Popping in to say hello, I'm new here.

[Jonathan Matthies 1]

Greetings everyone,

I figured I'd introduce myself here in the Russia subforum as well as the general newbie area.

I'm Jonathan, 33, I live in Denver; and met my fiancee Katya a year ago on a russian bridal website. We only spent about a month communicating through that site before we moved onto emails. At first, she was paying someone in Vladivostok to translate our emails; and the communication process was slow as molasses. It would usually take a week between emails.

I decided early on that weekly emails were really annoying. I told her to send me her messages in Russian and I would use PROMT to both translate her messages to English and then translate my messages back to her in Russian; along with copying my original English response. The quality of the translation that came from PROMT was enough to get us communicating on Skype. She can type to me in Russian, I can copy/paste from Skype into PROMT, get the gist of the message; write my reply, translate it, and paste it back into Skype in a few seconds.

Neither of us speak the other's language well enough to speak to each other in a casual manner. We usually treat Skype as just another IM program; only occasionally turning on the video camera. Our initial attempts at verbal communication quickly devolved into guttural stammering in our native tongues, apologizing profusely for not being able to pronounce words properly.

With that said, when I finally flew over to Vladivostok to spend a week with Katya and her son; she was a walking translation machine. She is by no means fluent, but she was infinitely more knowledgeable of English than I of Russian. She was constantly translating between myself and her friends and family. I took a cheap Asus Eee Netbook with me; loaded with PROMT. We often used that to translate more intricate/difficult sentences and ideas to each other. I have a feeling we will be leveraging the translation software for many months once they finally arrive over here.

Which finally bring me to why I came to this site in the first place.

This site has been a godsend; quite a repository of information that is laid out in a thoughtful manner. Katya and I were quickly overwhelmed with what appeared to be a very daunting task. Forms filled out in quadruplicate (G325-a), a Police Certificate? - what the hell is that?, who do I send what to, what does Katya need, and when, what needs to be translated into Russian, or into English... so many questions.

I also really appreciate people's time line's in their signatures. The single most annoying aspect of my initial investigation was that no one would give me any sort of time line; at all. A year, 2? 6 months? nothing. I understand the unique nature of each case; but not knowing if it was going to be months or years was frustrating. Even if our case does not end up being typical; it is nice to know that there is a catalog of first-hand information on the subject.

I am still waiting for Katya to sign and mail me her part of the I-129F form. I hate the game of hurry up and wait; but that is our life for the next few months. Hurry up and fill out the paperwork then wait for a response. Repeat a few times until her VISA is in hand.

Good times.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. It is a slow day at work as I wait for UPS to deliver something.

[chili74 0]

Glad you are finding the site helpful; wishing you a smooth visa journey.

[sivad 0]

hi and welcome!

[Corey-Mariya 14]

Hey!Welcome to the forum!

P.S.Go Broncos

[Jonathan Matthies 1]

Hey!Welcome to the forum!

P.S.Go Broncos

My mom bought a Broncos outfit to give to Katya's son. I don't think he has a clue what american football is. Plus the colors are Orange and Blue. Poor kid. He better get used to it; all of the grandchildren are subjected to horribly color coordinated broncos outfits.

[mendeleev 68]

There's a pretty big Russian community here in Denver, centered in and east of Glendale. I've heard that as many as 100,000 people in the metro area have Russian as their first language. When she gets here, your fiance may find some of the shops there helpful. I remember looking for an international grocery some years ago, wanting to find a phone card. I felt a bit disoriented, and then realized it was because the drug store I was standing in front of said "Аптека" rather than pharmacy or drugstore. (Its at Leetsdale and Oneida.) The Prospector interlibrary system works pretty well at keeping us stocked with Russian novels.

Be careful of Prompt and be ready for misunderstandings it creates.

Good luck with your journey.

[slim 1,530]

Welcome to the VJ Russia Forum, Johnathan. Now, let's get down to business!

First of all, stop wasting your time in other forums or other subforums on VJ. This Russia forum is the one place you need to be for all your answers. You'll find all the time you spend in the K-1 forum is misleading and also a little frustrating as you're an old fat bald guy who is just marrying a mail order bride because you're too old fat and bald to find a good wife here in the U.S. (Or from Canada or the U.K., either of which are acceptable places to order brides from. I don't make the rules...)

Secondly, we like guns and pie. Please state your preferences of both.

Third..... How old is the boy? What's the status of his father (divorced, never married, alive, dead, wants custody, etc.) and has Katya gained permission of the father to leave Russia with the boy? Does the boy want to go?

Did you know they can do their medical exam in Vladivostok but have to travel to Moscow for the interview? That's going to be later on down the road - On that note, the police certificate can be obtained from the Primorskiy Krai police office (whatever the heck that is.) Basically, they have to go to the "big police" place in Vlad, the one that has authority over the whole region, not just the city. Free takes a couple weeks, $100 could get it next day. But, you have other stuff to worry about first.

The I-129F application process is amazingly simple. People want to try to make it hard but it's not. Follow the guides here on VJ in the Guides Section at the top of the intro page and you'll be fine. Include what they ask for, DON'T include anything else. There's a hoop USCIS wants you to jump through, anything more is just a waste of time. Have a "certified copy" of translations when sending in the packet to U.S. destinations (keep in mind "certified" just means someone says, "I translated this and I'm a translator.") and don't worry about translating every single little thing. A plane ticket is a plane ticket. You don't need someone to say, "this is a plane ticket."

Since we're on translations, start learning as much Russian as you can. Not because you'll really need it, (She's coming here, afterall) but because it'll make understanding all the rest of the stuff (and boy is there a lot!) somewhat easier. She'll naturally pick up more English than you will Russian so don't try to keep up. Simply learn what you can when you can and keep in mind the goal is communication, not fluency. Learn to read Cyrillic as soon as possible. Being able to read it will help about as much as anything.

And ask as many questions as you can here in the Russia Forum. We're here to help. Welcome once again, and Godspeed in the VJ process!

[K1researcher 0]

Welcome!

how did u get to VVO? I am curious and have been wanting to go there. Did you transfer in Moscow or route through Korea?

[johnj 0]

Yes, indeed welcome to the Russian forum;

In addition to the wealth of information here in this side of the VJ forum, there is multiple talks about Russian/American interaction. You will learn much during your visits to your sweetheart but you will really learn the nuts and bolts of interaction here on the forum. You can only learn so much during a week visit; members here are living day to day with Russian brides. Also, take into consideration that each member is an individual, some of us a bit in left field and some of us a bit in right field, very few of us in the center.

Over time, you will make many friends on the Russian forum; few you will ever meet but they will still be valued friends. We are your new family, if you choose to accept us. Good luck in your process. Follow the guides for filing the K1 step by step, check everything multiple times; you do not want a RFE for a stupid mistake.

[baron555 934]

Yes hello and welcome. My Alla and I are in a similar situation to yours.

But.....there is nothing she has to sign on the I-129F form. You do all that. She does have to sign the four pages of a G-325A and her letter of intent to marry. I hope that's what you meant to say.

Phil

[Jonathan Matthies 1]

Welcome to the VJ Russia Forum, Johnathan. Now, let's get down to business!

First of all, stop wasting your time in other forums or other subforums on VJ. This Russia forum is the one place you need to be for all your answers. You'll find all the time you spend in the K-1 forum is misleading and also a little frustrating as you're an old fat bald guy who is just marrying a mail order bride because you're too old fat and bald to find a good wife here in the U.S. (Or from Canada or the U.K., either of which are acceptable places to order brides from. I don't make the rules...)

Secondly, we like guns and pie. Please state your preferences of both.

I'm not old, I'm 33! (bad Monty Python reference)

I like Pie. and thanks a lot, now I'm hungry. This banana for breakfast isn't cutting it. And damn, it's almost Noon.

Third..... How old is the boy? What's the status of his father (divorced, never married, alive, dead, wants custody, etc.) and has Katya gained permission of the father to leave Russia with the boy? Does the boy want to go?

He's 4, never married - only lived together, father is a deadbeat who Katya had to go to court to get Alimony from, father has said he will not oppose the move out of the country (because he won't have to pay anymore!), and Denis does indeed want to come over here. At least until he realizes he'll be surrounded by a bunch of Americans who go "Dude" a lot.

Did you know they can do their medical exam in Vladivostok but have to travel to Moscow for the interview? That's going to be later on down the road - On that note, the police certificate can be obtained from the Primorskiy Krai police office (whatever the heck that is.) Basically, they have to go to the "big police" place in Vlad, the one that has authority over the whole region, not just the city. Free takes a couple weeks, $100 could get it next day. But, you have other stuff to worry about first.

I wasn't certain about the medical exam, I hadn't bothered to look into it since it's down the road. Katya was aware that the interview HAS to be in Moscow, and must include her son Denis. She is prepared for that. We've only just started looking into the Police Certificate thing, she'll pay more attention to that after the I-129F stuff is sent to me. Baby steps.

The I-129F application process is amazingly simple. People want to try to make it hard but it's not. Follow the guides here on VJ in the Guides Section at the top of the intro page and you'll be fine. Include what they ask for, DON'T include anything else. There's a hoop USCIS wants you to jump through, anything more is just a waste of time. Have a "certified copy" of translations when sending in the packet to U.S. destinations (keep in mind "certified" just means someone says, "I translated this and I'm a translator.") and don't worry about translating every single little thing. A plane ticket is a plane ticket. You don't need someone to say, "this is a plane ticket."

We're almost done with the I-192F stuff. She should be mailing me her package next week if things go as planned.

Since we're on translations, start learning as much Russian as you can. Not because you'll really need it, (She's coming here, afterall) but because it'll make understanding all the rest of the stuff (and boy is there a lot!) somewhat easier. She'll naturally pick up more English than you will Russian so don't try to keep up. Simply learn what you can when you can and keep in mind the goal is communication, not fluency. Learn to read Cyrillic as soon as possible. Being able to read it will help about as much as anything.

I have Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, and a Penguin Coursebook to learn form. Katya and her friends and family were all impressed with what I did know (which really is not much); but were more impressed with my pronunciation. I guess those few words I did know, I spoke damn well.

I can read Cyrillic fairly well; though pronouncing unknown words is comical. I can go letter by letter figure out what it should be, but then stringing it all together to speak the word is an exercise in futility. I'm sure I'll get better with practice. Pimsleur helps with that, since it's a bunch of audio with real Russian speakers. The Penguin coursebook can explain how a word should be pronounced, but without hearing it I will still likely butcher the word.

PROMT does a descent enough job of translating back and forth. Sometimes it shits a brick and I have no clue what she just said. I will try google and bablefish translation to see if they offer a different context. Otherwise, I just say "Ne ponimau" and ask her to repeat. Katya's most often used phrase during my stay was "Laptop, Please"; as she needed to use PROMT to get a point across, or to ask a detailed question.

I have been very cautious with using idioms when talking with her. I try to keep my language as formal as possible to help PROMT do it's job. It can translate the words, but if the phrase is an American idiom she'll still be clueless as to what I really meant.

We both expect to be leaning on translation utilities for a while once she is here. She has a friend who went through a similar process a couple years ago; and they used a English:Russian phrasebook/dictionary for the first few months. She is prepared for a similar experience.

[Jonathan Matthies 1]

Welcome!

how did u get to VVO? I am curious and have been wanting to go there. Did you transfer in Moscow or route through Korea?

DEN->LAX->Korea->VVO

DEN->BWI->MOSCOW->VVO was like 350 hours of something insane like that. No thank you. It was $300 cheaper for the longer flight through Moscow; but no. 18 hours is enough for me. Plus I would have had to switch Airports in Moscow, crossing the entire city North->South to catch the last leg to VVO. This was my first time ever having even a connecting flight, much less an overseas flight; I wanted a low-key flight plan.

Yes hello and welcome. My Alla and I are in a similar situation to yours.

But.....there is nothing she has to sign on the I-129F form. You do all that. She does have to sign the four pages of a G-325A and her letter of intent to marry. I hope that's what you meant to say.

Phil

I really should've consolidated my replies in a single post. But yeah, that's what I meant.

[johnj 0]

You may wish to look at this translator, http://imtranslator.com/default.asp

It has a say it feature I find very helpful, it will say in English or Russian. I have not needed the English say it feature but the Russian seems pretty accurate. It will even pronounce words it can not translate, such as last names, pretty cool

[Brad and Vika 129]

Welcome from your neighbor (in the next forum). Best of luck to you.

[Thomas-n-Elena 0]

Yes yes by all means welcome.

Yes we like pie, and guns and slim usually. I should be nice I havent been on much lately just trying to keep from getting laid off.

VVO must be cool my wife is from Irkutsk which is just a few more hours west of VVO or just a few hours east of Moscow.

But I digress welcome.

Have fun, be patient, its a lifetime so dont rush it!