Natalia

__**Geographical/Biographical Note**__ Tennis has been a major part of Natalia Alekhova’s life. In high school she played, but when she finished high school, she had to make a choice. This choice was between going and playing professional tennis, giving up tennis, or to move to America and play in college. Her parents couldn’t support her financially, so she was unable to play professional, tennis was too large a part of her life to give up, so she chose to come to America to try and play for a college.

In August 1996, when she was 18, she came with her father to visit America for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, her father left, heading back to Russia, but she decided to stay. The next time she would visit home was in two years. She was in America, alone knowing nothing of the language or the culture. At the time, she lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. She would take ESL lessons at the University of Minnesota for a good chunk of her days. Eventually, she went to the University of New Mexico to play tennis and get her under graduate degree. After four years there, she got her degree and went to the university of Savannah, Georgia for two years to get her master’s degree. After she got her master’s, she intended to go back to Russia, but a friend told her that she could apply to become tennis pro and put that on her resume. After she did this, she got a job offer from someone in Dayton, Ohio and accepted it.


 * __Transcript__**

Noah: All right, so, let’s start with; why did you come to America?

Natalia: I came to America to go to college and play tennis and for tennis scholarship.

Noah: Did you leave anything behind?

Natalia: I left my family behind, I came all on my own, that’s, yeah, my family was all there.

Noah: And that leads to the next question; what was that like, coming to America by your self?

Natalia: It was very unexpected, I didn’t know what to expect so I kind of had no expectations. I knew I was going to play a lot of tennis, but I had no expectations.

Noah: How did you adjust to life in America?

Natalia: How did I adjust to life in America, It took a long time to adjust, it’s a very different culture very different people, like I think it took a lot of time a lot of experiences lots of meeting new people learning the new language, I didn’t know any language when I first came. Learning about the culture, learning through a lot of different people mostly most of to say, through TV through radio I mean it’s all was a part of it I guess.

Noah: What things did you bring with you?

Natalia: My tennis racket, my tennis shoes, a couple, just a couple pair of jeans and t-shirt and then most of it was workout outfit nothing really, brought my passport (sort of laughs), that’s pretty much it I think, nothing much.

Noah: What was your home country like?

Natalia: I’m from Russia, home country’s, it’s, it’s, it’s different, it’s very, well Russia’s very big and different culture a little bit, different language, different food, we, it’s more about, it’s a lot about the family, but a lot about the holidays just like here in States, it’s, it’s, the politics were a little different too, and, but it’s, I mean what I’m thinking, pretty much similar TV, kid’s are pretty much the same, it’s, it’s, I don’t know it’s a little different, I would say, I don’t know. Noah: Did you have any impression of the U.S. before you came here?

Natalia: Before I came to States, I knew it was a lot of, well I knew it was a, lot’s of fun, and I thought it was a very, very well developed country and so was very excited to see lots of, there was going to be lots of opportunities and an ability to, start with food, like grocery stores were huge and I, I knew from the TV from, it’s going to be lots of, it’s just you know, you could walk everywhere and it would be, but mostly I remember the grocery. I would think you know, you could go buy any kind of clothes, lots of you know, any kind of CDs and every. It was, I was real excited to see what was not very much available in Russia so for sure that’s what we thought, yeah.

Noah: Did anything surprise you about America?

Natalia: Well, the very first time we came was a very big surprise when we went to the restaurants and we were getting, you know when you have a big, first, I mean it was huge portions, in restaurants and people they call it a doggie bag, so you could take food with you. That was very shocking, because first of all, in Russia, we don’t go out to eat much in restaurants, we, it’s very very special occasions and when we do, the portions were very small, so I was surprised when we went out and I was just eating my meal, which was huge here, and they came and they were like, would you like to take a, and they call it a doggie bag or something and I’m like really, I had a really hard time to understand what was it about, so that was very funny experience I remember so well that was kind of overwhelming, yeah that was it.

Noah: What port of entry did you come through?

Natalia: What kind of what?

Noah: What port of entry did you come through, like did you come through an airport?

Natalia: Through the airport? What do you mean by? Like how do you fly from?

Noah: Like where’d you fly from and where’d into.

Natalia: Right, okay, I flew through. Well I am from Novosibirsk, in Siberia. and I'm from, in Russia I, from Novosibirsk I flew to Moscow from Siberia and then we flew from Moscow, I think it was a straight flight to New York, and from New York, which was exactly way overwhelmed airport we flew to Minnesota, which is where I stayed for a while. I lived in St. Paul for a year or so, and then I moved around but it was there New York, Minneapolis. Noah: What made you, what made you want to come to the states? Natalia: The ability of playing tennis, because in high school, I played tennis and I was going to go play pro, professional tennis but there's no, my parents could not support me financially and in Russia, there's no such thing as college tennis, or college sports of any kind, so you either play pro, or you stop playing tennis. And we learned that you could play college tennis and get paid for college when you go play a tennis scholarship and so it was just decide to keep playing tennis and get education at the same time.

Noah: Okay, do you think you made the right choice in coming to America?

Natalia: Absolutely, yeah, never regretted it, it was, I was home sick and I was a little bit home sick most of the time and it's, especially initially when I was in my own and I didn't know any languages, I didn't know how to speak but the country offered me tons of opportunities, so, and it's much easier life compared to Russia, and so yeah, no regrets.

Noah: When did you come to America?

Natalia: It was August 25, 1996.

Noah: Did you intend to stay in America or?

Natalia: At the time, when I first came with my father and we actually had a ticket round trip ticket, so back and forth it was for two weeks. I was hopeful to stay here and try to find a way to stay here longer, but we didn't I was planning to come back in two weeks and my mom expected me to be back and in two weeks my dad just came back and I stayed here and played at tennis camps at the University of Minnesota and next time I went back home was two years from then. I think that we always wanted to stay in States, but we never thought it was going to happen and be that fast and easy for me to stay right away so I would wanted to but I never thought that was going to happen right away.

Noah: What made you want to come to Ohio?

Natalia: To Ohio? Well yeah, that's a long story, I went to the University of Minnesota, like I said. I was learning language and I played tennis and then I got, I went to college in the University of New Mexico and I played tennis there for four years and after I got my under grad, I went to University of Savannah, Georgia for two years to get my master's degree, where I was coaching tennis so I, I found a way to pay for it as well, and after my master's, I was planning to go back to Russia. And then my friend, my friend said would you like to stay and I'm like yeah and I had never thought about it, and they're like well why don't you try to apply to be a tennis pro and put it on your resume on the computer which I did and my boss now in Dayton, Ohio, he respond and he said we would love to have you and so I had kind of no choice, I had to make a decision fast because I was to fly back to Russia in a, in a week or so, I came visited them and I stayed since.

Noah: Was it difficult to learn the language?

Natalia: Yes, it was difficult, especially initially, it was difficult and I was involved in a program that's called ESL, English as a Second Language, and it was by the University of Minnesota and I was learning, I was there for five, six, seven, no maybe like nine hours a day, and it was very overwhelming a lot of material so, but I was just, I was learning. They were very good about teaching how to speak, and it was very simple and it was consistent and it was constantly had the TV on and the radio on so we could listen 'cause I could listen to it, but I wouldn't understand what they were talking about. And they said that one day, just it's just going to click and it did and I just started to understanding it and that was good, so, it was not easy.

Noah: Is there anything you miss about your home country?

Natalia: Well, I miss my family a lot, and I talk to them a lot and I do miss a lot of, well obviously, I miss food, the food and my mom's cooking. I, I miss culture, I miss sauna, I miss going to sauna, it's, it's, I miss going, but when I do go back I like to go for a couple of weeks and I'm ready to go back, so I think it's mostly just I miss my family and all the interaction with my extended family and seeing them, but the life is pretty hard out there and after a couple of weeks, I'm ready to come back, so I miss the culture, I miss the one holiday celebrate, celebrate holidays and you know they eat and drink and just have a good time and relax and I miss interaction maybe people interaction the most.

Noah: What's your favorite American food?

Natalia: I, that's a tough one, I really like Thanksgiving food, I really like turkey and mashed potatoes and green beans, casserole, I love deserts, I love American deserts, I love, I like cabbage rolls, I like how much different variety of fish there is here. And well I like a lot of sushi actually it's Japanese, I know, but I discovered that here and I like all the fish and I, I like the variety of food and have the ability of salads and greens and deserts, that's pretty much about it.

Noah: Was there any pressure from your family at home?

Natalia: Pressure for me, did I have pressure from them?

Noah: Yeah.

Natalia: No, I did not because even now, I've lived in States for what, 14, 14, oh my gosh, how much is that? 15 years or so and every time I talk to my parents, I always get asked the same question by my mother of when are you coming home and she is like vacation is over it's time to come home, so she would be thrilled to have me, so there's no pressure for me to stay here, she always wants me to come back and, but she knows the life is better for me here and my dad misses me as well but he realize it better for me here. So Never had the pressures, they always told me come back, please come back but anyway, they respect my decisions and one way or another it's stay here or come back so they they're okay with that. So no, I didn't feel much pressure. Noah: Is there anything you think is better about here in America or in Russia? Natalia: Well, there's different things to compare like I said, I miss interaction with the family that I don't have here, but I love the easy access to everything in states like I said it's opportunities for jobs and opportunities for studies people have lots of kids, have lots of freedom to pick and choose what they want to do and what college they can go to and and lots of ability for having a great time, and there's lots of ability to go to the movies and go to the mall and freedom here which I really like and I like how people are constantly smiling like when I first came here I saw people in the streets constantly smiling saying hi how are you doing. In Russia, it never takes place everyone is kind of, it's just a cultural thing, everyone's very serious and kind of cold and a little bit in the way, and always concerned about what to do and it's a very friendly culture here. Which is not in Russia, I wouldn't say it's not, but you need to get to know the people a little bit more, to see them open up to friendliness and kindness and in states, people are just very, they make you feel very welcome.

Noah: Did you come to America by your own choice or?

Natalia: Absolutely, yes, my dad and I always wanted to, like I said, I wanted to play pro and we knew tennis was a big part of me we either thought we were either going to go play pro or we'll try and find a way for me to come play in college, so yeah so it was, definitely our choice, both of us I would think and, we did it kind of together right, it was our choice.

Noah: Okay, I think that's all I have for you, so thank you for your time.

Immigration is a major part of U.S. history and contributed majorly to the American culture. Immigration has pulled many people from around the world for any number of reasons, such as for education and for athletic opportunities. Natalia states, “I came to play tennis and for tennis scholarship,” this is a perfect example of pull factors to the United States and shows a few of the many reasons that people immigrate.
 * __Analysis__**

**// Natalia Alekhova //** Natalia Alekhova came to America when she was 18. That was in August, 1996. She came to America looking for education and the opportunity to play tennis. When she came, she didn’t know any English and had to take English as a Second Language courses. During this period of her life, she lived in St. Paul, Minnesota.
 * __Creative Writing__**

Silence My silence

Eternally present

Of language

Of culture.

And yet I grow

Out of this eternity

Through the classes.

The classes

That last from dusk until dawn

The classes

That teach me to grow

Out of the silence

Out of the eternity

The voices

The thoughts

Like a torrent of confusion

I walk home

In the cold

Which reminds me of home

Of the ice and snow

Walking home

To repeat it all

Repeat it all tomorrow.