Gary and Alla

I think you are going to. Let's see.
I don't know enough about TV and nothing about this show since I have not had a TV for years and never watched a reality show...whatever that is. I did see a few episodes of "Mtythbusters" when I was in the hospital. Is that a reality show?
I support the rights of gay people to get married and live without having their rights stomped on because of what they do in the bedroom. I also agree this man (Robertson) has a right to express his opinion.
Unlike Martin Bashir, he did not say a woman should be forced to eat feces and unlike Alec Baldwin he did not scream obscenities and perjoratives at anyone. He expressed his opinion that he believes homosexuality is wrong...in a very measured and respectful way without attacking anyone. OK, so gays are going to have to accept that not everyone agrees with them. So what? Not everyone has to. As long as their rights are not interfered with and they are not discriminated against and Robertson's opinions are not the basis for LAW...who cares?
The only person that has been discriminated against here is Robertson.
That said, A&E also has rights, and Robertsons may well stick to their guns (so to speak) SO...if A&E feels that strongly and the Robertson's feel that strongly, then take "Duck Dynasty" to another network. Everyone stands on their principals and A&E loses a few million $$$$. Nothing compared to principals.
We'll see who has the stronger principals. Then we will see if it is really propping up A&E.

See...difference. No vacuum here because no carpet allowed and vacuums make dust blow around the house....ues wet fabric to clean!
Dishes and stuff...OMG! I thought I had everything. I did not. I had NO idea I "needed" THREE huge covered frying pans (for Kotleti) stacks of mxing bowls, more and more knives which all must be taken to Ukraine to "make them normal" Translation..."sharpen them".More and more "bedclothes...I love bedclothes"
Her frst time in "Bed, Bath and Beyond" they could not get her out. And I am not kidding. They turned off the lights and she was hiding from the employees trying to make her leave! She was calling from behind stacks of stuff in the aisles...
"Please, 10 more minutes, I am new to this country! I need these things! I will by lots of things"
Ma'am, come out, you can come back tomorrow it will all be here tomorrow.
"Just 10 minutes please"
Sir, can you help us find your wife?

I think you are going to. Let's see.
I don't know enough about TV and nothing about this show since I have not had a TV for years and never watched a reality show...whatever that is. I did see a few episodes of "Mtythbusters" when I was in the hospital. Is that a reality show?
I support the rights of gay people to get married and live without having their rights stomped on because of what they do in the bedroom. I also agree this man (Robertson) has a right to express his opinion.
Unlike Martin Bashir, he did not say a woman should be forced to eat feces and unlike Alec Baldwin he did not scream obscenities and perjoratives at anyone. He expressed his opinion that he believes homosexuality is wrong...in a very measured and respectful way without attacking anyone. OK, so gays are going to have to accept that not everyone agrees with them. So what? Not everyone has to. As long as their rights are not interfered with and they are not discriminated against and Robertson's opinions are not the basis for LAW...who cares?
The only person that has been discriminated against here is Robertson.
That said, A&E also has rights, and Robertsons may well stick to their guns (so to speak) SO...if A&E feels that strongly and the Robertson's feel that strongly, then take "Duck Dynasty" to another network. Everyone stands on their principals and A&E loses a few million $$$$. Nothing compared to principals.
We'll see who has the stronger principals. Then we will see if it is really propping up A&E.

This also means Ted Cruz was right.

The article is about how the USA is neglecting other items of business as we struggle to keep afloat a piece of trash that was finally killed Thursday by Obama.
Remember that Obama shut down our own government to prevent what he just did on Thursday.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579268152932428202
But we could not because our President was too busy shutting down our governrment to prevent something that he, himself, would have to do less than 3 months later. KILL the totally f%ked up "healthcare" plan he was willing to shut down eveything for.
While he was doing that, Putin reassembled the Soviet Union.

Yep! same here
First year she went back to Ukraine for two months. Couldn't wait to go. She said when she came back she was "ready to come back"
The next year she planned to stay for a month. 3 weeks in she was complaining about how hot it was, missing her car, public transport yada yada.
The next year she planned to stay 3 weeks, started whining the first day...internet not working, no hot water, trams "stink", it is too hot in the apartment, it is too far to walk to the market, too many stairs to carry groceries, everything is broken, everything is dirty, there is trash everywhere, "why don't they do something about all these wild dogs?"
This year, we did a lot of stuff together and made some side trips to other places and she got to use her US passport ("I love it, I wave the passport at them and they let me in!") and we had a great time with our friends in Kharkov. Now she is really anxious to leave (next Saturday!) and is talking to her friend every day...but we are only going for 2 weeks and we will spend 3 days in Vienna coming back, and it will be New Year's (her favorite holiday) Your wife is going to enjoy that also, TBone. I think for Alla it is the Number 1 best benefit of US citizenship. Being able to eat at a nice cafe in VIENNA< AUSTRIA without a visa! Without being questioned about WHY she wants to eat at a cafe in Vienna and why can't she just eat at an Austrian cafe in Kiev? "Ukainians are treated like poisonous reptiles, Americans are treated like 'welcome, come, spend money! Then go home'"
But the best indicator is that when she initially left Ukraine for the US she said she felt like she was "leaving home" Now she says it feels like she is "going home" when she leaves Ukraine
I think now I want to go to Ukraine more than she does and I seriously doubt we will be retiring there or spending more than a few weeks every year there. The boys say they will definitely live in the USA and definitely marry Russian/Ukrainian women. Sergey pointed out that an average Russian or Ukrainian could never imagine OWNING a home of the type the average American owns. He and his girlfriend have their own apartment in Houston , as students, and live much better than the average Ukrainian/Russian couple who work 60 hours per week! The credit situation there simply does not allow it, it is even difficult to buy a car. The credit situation is better than it was...more available, but still nothing like it is here.
The US is a tough place to beat if you are stuck with being "average" we also have the wealthiest poor people in the world! I assure you, you do NOT want to be poor, old and sick in Ukraine! Poor people in Ukraine have no issues with obesity (are you kidding!?), they do not have cell phones with internet, plasma TVs, warm apartments and homes, cars, or good clothes.
How are the childrens? Are you guys popping out any more?

I had the great opportunity to have dinner with a director of the VSC Saturday evening. A sit turns out his wife is Russian, came here on a K-1 and is now an aquaintance of Alla. So we had some great conversation. Our next step will be the I-751 and he has worked in his career as an IO who conducted AOS and lifting of conditions interviews and gave me lots of good information on evidence. Here are some things he likes to see and others which are "useless" in his words
Good stuff
Joint bank accounts, joint tax returns, joint ownership of property, cars. Joint leases. Joint insurance. Named as beneficiaries on life insurance and medical insurance. Joint credit cards. Any other joining of financial interests (the theory is that if one is willing to risk your property and money the relationship is more likely valid) Government documents showing common address, drivers lisence, etc. Photos are good, kind of expected, but NOT primary evidence.
Children?
Yes and no. If you just had a child together and the man is nothing more than a sperm donor...no. IF you have children, whether "together" or with a blended family and there is evidence that BOTH participate in the child's development and education, and care that is great! I told him I am listed on all of our son's school papers as parent, I am an emergency contact and I sign all the permission slips, etc. He is covered by my medical insurance. All good stuff. A birth certificate in itself ("Look we have a kid") does not prove a legitmate relationship. It is especially important that the school (an objective 3rd party) recognizes both people as "parents" and accepts this. Medical records for the child showing both people as parents. same reasoning. If a doctor will recognize and treat a child based on their knowledge of both being parents, that is pretty darn good evidence.
Useless or not so useful stuff
Magazine subscriptions together (WHAT??? "Yes, you would be surprised how many couples present a Sports Illustrated subscription as proof") Utilities, cards and letters from relatives, emails, chats etc. Theory? all of these can be easily faked and in themselves prove nothing. Utilities do not verify information before adding someone to an account and hey, it's the electric bill, you are going to pay the electric bill anyway. There is no financial risk involved, no commitment as in joint ownership. Affidavits from friends or family do not have a lot of weight. None of these things are BAD and in conjunction with other evidence are fine, but not enough to prove anything themselves.
This is probably not news to a lot of people, but it was good to hear it from the "horse's mouth" anyway.
Incidentally, I mentioned that we never had a question at any of our interviews and never were asked for any evidence and he said "Sometimes we can just tell. Whatever you did, whatever your body language or how you acted, the IO was immediately convinced you were legitimate" I cannot say what that was, unfortunately.
Another question I asked, actually Alla did since she did not change her name
Does it matter if the woman changes her name?: NO, not at all.
About citizenship (Alla also asked)
Can I be a dual citizen? Answer..."The United States does not recognize other citizenships. You are a US citizen or you are not a US citizen. Once you become a US citizen the United States does not consider you anything else. We will not take your passport from Ukraine and we will not tell Ukraine you are now a citizen of the US. If you want to keep your Ukraine passport and renew it in Ukraine when you are visiting, it is none of our concern"
So the US has no policy and does not recognize any such thing as "dual citizenship" per se, but has no prohibitions from a person being a citizen of another country also, for the US you will always be considered a US citizen
Can I use a Ukraine passport to enter Ukraine and a US passport to enter the US? Yes, no problem.
What about stamps in the passport from the US or Ukraine?: The officers at the POE will ask where you have been, they rarely will look through all your exit stamps and really don't care. They are admitting you to the US, they really don't care if the country you LEFT stamped your passport, the US does not stamp passports on exit.
I ask this because Ukraine does not allow dual citizenship and I do want to keep my Ukraine passport for ease of travel to Russia, etc, and also if we ever decided to return, we have property there, I could easily work, etc. I do not want to do anything wrong and get in trouble here. The US does not care about Ukrainian law regarding citizenship, that's between you and Ukraine, but WE won't tell. Unless there is some order from a court or something, we don't give out that information.

Hello All
I had a great opportunity Saturday evening to have dinner with and spend several hours with a director at the VSC. He is currently in charge of the department that handles I-751s among other things. His wife is an adjusicator that handles YOUR petition (if it went through VSC). His wife is Russian, arrived on a K-1 and is now a citizen. This man has worked for USCIS for many years and was at several local offices before being assigned to the VSC. His wife is a friend of Alla's and we were all at a dinner party for several American/Russian/Ukrainian couples Saturday. We had a long chat, he was very open and helpful. We talked about a lot of the things we see here on VJ and I was trying to remember all the "usual questions" I read about and pin him down for some answers. I also have asked him if he will give an "official interview" for VJ. He said he will check out the site and I will call him later this week. So, anyway I will try to cover what we discussed, he was quite frank and direct in his answers, not rude, not at all, but he knows his stuff and answers without hesitation. It turned into an impromtu and fun "interview" with me trying to remember all the hot button issues I see on VJ
I told him that the number ONE and number TWO "complaints" I see are Why is the VSC taking so long and why can't we get through to you guys?
Why is VSC taking so long, what happened? I was approved in 58 days!: We had problem with labor last year and lost many workers, we hired more last November and it took some time to get them trained. Some of the petitions were sent to California and we also assign people to different tyopes of visas. They will concentrate on one tyoe, get behind on another and then shift many people back to the other type. Lately we have shifted many, almost all, adjudicators to I-129fs, so that should make people happy. They will do that until they get caught up. Summer is a busy time for I-129fs, usually about June we get slammed with them. The winter or early spring is the slowest time for I-129fs, but then it depends what they have everyone working on also.
OK, why can't we get through to you? The 1-800 line is useless. Those are contract employees and they are trained to select answers from a menu of 14 answers. They pick which one is best for your question. There are thousands of visas being processed at any time and everyone is special and everyone has special circumstances and if we had direct lines we weould do nothing but field requests by petitioners to give them priority, we just can't do it. How would you feel if your petition got bumped because some woman called and cried on the phone and then her petition got moved up ahead of yours. We simply have to operate in a way that avoids any chance of fraud, corruption or unfairness.
So what about some people get approved ahead of others? Sme petitions have problems or delays, we do not hold back others for this. If an adjudicator has problems, he puts that one aside or sends an RFE and goes on to the next. The next one may be clean and gets approved right away, in just a few minutes, they adjudicate 15-20 petitions a day per person, and the ones with problems may wait weeks for the petitioner to respond to the RFE, or maybe it is a name check they are waiting for. Petitions are assigned as they arrive, when we are working on those petitions, but they do not go out the door in the same order they came in.
G-325a, Signed or Unsigned? Unsigned.
WHAT? Ok I have seen the memo but lots of VJ members got RFEs for unsigned G-325s, what gives? They do not have to be signed,they can be signed at the consualte interview. Some adjusicators haven't read all the memos, we get hundreds of the things, and maybe they make a mistake. If you want to be sure there is no mistake, sign it. Or send a letter expalining why it is not signed and request it be signed at the interview. Do you have that memo?
It is on the VJ website somewhere You can print a copy of that and send it with the I-129f and G-325a.
Fiancee intent letter? Signed or unsigned? Signed.
What about a faxed or emailed signature? When I was adjudicating, if I could see a signature, I accepted it, but many adjusicators will not. Signed is better.
Lawyer or no lawyer? For what?
Enough said. Now a hot issue, a very controversial one. There seems to be a trend in some countries of foreign men marrying American women and the women are considerably older. There is always a question if this is a problem. It never seems to be a problem for older men/younger women (My wife is 13 years younger, his wife is also considerable younger than him) Is it a problem? For us, USCIS, no. "Free to marry".
What about the consulates or for AOS or I-751? Consulates do what they do, it is not USCIS, some of them are bastards. Kiev is easy, they approve everyone (laughs), they used to be bastards but they got easier since they first started doing those in 2005, before then you would have had to go to Warsaw, you know. For AOS if they can prove they are legitimate we do not care about age but anything that is "not normal" for the culture will draw suspicion. They probably will not get a no questions asked interview (I had told him our AOS was "no questions asked")
What about birth certificates, some people have trouble getting them? This is a problem for us also. Some people, especially our younger staff, think all the world is like the USA. I remember one, when I was in the Kansas City office, the beneficiary was from Viet Nam, she was born in 1954 there was no birth certificate. The CO asked me about this and I looked at the file. I said "Do you know what was going on in Viet Nam in 1954?" She looked at me, straight faced and said "What, their computers were down?" If a birth certificate cannot be obtained they can usually get something from a church, a village official, something, and send that with a letter of explanation. Or just their passport and a letter explaining the situation (this applies to AOS more than I-129f as beneficiary birth certificate is not required for the petition, but I wanted to ask anyway, it seems a common question here)
What about extra documents? Proof of relationship? We don't need it, only that they have met for the fiancee visa.
What about the consulates? Consulates do what they do, as I said, some are bastards. They get whatever we get when it is sent on. I can't tell you what NVC and consulates do, I know some are terrible and some are really easy, but I do not know all the details of each. Kiev is easy, western Europe is easy, Nigeria is horrible, but you would not believe the scams from Nigeria, I get jaded. I am surprised a lot of them get visas and then we have to deal with them.
I have to ask for a collegue, Ecuador? Bastards.

What about changes? Are there any in the works? Is Obama ouching you guys to work faster? I am not sure Obama knows we exist. There have been no changes and no pressure other than the usual workload and shifting things around. I do not expect any immigration changes in the next year or two, at kleat not in rules or amnesty or anything like that. I do expect FEE INCREASES within the next year...across the board.
How much more? I cannot say, that is not my area, I just hear talk.
He added, "We try not to deny petitions, people really get angry and make lots of trouble. Denials usually come at the consulate or maybe AOS or sometimes even with the I-751. If we deny someone we need good reason, if they meet the criteria, we will approve it, they just have to give us what we need to approve them."
So how can I speed up my petition? You can't really. If it gets to be too long and if you can get a congressman or senator to call, that will get some action, but half the time those guys dont'' call or they do and the petition has only been there 3 months. Sometimes one falls through the cracks, gets overlooked, we are human. A congressman can get through and get them to dig it out if it has been too long, but I wouldn't call that "speeding it up". That's a fix for whn it is too slow.
we talked for some time more, about 5 hours altogether, briefly interrupted by Alla every now and again who had her own questions about the I-751 procedure which I posted in that forum, about VJ and other topics (his Navy days) He said he will check the site and gave me his home number. He said "call anytime but not 3 in the morning" I asked about an interview or answering prepared questions, he said possibly, he will check the site. He said many internet sites are advertisement for immigration attorneys or instructing people on how to pull scams, I assured him he would be very pleased with VJ and he thinks it is great that there is a good site for information and advice. (he never heard of VJ before this)
I can also say, that speaking to him, I heard so many of the same buzzwords or advice that I have seen right here, this is really a great site with some great folks giving some really great info.

This also means Ted Cruz was right.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579270252042143502
Of course we were told that if this was done, it would be destroying healthcare for millions of Americans and NOT doing this was the reason the government shut down statues and furloughed useless non-essential government employees which was all terrible and horrible and responsible for global warming, typhoons, earthquakes, inflation, wildfires PLUS would cause children and old people to starve to death in fron of their big screen plasma TVs while texting Democrat Congressmen sending them photos of their penises (penii?)
I also predicted the DEMOCRATS would do this before their winter vacation. Who knew?
All the Republicans were asking for in September was a 1 year suspension of the individual mandate OR the elimination of the suspension in the mandate for big corporations so that it would be FAIR to everyone. NO!!!!!!!!!! We were told that it would "defund" Obamacare and destroy the entire system that Obama and the Dems had so carefully crafted.
The website problems were a nuisance and nothing more. Fixing the websire (s0rt of) has just allowed more peopleto find otu how big a piece of trash this legislation is...or I should say "was".
Incase you don;t bother to read the article...Obamacare is dead. It will not be revived and the only people who will sign up are those for whom it makes economic sense...old, poor, sick, high risk, high cost insureds. GOOD NEWS! Right? Wrong. These are private insurers and they were promised things just as we were promised things. They were promised millions of young, healthy insureds paying high premiums and assuming high deductibles to cover their losses. They are not going to stay in the game.
They won't get them.
Now that my predictions on what the Dems would do prior to Christmas (translation: prior to primary elections) here are the other predictions for "Obamacare" in 2014...
1. It will not be revived
2. Insurers will drop out leaving millions of insured... UNinsured. The government will step in and cover them under some extension of medicare/medicaid...which they COULD HAVE DONE prior to this nonsense
3. The insurers that stayed out of this mess are looking like geniuses
Ultimately the guy that touted this had to kill it himself because HE is not eligible for election, but the rest of the people who voted for it , ARE.
We could bother to mention that NONE of these actions are constitutional, Obma has NONE of this authority. Of course he can "get away with it" unless it is challenged. I hope no one is stupid enough to challenge it right now.
Obama and the Dems are at a low point. They did it themselves. LEAVE THEM ALONE, they are their own worst enemy.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304367204579270252042143502
Of course we were told that if this was done, it would be destroying healthcare for millions of Americans and NOT doing this was the reason the government shut down statues and furloughed useless non-essential government employees which was all terrible and horrible and responsible for global warming, typhoons, earthquakes, inflation, wildfires PLUS would cause children and old people to starve to death in fron of their big screen plasma TVs while texting Democrat Congressmen sending them photos of their penises (penii?)
I also predicted the DEMOCRATS would do this before their winter vacation. Who knew?
All the Republicans were asking for in September was a 1 year suspension of the individual mandate OR the elimination of the suspension in the mandate for big corporations so that it would be FAIR to everyone. NO!!!!!!!!!! We were told that it would "defund" Obamacare and destroy the entire system that Obama and the Dems had so carefully crafted.
The website problems were a nuisance and nothing more. Fixing the websire (s0rt of) has just allowed more peopleto find otu how big a piece of trash this legislation is...or I should say "was".
Incase you don;t bother to read the article...Obamacare is dead. It will not be revived and the only people who will sign up are those for whom it makes economic sense...old, poor, sick, high risk, high cost insureds. GOOD NEWS! Right? Wrong. These are private insurers and they were promised things just as we were promised things. They were promised millions of young, healthy insureds paying high premiums and assuming high deductibles to cover their losses. They are not going to stay in the game.
They won't get them.
Now that my predictions on what the Dems would do prior to Christmas (translation: prior to primary elections) here are the other predictions for "Obamacare" in 2014...
1. It will not be revived
2. Insurers will drop out leaving millions of insured... UNinsured. The government will step in and cover them under some extension of medicare/medicaid...which they COULD HAVE DONE prior to this nonsense
3. The insurers that stayed out of this mess are looking like geniuses
Ultimately the guy that touted this had to kill it himself because HE is not eligible for election, but the rest of the people who voted for it , ARE.
We could bother to mention that NONE of these actions are constitutional, Obma has NONE of this authority. Of course he can "get away with it" unless it is challenged. I hope no one is stupid enough to challenge it right now.
Obama and the Dems are at a low point. They did it themselves. LEAVE THEM ALONE, they are their own worst enemy.

This also means Ted Cruz was right.

Fire the broker and get someone that knows what they are doing. I had health insurance for BOTH our K-2 sons within 20 days of their arrival. The first of the month following the day we got married.
I am not guessing. My wife arrived on the 11th of the month, we were married on the 19th of the month and the health insurance went into affect for her and the children on the first of the next month. It was arranged in advance several months before she arrived.
Get a letter from the SS office that your son is not yet eligible. A minor child can prove residence by his visa and your marriage license. PLEASE, deal with someone that knows how to help you if you do not know yourself.

You need to get health insurance to cover your son, NOW. You need this to protect your son. You are dealing with someone that does not now what to do when they are faced with something they do not do everyday. Get used to it and prepare for it.
They CAN cover him without an SSN, you just need to talk to someone that knows what they are doing, ask for a supervisor
As for the SSN, if you go to the Social Security Office, they can provide you with an official letter that states that your son is not yet elegible for an SSN. We dd this for our two K-2 sons. This letter serves in place of an SSN for every purpose including income tax filing. In ANY case where an SSN is asked for, enter "pending" and attach a copy of this letter. Unless your son is age 16 or older, I would not bother with the I-765, just file for the Green Card. If he is not old enough to work, there is no urgent need for an EAD and the need for an SSN can be covered by this letter.
Until you become a citizen, you are going to be challenged by untrained people who have no idea what to do when you do not check "yes" in the "are you a US citizen?" box. YOU and your husband are going to need to know what tour rights are and are going to have to be prepared to TRAIN people how to do their jobs. This is LIFE which is totally separate, independent and much more complicated than "immigration"
Also be very careful NEVER to state you are a citizen until you ARE a citizen.

Some random observations
1. I doubt that it will stop people from having sex with others of the same sex if they want to. Just a hunch.
2. They need Obama. Obama don't need no stinkin' Parliment! He will just send out a memo
3. Obama will say nothing about it for fear of ticking off Putin.

My guess is that Mouchelle was left out of the photo because she is not white.
It also seems that the rump swabs are disappearing because of Obama's embarrassing performance on multiple fronts, not the least of which is that wonderful "health care" law nonsense.
Could be his failure to implement...ANYTHING. I don't know. Maybe it is because his approval has fallen so far that no one is left here to support him.

They have, but why would anyone waste the skills on Obama?

I shall not try to estimate what a consulate officer will think of your previous relationships. We may as well argue the number of ghosts that can dance on the head of a pin. They are what they are. Your age is what it is. You aren't gonna be gettin' any younger. USCIS will not care as long as you are "free to marry" so no worries there. Jamaica seems to be a middlin' difficult consulate.
That said
1. Do not lie or misrepresent anything anytime to anyone
2. ANY red flag can be overcome by sufficient evidence of a "legitmate relationship which was not formed for an immigration benefit" Whether you do that or not is up to YOU and no one else. Go heavy on evidence.
3. Next, decide if you want to marry him. If yes, then do the deed as best you can. If not, then you had a good time and move along.
there really is nothing you can change, you can only "manage". "Fend" as they say. I'm not worried, you can do it.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-health-care-promise-named-203400459.html
This must have been a tough choice.
Runners Up...for 2013
1. You can keep your doctor
2. A savings of $2500 per year per family on health care premiums
3. If you use chemical weapons there will be a military response

http://nypost.com/2013/12/12/pelosi-on-budget-deal-embrace-the-suck/
She calls into question the intelligence of over half the people of California

I knew nothing about the women before the first day I arrived in Ukraine. April 12, 2004. Only that a guy in the office had asked me if I was "the guy they hired for Odessa?" When I said YES, he asked if I was married. "No, divorced" Oh, you're going to LOVE Odessa! Hmmmm.
When I arrived at the Odessa airport, which appeared to be older than any powered aircraft, and they released the cocker spaniels to run all over the pile of luggage on the tractor pulled wagon. I wasn't sure if they were sniffing for drugs or a place to pee. We were then allowed to retrieve our own bags off the wagon. Oh no.
When I went inside the terminal I was shocked. In this basketball court sized room were more smoking hot women than in all of Chittenden County!
Oh yes!
Then I met Vitaly, my driver and interpreter. We became good freinds and still are. I asked about the women..."Holy smokes, Vitaly!" "There are about 800,000 more in the city" he said. A slight exaggeration. There are probably not more than 500,000 hot women in Odessa.
The streets were broken and rough the buildings looked not so great (none of the old Soviet apartment buildings look nice on the outside) Oh no, what did I do? We got to my building. The hallway was dark and dirty, wires hung out of every electrical box, every mailbox was broken and had no doors. Oh no...WHAT DID I DO???????!!!!!!!!!!! And this was in a GOOD area right on the main street, across from the city garden with the musical fountain! I wanted to quit the job and ask Vitaly to take me back to the airport! Then we opened the door to the apartment and it was incredible! Beautiful! It was a loft with an upstairs bedroom, a huge bathroom with HUGE whirlpool tub, a fireplace in the living room (real wood burning fireplace! I was afraid to use because I could not figure out where the chimney went. I was sure to die of smoke inhalation, I thought) and was modern in every way...even had its own wall mounted water heater so I did not depend on the intermittent building hot water.
OMG! I found this is typical of Ukraine. old buildings look like ####### on the outside but the people have fixed up their places inside. Ignore what you see outside.
I went for a walk in the city garden, stopped at a sidewalk cafe and ended up spending the night, um... not alone my first night there! Um, yeah, it was about 7 hours after I arrived that I had the same epiphany, TBone! No more American women for me! I remember my companion that evening, was taken by the apartment and walked around the place saying how great it was, then decided she wanted to try out the whirlpool tub and just stripped off and jumped in, telling me to turn on the water and get in with her! OK. This was done with broken English and hand gestures...but I got it! I got it!
Oh yes, I am going to like Odessa!

I knew nothing about the women before the first day I arrived in Ukraine. April 12, 2004. Only that a guy in the office had asked me if I was "the guy they hired for Odessa?" When I said YES, he asked if I was married. "No, divorced" Oh, you're going to LOVE Odessa! Hmmmm.
When I arrived at the Odessa airport, which appeared to be older than any powered aircraft, and they released the cocker spaniels to run all over the pile of luggage on the tractor pulled wagon. I wasn't sure if they were sniffing for drugs or a place to pee. We were then allowed to retrieve our own bags off the wagon. Oh no.
When I went inside the terminal I was shocked. In this basketball court sized room were more smoking hot women than in all of Chittenden County!
Oh yes!
Then I met Vitaly, my driver and interpreter. We became good freinds and still are. I asked about the women..."Holy smokes, Vitaly!" "There are about 800,000 more in the city" he said. A slight exaggeration. There are probably not more than 500,000 hot women in Odessa.
The streets were broken and rough the buildings looked not so great (none of the old Soviet apartment buildings look nice on the outside) Oh no, what did I do? We got to my building. The hallway was dark and dirty, wires hung out of every electrical box, every mailbox was broken and had no doors. Oh no...WHAT DID I DO???????!!!!!!!!!!! And this was in a GOOD area right on the main street, across from the city garden with the musical fountain! I wanted to quit the job and ask Vitaly to take me back to the airport! Then we opened the door to the apartment and it was incredible! Beautiful! It was a loft with an upstairs bedroom, a huge bathroom with HUGE whirlpool tub, a fireplace in the living room (real wood burning fireplace! I was afraid to use because I could not figure out where the chimney went. I was sure to die of smoke inhalation, I thought) and was modern in every way...even had its own wall mounted water heater so I did not depend on the intermittent building hot water.
OMG! I found this is typical of Ukraine. old buildings look like ####### on the outside but the people have fixed up their places inside. Ignore what you see outside.
I went for a walk in the city garden, stopped at a sidewalk cafe and ended up spending the night, um... not alone my first night there! Um, yeah, it was about 7 hours after I arrived that I had the same epiphany, TBone! No more American women for me! I remember my companion that evening, was taken by the apartment and walked around the place saying how great it was, then decided she wanted to try out the whirlpool tub and just stripped off and jumped in, telling me to turn on the water and get in with her! OK. This was done with broken English and hand gestures...but I got it! I got it!
Oh yes, I am going to like Odessa!

I knew nothing about the women before the first day I arrived in Ukraine. April 12, 2004. Only that a guy in the office had asked me if I was "the guy they hired for Odessa?" When I said YES, he asked if I was married. "No, divorced" Oh, you're going to LOVE Odessa! Hmmmm.
When I arrived at the Odessa airport, which appeared to be older than any powered aircraft, and they released the cocker spaniels to run all over the pile of luggage on the tractor pulled wagon. I wasn't sure if they were sniffing for drugs or a place to pee. We were then allowed to retrieve our own bags off the wagon. Oh no.
When I went inside the terminal I was shocked. In this basketball court sized room were more smoking hot women than in all of Chittenden County!
Oh yes!
Then I met Vitaly, my driver and interpreter. We became good freinds and still are. I asked about the women..."Holy smokes, Vitaly!" "There are about 800,000 more in the city" he said. A slight exaggeration. There are probably not more than 500,000 hot women in Odessa.
The streets were broken and rough the buildings looked not so great (none of the old Soviet apartment buildings look nice on the outside) Oh no, what did I do? We got to my building. The hallway was dark and dirty, wires hung out of every electrical box, every mailbox was broken and had no doors. Oh no...WHAT DID I DO???????!!!!!!!!!!! And this was in a GOOD area right on the main street, across from the city garden with the musical fountain! I wanted to quit the job and ask Vitaly to take me back to the airport! Then we opened the door to the apartment and it was incredible! Beautiful! It was a loft with an upstairs bedroom, a huge bathroom with HUGE whirlpool tub, a fireplace in the living room (real wood burning fireplace! I was afraid to use because I could not figure out where the chimney went. I was sure to die of smoke inhalation, I thought) and was modern in every way...even had its own wall mounted water heater so I did not depend on the intermittent building hot water.
OMG! I found this is typical of Ukraine. old buildings look like ####### on the outside but the people have fixed up their places inside. Ignore what you see outside.
I went for a walk in the city garden, stopped at a sidewalk cafe and ended up spending the night, um... not alone my first night there! Um, yeah, it was about 7 hours after I arrived that I had the same epiphany, TBone! No more American women for me! I remember my companion that evening, was taken by the apartment and walked around the place saying how great it was, then decided she wanted to try out the whirlpool tub and just stripped off and jumped in, telling me to turn on the water and get in with her! OK. This was done with broken English and hand gestures...but I got it! I got it!
Oh yes, I am going to like Odessa!

I think younger women are materialistic, much more so than Alla's generation. Alla finished college and worked during the Soviet Union. It was still the Soviet Union when her first son was born.
Is Alla materialistic? Yes. She is a very frugal materialistic and she can go without it. Given the chance she buys a new item of clothes or shoes at least once a week. Her car has to be clean, her house has to be clean, she has to be looking good. All associated with her is supposed to "look good". Is that materialistic? I think so. She does not spend a lot of money to look good. Most Ukrainian women do not have a lot of money to spend, but they look good. I am not a woman but I assure you she has more combinations of clothes than you can imagine. She will buy a skirt and say "I can wear it with this, and this and this" She can wear the same skirt every day for a week and you never know it because she changes her scarf or blouse. I think she is very creative and...frugal. She gets all sorts of "deals" on her cosmetics and lots of "free gifts" when she buys this or that. She even tells me NOT to buy her cosmetics as I cannot possibly know how to get such good deals. I will spend too much, no doubt. Whatever.
Can she live happily while having to stand in line to buy two lemons? YES. Does she need to? Not anymore. I do not think a person's personality is shaped so much by the what you see today but by what they have been trained for and what they can endure. Can a Navy SEAL endure more hardship than me? You bet! Does he always? No.
Look, Alla rode public transport forever and never complained. Now she complains the public transport smells bad.
The basic premise that she enjoys her role as wife/mother/woman is the same.