the climate here where I am living. It's much warmer than Moscow and I feel very comfortable.
I like the people here, the way they treat each other and myself with friendly attitudes, especially in the shops. They are very friendly and high cultured. I have no problem with communication with people even though I believed I would, but they do  recognize that I'm a foreigner.
I like the clean air, water, and the nature. Clothing and food is very cheap here compared to Moscow, but the medical treatment here is expensive, that's one thing I don't like.
I lived in Moscow all my life and now I live in a small town here in the USA. It's very peaceful and quiet. Very few people here and things move much slower which makes life more relaxed and the time seems to go by slower also. I believe it will be a wonderful place to raise children. I don't miss Moscow or the congestion there at all. My husband told me that I would probably suffer from some type of culture shock after I arrived here but there has been no shock, only relief in my opinion and happiness.

I've already traveled with my husband to several places here and I was very impressed with the beauty and the entertainment that Americans have. My husband wants to travel to some other countries later, but I'm really looking forward to seeing more of America.

I would be interested in knowing how other wives here feel about things here in this country; what they like or dislike. Please feel free to make a comment.

Natasha

[Ronnie]

Natash!

Welcome.

Talk to us about your feeling and emotions right now.  That could be your greatest contribution. 

Oh, and since you are presumably just learning English, let me ask if you can spot the error in Shadow's post?  No offense to him, his English is incredible but the error is quite common even among native English speakers.

[Ronnie]

Do you think you will one day identify yourself as an American?  I'm not just talking about citizenship but identity?

[Natasha_S]

. 
Oh, and since you are presumably just learning English, let me ask if you can spot the error in Shadow's post?  No offense to him, his English is incredible but the error is quite common even among native English speakers.

I've actually been studying english for 10 years and I'm still improving my vocabulary.

Do you think you will one day identify yourself as an American?  I'm not just talking about citizenship but identity?

Living here in America for the short time that I've been here, I'm still a Russian woman but my mind and body are adopting to an American way of life and I believe that sooner or later I will understand how the American way of life works and I will be a part of it no matter where I was born and I will feel American even if I have Russian roots.

[Ronnie]

You have apparently been able to see through the anti-American propaganda so prevalent in the Russian news.  How did you not be affected by it?

[Natasha_S]

You have apparently be able to see throught the anti-American propaganda so prevalent in the Russian news.  How did you not be affected by it?

Yes there was a lot of propaganda when I was at my university in Moscow. They told us not to buy American cars because they were made poorly. Not to buy American medicine because they consist of so many bad chemicals which can do nothing to help you but after I met my husband and I came to America I realized all the propaganda was false.

By the way, there is a couple of mistakes in your post.

[Ronnie]

By the way, there is a couple of mistakes in your post.

Nice catch, as we say!  They were obvious typos due to being to lazy to proof read or use the spellchecker.  Did you ever find the error in Shadow's post?  It could just be a typo but then again it could be an error of the kind we see often...using the word "then" in place of "than."

[Sculpto]

Natasha,  since Ronnie pointed out anti-American propaganda in Russia.. have you noticed the anti-Russian propaganda in the US media and if so have you had a reaction to it?

[Ronnie]

Wife wife has been with me for 5 years.  She has told me that she never felt that the USSR was meant to be her home.  She was uncomfortable in it.  Here she wants desparately to become an American and studies very hard each day taking classes and self-study.  She is not a natural linguist and since she started learning while in her forties, it has been very difficult.  I admire her courage and determination.

[Ronnie]

Natasha,  since Ronnie pointed out anti-American propaganda in Russia.. have you noticed the anti-Russian propaganda in the US media and if so have you had a reaction to it?

Natasha gave specific examples.  Can you provide the same to support your proposition?

[Sculpto]

sure.. recent episodes of CSI Miami and Law and Order.. McCain's comments about Putin... the entire media perspective regarding the Georgian conflict as well as the gas conflict with Ukraine.. for that matter Ronnie.. most of what you believe about Russia..   You could certainly share some of your more "enlightened" views to give Natasha a taste of what an unfortunate % of Americans think about Russia. 

[OlgaH]

You could certainly share some of your more "enlightened" views to give Natasha a taste of what an unfortunate % of Americans think about Russia. 

are you supporting the Russian people?  Feliks Dzherzhinky would be proud of you. 

Welcome to America, Natasha 

[OlgaH]

She is not a natural linguist and since she started learning while in her forties, it has been very difficult.  I admire her courage and determination.

Scream Bloody Murder CNN will be very helpful 

[youtube=425,350]ZCGKV26YXEA[/youtube]

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[Sculpto]

Olga.. I bow down.. you are the best!

[Ronnie]

sure.. recent episodes of CSI Miami and Law and Order.. McCain's comments about Putin... the entire media perspective regarding the Georgian conflict as well as the gas conflict with Ukraine.. for that matter Ronnie.. most of what you believe about Russia..   You could certainly share some of your more "enlightened" views to give Natasha a taste of what an unfortunate % of Americans think about Russia. 

Oh, I see.  Let's take these one at at time. 
What is in the TV shows that would be considered propaganda?  I don't often watch them but I know they are crime shows.  If you're going to have a crime story, somebody has to be the criminal.  The liberal left has said you can't portray certain protected groups in a bad light, even in a fictional story, so who do that leave?  Bankers, executives, military, police the Russian mob.  I have also seem a film that depicted the Ukrainian mob in Chicago.  On the other hand, I remember from the 60s the cartoons about Rocky and Bullwinkel that featured Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale who, in a conscious effor to avoid offending Russia, we depicted as being from the fictional nation of Pottsylvania.

Where were we...?
McCain's comment about Putin.  "George Bush said he looked Putins eyes and saw his soul.  I look into Putin's eyes and I see three letters, K-G-B."

Was this harsh or propaganda?  There are not many people in this world who don't understand that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was the responsible party in the murder of many innocent Russian people: 

Anna Politkovskaya, author and reporter critical of Putin, murdered on Putin's birthday; 

Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned by Andrey Konstantinovich Lugavoy at Putin's behest.  Litvinenko, had written a book naming the Russian security services as being responsible for blowing up several apartment buildings (killing innocent Russian families) in order to bring Putin to power. 

And Putin's "hits" just keep on coming; Stanislav Markelov, Anastasia Barburova, Yuri Chervochkin, Mikhail Beketov,  and many others.  It seems bizarre to call mention of his crimes as "propaganda" when not to do so dishonors the courageous Russians who wrote or said too much and the innocent victims of Putin's thirst for power.

Sculpto, you mention the coverage of Georgia and the South Ossetia conflict.  I vividly recall a CNN (or was it BBC?) interview with Putin in Sochi in which he was unchallenged as he publicly pointed an accusing finger at the USA by referring to the passport of Michael Lee White, ostensibly found by the army in South Ossetia during the battles. 

It turns out that Michael Lee White had never been to Georgia and was in Texas during the conflict.  He did leave his passport in the seat pocket on an Aeroflot fight from Moscow to New York three years earlier.

Now Sculpto, if you were even half the humanitarian you profess to be, you would not be defending the actions of a ruthless criminal who has murdered his way into power.  Putin is not Russia.  Russia is not Putin.  The FSB(KGB) is not Russia.  But the FSB is Putin.  These are facts even reported on your favorite liberal blog, Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/oleg-kozlovsky/two-new-victims-of-politi_b_159204.html

Natasha, please forgive the digression from your topic.  As you can see, in America everyone has a right to his own opinions on any subject.  But some, in so doing, ignore facts.   In the words of former US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan, "Everyone has a right to his own opinions, but not to his own facts."

[Shadow]

Ronnie, that McCain saw K-G-B has two explanations.

First of all, K-G-B are the colours of the Russian flag.
Secondly, Putin was the president of the FSB (the correct name for the Secret Service) before he became visible in politics.

Perhaps you would care to bring proof of Putin being involved in those murders ? If you have none, to blame Putin for every murder of a public individual is plain... propaganda.

And the mistake was a typo, good catch.

About the USA, as a tourist.

I liked the way cities are built. Unfortunately I did not see a lot of the probably great nature. The people are mostly very friendly by nature. As a city guy, the crowds did not stop me.
What amused me ? Being able to return goods after two years. People using their car to get from one side of the parking lot to the other side where the second store they want to visit is located. The looks of the (mostly Afro-American) people in the bus when confronted with two European tourists. That in some asreas in New York you feel being in another country as America.

What I did not like ? That it sometimes is very clear people are friendly only because they have to be to keep their job. That in spite of all talks about 'no racism' Afro-American people were kept out of a shopping mall "because of their dress" while white people were walking in shorts and T-shirts.
That in New York when you take a bus line, in some place you really feel you should not get out of the bus.

[ECOCKS]

Hi Natasha. My wife was here for 6 weeks on a house-hunting trip before returning to our home in Kyiv to move babushka and son into a smaller apartment. Her likes were varied and it was clear that at times she was sort of over-whelmed even in a smaller city. She also describes herself as feeling Russian but is uninterested in remaining there without good reasons.

Things she liked:

Restaurants
 Prices on meals
 Quality of the food
 Choices on menu
Stores
 Number of them
 Open hours
 Selection of goods
Employees
 Cheerful attitudes and smiles
 Helpfulness when asked a question
Cities
 Cleaner than FSU
 More open in terms of spreading out rather than crammed together
 Housing in single homes more than apartments
 Apartments more liveable and clean
Cars

Odd things:
Transportation - buses appear empty often
Train station - small and inefficient
Factories - where are they?
Open land - why don't poor and homeless move out to these places?


 

[Natasha_S]

Natasha,  since Ronnie pointed out anti-American propaganda in Russia.. have you noticed the anti-Russian propaganda in the US media and if so have you had a reaction to it?

No. I don't read newspapers here or watch the news on tv. Neither one of us does. When on the internet I usually read Russian websites.
For example, right now Russian news is saying that America is starting a natural gas war with Russia because they don't want Russia to have control in Europe. Propaganda?

[Ronnie]

No. I don't read newspapers here or watch the news on tv. Neither one of us does. When on the internet I usually read Russian websites.
For example, right now Russian news is saying that America is starting a natural gas war with Russia because they don't want Russia to have control in Europe. Propaganda?

Blaming America is the standard operating procedure for despots and other failed leaders who want to keep the media focus off themselves and their own internal problems. Last August Putin said America was no longer influential in world affairs as he rolled tanks within a few kilometers of Tbilisi.  Then in September when the Russian economy started going bad, he was back to blaming America for causing it.
Russia deserves better.  Russians are a strong and talented people who have not been allowed to fully blossom because of decades, even centuries of repression orchestrated by thugs.  When Russians are let out of their cage and come to the west, they typically excel.

Welcome to America Natasha. Take a deep breath Natasha. You have a wonderful life ahead of you.  And, while our current president would like to destroy our freedoms, he will not succeed.  America will remain a great place to live and raise your children.