amberdima

In English, please!

Come again? You know I don't speak Spanish. In English, please. What? You pooped in the refrigerator? And you ate the whole... wheel of cheese? How'd you do that? I'm not even mad, that's amazing.

I remember I made a Russian joke here once, and was immediately barked at for stereotyping.

So just where is the line? Really? Must we bend to PC Police, or can we just have a few laughs at the Human Condition for what it is?

How about the one about the Drunk Russian Coalminer? Would it get laughs or get reported, Sheesh!

don't hate

awesome!

GRUBMOB.

Grooms of

Russian

Ukrainian

Belarussian

Mail

Order

Brides

Simultaneously implies we're fat guys. Kills two rabbits with one stick.

DRIVE BY....

you guys are always leaving me out

congratulations!

happy new year! we started celebrating at 5 EST (midnight BY) and took a shot of russian standard for each subsequent time zone. may 2011 be full of health, wealth, and happiness for all!

s novum godum, Brad and Vika

Great photo Amber. Merry Christmas to all of you too.

To the others: Please feel free to copy that link for the card. It is a pretty nice and easy way to say Merry Christmas to family and friends.

thank you!

on my first birthday with him in the states, my RUB husband walked in the pouring rain while i was at work and bought me 31 roses. 30 for my bday and 1 for good luck. he got 'points'- if that's what you call it.

merry christmas, RUBbers!

my husband says the opposite- he watches the news and rants about the abundant crime and dirty streets here. he can't wait to take me to see Belarus and it's awesomeness. i, too, am excited to go; however, i wonder if he will feel the same once he's there...

congratulations

I didn't see my then fiance for 8 months- from start to finish- and it was never a problem visa-wise. good luck

just checked in and saw that you're married to an american---jealous!

What, for example? Vika has this pet peeve about our love of fast food.

Well we both returned to the RUB fold about the same time!

You guys look great together! Love the pic of Daniil (Dah neel?) with the shades. Priceless.

Congrats to both of you.

Like Brad I would be very interested in Dima's take on integrating into our culture. Since I hope to be integrating somewhere myself someday.

i'm afraid to say, as it would probably start an american woman war. but, since you asked, it's mostly:

1. fatties in pj's in walmart

2. groups of immigrants who do not attempt to learn english

3. banking (in BY, people borrow from friends)

other than those 'pet peeves,' he has assimilated well. he has learned why i spend so much money just to lease a car. at first he thought i was stupid and wasting money, but now his coworkers and supervisors compliment him on it and ask how fast it goes. i mean, the car isn't that fancy, but people drive junkers in BY or take public transport. so now he thinks he's cool and doesn't want to get a baby-friendly 4-door when our lease is up.

he is finding stores that carry european fashions like skinny ties, skinny man jeans and other clothing that he finds suitable.

he despises the idea of chemicals and sh!t in our food and compares it to the fresh, healthy food in BY- as he's eating #######. of course, he'll probably never get fat because his gene pool isn't as many generations into obesity as ours.

however, all of these things are petty. life for him is mostly working full-time, spending time around the house or strolling the neighborhood with his wife and look-alike son, going to a Russian Orthodox church bi-monthly to get our Jesus on and mingle with other eastern europeans, watching two and a half men and family guy, talking to his mom on skype, and watching F1 on Sundays. a nice little multi-cultural mix.

the sad part is that he misses his friends and family and basically has no one here but Daniil and me. he needs them to visit so he can enjoy a bottle of vodka, a cigar, and a long russian conversation.

Very nice! Enjoy the rest of the summer - and stay cool. Has Dima completely adjusted now? We don't hear much about non-USC men, and what they go through.

yes, brad, he has adjusted well. he still has his opinions about the same kinds of things americans look down on americans for, but other than that, life is all about our little family now!

hi, RUBers! here are some updated family pics. we're enjoying the end of summer as a new school year approaches.

Imagine Alla's surprise when she found our house HAS NO LOCKS. I don't mean it has locks we never use...I mean it HAS NO LOCKS. At least our other place did not. The outside doors had those knobs like on a closet, just a knob latch. For one, crime is virtually non-existant and our former home was so remote that a person could hit the house with a backhoe to break in and no one would know it! I told her....if someone wants to break in, why should I pay for a broken window?

Now we actually have locks on the doors, but she still thinks it is funny we have glass in the doors. Our door, actually TWO doors in Donetsk asre like bank vault doors. But to be fair, I would do the same in a big city here.

We also went into a rural store on a Saturday afternoon and found the clerk was out for a bit and left a box of money on the counter and a note..."please make you own change"

She has said it is one of the things tops on her list for living here...clean environment, nice roads, cheap clothes and shoes, and no crime. All "big pluses" of living here.

i want to move to vermont!

congratulations!

i chose Vareniki. my husband has made me 'lazy variniki' which involves not stuffing the dough. he just shaped it, boiled it, and mixed the warm, cooked dough with fresh berries and sour cream. vkysna!

Cool! Sounds like things are going really well for you guys. Glad to hear it.

Good luck with the family. While my family thinks it's "cute" that my wife does all those home remedies and yells at me for turning on the A/C and stuff like that I know that's nowhere near the same as having our family's traditional method of child rearing usurped by a foreign invader. I can empathize with you on that one. But, you have plenty of evidence that it works because, uh, Dima is all grown up now and Daniil will be just fine too. People had kids long before Dr. Spock wrote that book. How did they ever survive?

me too! they came from a cold a$$ country, yet hate that cold "wind."

Don't be a stranger. And please, no matter what, don't make the kid wear the stripper boots at Halloween. He can be Darth Vader and all.... but the boots... uh...... just steal the candy like normal parents and be done with it already.

if i ever have a girl, i'll make her stripper booties

Amber, congratulations! The baby is so cute!! How did you and Dima name him?

His name is Daniil. No one can pronounce it and everyone misspells it or mistakes it for a girl's name. That's what I get for trying to honor a foreign culture!

Just last week someone was asking what happened to you guys. "Her fiance arrived and then like, a month later, she was gone. What happened?" (It was in the context of the same old "we scare all the girls off with our potty mouths and disparaging talk of women posts.")

I figured you had a good reason to be gone so long. Photographic proof of your little bundle of joy will work. I guess we can accept that. Now, back to posting a female perspective on guns and pie! I don't care if that kid is hungry. TYPE!

Seriously, congratulations to both of you! There's no better way to get AOS than popping a kid out. "See, he really does love me, we have a kid together and everything!" OK. Only kidding. But really, that's pretty good evidence you're holding right there!

Hope to see you back on here if you have time. How's life going? Update us on how he's adjusting to life here, how you're both adjusting to being an international couple living together in the States, any funny stories, etc.

If we don't see you back here, thanks for the update, good luck, and have fun!

thanks! the husband is adjusting well. he skypes his family twice a week which keeps him close to home. he's been working since he arrived and has since been promoted and makes 50% more than when he started. he completed an ESL course testing 'advanced proficient.' he got his driver's license (after a few tries) so he was able to drive me to the hospital when it was baby time. my family sees russian orthodox as 'cultlike' and continue to be smallminded about his home remedies, superstitions, and being overall different from smalltown new jersians.

the baby is a lot of work, but the husband requested to move to midnights so we could avoid the dreaded daycare. he's a great dad- gentle, caring and playful.

we've definitely settled in. living together was tough at first- trying to learn each other's way of living and mostly me showing him how to live here. now that teacher/ student relationship is minimal and we live as partners- both of us pulling our weight around the house as far as $$$ and chores and him understanding american banking, healthcare, etc.

i'm sure each year i'll look back and see how we've grown since we definitely move fast in life!

hello, RUB! long time no read. just thought i would check in and update my old friends on all my new excitement.

• Dima and I celebrated 1 year in the US together April 27th.
  
• we celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary on May 19th.
  
• and,more importantly, we welcomed our son on April 11th!
  

we are enjoying this little angel and adjusting to being a family of 3.

WOOHOO about time ...

CARD PRODUCTION ORDERED ... just got it 10:50am today !!!

hope that means the rest of you are getting it very soon

ok i didn't actually need it but that means a load has been lifted off my chest just knowing things are well !!

Good Luck folks

Congrats! The rest of us are still waiting also! And the good news...Josue got work today!!!

congrats on the job!

i bought my husband a rose today...then he started scrubbing the floors. weird...