From Ukraine, 10th Grade Student, Parkrose
High School
[Blashishin, 15, came to the US at age four in 1997, with his
family, who are Seventh-Day Adventists. His mother runs a cleaning
business downtown, and his father runs a stucco business.—eds.]
“We came to the US for religious freedom. Our religion prohibits us
from working or driving a car between sundown on Friday and sundown on
Saturday—but in Ukraine, people who refused to work on Saturdays were
being fired. So some Adventists from Russia and Ukraine started moving
to Portland and California. We have more freedom here.
“Ukraine is getting more civilized now, trying to respect people’s
rights—but before it was terrible. My grandfather, for example, was
jailed for his beliefs. There’s more freedom here in America, because
nobody cares what religion you are. Everybody is just happy that you’re
a person.
“People ask if I feel like I’m missing out here by not being able to
go out on Saturdays, because a lot of people do… but I don’t feel
like that. We just all go out on Sunday instead. One of the best things
about being in America is being able to watch the NBA. I’ve always
liked the Pistons but since Portland got Greg Oden I might start going
to a few Blazers games. My dad is a big fan of the Blazers, too, so we
can go together.
“Apart from the religious freedom, the biggest difference for me in
coming to America was noticing that you could touch stuff in all the
stores. In Ukraine or in Russia, if you pick something up in a store,
they think you’re trying to steal it. Likewise in Ukraine they could
never run video rental stores—people would never return the videos.
It’s funny how much more trust there is here.
“Having said that, when I first came to the US I also noticed people
snitch a lot more in class. In Ukraine, it was unheard of to
snitch—people would never do it, because they are all one big family,
they live together in such close proximity outside of school. But when
I came here I had to copy other students’ work because I was
struggling, and they would snitch on me. It took me a while to get over
that. Also, here it’s all about what social group you’re in. Whether
you’re one of the popular kids or one of the nerds.
“My parents want me to go to college, and I’d like to go to PSU and
study business to become a stockbroker or something like that. My older
brother barely finished high school but I got a solid 4.0 all the way
through middle school. I’m slacking off a bit now that I’m in high
school, but I want to do better this year.
“I go back to Ukraine with my parents once a year—the best thing
about going back to my hometown is that your money goes a lot further
there. Twenty dollars buys a PlayStation2!” (MD)