In June 2007, I met a Ukrainian business student off of Craig’s List. Barely more than 9 months later, we were married in San Francisco’s City Hall and hosted a 2nd family wedding this past July. We are now going through the work of transferring his student visa to a greencard. A 3rd wedding will follow in a Russian Orthodox church in Kiev in 2009. For that, I need to pick up the pace on learning Russian.
This is our story.
Learning Russian (and love) in San Francisco 
October 3, 2008 at 10:52 am
Hi,
Your story is wonderful. I can relate because I’m Ukrainian, one of the finance types mentioned in Judith’s article, dating a phd student from SF, etc. Its a strange coincidence I suppose or maybe its not so strange. How is the learning Russian coming along? Russian isn’t easy but I think you can definitely learn conversational russian by speaking to the Ukrainian.
October 3, 2008 at 11:20 am
Hi Sara,
We do seem to have much in common. My husband is studying for his MBA in Finance and expects to graduate in December. He had hoped to go into i-banking, but the chaos on Wall Street leaves him discouraged that such a career path will pan out. I also work for a financially-related firm (but in engineering, not finance), so I’m constantly conscious that tight credit markets could affect my job as well.
The Russian language studies were put aside this summer due to the craziness of our wedding and my starting a new job. But my husband has informed me that it is time to start learning!! That being said, I have been making lots of efforts to learn about the culture and food. It is in my mind to post about that soon. We have found the most delicious Russian restaurant here in SF and I have been listening to lectures on Russian History online.
How long have you been living in the States? How does it feel to be dating a student? I found my lifestyle was curtailed a lot by having to be more budget conscious, but my husband is so truly wonderful that it’s worth it! 🙂
October 3, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I remember Russian was the first foreign language I tried to learn back when I was in high school. Talk about naive!
I bought a book on it. The non latin alphabet just killed me.
Saying ‘good by my friend’ is the only vestige.
Speaking Russian has a fullness my ear finds fascinating. One of the best accents of any English speaking person is one whose native language is either French or Russian. Pure music.
For native sound, Farsi is hard to beat.
October 3, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Funny, Russian was the 2nd foreign language I tried to learn in High School. I got as far as being able to say “Where are the cigarettes?” And then gave up. But soon, I will be back at it again.
My husband breaks my heart every time he says my name. His accent is that beautiful, and combined with his slavic looks, I find it impossible to stay angry at him long. Also, I must say that Russian men also really know how to treat their women. 🙂