Ukrainian Wives Are Not Just Stay At Home Wife (a Guest Post)

It’s something of a cliché, right: America is a land of opportunity, but it really is; especially when you compare my like in the United States with my life back in Kharkov, a city in eastern Ukraine.


Here, I have a very fulfilling career as a court interpreter. In Ukraine I would have never been able to do that, after all, no one needs someone who speaks Ukrainian and Russian. Everyone there also speaks Ukrainian and Russian. Here however, my linguistic capabilities, which mind you I never really thought of as marketable skills, came in very handy. After seeing an ad online, I applied. All I needed to do was to pass a few tests showing that I was competent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, and I was good to go.


The best part of my job, is that I’m still able to be home early enough that our children don’t come home to an empty house. They, and my husband, get to have a home cooked meal every day. Truly, I get the best of both worlds. In Ukraine I’d likely have to choose between having a career or being a full-time mother.


I have some other friends who work in different fields, but nonetheless find them just as satisfying. They include careers in retail, as medical assistants, office managers, and even one who teaches literature at the local community college. They needed someone who knew Russian literature and she just happened to fit the bill.


Life in the United States is fantastic. That’s not too say that I don’t miss my homeland and my native culture, but there are plenty of ways in which I maintain that cultural link, even though I live in America. I’m very active in the local Orthodox Church. It’s a great way to make friends who are of a similar background and it ensures that my kids have an idea of where it is that their maternal ancestors came from.


My life was vastly improved by marrying a man from the West and I could not imagine having the opportunities that I have here if I had stayed in Ukraine.