How is life for a girl from Siberia in South Carolina

The chance meeting between a resident of Khanty-Mansiysk, Maria, and an American, Harry, a few years ago in India, changed the lives of both.

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For Maria, who recently suffered a divorce, the trip to India in 2014 was the first trip abroad. The girl went along with her friend to rest and absolutely by chance on the beach met the American Harry. This holiday romance after 1,5, grew into a stable relationship and love, a man took the girl from Khanty-Mansiysk to South Carolina. For almost a year, Harry and Maria have been traveling the world, and now they are in America.

Maria told the publication AIF-Yugra about what is different from each other and what are the similarities between Americans and Russians, about the features of propaganda in the United States, attitudes towards Russians and the value of freedom.

There is a stereotype that Russian girls come to America to marry

“In America, Russian girls are praised. I’ve heard here many times that one of the most beautiful American girls is like the average representative of Russia,” says Maria. “However, there is a stereotype that Russian girls come to America to get married. They asked my fiancé’s mother: is this girl definitely not a “gold digger”? But we understand that there is a relationship and love, and I know that his family accepts me.

The most important difference is that they value freedom and personal space very highly.

This freedom is expressed in appearance - you can easily see a man with dreadlocks and an office suit or a grandmother with tattoos.

In this regard, they are completely relaxed. Although there are, of course, conservatives who do not accept innovations.

At the same time, Americans and Russians are very similar, despite all the differences. In Russia and the USA, people are concerned about the same problems: the same quality of healthcare, education, the dominance of migrants (only in our country - from neighboring countries, and there - from Mexico). The same slogan in propaganda: “You need to get up from your knees.” It seems that both countries, America and Russia, have lost their main guidelines, and now human values ​​are not visible behind the brands and posters.”

About American propaganda

“Of course, there is propaganda in America, although there is less of it than here. But I would not say that Russia is now America’s main official enemy. At the moment, the priority for the United States is the fight against terrorists,” says Maria. — Of course, there are prejudices, there are echoes of the Cold War. My fiance's mother told me that she hid under her desk when they had exercises at school. The children knew what to do if the Russians started bombing.

But after the collapse of the USSR, Americans know little about Russia. My fiancé was very surprised at how modern the country is. They think like this: Russians have bears with earflaps. They know Putin, who is shown at meetings and international forums, but in general, Russia for Americans is still the USSR. While in America, I never saw stories about Russia in the news.

Of course, in the USA, like here, there are quite a lot of people who do not watch TV, but get news from the Internet. At the same time, the parents of my fiancé Harry are real Republicans, they watch only one channel, on which they constantly throw mud at Obama and Hillary Clinton, which is not much different from our Channel One and programs with Kiselev. At the same time, different channels can cover the same event in completely different ways. For example, in a story about Syria on one channel they can tell what a colossal evil Russia is doing in this case, but on another, liberal channel, Russia already appears as a peacemaker and America’s assistant in the fight against terrorists. These 2 diametrically different pictures are about the same news item. Each channel pursues the goals of who is the shareholder of this resource.

How do American women differ from Russians?

“Women in America are very independent, and they emphasize this in every possible way. They promote gender equality - in terms of salary increases, household responsibilities, child care, - Masha shares her impressions. — If in our country a woman is often the one whom her husband picks up after work, then in America almost all women drive a car. Harry's grandmother is 94 years old, but she still drives.

Russian girls differ from American women in that our compatriots are softer, and they understand their female role in relationships, so to speak.

At the same time, I personally am not sure that the independence that American women are promoting is so good. On the one hand, women who have achieved everything themselves and become managers deserve respect. But how happy are they deep down? And how many people adapt to this stereotype of a “free” woman... All my fiancé’s friends say that it is necessary to urgently find a job, not so that a woman “doesn’t sit on a man’s neck,” but rather so as not to lose her status as “independent” .

And men in America are much more cautious than in Russia. Here, it seems to me, it is very easy to be condemned for some actions.

For example, I was once looking at something in a craft store. At the same time, I placed my bag at a distance from where I was sitting. The store employee asked me to put my bag away - he needed to get something. And he himself, in his opinion, had no right to move my thing. Americans have a strong respect for other people's property, for other people's personal space. For them, the norm is to be polite to strangers.

What is customary for me, the rudeness of the staff or people in relation to each other in Russia, is unacceptable for Americans.

And, of course, in America there is no such attitude that it is necessary to get married early or have children.

In Russia now there is only the second post-war generation. Of course, we still have a strong opinion that we definitely need to get married, otherwise there won’t be enough men. Like in the post-war period, when, for lack of anything better, girls almost had to marry old men. Such a post-traumatic reaction.

No more feeling to survive

“It’s easy for me in America. In Russia, I constantly felt some kind of need to survive. But I don’t think everyone urgently needs to emigrate now. And I understand that there are plenty of problems in America too,” says Maria. - Yes, I feel very good here, but the fact that I was not so comfortable in Russia is most likely due to the fact that at that time I had not yet found myself and my love. Now I really like it in America. Although, maybe Harry and I will move somewhere else.”

See also:

Geography of the motherland: our cities on the map of the United States

What an immigrant looks like: a statistical portrait

10 things that happen to anyone who turns out to be abroad

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