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Oksana Simpson

One of the things Oksana Simpson noticed when she moved to the United States in 1994 was "more organized paperwork" for visas and other governmental items.

She grew up in the Riga, a city of 1,000,000 in the Baltic republic of Latvia. She has lived in Columbus since 2000, and attended Indiana University.

Columbus is a much smaller city than Riga, but the similarities include helpful citizens. "I'm very comfortable here," she said.

Language barriers have been the most difficult change she has made. Though she studied English in school, it was a more formal structure, unlike the slang often heard in the U.S.

Among her best experiences have been her job in Columbus, and "good people, good friends." Among her bad experiences was having her home burglarized. Her mother recently visited and was impressed, she said, by Columbus' clean appearance.

Oksana is a Bellarussian who was born in Latvia and grew up when her country was part of the Soviet Union.

As an Orthodox Christian in Latvia, she celebrated Christmas on Jan. 7, exchanged gifts on Jan 1, and said farewell to the old year on Jan. 14. Easter is a deeply religious observance, complete with a 4 to 6 hour church service. May 9 is a day to honor military veterans, March 8 is international women's day, and fathers are honored on Feb. 23.

Traditional Russian food includes potatoes, cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers and salads.

In the Latvian education system, all grades first through 10th stayed together as a group with the same teacher as they progressed. If one exam was failed, a student was required to take all classes again. But the system was not as flexible as American education, and classes were preprogrammed for both primary and higher education, without the option for electives.

Communism fell in 1985, and Latvia became a separate nation in 1989. The change there has been both positive and negative. She says she didn't feel the pressure of communism growing up because of her age, but she now sees people in Latvia have more freedoms to speak and act as they choose. But with the fall of communism came poverty for many citizens, and a government which does little or nothing to support the poor. "Who needs to speak if you cannot eat?" she asked.

She urges those who want to learn more about Russia to visit the countries and see the many different cultures and heritages. Russians in the U.S. quickly integrate the American culture.