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Moscow Guide
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| Moscow Guide 2007-09-15 01:19:44 |
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Russian Romance
07.06.2007
Steve and Tanya Granger
Steve is the CIS Regional Finance Manager for Parker Drilling, Tanya is a housewife.
Steve: I moved to Nizhny Vartovsk, which is way out in Siberia, in 1991. The company I was working with used local translators, and Tanya was assigned to us.
Tanya: It all kind of happened by chance. There was another oil company in town beside Steve’s. My friend and I drew lots to see who would go where.
Steve: We got married 8 months later. I was thirty-five, had traveled around the world and had never been married. You could say that I was ready and just waiting for the right person. My family was thrilled, first that I was actually getting married, and then, after they met Tanya, about the person I was marrying. They came all the way from Arizona to Moscow and traveled through Siberia to attend the wedding.
Tanya: My family is in the oil business and they have done a good bit of traveling themselves, so they weren’t shocked when I told them I was marrying a foreigner. They were shocked, however, at the age difference. Steve was thirty-five, and I was only nineteen.
Steve: We moved to Moscow in 1993, right after the White House got torched, and wound up staying here quite a while. Russia’s been good to us in many, many ways. One of these days we’ll move back to the States, but I can’t say when.
Tanya: For my part, I come from a good Russian tradition of Decembrist wives. Wherever my husband goes, I go. Living in different places all your life has an effect on you, though. I can say that I don’t feel one hundred percent Russian, and I know that Steve doesn’t feel 100 % American. It would definitely be hard for us to permanently settle down someplace, especially somewhere monocultural.
Steve: It has an effect on the kids, too. On the one hand, their friends are always moving away. On the other, they make new friends very easily, and they have a broad understanding of the world. I think the positives outweigh the negatives.
Marina and Edward Johnson
Marina is a marketing manager for SRG (Thai Airways). Edward is the CFO of MHWH Russia.
Edward: We met at a party in Samara shortly after starting my assignment for JV PES/SCC (Delphi).
Marina: About three years later, we were getting married. We had our wedding on a boat, on the Volga River. It was quite a beautiful scene.
Edward: We could have gone back to the UK, but we decided to stay here in Russia as we were both enjoying our jobs and have a good set of friends in Samara. For me, Russia is a country where the opportunities allow both personal and community growth. Everything is in a constant state of change, a place where you can make a difference in society, and I find that very exciting.
Marina: We go to the UK a few times a year to visit Edward’s parents. The differences are huge, but I like it there very much, and of course, I love my in-laws. I’d like to live there eventually, when I’m ready to have a more settled lifestyle.
Edward: Which will be never (laughs).
Marina: My mother was pretty upset that I would eventually leave. But then she met Edward and got to like him, and saw that I was happy with him. After that she felt much better about the whole thing.
Edward: My family embraced the whole thing. They took to Marina like a “duck to water” and probably prefer her to me. They visit every now and then, and enjoy Russia very much.
Marina: We have a 2-year-old daughter. We’ve decided to speak English to her, as she is immersed in the Russian language on a daily basis. She’s picking up both languages pretty well, and even switches back and forth, depending on which one of us she’s speaking too.
Edward: Moving from Samara to Moscow was a big change, and I’m sure that if and when we decide to move on (UK or elsewhere), it’ll take plenty of adaptation as well. We’re definitely up for the challenge, but not quite yet, thank you!
Susanna Craske and Igor Kholodenko
Igor is employed as an attorney, Susanna is the Client Services Copy Editor for The Moscow Times.
Susanna: We met in Moscow, at the birthday party of a mutual friend. Igor found out my telephone number, and a few days later sent me an SMS. The rest is history.
Igor: That was two years ago. We’re engaged now. You can practically say we’re married. I have a lot of foreign friends, and I always imagined having a foreign wife, but couldn’t quite picture it happening in reality.
Susanna: You can say I took a practical view of things: living in Moscow, there was a choice between just a few thousand expat guys or a few million Russian ones.
Igor: Looks like you made a good choice...
Susanna: My parents met Igor six months after I did. They weren’t really shocked, because they knew that I planned on staying here for a while even before Igor came into the picture. I guess they figured something like this would happen sooner or later.
Igor: To tell you the truth, mine were pretty amazed, at first. But now all of us have gotten so used to her that we sometimes forget she’s English. She’s just like one of ours.
Susanna: We still speak English amongst ourselves, if it’s a meaningful conversation. My Russian’s improved a great deal, though, so we find ourselves switching back and forth more and more. We’ll teach our kids to speak both languages.
Igor: I don’t have any problems with Russia, but I wouldn’t mind living in England sometime in the future. Or at least going back and forth between the two countries.
Susanna: We’re going to be here for the time being, which I’m perfectly fine with. But no matter how much I like it in Moscow, there will always be things about the country that are going to annoy me. You learn to accept them, though, sooner or later. Of course, having Igor makes living here much easier.
Kelly Leviker and Pavel Chmelyov
Kelly currently works as a researcher and editor, Pavel is studying sound direction at a Moscow branch of the St. Petersburg University.
Kelly: I was here as part of my degree in Russian that I was studying for at the University of Sydney in Australia. Gorbushka Market is legendary there for being a place where you can get any CD in the world, so once I got to Moscow I went to check it out.
Pasha: I was working at a CD store, and she was interested in an obscure musical group that barely exists. When my boss went to the storage room to find it, we started chatting.
Kelly: The next day I went to pick up the CD and we arranged a time to meet. We met up twice, but then I left the country.
Pasha: She moved to Egypt, but she decided to come back (smiles).
Kelly: I never thought I would be living in Russia and going out with a Russian boy, but I can’t say I ever ruled it out, either.
Pasha: I kind of hoped I would end up with a foreign girl, but that’s because I always wanted to go overseas. It’s not something I expected, but it just worked out that way.
My mom, on the other hand, really loves that I am going out with a foreigner. She believes you can always borrow something from another person’s culture and really enjoys having Kelly around.
Kelly: My mom has met Pasha three times and adores him, she has even met Pasha’s mom and they really got along.
Pasha: We both like Russia, but it’s not a place where either of us would want to stay for a long time.
Kelly: Next year I want to go back to Australia and go for another degree. I really hope that Pasha can come with me.
Pasha: It depends on University. I still haven’t finished my degree, but there are nuances that may make it possible to study overseas. I haven’t been to Australia or America but I am sure I’ll really like it.
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