daily item article (Sunbury PA) - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

	The Russian Meeting Place: A place to meet people and talk about all things Russian... International Discussions about Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Travel, Music, Russian News, Ukrainian culture, Belarusian Dating, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev and other intelligent topics about life in the former Soviet Union.

Pages: 1

daily item article (Sunbury PA)
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: sidney

Today’s Woman
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
By Kendal A. Rautzhan

Whether it is love and marriage and a family, an education, a career, pursuing other interests or all of the above, modern women who know what they want go after it. Kateryna “Katya” Phillips, 27, is a good example of precisely that.
Sitting in the Phillips’ warm and inviting kitchen and sharing a delicious Russian breakfast of Grenki in Eggs with Katya, her husband Sid, and five-year-old son, Phil, Katya shared her fascinating story of how she and Sid met.
Born and raised in the Ukraine, Katya knew as a teenager that she didn’t want to fall in love and marry a man from the Ukraine because life is difficult there. The Ukraine is unstable, often corrupt and sometimes dangerous, and the economy is not good. “I knew if I moved from the Ukraine I would have more opportunities in life. In the Ukraine you basically make money just to live. You can’t have your dreams come true in the Ukraine,” Katya said.
Katya’s mother saw an advertisement for “European Connections,” a global organization that helps women and men meet and possibly find their soul mate. In June of 2000, Katya took a chance, boarding a train from her home city of Nikolaev, Ukraine to Kiev, where she would join hundreds of men and women at a 2-day social gathering.
Only 20-years-old at the time, Katya spent two days meeting men and speaking together briefly. She had come a long way and spent a lot of money, but no one was of interest to her until the last man she met, Sid Phillips from the Susquehanna Valley.
Although Katya had studied English, she and Sid spoke with the help of a translator. The two were attracted to one another. “Sid stood out among the other men. He was good looking, intelligent, he was dressed really nice, and he had a great sense of humor.” But their first meeting lasted a short twenty minutes; Katya had a train to catch to return home. Two instamatic photos were taken so they’d each remember what the other looked like, then exchanged contact information and parted ways.
Corresponding that year from June to November through letters, e-mails and phone calls, the couple finally decided to meet again and spend more time together. Sid suggested they meet in Moscow, and after Katya’s 27-hour train ride, the two spent 8 glorious days together. “It was like a fairy tale for me,” said Katya. “I imagined my whole life like this.” They went to the theater, museums, fine restaurants, art galleries, Red Square and Lenin’s Tomb. Finally, Sid asked Katya to marry him, she accepted, but it would be another seven months before the required K-1 Visa would arrive, permitting Katya to come to the USA.
WELCOME HOME
The K-1 Visa is good for 90 days; 90 days to figure out if you are going to get married or not. While Katya fully intended to marry Sid, she was well aware of horror stories – men presenting themselves to be quite different from what they really were. Katya wanted to see how Sid lived, and after arriving in Pennsylvania on July 1, 2001, she wasn’t disappointed. In fact, the two were so happy together that on September 6, 2001, Katya and Sid were married at the beautiful Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They honeymooned in various spots in the US, finally returning home to the Susquehanna Valley and a very busy life.
Prior to leaving the Ukraine, Katya had received her degree in Mechanical Engineering/Shipbuilding from Ukrainian State Maritime University in Nikolaev, Ukraine. With no shipbuilding companies in Central Pennsylvania, Katya has returned as a full-time student at Pennsylvania College of Technology, studying for her degree in Engineering/Plastics and Polymer Technology. In addition to her academics, Katya is a mother (with another baby on the way), a wife, and works two nights a week at the gourmet restaurant, Le Juene Chef in Williamsport. Always thinking, Katya knows that soon she’ll have to give up her waitress job because they don’t make maternity uniforms, so she has secured a job at the Plastics Manufacturing Center at Penn Tech. There she will be working in the field she is studying, testing different products for various companies.
Married now for 5 Ѕ years, the couple and their son are very happy. Katya and Sid share a lot in common – both are engineers, love to travel, place great value on their relationship and their family. “We know what we want in life, and we set goals together and build a future together,” Katya said. Although Katya never imagined she would someday marry a man and live in America, she always felt that her “place was somewhere else, not the Ukraine. I just had a feeling. I guess it was intuition.”
Katya Phillips is intelligent, warm and very friendly, and a thoroughly modern woman who has brought all of these qualities with her from Russia with love.

Posted by: Chrismc

Great story Sid. Nice to hear things are so good for you two.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Nice story Sid ... will it be continued ........

Congrats on being a father again!

Posted by: ira156

Sorry mate i got so caught up in the read i didnt realise who Sid was till the end DUURRRR!!. Great read Sid and im very happy for you and your family.

Posted by: sidney

They do a quaterly insert for women in the local paper and she was featured yesterday. Couldn't find the article online to post. I may be able to scan the photos and add them.

Sid

Posted by: sidney

My friends have been calling and giving her a hard time with comments like when is the movie gonna be out. She can dish it out with the best of em so they'll get theirs. LOL
Sid