not only provided airfare but also
accommodations and great meals.
“They were trying to get tourists to
come back after the attack. I had
nothing, so I thought, ‘What worse
could happen?’ Anyway, I always
wanted to see Egypt.” Inna smiled.
The hotels in Egypt were
practically empty. “Armed soldiers
followed us everywhere in a van to
show us they were there to protect us.
After a couple of days, you stopped
thinking about them. It was crazy, but
the beach was beautiful, and for two
weeks I ate wonderful food and rested.”
While there, Inna was taken out to the
Great Pyramids. “Not everyone could
climb through the small tunnels to
the top. It took me about an hour, but
it was an interesting adventure,” she
said.
Before the economic crisis, Inna
had traveled extensively throughout
Europe. Most places understood some
Russian. While traveling in Sweden
(thanks to another travel voucher),
Inna was offered a job teaching. She
had no intention of leaving Russia, but
when she returned home, she said,
“I studied French in University, but
I realized it might be helpful to learn
English.” (English is taught in most
schools and widely spoken in Sweden
as a transcultural language.)
When Inna returned home, she
traded her washing machine for twenty
lessons of English on “some nice tapes
from a friend who was teaching English
at a university.” Even though her
friend seemed to have a nice job, she
had not been paid in months. “At that
time, people didn’t get their paychecks
for sometimes nine months at a time.”
Her smile was brief, her eyes spoke of
sadness. “You know, I almost forgot
some of these things. Some things you
don’t want to remember.”
Inna took her dogs on long walks
as she listened to the tapes. “The tapes
on English were a lifesaver for me. You
have to keep your mind occupied in
times like that. You can’t let depression
get into your bones. I was scared with
all that was happening with my family.
Things were getting worse instead of
better. One of my friends who was a
doctor said, ‘Inna, when you feel like
that grab yourself and stand in a cold
shower until it passes.’” The cold water
was just harsh enough to bring Inna’s
attention back to the present and her
desire to survive.
A NEW BEGINNING
With her divorce finalized and
her only son entering his first year
of university in St. Petersburg, Inna
decided to use another travel voucher
to America, a place she had never had
any interest in seeing. She smiled.
“You know, there were so many lies
about our countries between us in the
Cold War and even after. I was growing
up thinking I was so lucky I am in the
Soviet Union and not in America. The
only pictures I saw of America as a
child were of homeless people sleeping
on the streets. I thought, ‘We have nice
apartments in Russia, and people in
America are all homeless.’”
Inna soon realized that she was not
the only one with a distorted belief of
life outside of her own country. “When
I came to America, people seriously
asked me if we had TVs in our homes
and if bears walked down our streets.
Many people still don’t even know that
Russia went to space first in 1961.”
During her visit, Inna met others
from her country who had found
work in America. With no money and
nothing left, she saw no future for
herself back in Russia. One of her new
friends in the Russian community told
her about an incentive in the state of
Hometown Living At Its Best 47