Adjusting to Life in USA

[slim 1,514]

Actually I'd say it could come in handy right about...now. You know, with the current Republican administration being responsible for the socialization of our banking infrastructure and all. (I luvs me some pot-stirring...)

Should go hand in hand with the planned Democratic socialization of health care.

[mox 298]

Should go hand in hand with the planned Democratic socialization of health care.

But see, that's exactly my point. The Republicans have nailed the Democrats to the wall as "socialists" for years because of this very issue. I expect that the Republicans will suffer from this for years to come, at least until every one of them that voted for the bailout is out of office. It's hard to argue that the Democrats are socialists when it was a Republican administration that signed off on, and actively lobbied for, the bailout. So did the Democrats, but then that's what Democrats do, so that's not gonna lose them any votes. But I expect the GOP has lost the "Democrats want to socialize everything" argument to have lost all its teeth for a very long time.

[Turboguy 6]

I am not far enough into this to offer any really good advice or show any great examples. We just celebrated the one year annaversary of my wife's arrival a few weeks ago. I do think Slim had some good advice in not encouraging them to get Russian TV and or in being real involved in the Russian community. The less they hold on to their Russian the quicker they will become an American. The more they are around the Russian language the less they are around English.

I am lucky in that my wife is very motivated and very focused. I offered to get Russian TV when she arrived. She wanted nothing to do with it. I suggested a trip to visit her family and she did not want to set back her progress in English by being away from it for a month. As it is, next summer she will go back for a visit.

Getting their degrees evaluated is not hard. There is one place in Florida that I have heard a number of people recommend. I don't recall the name or info but I could find it if it helps anyone. My wife chose to not use her 4 year degree in psychology here and is starting over studying accounting and in her first semester has the highest scores in her classes by a wide margin. She enjoys school. I wish I had been as focused in studying when I was in school. She wants to end up being a forensic accountant. It is something she would enjoy, has a great aptitude for and has excellent pay. My recommendation which she chose to ignore was to transfer her education and go right for a masters degree but she feels a psychology degree has little benfit in accounting and she needs the basics to build on. I can't totally disagree with her logic.

Edited October 28, 2008 by Turboguy

[mox 298]

IThere is one place in Florida that I have heard a number of people recommend. I don't recall the name or info but I could find it if it helps anyone.

If it's not too much trouble to find that info, I wouldn't mind seeing it posted.

Re Russian channel: Comcast majorly screwed up an install of mine some time back and offered some free channels for 3 months. (it helps if you know someone there to get these kinds of deals, otherwise expect just a waived install fee at best) and I thought it would be interesting to see what the Russian channel offered. Maybe I was just watching it at the wrong times, but it was awful. Most of the movies ranged from about 1930-something to 1950-something, and the quality was terrible. I saw none of the variety shows that I always like watching for the kitsch value alone, nor did I see any programming that was anywhere near recent except the news. I don't know if it's still like that, but if I were Russian all it would do is depress the hell out of me. It would be like a strange version of TVLand where shows like Andy Griffith are just too modern to show.

Edited October 28, 2008 by mox

[slim 1,514]

Maybe I was just watching it at the wrong times, but it was awful. Most of the movies ranged from about 1930-something to 1950-something, and the quality was terrible. I saw none of the variety shows that I always like watching for the kitsch value alone, nor did I see any programming that was anywhere near recent except the news. I don't know if it's still like that, but if I were Russian all it would do is depress the hell out of me. It would be like a strange version of TVLand where shows like Andy Griffith are just too modern to show.

If you're going to get some foreign channels, you can't beat Korean or Japanese for the variety shows and Univision/Telemundo for the, er, aesthetics.

The best stuff going on Russian TV in the States is European music videos. Other than that, unless you like Soviet-era films or horrible docu-dramas, you're SOL. You will see a lot of American movies on there... it's just too bad you can't listen to them because they've been lazily dubbed over by Russian voices. Nothing like hearing two voices in two languages at the same time. Drives me nuts! My wife says you get used to it after a while but I can't even make it through a single show.

[Bonanza 0]

I've been there...if your wife wants to be successful person here, she has all chances to be the one. It is not easy to go through the transition, but she (and you) will be so proud of her when this transition period is over! The proposed strategy: 1. get the information (about universities, job, volunteer opportunities, etc), 2. make the plan (what she wants to achieve man and max), 3. start accomplishing the plan.

The key point is to move forward. My first year was hard, second was better, third is even better than second, now i feel good about my life. I have a job (pretty good one), friends, know almost everything about life in this country (this is the most stressful factor that impacts all new immigrants).

I can talk to her if you want, let me know if she wants some "positive" therapy (no charge )

[akdiver 3]

OP:

Just an FYI - my wife spent an hour writing your wife an e-mail with encouraging thoughts and never got a response. Now she is kind of put off and has instructed me not to offer her assistance to anyone else.

Just thought you should know.

Cheers!

akd

[slim 1,514]

Nice to see your wife on here, Hoss.

[Satellite 1]

My wife left Russia right after completing just one year of university studies. She started over here at the local junior college and has now transferred to a four year school and will be done this summer. She is going to apply for a masters program in the winter as well. But job wise, she has been unable to find anything more than what most students can find part time.

But hey, you can use me as an example. I came over from the USSR when I was six and am now earning a decent wage as a consumer bankruptcy attorney. But that took 19 years to accomplish.