Okiebollweevil

Kvas is delicious. I think perhaps she ruined it for you by telling you it was like coke. It's nothing like coke. It's a very lightly alcoholic beverage made from fermented bread. Take it on its own merits, and it's delicious. Expect it to be sweet and syrupy, and you'll be disappointed.

Sorry eekee, raised on the real thing and Kvas just doesn't cut it. didn't much care for curds or carpa, (too many small bones) don't much care for borscht, love the cherry jelly except for the pits. Pevo was great. Cavair? No thanks.

You might also get the bad guy to just laugh himself to death But seriously, the sight of a small, pink pistol could be met with disbelief and you would have to use it.

I never even thought of it like that. You are probably right though, a pink (or other "colored") gun could make a bad guy "call the bluff" and insist that I use it. I've hoped I'll never have to use my carry gun but what's sad is the older and older I get (and more "good citzens" I run into) the less I hope that it never gets used. I don't know if it's just my BS toleratometer wearing out (maybe needs recalibrated?) or if it's that with each passing year of getting up, going to work, paying taxes, and seeing my community go farther and farther into the crapper that I just start to care less. I don't know. Maybe one day I'll get it. Til then, I have a black gun.

We are off to Chicago this weekend - so we will have some drive time to talk about guns. I'll keep you posted.

Now there's proof that gun control works if there ever was any! Cook County has some of the strictest gun control laws in the entire country. Should be one of the nicest, safest places.... right?

If only the criminals would follow all the gun laws too.....

Edited: I actually wrote my Congressman a few months back when HR45 was introduced and asked him if we were to model our national policy of gun control based on the "success" of Chicago gun control, is that what he was looking to vote for? So far, no reply. And no votes either, so maybe it worked!

Been awhile since my wife got citizenship, but couldn't resist GUNS, my two cents on a carry piece for a member of the fairer sex-S&W model 49 with the shrouded hammer. Shoots 5-38 cal. can shoot from a pocket or purse without a hammer snag, but does have a hammer. Would load it with glaser safety slugs-little BB shot in liquid teflon- guaranteed thug stopper but won't go through the wall and kill the neighbor. Would investigate a "Feminine protection" purse that has a built-in holster. Bought one at a gun show for the ex, very nice concealment. My new citizen likes her H&R 22 single action, and I'm with Slim with a 12 ga. winchester defender for the house.

We are sending clothes, for nephew neices, cousins, MIL, FIL, sisters BILs. They love our clothes and find clothing especially childrens in Russia is cost prohibitive. Chocolates come from Russia to here, my wife can't stand American chocolate, however, my MIL loves the cherry mashes I brought her, go figure. We also include a bill of lading itemizing all goods, make sure that the customs listing doesn't exceed $100, and e-mail the itemized list to Russia so whoever picks up the package opens it in front of postal people and verifies the contents. Our packages have taken up to 2 months to arrive, for some reason they get hung up in customs in Moscow, but we have never experieinced any loss of contents yet.

Congratulations - looking forward to seeing the wedding hats

And if the happy couple gets married in an Orthodox church one of the children could take a photo for later posting of course, with crowns over their heads!

Hello All,

We've completed the first part of the "Visa Journey" and my lovely Svetlana is here in the USA with me. Now it seems comes the hard part. She has been here since 1 July and we've gotten married, had a beautiful wedding in Lake Tahoe and are settling in together.

The hard part has come as my bride is feeling down about not having work and worried about her "level" going down as a result. She is 35 and worked very successfully in Moscow as a type of business consultant for taxes and labor laws etc. She has a very nice degree from Moscow University and now feel like it was "wasted" since it may not translate directly over here. Unfortunately as luck would have it, the first two ladies she has encountered (1 from Odessa and 1 from St Petersburg) have relayed mostly negative stories about how they were successful in Russia/Ukraine, but that now they are like "guest workers" in the USA with little prospects for success. Of course this has only brought Svetlana's mood down only more. (Needless to say these very nice ladies have other issues in their relationships which are the true source of their unhappiness).

I'm working now to get some of the basics taken care of like immigration paperwork for AOS, driving lessons, English courses, although she speaks pretty well, etc. I work as an officer in the USMC and we have plenty of money. We live in a nice apartment with palm trees and a swimming pool in Oceanside, CA yet she still feels like she's gone backwards in life because of this job issue.

So the bottom line is that I'm looking for anyone out there who has had POSITIVE experiences getting adjusted and beginning their careers in the USA after coming from Russia. I know that if she can see some positive examples of ladies who have transistioned successfully that will really help her outlook and hopefully she can get some constructive advice on what steps she can take to attain the success here in this country that she seeks.

Please feel free to email me at phewall@mac.com and let me hear from you. I can certainly give you more information than I can in this short space.

Thank you all and God Bless you!

James

Hello James, I think you are going through what a lot of us did when we brought our wives here who are not independently wealthy, we work during the day and try to take care of our wive's needs afterward. My wife experienced the same homesickness, wanted to contribute, (what a great attribute as opposed to what we have become accustomed to). She was a pediatric surgeon in Russia, and didn't want to do a residency here to achieve the same status. She switched to accounting. Took a two years associates degree at a local college, then applied to undergrad school, but the school on its own initiative suggested that with her medical degree she enroll in graduate school so she is now happily (I think) battling the masters in accountancy program. One of her acct. professors recommended her for a part time job and that also keeps her occupied. Where we live people have from our limited experience treated Russian women like peons. My wife dresses up every day to go to work even on casual fridays. Her supervisor reminded her that fridays are blue jeans day. My wife wouldn't be caught dead in a pair of blue jeans, so she agreed to a denim skirt which we are now shopping for. Americans just don't get how Russian women like to dress up when going out of the home and want everyone else to be slobbish like me. And I am Mr. Slob so I don't help much, but will put on something when we go out together that is appropriate. The first two years are tough but we got Russian TV by satellite, sponsor many calls and text messages to Russia and otherwise keep in touch back home. Best of luck!

As to the Russian accent, wait until Alla starts speaking more English you will find yourself enthralled. Children will assimilate faster and their accents will be cute, but coming out of the mouth of the woman you love-well all I can say is you will see what a wuss you can be made into.

All I can say is it will drive you crazy as well because, like children, there will be many things "I not know because I speak Russian language." Ah, what's the language you speak have to do with paying rent?

Sure, there will be funny and cute moments, but there will also be those very trying times when she knows exactly what you're talking about but plays the ignorance card.

(All the more incentive for you to speak Russian. If you understand and speak her language there's almost no way she can pull a fast one on you.)

I really haven't had that problem of "no understand" Julia had pretty good English skills when she came, and has thrown herself into school. I told her she didn't have to work, but she went out and got a part time job through the middle of december while in school. so as harried as she is with studies and work, not too many opportunities to play the nicht verstehen card. But I do hear a litany of complaints about the folks she works with, mostly about back biting. I tried to explain to her that state government work usually attacts the LCD of the working populace. But she does understand why when I come home from work I am not too eager to run out to eat, now the shoe is on the other foot! And staying on topic just deleted an e-mail from Helen. Most of the ####### I see comes with a man's name on the heading.

Love the Masks Jeffrey! Now we won't see "Mr. Kind eyes" references for awhile. I am certainly looking forward to the November masks as there are haloween masks with the hopefuls available, so are you going to be McCain or Obama? Alla in a Palin mask? We are dying in suspense. As to the topic-I ge these e-mails all the time at work (like AK a govt. worker) I don't even open them even tho I would like to see the "hot" photos. Had some come with photos within the body of the letter, can see the appeal to us lonely older guys. As to the Russian accent, wait until Alla starts speaking more English you will find yourself enthralled. Children will assimilate faster and their accents will be cute, but coming out of the mouth of the woman you love-well all I can say is you will see what a wuss you can be made into.

I am still registered in my Moscow apartment and I am almost a citizen in US. I renewed my Russian passport through the Houston consulate this year. It wasn't a big deal. They just consider you to be a temporary residing in the US Russian citizen. That's fine with me.

My wife is now a ctizen of the US and still maintains her Russian citizenship. She transferred her apartment to her parents to keep it in the family, but both still consider the apt. to be my wife's. This works well for us and we send them money periodically for the upkeep, elec. water etc.

I have a question:Are you guys retired?How can you take time off work for such a long road trips?Its America-work country:))People supposed to pay bills and work work work B)

It's good to be self employed

Well, until you have to get a mortgage or file 864. But still not bad, just more footwork.

And even if I worked somewhere, I still think that the spouse's arrival and first month here is extremely important time, a lot will depend on the initial adjustment. So it's a good idea to spend as much time together and help with every step and show as much as possible of the new country. But that's my personal opinion, and situation.

jsouthwick Thanks a lot, I will contact you later when the time comes. That is what we interested in, nature wonders in these areas, since I am new in TX myself and she will love to see this areas too.

So she can go to Mexico just having GC and nothing else ? no visa, just GC ?

Sorry but I forgot, I haven't been to Juarez for a long time, used to just drive across and then walk across to get extra liquor, don't know if they card you on the Mexican side or not. You need to check with the USCIS about travelling under the green card, my wife went back to Russia on her conditional, and as soon as possible applied for permanent residency got 10 year GC, and just received citizenship and 10 day later passport. Your wife might need to flash her Russian passport at both sides of the border. Don't hold me to this, but without authority to travel from USCIS, I don't think she can leave the country before she re-enters. And don't always take the word of USCIS, sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. I know under the I-129 she only got entrance into the US one time.

I have a question:Are you guys retired?How can you take time off work for such a long road trips?Its America-work country:))People supposed to pay bills and work work work B)

It's good to be self employed

Well, until you have to get a mortgage or file 864. But still not bad, just more footwork.

And even if I worked somewhere, I still think that the spouse's arrival and first month here is extremely important time, a lot will depend on the initial adjustment. So it's a good idea to spend as much time together and help with every step and show as much as possible of the new country. But that's my personal opinion, and situation.

jsouthwick Thanks a lot, I will contact you later when the time comes. That is what we interested in, nature wonders in these areas, since I am new in TX myself and she will love to see this areas too.

So she can go to Mexico just having GC and nothing else ? no visa, just GC ?

Will be happy to share with you! I myself am not self-employed work for the state last 14 years so get very good leave time, 1 month work=13.3 hours vacation leave + 10 hours sick leave. Did stick my AK Diver see my member for a price per minute in a gold mine a couple of years ago, so I could retire if I wanted. If you are close to a Russian store or Russian church that will help acclimate your spouse (I had to make a curds run to the Russian store last night). PM me and I will see if I can pick up a locally published Russia-America newspaper so you can subscribe, get on their mailing list etc. I can't remember how long it took my wife to acclimate, it seems like forever, but once she got the driving thing going she gets around OK by herself. But is quick learning US consumerism. Still driving her first car in pristine condition, less than 30k miles, and is hinting around for a Rav 4. She got into school pretty quickly, didn't want to practice her profession here, so she is changing her life in yet another way. Any thing I can do to help holler at me, and I am sure if your read all the posts here you will see that the bulk of the posters are of a like mind. Sorry about the jar thing, but that's the way she was brought up, and I do stop for myself to enjoy the splendors of nature when it calls.

How did this thread turn into race and piss contest?

I do greatly appreciate input, some of suggestions are really great, I do not mean ones about jars and water rationing, but the ones about interesting places to see.

In pissing issues I tend to agree with akdiver, for me stops are much more fun than driving itself, getting a chance to see new places and faces. Otherwise I just fly if in a hurry, and they have a toilets on planes still for free, so no need for containers (not yet, but you just wait..)

Thank you jsouthwick for great detailed suggestions, I will print it and use it, loved El Paso area and wanted to see more.

Not into traveling to Houston though, I live in the area.

You are more than welcome. When your wife has the carta verde then I would also recommend going across the border and buying groceries at the Super pronaf store and some cheap booze. If you get into that part of New Mexico there are many wonderful things to do. Holler at me if you want to know more details. I went to undergrad school there and spent a lot of time out roaming around. The Gila National Forest at one time was the least utilized national forest in the US. Sorry I thought you were coming from Calf. not paying enough attention. If your wife is a nature girl there are some wonderful places to turquoise hunt, and you an always run the back roads up to Santa Fe and Taos. So if you live in Houston area (sorry my team beat UH last weekend) have some stone crabs for me at that seafood restaurant there, don't think it was Captain Benny's, or Hydens.

70-80K/year may not make you rich either, but you sure can live a pretty comfortable life making that kind of money.

Yeah, sure, if you don't have any bills or expenses.

You forgot to add about the cost of living. We here in the lower 48 (read that as Palin's adopted country) hear horror stories about the cost of goods and services in Alaska. On another note Slim mentioned about the necessity for frequent stops. we carry jars to take care of that and don't stop except for every other hour! Everytime the jar comes out it reminds me of the long family vacation trips we made when I was a kid and the erstwhile coffee can (yes they came in tins in the good old days and you had to use the attached "key" to open them) we carried for my 3 sisters needs, and the admonition to "not look".

If you are going through New Mexico get off I-10 at Lordsburg go to Silver City and if you are up to it, stay the night there. If you like Mexican food try the Silver cafe. (Hint: my wife does not like anything spicy, so might want to avoid the same for your wife) Great little museum at WNMU with Indian cultural items from a couple of tribes that disappeared centuries ago. Take the time to go north to Pinos Altos and enjoy an old ghost town and high pines. If you have time, go North out of Silver City on highway 12, will take you up to the mountains and the Gila wilderness area. If you feel adventurous, get off the highway and go to Mogollon, if the road is open go up to little cherry and see the elk herds, might see some mountain goats. On the way back stop at the catwalk in Glenwood, a fun little side trip. Then I would go from Silver City to Truth or Consequences via 152 great country including the devils backbone, and once you get to I-25 go South to El Paso and take 10 to points East. Good beaches in Corpus Christi and Galveston, Houston is interesting, Dallas good shopping and the JFK site. If you want to continue East on I-10 would go to New Orleans, see the French Quarter, the Audobon zoo, the Aquarium, walk the Mississippi along the riverwalk. Avoid Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa not much to see (although they have an Amish settlement at lamoni Iowa at the Missouri Iowa border on I-35 that sell handwoven basket and the like, and homemade pies (for Slim) pastries, breads, jams and jellies from their horse drawn wagons right off I-35, some Amish will let you visit their farm and see rural living without the modern conveniences of elec. tele. cable etc.). Would definitely cone back through either Northern New Mexico or Colorado, hit Moabin Utah, or go on up to Saltr Lake pretty country. Yellowstone is a great idea, but not now, early Summer before all the tourist get there, and if you go North out of Yellowstone great scenery. Jackson Hole is good, a bit touristy but the views of the Tetons are spectacular. Good luck and keep your wife occupied.

According to the latest poop from USCIS it looks like you still file in Neb. but all N-400s are processed centrally in Missouri. Maybe some of my old hillbilly friends saw my name and expedited ours. Who knows. But the refreshing news is that from the posts above the processing times are mucho short. Sorry for the moskirova on the service centers.

AK, now looked at your post and saw Nebraska, not a pleasant name here in Okie land. Research and see if the submision for your N-400 doesn't go somewhere else. I have heard they have switched things up after we filed, so just a word of caution.

Tired of the Russian forum eh? Well we filed N-400 on March 30th and wife had oath ceremony on 8/20, so if you were where we are less than 5 months. Don't know why, but for us this was the shortest process of all. Depending on the service center(sorry didn't look at your post to determine your service center but I would guess you are California) I would suspect a minimum of 5 months to a maximum of 14 months. Can't say on California or others can't beleive they would send you all the way across country to Vermont, but would watch the posts from other folks from your service center and use that as a rough measure. Also, a lot depends on your local office where the interview takes place and how stacked up they are. When my wife took the oath there were probably 70-80 people there, and two more ceremonies to perform as well as one later in the month at the courthouse. As everything else, it depends on the service center and I would hesitate to use our experience as a guide and foster false expectations. Upon performing the oath, I would sure head down to the USPS and get my wife's passport application in the soonest. Good luck this is the easy part, and you should have the routine down pat. Biometrics, interview, then oath letter. It is a snap compared to everything else.

Attorneys are regulated by a state bar association. If you feel that your atty. has treated you unfairly, taken advantage of you, ignores your attempts to communicate with him/her, then file a bar complaint with the state bar association in the state you either live in or your attorney practices in. Bar complaints are taken very seriously and in many instances the filing of a bar compliant causes a magical change in attorney attitude.

My wife received her citizenship today @ the USCIS office here no courthouse, although the security guard advised that they do one once a month at the federal courthouse in downtown OKC also. The procedure took a little lesst han 2 hours, the oath was administered by an ajudication officer. Played the Bush tape did the pledge of allegience etc. They have thre ceremonies scheduled today. good luck to everyone else going through OKC for citizenship, one last hassle then blessed citizenship papers are given to you as part of the ceremony. No wait! No mail!

My wife was a lieutenant in the Russian military. She never fired a weapon. Now I have started her out on a cheapo 22 single action and she shoots pretty tight groups. She loves to shoot. (don't know who she imagines is the target and too afraid to ask) Will probably buy the S&W version of the target revolver to move her up to double action revolver and more accuracy. While shooting last time someone next to us was using a real hand cannon maybe a 454 Casull or something like that. I flinched while they fired and she calmly plinked away. Mox, a good gun for the home is a winchester defender or maybe a 357 large frame revolver loaded with 38 glaser rounds.

My wife has been following this quite closely on Russian TV, and it has convinced her that when she gets her citizenship in 9 days, who she is going to vote for. And I remember some story about how the Russian peacekeepers were asked by both countries Georgia and SO) to be in SO. That being said, I think the Russians are showing the world that they can do anything they want in the area, and perhaps it is a bit retalitory, but who can do anything to them, much more who cares? My wife has family friends in SO and is going to ask her mom what is happening to friends. She also said they had an American on Russian TV living in SO who spoke in English and outlined that his wife's family had many family members who had been killed, not by the Russians but the Georgians. If you kick the bear in the butt it is best to mind his claws. If you want to change the mentality in DC don't vote for incumbents, all they do is start raising funds for the next election cycle, they only look out for their interests and those of their financial supporters. Vote for the guy or gal who is least popular, who is willing to say we have many unpleasant situations we need to clean up here at home, so we need to attend to our own business, and get our house straightened up before we start importing our American "goodness" to other countries. Don't be surprised if you see the good ole USA being the next third world toilet that everyone wants to avoid, simply because our elected officials (read winners of the beauty or popularity contest armed with charming sound bites and no clue what to do) will not face the American people with some unpleasant truths and hard to swallow solutions to the problems that beset us.

56' ford bought from lady in hospital for $50 with 48,000 miles. 3 on the tree, but sychronizers went out. Learned to pull that tranny unhang the synchronizers, and slap it back in in 1 hour. First absolutely new car triumph GT6, most exciting porsche 930 turbo over twisty mountain roads. Most overrated range rover piece of you know what. currently 05 chevy ssr with 400 hp motor and 6 speed manual. I am with turboguy in divulging my age via my first car, probably like him have owned 100+ cars in my lifetime and wish I had that warehouse for some of them, 56 nomad, 60 & 61 mercedes 190 sl 61 chev 60 ford falcon. And agree about the slant 6 steadiest running motor that came out of detroit bar none.

We have everything almost completely ready to send in, but I never bothered to get a copy of my state return. I just file them on the ohio.gov website and they dont' send me a hard copy or anything. If we have our federal returns for the last 2 years, how important do you think these really are? I just want to get everything sent off ASAP and not have to wait for more stuff in the mail. We have every other kind of proof you can imagine. What do you think?? Thanks!

We sent copies of tax returns only on everything no questions no problems, citizenship oath in 2 weeks, never used transcripts.

Just want to know how people prepare for the test.

Are those sample questions in the Naturalization guide enough? Or is there some book I need to study?

Privert Lyuba! My wife is Russian studied the night before and missed one question, the easiest! Asked to read a simple question and write a simple sentence. With your baby and good test results you should pass with flying colors. My wife only used the material provided her by USCIS and some VJ items I downoladed, i.e. the 20 hardest questions possible on the exam. Best of luck!

Boy you forget to log on for a few weeks and suddenly noone has names anymore....

A did to B then C went to N and of course M got angry. B had to C when X said "O I so BZ"

Everyone sounds like they are talking in Alphabits. Weird I cant even follow what happened. Im going to talk to my son who has started confusing me more and more every day. He says "MAMAMAMAM" and "DADADADA" I know he asks for his mother but is he say DAD or yes?

Mamma is when VJ member goes crying to a moderator.

But what happens to N is she marry M to the cosine of slim to differentiate to Bobalouie Take the result and do a natural log of the result of this and place in a laplace transform.

What do you have? Confused people.

or people saying " I like them French fried potaters. "

Sorry to dissuade you, but here in Oklahoma we use the word "tater" and when we want to talk about that children's toy with the changeable parts (formerly the artist known as Mr. Potato Head) we refer to him as Korat, and you thought I was going to say Mr. Tater head. Actually, we find those who bear an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Tater head whether physically, or conceptually (that's where we visualize the person who has no photo on their personal page for the interested reader to compare whether the person is Mr. Tater head or not, so someone like me) to their posts and independently determine if the person is a Mr. Tater head or not. Thanks for the interesting posts I know you are entertaining many of the VJ Russia sub-forum members here, but going on about Kirk or Mox on multiple posts, come on do the words ad nauseum ring any bells? Keep up the good? work as I am sure Slim is sharpening barbs and witticisms just for you, and remember, Cincinnati would not be a place to visit if I were you, it seems Slim has borrowed a pair of my pointy toed cowboy boots (yep we still wear them here even to court, to get married, church and other high social events) so I hope that Slim sends my boots back sans your unmentionables. But maybe not. I wonder if you could insert a falsetto voice to your future posts after Slim and other volunteers play football with your nads.

Thanks for the info! Have printed and taking to my wife who will be doing the same in OKC on the 20th of August.