Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Tourist Visa For Mother-In-Law - Requirements For Interview	We are trying to help prepare my Mother-In-Law for an interview to get a Tourist Visa so she come and visit us for about 3 weeks later in the year. As part of the interview, she is going to take several documents to show her ties to home such as documents showing flat ownership, power of attorney over my wife's affairs in Russia, Employment Letter, other Children's Birth Certificates, etc...   Are these documents required to be translated in English for the consulate officer? When going through the K1 process, everything had to be translated, but I can't find any requirements related to Tourist Visa interview. Being that they are legal documents and rather long, they will cost a quite a bit to get translated and I don't want to do it if it's completely unnecessary.   Her interview will certainly be in Russian, as she doesn't speak English, so I am sure the CO doesn't need them translated...   Has any of you gone through this with the consulates in Russia and have any information?   Thanks For Your Help...   We never thought a translation could hurt. Translation of documents is pretty cheap. We just thought that if there ever were any questions from anybody that didn't speak Russian anywhere, MIL was covered.   actually i was needing to know the answer to this question as well. I have already schedule an interview date for my mom, but i was just gonna see what all she has to bring.. do i need to write a letter of invitation? i don't reckon so, because on the visa application it asks where she'll be staying and her relationship to me, yet she still insists that she needs it.   from what a gathered, i told her to bring her marriage certificate and proof of employment and when she's supposed to be back at work. credit/bank card statements.. loan papers that show that she had financial obligations.. anything else that im missing?   My response may be too late for you, but here goes. See my comments about invitation letters below. My MIL had a letter from her employer stating she had a job to return to, and a letter stating that she had a pension. A document showing property ownership, and a doctor's letter stating she her dad was living at her house and couldn't take care of himself. She also had a recent visa from the EU to demonstrate that she has a history of returning. We may have bought a ticket for her, or reserved a seat to get an itinerary too.   Edited to say that she also had proof of marriage, and that her spouse was staying behind.     Invitation letters are a common misunderstanding of the tourist visa process over there. Everyone seems to be under the impression that if you write them an invitation letter, they will magically get a visa. This is probably because Russia requires an invitation letter to issue a visa to come there.   They seem to not understand that the US wants proof of ties to the home country and that is pretty much all they look for in deciding whether to issue a visa (some other things help, but having no ties to home country is pretty much a guaranteed denial), and don't really care about any invitation letters.   We found that the real value of the invitation letter was at POE. The consular officer did see it, and the letter did have a length of time in it if I recall, but the CO did not take a copy or ask any questions. My MIL does not speak English. We had English and Russian versions of my invitation, and the customs officer did look at them, as MIL could not explain why she was here or give enough detail. The rationale was the same as the OP here - just wanting to avoid hassle for MIL. Here is the language from the Homeland Security website that I was concerned with:   If you are an alien, the CBP Officer must determine why you are coming to the United States, what documents you may require, if you have those documents, and how long you should be allowed to initially stay in the United States. These determinations usually take less than one minute to make. If you are allowed to proceed, the officer will stamp your passport and customs declaration form and issue a completed Form I-94 to you. A completed form I-94 will show what immigration classification you were given and how long you are allowed to stay.   Here is the link http://cbp.gov/xp/cg..._to_the_u_s.xml Edited by Brad and Vika, 09 June 2013 - 02:04 PM.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2013-06-09 14:02:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	K-1 Visa Approved But question	How long does it take between approval at interview and for the embassy to send my fiancee her passport/visa? They told her 3-5 business days and yet it has been a week so far. Any information would really help at this time, she's kinda worried and freaking out.   Any update? Still sounds like you are within normal time. Hang in there.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2013-06-09 12:17:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Russian Cuisine?	I too dislike the stinky fish (sorry OP - it is the smell and taste). In Vika's part of Ukraine they salt back all different kinds of fish. I tend to like salyanka and most non-fishy dishes. Vika knows to turn down the volume on the garlic and onions if she wants me to eat any dish.   Don't get me started on the pots and pans in the 'fridge.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2013-06-09 12:31:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Kyiv Tourist Visa: Administrative Processing	Interesting. My MIL applied from Kherson, and had no questions at her interview in Kiev. She is not really a scientist though, more of a  engineer I guess. She runs a metallurgy lab for an aluminum producer. Thanks for posting this though.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2013-06-09 12:22:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best Calling Card or VoIP to call Russia? Skype? Magic Jack?	We used Euromama cards before Skype (and after for her grandpa that had no computer). Six cents per minute to Ukraine, and two cents or so to Moscow or St. Petersburg - 7.5 cents to Russian mobile. http://www.ldpost.co...hone-Cards.html	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-03-23 19:05:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Any problems with RUBbettes and speed limits, huh man? Since Vika had the baby she is super nervous on the road. Lots of hysterical gasping and twitching around. It does earn the occasional "will you please relax?", and does drive me crazy.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-11-28 04:49:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	they do not want to talk about it, or if they get caught in the untenable position, they just ignore it forever. Just ignore. If I close my eyes, you vanish. Where do you go? The latest is "I decline you" WHAT? "Yes, like on my phone, if someone calls you can just decline them. I decline you" "You can't decline me" "Yes I can, I decline you" I can only laugh and walk away Next time she declines you, tell her she is fired. Ti ooVALen (phonetics due to lack of Russian keyboard ). If she can decline you, you can fire her. Same effect too - none.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-11-01 19:52:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Another thing is that, when I announce an intention to go to the supermarket, Mrs. T-B. flashes her puppy-dog eyes and says "Sometimes, husbands buy Cheetos for their wives, and the wives eat them. Slurrrrrp!" I dutifully procure the Cheetos and return with them in timely fashion. Mrs. T-B. invariably looks sad and says, in very forlorn fashion, "Why did you buy me a BIG bag? Now I will eat all of them and get gorda [fat]." If I buy her two of the small bags, she will say "Why did you buy me more than one bag? [etc.]." My completely sound reasoning is that if I buy only one of the small bags, she will eat the entire contents in short order and want additional Cheetos sooner. I have never explained this logic in so many words, but somehow I doubt its effectiveness, sigh man. Here, for the record, is Mrs. T-B. without activation of the puppy-dog eyes, see man: Our version of this is Vika telling me that I spent too much/bought too much. Some days sweets, some days other stuff. The key is to not deviate from her list. I am still working on it.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-11-01 08:49:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	OUR house is "Alla's" house so no one has any say in it but her. It ain't right, but I understand Ukrainian women are not pushovers, not submissive (Alla says she is submissive, yeah right) and have very distinct lines of responsibility and double standards. The most important double standard is that the woman can flip out hysterically over tiny little nuisances and the men have to remain calm and cool and fix the nuisance. If the man loses his cool, he is not a man, really and must be at least part woman. I get a full dose of this too. There is only so much I can take in the way of hysterics before I do loose my temper though. I don't get hysterical, I get a bad case of knock-it-off. Try turning the double standard on its head once. It takes cunning and patience, but yields really funny results. Vika thinks men cannot possibly run a kitchen (thousands of trained chefs providing evidence to the contrary). She insists upon the kitchen being her area. Fine with me. The problem is that she is completely disorganized about it. For example, we have pasta literally in five different places. I find salt and pepper on a shelf with the water glasses, the next day its honey and syrup right next to dish soap. I have reorganized several times, and she puts things all over again. Now, mind you, a Ukrainian woman is never wrong, and never admits so. One day Vika comes home from the mall and finds me eating a McDonald's ghamburger (not hamburger). She immediately goes into turbo-scold, "why are you eating that #######, you know it is bad for you?". I giver her the dead-eye, and respond "I wanted to make pasta, but I couldn't find it. If the pasta were in one place that was the same every time, I would eat that instead". At some point, you see the light go on To get me to eat something better she will have to 1) cook it, 2) admit the kitchen is not organized, and/or 3) change the way she does it. No WAY that is going to happen. Her next statement is "did you check the mailbox, I know the cable bill is here". In other words, the pasta stays where it is, and I eat what I want today Honestly, she mostly just cooks what she wants me to eat. The story is true though.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-10-31 18:58:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Divide and conquer, si man. I have a feeling that RUBbettes are tougher to live with than Ecuatorianas. Anyone else, huh man? My MIL is a looooong way from moving here (no pun intended). She and Vika get along fine, but I think Vika came from MIL's house recently enough that the pecking order isn't as muddled. They do clash from time to time, but my Russian gets really bad when that happens, and I am completely unable to help or mediate . They usually work it out with MIL scolding and the missus sulking for awhile, but sometimes the reverse. They generally seem to enjoy each others company though, and I can totally see them living in the same house.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-10-31 06:17:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Alla is going out with her girlfriend Friday night! Pasha and I will hit it! Enjoy it	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-02-21 22:17:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Has anyone been to "Five Guys" burger joint? we just had one open here and I am thinking of taking Pasha there the next time Alla has some evening activity and leaves us to fend for ourselves. This is when we hit the Chinese Buffets, Outback Steakhouse for a "Bloomin' Onion" buy one of those huge pizzas at Costco and load it with extra stuff...etc. I heard Five Guys is pretty good. Yep. Pretty decent for a burger joint. I have eaten in a Five Guys in Nashville, and Winston-Salem, that I can recall. I little greasy, but it is a burger and fries	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-02-21 19:56:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Back to topic: Our laundry room (doubling as the entry to the house from the garage) was smelling. Mrs. T-B. thought that it smelled like rancid humidity; I thought that it was either that or cat-shat. Mrs. T-B. determined that the stench arose from the cloth towels that she uses to mop the floor (with use of the infamous rag-on-a-stick) that she then dumps on the laundry-room floor. She put the culprit towels in the washing machine. She either forgot to use soap at all or she used the cheap liquid stuff with no scent, because now the washing machine smells like the towels did. She forgot to use a fabric-softener sheet in the dryer, because now the dryer smells like the towels did. However, she somehow did remember to clean the lint-trap (!!!?!), which almost caused me to spontaneously file for her USCitizenship, si man. At least it wasn't the cat #######	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-02-17 18:20:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	My American hubby can clean the house but never does the toilets. Leaves it up to the Ukrainian labor. Wait.. looks like this topic is about discussing RUB wives/hubbies. May I post about my American hubby sometimes? Absolutely! We are happy to have some balance	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-02-10 18:24:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Thanks God we have no animals to mess with.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-12-14 10:42:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	You know the drill Brad. There is nothing good that could come of it for you, you would be guilty of something! Exactly. Any way you slice it. The better part of valor and all...	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-12-10 20:46:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Look at their vacuums! I was considering hiring a "maid" to come in once a week but...have you looked closely at their vacuums? Looks like they've been cleaning an asbestos factory. And no HEPA filters for the girls...strictly Hoover level. I not sure they even have bags in the vacuums! And I'm betting most maids just "hit it a lick" and roll on to the next home. Someday I may have to go that way, but for now I'm doing the job. I think you are right about that. The gal that we (or now I) hired has a vacuum that is used to clean apartments that have pets. I am allergic to cats, so we have her use our vacuum, than does work well, and does have a fresh bag and filter. It would be a nightmare. It is not as if we cannot afford someone even once per week, we could (though Alla thinks they get paid too much, of course, but we could do it) But why? I mean there is NO WAY she is going to pay a woman to show up to clean HER house when she is not here, and Alla would follow her around and check everything and nag about everything and I bet the cleaning lady would tell her to "take this job and shove it" before the first floor was done. Then of course I will listen about lazy American women and how they cannot clean anything properly. Alla had her mom coming over and cleaning the flat in Ukraine and watching the children while she worked. That was PERFECT and of course Bahbushka was happy, living the dream, cleaning and caring for grandchildren! I think this may resolve itself if we bring her mom here, otherwise it is a place I never want to go.I hope it never happens! This is why Vika stays in the house to supervise. I just take hands off it, and let her deal with the cleaner(s) until they can't stand it any more. Her staying in to watch tends to negate the lazy American blah, blah, because she could just say "hey, this isn't clean enough, do it again". I go to work to avoid being collateral damage. If Vika wanted to do it all herself, that would be OK too. Her choice.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-12-10 12:13:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Now you know why our shower doesn't drain like it's supposed to. "You know the little cap on your XXXXXXXXXX bottle? Well, when that falls off in the tub and you don't pick it up, it clogs the pipes. And since it's made of hard plastic... it's not going anywhere." I've given up on trying to keep it unclogged. I simply pour drain powder down it every couple months. I too am a member if the snake your own drain club. And I do nt wish to give anyone the impression that Alla would not LOVE to have a maid. Actually a "cleaning lady" twice a week would be OK, but I am certain there is not one in the entire word that could clean the house to her standard We do bring some one in every month, and you are correct about standards. Vika also says that cleaning people get paid too much here. My solution was to put her in charge of the whole shebang. After having to fire two cleaners because she didn't want to pay them enough or they couldn't get along I am handling it again. All good now she says.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-12-10 09:28:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	I think I finally understand Russia's seatless toilet phenomena...it's simple. If men and women can't decide about the seat being up or down, they will have to do without ANY seat. Argument ended. No more toilet power struggle. Ingenious. Besides, toilet seats are so "western."	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-12-06 23:01:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	There is still a local struggle about dirty-dish rules: Please don't stack dinner plates atop each other, because it craps up the formerly clean undersides of the plates, too. Please run water in or on everything right after it's been used, so that the residual ####### doesn't congeal permanently. Please, PLEASE drop every piece of used silverware into water so that it doesn't take an industrial sanding-machine to remove the hardened-on ####### later. PLEASE don't put stuff into the dishwasher until it's been inspected for the possible need of pre-scrubbing. We have some cooking-pots that will NEVER come clean (short of a resurrection of carbon tetrachloride), and I had to throw out a couple of forks onto which ####### became vulcanized after inadequate treatment before they went into the dishwasher. Oh, and: If you must load the dishwasher yourself, please ensure that nothing tall will interfere with the rotation of the arms. In fact, YOU concentrate on soaking or rinsing just-used stuff in the sink, and your husband will ever-so-gladly handle it from there. In regard to the dryer, the lint-trap is a lost cause, sigh man. Also, every time Mrs. T-B. cooks spaghetti, everything in the entire kitchen (not just in or around the sink) ends up with sauce or meat-grease on it, gross man. Actually, I shouldn't complain, because every other U.S. husband who's married to an Ecuatoriana has rice constantly coming out of his nether crack and every other orifice, gag man. The ants in the kitchen wholeheartedly agree, man. Dealt with all of those except the rice... da man! How did you train Vika not to leave things on the counter? Was there corporal punishment involved? The thaw re-freeze thing is actually OK in terms of food safety, but it does nothing for flavor and texture, to say the least. Especially for ice cream. (mmmm, Alla you made vanilla soup again!) One of Alla's problems is she buys huge packages of ground beef to make Ukrainian meatballs (she makes a LOT of them) and then it sits on a plate in the frig until it begins to turn brown (no problem for a Ukrainian) She is still working on coordinating the defrost process with the cooking process I guess. This is my fault because we have a car and we do not have 5 flights of stairs coming into the house so she buys lots of food in advance and "has to" freeze it instead of going to the market and buying it fresh when she is ready to cook. We already know how the "your fault" thing works. In my defense (no such thing) we live about 500 yards from the front door out a 24/7 supermarket. No.......NEVER point that out! Just be "guilty ,like a man should" Understand, I am not saying Vika has the freeze/thaw/cook thing down pat Things do make it into the fridge though. She says the kitchen is like her office (respect the work buddy... and I do), very clean. We also have loads of TBone issues like throwing too many dishes with zero pre rinse into the dishwash machine. She did pick up on the solution to blocking the spraying arm though Bread lasts longer in Ukraine? Russian/Ukrainian bread is only good for a couple of days. Here, if it's just out of the bakery, it will be good for about the same time... While sandwich bread and potato rolls can be good for a couple of weeks... I was comparing those round loaves of brown bread to our sliced stuff from Kroger. When in Ukraine and Belarus, I did leave it out, trimmed the stale part off a day or two later and it seemed fine. Try leaving a few slices of Bunny Bread out on the counter and eating them the next afternoon.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-12-06 18:46:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Yours does that too? Mine is not here yet but I already know there is going to be a lot of issues about "chemicals" in food. I don't know what she's going to eat. Most food here is processed within an inch its life (or an inch of our life We found that the glass bowls and her letting me use plastic was a working compromise. I guess having all the food in your fridge smell like old fish is considered a good thing by some. Vika really doesn't leave much out on the counter at this point, but it was an issue. She also will thaw and re-freeze meat. I throw it out when I find it. There really are so many fewer preservatives in all the food in Ukraine - a paradox, because the food does seem to last longer with less care (bread for example).	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-12-03 00:47:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Alla does not allow plastic food containers! NO WAY! Glass only. Right. Brad taking leftover pasta to work in gladware plastic reusable container = OK. Vika putting stinky garlic fish in same = Are you crazy? A dinner plate with another covering it in the fridge We do have glass bowls with rubber lids that she uses sometimes.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-12-02 21:02:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	She looks like she could be a RUB chick. Only way to tell is if her incisors grow an inch when it gets dark. OMG! Where do I start? Pots left out on the stove with food still in it. "I will just have to heat it up later". "Borscht is only good after three days." Now she has begun taking the pots off the stove, but they the go into the refrigerator. Using tupperware or something similar. Sure she uses it, the lids become some type of serving tray and the canisters hold other things, but not with a lid on top. If she wants to keep it covered that is what aluminum foil is for. As for dishes in the sink, usually that will start with some large bowl before the dishes of all sizes are stacked on top. In under a minute I can re-stack them allowing access to the faucet. At least she has learned about the dishwasher. Oh yeah, and drinking the water out of the faucet. I have done that all my life and didn't die. Heck, I used to drink it directly from the hose outside growing up and didn't die. When the wife arrived we were constantly buying various sizes of bottled water, until we went to the large bottle with the cooler. Finally I found a system that fits under the sink and "purifies" the water (sufficiently for her) and will give us almost unlimited "good" water for only $20 a month. I love my wife, but housework is not her strong suit. I have talked about us getting a larger home so that more family can visit and our friends won't be on top of one another during parties. She complains about more to dust and wasted energy heating or cooling empty rooms. Once again the cultural differences show up. I'm not really complaining but it feels good to just get it off my chest once in a while. Vika is also opposedto hiring someone to clean. She says she doesn't want any strangers in the house to clean it and touch her stuff. My wife leaves food out all the time.. uncovered then she puts in fridge 3 hours later and doesnt use wrap or anything.. I bought tupperware and saran wrap lol I was having stomach troubles the first few weeks and she said it was because I don't eat proper diet lol.. I keep telling her to seal food always lol... She washed dishes all the time but they dry on the counter.. I usually end up drying them because I can't stand cluttered counter tops.. I think 2 months since she has been here the dishwasher has been used twice.. One appliance I know she loves besides the curling iron and hot rollers.. is the dryer for clothes... How is she about chemicals from plastic getting into the food? That is another issue for us. I took a whole freakin' pillow worth out of the lint filter the other day! I have to run down there and check it every so often, she NEVER will. Must be a man job. I do this too sometimes. Vika forgets. She is pretty good with all the appliances though, and even likes air conditioning. Edited by Brad and Vika, 02 December 2011 - 05:15 PM.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-12-02 17:13:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	I gave up a long time ago suggesting appropriate attire for Alaskan winters here. She's finally starting to understand that making a fashion statement going to the store doesn't require freezing to death. She spent god only knows how much money on "winter fashion boots" that hit above her knee and have a winter heel. How she found them is beyond me...but they do look good, and Columbia has them rated for -10. It's just that we live in a Eskimo / white redneck town atm and I can only wonder what people are thinking when she's out and about. I stay home now when she goes grocery shopping. It's easier on my nerves. I wondered that myself. I mean do they blame each other over there and does it go back and forth over and over and over..? It's like nails on a chalk board every time the "blame him" spiel comes on. It's like the volume on the TV doesn't go up enough to drown it out when she's on a roll. Iv'e learned to tune her out in those cases, but then she comes back at me with the; "What did I just say" routine. That's when I know I'm screwed. Vika says that it is a cultural thing, that Ukrainians automatically defend themselves aggresively and to the death - especially when they are wrong. In all fairness though, she did get to the point where (sometimes) she will stop herself and even apologize. this sounds like it was taken from the brazilian playbook. I am sure this sort of thing knows no geography. That was a metaphor...right?	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-11-28 20:00:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	I think you have cracked the CODE! Now we can WIN! Like I said, sense of humor.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-11-26 19:04:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	She needs to get in the habit of opening the garage door before backing out. Definitely a useful habit to get into My wife refuses to do this. So, instead of one set of keys to track down (which she never leaves in the same place, either) she's constantly looking for her "other" keys as well. Whenever I suggest she put them on one ring and keep that one ring in the same place every time she comes home, "NO! Because I will be do my way." OK... I'll just wait for you in the car. I learned to use this line quite a bit too. She comes out in a cocktail dress to go to the grocery store, I say "you look great, get in the car", if she were to wear a mini skirt to skydive, my repsonse would probably be "we are late, can we go already?". Any other comment and I will hear some version of "I am doing it my way, and I don't need help or permission" The know it all attitude is a RUB chick thing. Even when they know they are wrong they will never admit it. I think they are genetically predisposed to reject responsibility for anything negative: a) I did not do it (your fault) b) I did it, but you provoked me (your fault) c) I did it, but you do the same thing all the time (bad influence - your fault really) d) I did it, but you did something worse (insert example here) last week, month, etc. (comparatively your fault is greater). Vika really has this patter down due to a lifetime of training with it. It used to irritate, but now I mostly laugh and wonder what they do with each other when two Eastern Europeans have these conversations. We also see some pretty funny applications in our house. Vika drops a glass on the floor, and the stupid American glass is defective and the floor is too hard. She is absolutely not responsible for breaking the glass. Sense of humor is important.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-11-26 09:35:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	We still have post-it notes all over the kitchen and such, even by the door knob to the patio door so she knows which way to turn the knob lock tab for open or locked.....after she locked herself out a couple of times during the winter!!!! Luckily for her, my sister and her husband live adjacent to us and it wasn't a far walk to their place for the spare key!!! I think it took Vika six months to really understand all of that. At this point, I am pretty sure she isn't converting any more - just gets it. Fortunately it is impossible to lock yourself out of our house. The only way is to leave by the garage and use the opener to close the garage door with keys inside the house. I put Vika's house key on the same keychain as the car keys. Problem solved Edited by Brad and Vika, 24 November 2011 - 08:28 PM.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-11-24 20:27:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	Alla is a very "busy" person and she likes everyone around her to be "busy" she manages to break enough stuff to keep a list going of things that need fixing. I am not sure what she would do if we had a home like yours, Brad. No leaves to rake? No grass to mow, no weedwhacking! I am sure she would begin to get nervous and shake thinking "Oh no, what will Gary do?" Speaking of weedwhacking and things, her general reaction to all this was "there is a MACHINE for everything!" My neighbor has one of those vacuum things to tow behind his tractor and he sucks up all our leaves with a few passes...I only have to rake them out of flower beds I know she is saying bad Russian words under her breath "&^*%* lazy Americans!" I like the situation because I hate yard work. I am allergic to everything. Vika now tells me that I am washing the clothes wrong, and need to let her do it. Suits me My Russian husband does almost everything. He washes the dishes by hand, washes all our clothes by hand, and washes the floor on his hands and knees. I just clean the kitchen and bathroom. Once we get to America, I think it will even out since I have no problem throwing clothes in a washer, vacuuming, or putting away dishes. Growing up with machines to do everything and coming somewhere without them is a lot harder than the other way around as far as I can tell. Depending on how often he has been in America or Western Europe, he may have issues with working the machines. I found patience a great virtue early on while Vika tried to figure out what HI and LO meant, and converted to and from metric temperature.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-11-24 09:39:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	RUBbette Wives & Housework, si man	She does about 75%. Like Gary said, I do all the "man stuff". Since we have a patio home, there is no yard work at all.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-11-23 20:37:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best way to meet a Ukrainian/Russian (and cheapest)	Yes, I noticed. Thanks. You are most welcome	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-05-17 19:44:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best way to meet a Ukrainian/Russian (and cheapest)	Now in case anyone hasn't figured it out, Eduard's posts were advertisements for a service he provides in order to make money. They should be taken as such. They were Edited by Brad and Vika, 17 May 2011 - 03:33 PM.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-05-17 15:33:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best way to meet a Ukrainian/Russian (and cheapest)	Posts including signature links that violate TOS advertising restrictions removed. Administrative action taken.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-05-15 09:07:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best way to meet a Ukrainian/Russian (and cheapest)	Only if it's a "him or me" scenario. If it's a "there's a bear" scenario, my wife would probably shoot the bear and then cook it up. All a matter of perception though, isn't it. Was that shark really going to eat her?	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-05-04 12:55:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best way to meet a Ukrainian/Russian (and cheapest)	After the apocalypse it'll be Gary and Slim, out in the woods shooting meat for their dinners. No it won't. Their wives are on record with their willingness to feed Gary and Slim to the first bear (or presumably the first radioactive monster) that threatens	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-05-03 18:00:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best way to meet a Ukrainian/Russian (and cheapest)	The boobs are bigger; it's just less noticeable because everything else got bigger along with it. Keep it up eekee, the villagers are lighting torches	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-05-01 21:04:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best way to meet a Ukrainian/Russian (and cheapest)	Is it so shocking that men, who are visual creatures, prefer women who keep in good shape, dress nicely, can walk in heels, and know how accentuate their features to maximize their prettiness quotient? It's a no-brainer to me. I'm a feminist, but I'm also a realist. In Russia, I'm practically chubby. When I go home, everyone asks me what my secret is for staying so thin and I'm nearly always the thinnest woman in a store/restaurant/whatever. Young American women do tend to be very lax with their appearance, and I say that as a young American women. Careful eekee, you are going to lose your union card by saying things like that Edited by Brad and Vika, 16 April 2011 - 09:49 AM.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-04-16 09:48:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best way to meet a Ukrainian/Russian (and cheapest)	i'll beg to differ on that - uscis lost nessa's medical, we had to pay to do another one. then her aos paperwork sat in limbo for over a year. mysteriously, while at the 2nd biometrics i asked the people there to inquire about it and voila, she had an approval and green card in 2 weeks time. i suspect having a branch asking ####### prodded someone to find the file and get to work. Vika got GC approval notices, but no GC. When I enquired, I was told that some one forgot to push a button somewhere. So production was ordered, but not carried out.	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-04-12 06:09:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Best way to meet a Ukrainian/Russian (and cheapest)	But they do their best to fill the role of moderator. Don't make me do it	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2011-04-10 17:13:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Satellite Returns	Good to see you, virtually speaking!	Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2012-02-28 10:23:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	What do you consider cheating?		Brad and Vika	Male	Ukraine	2009-02-15 22:04:00