My closing comments

[groovlstk 0]

Although my wife has met a few Russian women that will not, absolutely not return to Russia for any reason, even to visit family members. This she atributes to their total embracement of American attitudes, chasing the almighty buck and striving to get ahead. Who knows.

Strangely enough, before I met my wife I dated a lot of Russian women living in the US. Many arrived here on K1s and divorced, and were extremely bitter about Americans and American life in general. If I was a safe enough distance away I'd always follow up by asking, "if you aren't happy here, why don't you return home?" I never got a straight answer.

Dealing w/the USCIS and logistics of all this is cake compared with the actual marriage part. The accounts of others, particularly during the adjustment period, are ultimately more valuable than anything else you read here.

[groovlstk 0]

However, when it gets to the point of causing stress..... it's time to bust out that playstation.

My wife and I sometimes play 1 on 1 in Call of Duty IV on our PS3. She's so funny, we'll be having dinner and she'll suddenly say (oh-so-innocently), "let's shoot each other tonight."

[LvivLovers 39]

My wife misses walking everywhere in her city and seeing everyone else walking around. She hates the driving every place. It's little things like that neither of us thought much about prior to her coming to the USA. It's also really hard for her not to worry about her relatives back home because they are experiencing hyper-inflation right now and the prices are ridiculous relative to their salaries.

And this is why it's important to come back to VJ, back to the Russia Forum, and to share your experiences with others. There are a million things that could've been done better (or worse) in everyone's relationships, and with any luck, at least if we share our experiences here then maybe some of us will be able to use the info before it's too late!

whenever i debate on the internet, i always have the understanding that people are different on the internet than on real life. the masks are on and the gloves are off. it's pretty much just all in good fun for me.

That's why it's so fun! Not only can you debate with anyone, but you can be anyone! There's no dealing with the people afterward and the one thing I really like about it is there's no body language to read. Sure, there's tone and inflection (I'M SO MAD I'M USING ALL CAPS!!!) but it's not like when you're up in someone's grill catching spit from them as they drive their exhausted point home with no factual evidence. Here, everything is just a quick Google away and with Wikipedia proof, arguments are usually short and sweet, relegated to "my opinion is better than yours." And who doesn't love that debate?

LvivLovers, I agree with your wife. it was hard for me to come back to the US and not be able to walk everywhere. it also was not good for my weight.

I have to agree as well. Those two weeks I was in Moscow I was fit as a fiddle.

Yeah. My wife had me walking everywhere when I was in Lviv instead of taking a cab because the place we were going was "close". After a while I finally realized "close" meant around 30 minutes. hahaha

There are a few other things that I never knew would be such a big deal to her. When she first spotted a squirrel in our yard, you would think it was a rare siting of the Loch Ness monster. She couldn't believe that we had squirrels in OUR OWN YARD! Apparently, they were really rare in Lviv. She normally would have to sit in a certain park for 30 minutes to an hour to see one of the few that lived there. You can imagine the freak out that occurred when we were driving into the neighborhood late one night and one after another 4 or 5 deer crossed the road in front of us and then stood in a neighbor's yard looking at us. She said she felt like she was living inside a zoo.

[eekee 182]

There are a few other things that I never knew would be such a big deal to her. When she first spotted a squirrel in our yard, you would think it was a rare siting of the Loch Ness monster. She couldn't believe that we had squirrels in OUR OWN YARD! Apparently, they were really rare in Lviv. She normally would have to sit in a certain park for 30 minutes to an hour to see one of the few that lived there. You can imagine the freak out that occurred when we were driving into the neighborhood late one night and one after another 4 or 5 deer crossed the road in front of us and then stood in a neighbor's yard looking at us. She said she felt like she was living inside a zoo.

my guy is obsessed with squirrels. he really wants to get them to eat out of his hand for some reason.

call of duty is really fun.

Edited May 20, 2008 by eekee

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

However, when it gets to the point of causing stress..... it's time to bust out that playstation.

My wife and I sometimes play 1 on 1 in Call of Duty IV on our PS3. She's so funny, we'll be having dinner and she'll suddenly say (oh-so-innocently), "let's shoot each other tonight."

[peejay 327]

Although my wife has met a few Russian women that will not, absolutely not return to Russia for any reason, even to visit family members. This she atributes to their total embracement of American attitudes, chasing the almighty buck and striving to get ahead. Who knows.

Strangely enough, before I met my wife I dated a lot of Russian women living in the US. Many arrived here on K1s and divorced, and were extremely bitter about Americans and American life in general. If I was a safe enough distance away I'd always follow up by asking, "if you aren't happy here, why don't you return home?" I never got a straight answer.

Dealing w/the USCIS and logistics of all this is cake compared with the actual marriage part. The accounts of others, particularly during the adjustment period, are ultimately more valuable than anything else you read here.

Yeah...I've seen this attitude in some of my wife's Russian friends and aquaintances here in the USA. What is my take on it? Some of these women are miserable and bitter people in general. They will continue to be bitter and unhappy no matter where they live. When they dropped in on the USA they just took the show on the road. Or as I'm fond of saying..."same ol' sh*t, different toilet."

[slim 1,514]

Yeah...I've seen this attitude in some of my wife's Russian friends and aquaintances here in the USA. What is my take on it? Some of these women are miserable and bitter people in general. They will continue to be bitter and unhappy no matter where they live. When they dropped in on the USA they just took the show on the road. Or as I'm fond of saying..."same ol' sh*t, different toilet."

Does your wife know mine?

[Okiebollweevil 0]

Although my wife has met a few Russian women that will not, absolutely not return to Russia for any reason, even to visit family members. This she atributes to their total embracement of American attitudes, chasing the almighty buck and striving to get ahead. Who knows.

Strangely enough, before I met my wife I dated a lot of Russian women living in the US. Many arrived here on K1s and divorced, and were extremely bitter about Americans and American life in general. If I was a safe enough distance away I'd always follow up by asking, "if you aren't happy here, why don't you return home?" I never got a straight answer.

Dealing w/the USCIS and logistics of all this is cake compared with the actual marriage part. The accounts of others, particularly during the adjustment period, are ultimately more valuable than anything else you read here.

Yeah...I've seen this attitude in some of my wife's Russian friends and aquaintances here in the USA. What is my take on it? Some of these women are miserable and bitter people in general. They will continue to be bitter and unhappy no matter where they live. When they dropped in on the USA they just took the show on the road. Or as I'm fond of saying..."same ol' sh*t, different toilet."

Yeah, my toilet got taken away from me with the now toilet cover and everything, made it impossible to lift the lid, so I had a pee cup in what used to be "My" toilet.

[slim 1,514]

Wow!

I like to think of that particular spot as the "throne" of my castle. If the new cover interfered in any way, it would be outta there.

I know the importance of that cover. It's almost a life and death issue and a major source of grief if messed with. My wife was about to start holding it had her cover not arrived. And thankfully now, we have two, so even on laundry days it's not an issue.

Once again, this is a case of something being cold that will "make sick" anyone coming in contact with it. How getting your rump and thighs cold makes you sick I'll never know.....

[Okiebollweevil 0]

Wow!

I like to think of that particular spot as the "throne" of my castle. If the new cover interfered in any way, it would be outta there.

I know the importance of that cover. It's almost a life and death issue and a major source of grief if messed with. My wife was about to start holding it had her cover not arrived. And thankfully now, we have two, so even on laundry days it's not an issue.

Once again, this is a case of something being cold that will "make sick" anyone coming in contact with it. How getting your rump and thighs cold makes you sick I'll never know.....

I'm usually good at doing my contemplation at work. On the brief chance of doing it at home, the towel remains. I don't think my wife has found seat covers yet. And yeah my wife plays on the cold making you sick, I like a fan in the summer, no wind, bad for health, no cold bad ofr health, but the AC goes on when it gets a little hot outside. During the winter I'm running around the house in shorts and a t-shirt, she has a sweater and long pants on, go figure. Well, nobody said it would be easy. And the meds from Russia a complete necessity. If the cat gets sick go online to the Moscow vet. Chocolates not good from here need that fix from Russia, bought some in a Russian store, they turned out to be clever counterfeits. I can see bootleg CDs, clothes etc. but chocolate?

[slim 1,514]

I've found that even authentic things here in the U.S. "are not good like in Russia."

The toilet seat cover we had to import from Russia and that was imported from China. A quick Google search yields a Japanese site: http://www.jlifeinternational.com/Catalog/...ecor/A1306.html

This site must be new because a little over a year ago when I was searching for a "toilet ring made whis zis cot-ton or somesing" I couldn't find anything remotely resembling it. The one above looks dead on the one we have now.

[eekee 182]

i saw this on youtube and it reminded me of our fallen friend scii. slightly NSFW.

[slim 1,514]

I would totally watch that show!

[eekee 182]

it's a movie, so you can rent it.

[slim 1,514]

Oh I'm on it. I love those 60s/70s movies with the "women's lib" all throughout. Ususally, the most liberating part of the movie is the freedom with which they display their newly freed bosoms. Who am I to not support that?

"It's because I'm a movie buff."