My Russian Side

Hello There My Lovelies,

Okay, so I am going to a Russian concert tomorrow with an old classmate. She was nice enough to invite me. She's from Russia and knows that I want to learn the language and the culture and is really gracious about teaching me. After she came back from Moscow she brought me a beautiful Russian doll. She is also a member of our paralegal group. Our group gets together once a couple of months, and she is really the only nice, friendly, outgoing one.

I have a Russian last name, and a Russian cousin named Vladymir (same last name as me) that I've never met. My stepmother was also Russian. But other than that, I really have no connections to the country or the culture.

My great-grandparents came here 100 years ago from Russia into New York through Ellis Island. They were Jewish and also spoke Yiddish. Unfortunately no one really knows much about them. But I would love to go to Ellis Island one day. My friend Henry lives in New York and has promised to take me there when I can make the trip.

However, my grandpa Max did provide a little insight into their lives. He died in 2006. As I was recently going through a box of letters, I found a nice fat envelope he sent me in 1997 while I was in high school. It contained a stack of papers he typed to me about his life as a young boy and his parents. I almost forgot about it.

I am so glad I held onto it, as it's really the only link I have into the past about them. I was lucky enough to know my great grandmother (American), as she lived until she was 102. Plus, everyone in the family had stories about her, especially my dad. My dad was very close to her.

But no one really knows about my Russian great-grandparents, Morris and Paulina. I believed that they died in the 1960s.

From what I know about Paulina, she was a strong-willed woman that loved to boss my great-grandpa, Morris around. She used to tease him for being such a weak man. He always teased her about being a peasant and getting her hands dirty, and dirt underneath her fingernails. She had blue-eyes, and was determined to get what she wanted. I was reading about her saucy attitude, and now I understand where I got it from, lol. (But I don't boss men around, lol)

I also read about them owning a candy shop together. A man came in once and bought her candy. She graciously accepted it, smiled, and after he left, she dropped it right back into the candy bin, lol. She was very business oriented.

One thing my grandpa wrote in there was that when they moved to Long Beach, Paulina was trying to convince Morris to invest in land, and he declined, taunting her for wanting to get her hands dirty, and calling her a peasant. Well, it turns out that the land that the didn't purchase was later drilled for oil, and they could've been very wealthy. Paulina was livid. She eventually left him, but when he died, she was there for him and made sure that my grandpa and his siblings paid their respects.

Interesting stories.

My mom's side of the family did a wonderful job in teaching me about Austrian culture. But I still feel like I haven't really gotten a chance to learn about my Russian side. But the Russians I have met are happy to enlighten you about their culture.

I did go out with a Russian soccer player once. Nice guy, I met him in the library when I was at the university, and we went out a couple of times. It was with him that I discovered my favorite hookah lounge. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. I broke it off because I went to Spain that summer for a year. Also, I was too scared to get into a relationship. I just wasn't ready, and didn't know how to act. Looking back, I wish I would've given him more of a chance.

Anywho, enough reminiscing for now. I am looking forward to tomorrow's concert.