Once, eating at an upscale restaurant in a small town in the United States, I overheard a conversation between several people sitting next to me joking about an ordered bride and how low their demands were: “Here’s a glass of clean water for you, sweetheart. ” Bursts of laughter. At first, I was angry, because I had heard that Russian women seeking international marriage were labeled “mail order brides” in the United States and, being from Russia, I totally disagreed with the label. At the same time, there is nothing wrong with making fun of the concept of a woman “sent in a box” to her husband who lives in a richer country (especially to make people aware that this situation actually happened) but when this image is generalized for certain nationalities or for women from certain countries, then it is really not acceptable.
It is interesting to note that this expression is only known in Western countries. If you go to Russia, Belarus, Ukraine – in short, the countries of the former Soviet Union which are sometimes still commonly referred to as Russia – and ask if they have heard of “ordered brides,” you will be surprised to find that practically it is not anyone know that term. So before you bond with your beloved woman from Russia, make sure she understands what she might encounter in her new country. The following suggestions are based on concrete observations made in recent years.
Russian women are very popular among Western men because of their extraordinary beauty and caring nature. Their Slavic legacy generously gave them attractive looks and good skills in caring for the home and family. Population differences between men and women in Russia give women a good incentive to maintain their appearance and to get married abroad. However, the popular myth is that single Russian women are eager to find husbands abroad and are willing to be ordered by catalog or sent in a box to a man they’ve never seen before, or to a man they’ve spoken to twice. the telephone is so far from reality. Russian women themselves can be very demanding. Of course, they might like the idea of drinking a glass of clean water in a restaurant, but that’s only because they don’t like to consume high-calorie drinks. There are many situations where Russian women might be disappointed with something in a new and richer country.
I remember how a friend of mine almost cried when a man he loved took him to his home – somewhere in Ohio. They lived in a beautiful big house, but the fact that he needed to drive or walk for at least an hour just to get to the nearest grocery store still upset him. Coming from a large city in Russia, he was accustomed to an active environment throughout the day, while in this new country, his new home, it was more like an upscale life, but quite rural. If you have the chance, please, tell all single Russian women who want to get married in the United States that the country as a whole is not all skyscrapers, and that cities like New York (which is more or less typical of the United States in Russian Thoughts) very few and rarely. He might be lucky enough to find a man in Chicago or San Francisco, but in many cases he has a higher chance of ending up in Lima, Ohio, where life is not exactly like in Hollywood films. In other words, keep in mind that Russian women may not appreciate some things that are common in your country.
