Anastasia Mozols
Prof. Kate Simonian
English 1010
30 September 2013
Personal Essay. It was a sunny day. My older brother and I were playing in the kid’s room, when our parents came. “We want to talk with you about something very exciting! We are going to move pretty soon! It is will be a long way to our new home! But, finally, our family will live closer to grandparents. Do you like that?" they asked. Of course, we did! Denis and I were very inspired about this news. We were too small to analyze how bad or good this decision was and accepted everything that our parents told us. Our family did not know how immigration from Kazakhstan to Russia would affect all aspects of our life. I looked to the daddy’s eyes and knew: everything was going to be alright. “I will prepare faster”, said my brother.” No, no! I will”, we were run to our room to pack all our toys for the new adventure. That night I had a hard time trying to sleep. I was imagining a new place, incredible house.
I thought about how I could finally have a dog, a cat, or both!

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So why did we leave?
It was early 1990. The Kazakhstan steel was a part of Soviet Union, but the smell of close collapse of the system was in the air. My mother was pregnant with her third daughter and, of course, our decision about immigration was not so easy for my parents. They understood, that they left high-paying jobs, excellent apartment, good schools for their kids and were going somewhere they didn’t know. They did not have any confidence about future and no confidence
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about present life. The situation in our city became more dangerous. There were soldiers in the streets more often, and nobody was able to tell you what to expect tomorrow: maybe it could be a war or revolution. Nobody knows, but everyone was afraid about changes that our country was going through. All our other family members were lived in South part of Russia Federation,
North Cocoas. So, the moving was necessary for that time just to make sure we were all together and could see each other any time we wanted. Let me show you some history of the USSR and how a regular family lived. Russia was separated for many centuries, geographically and politically from the Western civilization and culture. After revolution of the 1917 government subsequently began remodeling the country based upon communist principles, nationalizing various industries and confiscating land from rich aristocrats and redistributing it amongst the peasants. It was a propaganda of the society without the division on wealthy and poor people. Many generation were raised like that.
My father was a kid, which grew up in the communistic country. The main massage that his generation was received during their life was: “You belong to this country, to your community.
You cannot do anything without approval! If you are a businessperson, you are doing something bad or still something! You have to wear, eat, use only things, witch’s made in Russia! “Can you understand now, what kind of people was raised? Majority didn’t like the system, so they have big problems. Others, who liked or just was quiet, had a lot of benefits Not everything was bad.
Communism itself was a really good idea - creating loving, caring society, where each person and family meter and had the same rights . The problem was: people weren’t ready for that.
However, our family was living well. My mom had a bachelor's degree in geophysics science and my dad was an engineer. They held high -paying jobs. When my brother and I were born, my mom had a two-year vacation without losing a job, so she could take care of us! Medicine and education were free. My parents felt comfortable on that point. And, of course, they were shocked when time to leave our city came.

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The big red track came to our building next morning. "Everybody, good morning!" My father gave a morning hug and kiss to me and my brother. "The time to go is now,” he said. The new place didn’t look that fantastic as in my dreams. There was an old but really big house with a lot of outside space: so many trees , and flowers and grass…. The air was so clear that you have dizziness after a few deep inhales. We had moved to a small village in Russia, in the Stavropol state. It was so tiny, that you was able to see only few cars on the road during the whole day. It was so weird after our
Kazakhstan traffics. More surprises came up. “There are no longer available work places”, the main administrator told to my parents.
The country was on the verge of disorder and nobody was waiting for a new engineers and geophysical scientists . That was the reality our family was facing to. No job, no money, three kids. Can you imagine, that even shelves of the local supermarkets were quite often empty, in the regular basis people were standing long lines just to buy a bread, and many of them seem exhausted with endless poverty. The only way you was able to raise your family was to grow your own food and to make own clothes. It felt like a country was recovering after a war; the culture was unclear, the society was in a huge depression. It was the hardest time in our family history. By the age of eight and six, my brother and I were making the dinner for ourselves and took care of our little sister while parents were working at two jobs. We did not see them that much as we needed. The only time that we had together, was while we worked on our garden and some holiday evenings. Our family did not have enough money to live comfortably. All that our parents made we spent mostly on our bills. As a young girl, I didn’t have enough clothes and shoes to look fashionable as I wanted.. My brother didn’t have even a bicycle, but we were very
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happy kids. We had the main thing: love and support from our family. And I just knew something going to happen. Something good, terrific for all of us. I was dreaming about traveling around the word some time (while we didn’t have money even for the bread ). Everything around looked unreal: that small village, the limited resources, the difficulties. A big, bright picture lived in my head. I was living near the water, maybe an ocean or sea. I would see the world, and show it to my parents!
* * * Yes! We are giving you a visa for three month! Will see you in the United States soon!
Good luck!” the US ambassador told me. I couldn’t believe it happened. I was going to US! My hands shivered with excitement and pleasure. I made it! I was twenty when my dream came true. The second life -changing adventure! I was working so hard for my dream and now I just need to pack my bags. Parents were so afraid about that idea, they afraid that I’m going to stay in America. They were right. After that small province, of course, I felled in love with New York and USA as a whole country. The first year was very hard for me, emotionally and financially. New place was as like a different planet. People, culture –everything was so unusual. I could not talk to the English speaking people for about first tree month. I was understood everything, but couldn’t open my mouse. It was irritate me so much. After some time I met my friends and life became easily and much more fun. I started studying history of New York and USA by reading books and visiting museums. I didn’t felt myself uncomfortable because I am immigrant. My childhood in Soviet
Union and in that small province at Russia gave some special taste to my life and my personality.
I felt so full. That immigration transformed myself from the citizen of Russia to the citizen of the planet Earth. It is almost eight years after my first day in the USA and I can say without any regret, that
I totally love that I am here and I have so many opportunities for my life. I love that my kids can learn Russian culture, language and history from me and I can give them that fist hand experience of living in the USSR to becoming the USA citizen , that cannot be found at any
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book. .

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