Russia to the United States: A Story

Interview with David Asapaf

by Jackson Snow

Introduction

For my interview, I was able to speak with a friend of mine about his immigration to the United States. David Asapuf was born in 2001 in Russia. He migrated to the United States in 2012 at the young age of just 10 years old. With the help of David, I learned many things about the immigration process into America, and also his individualized experience with the move. I have only known David for a short period, so when I asked to interview him I was extremely excited to learn more about him and his story. Interviewing David was difficult for a couple of reasons. His thick Russian accent is very strong and can be hard to understand at times. This just adds to his story and shows me more about his migration process. Throughout the interview, I try to ask deep, and thoughtful questions to analyze his migration with his family.

Summary

Like I said in my introduction, David migrated to the United States in 2012 at 10 years old. At the time, David had no ties to the United States, except for his grandparents on his father’s side, with his father from Georgia. His mother, father, and David all migrated from Russia to the United States. David and his family have an interesting migration story that we will get into when assessing the process. David claims his family came to the United States for mainly a better education. He said the schooling in Russia was very poor, and education didn’t matter unless you were at the top of your class there. David also claims that Russian education pushed him to become an engineer or doctor, something he had no interest in. When David first arrived in the United States he moved to Atlanta, Georgia for some of his childhood years. Georgia, where David’s American father resided, was an easy place to move and feel comfortable in his situation. When we look into David’s mother and father, we see they had careers that made the migration process easier. David’s father works as a diplomat in the State Department, along with his mother when she arrived. They had met in the state department in the United States where they would later adopt David as their son. When asking David about Russia and his background, he says he misses many friends he had from grade school. Unfortunately, he does not keep in contact with them anymore, and it claims it would be nearly impossible to get ahold of them.Moving to America was not David’s first time traveling out of Russia. He had also been to Kyrgyzstan, a place he seemed to love and adore in my interview with him. Being here for over 10 years David loves the United States. He attends the University of Virginia, a top college in the United States where he studies Foreign Affairs looking to work for the state department like his parents. One thing I learned from David’s summary is how fluent his Russian still was, even while speaking English every day in the United States. He says he speaks mainly Russian with his family which was intriguing to me. Overall, learning David’s backstory was extremely helpful while interviewing him, and helped me dive into deeper questions about the migration process.

Photo taken by David.

Migration Process

As I had stated in the Summary, David had a very interesting migration process. David had been brought to the United States with his mother and father. His mother was a Russian citizen, but his father was an American citizen. This made the migration process much easier for David but left his mother to do all of the work. With David being adopted by his father, an American citizen, this made David immediately an American citizen. This had been something I had learned through David. Originally, I didn’t know that adopted children immediately became United States citizens through their American parents. David begins to speak about the immigration process of his mother in my interview with him. David claims the migration process for his mother was callous. She had to get her green card first, which was received when she married his American father, and then wait around 5 years to get citizenship inside the United States. After this, the citizenship test was required to gain full citizenship in the United States. After speaking with David and his mother, she claims the test was very hard, and she says the United States makes it too hard for foreign immigrants. David says his family was extremely helpful throughout the whole migration process. They paid for his full expenses, and he says his Mother is the reason he is here today. Before leaving Russia, David explains how hard it is for children to leave the country. David claims his mother had to go through a court hearing in Russia, as the country doesn’t like its children migrating anywhere. Finally, we discussed the push and pull factors of migrating to the United States. One of the most important pull factors for David was education and a career. In the United States David says he can find the best education in the world, which allows him to get the best career possible. When I questioned David about his push factors from the United States he said “None”. He thinks the United States is one of the best countries in the world, and he doesn’t seem to miss Russia one bit. Overall, David says he was very lucky with his migration process. His parents’ adoption and help allowed him to travel smoothly, and live in the United States for the rest of his life.

Integration

David was looking forward to telling me about his integration process into the United States. He said his first job when he first arrived was working as a lifeguard at a swimming pool. David said this job was extremely easy, and he got along with all of his co-workers out of the gate. In our interview, I asked if David was ever bullied or picked on when he arrived in the United States. He explained how he was bullied in high school for his very thick Russian accent. As time went on and he graduated, he claimed life at UVA is very welcoming of him, and people thought it is super cool that he migrated from Russia. Next, we looked into the different norms and values that differ between the United States and Russia. David claimed while living in Russia nobody seemed very happy. He said nobody ever smiled, and says it’s the complete opposite in the United States. He said Russia was extremely bland, and day-to-day life was boring. He says the biggest factor in integrating into the United States culture was his grandparents. He learned the new American culture from his father’s side grandparents. Talking to them he was able to learn English much faster, and helped him integrate into the United States. Finally, we talked about David’s English, and how he would rate it among others in the United States. Learning the native language is extremely important when migrating to a new country. David rates his English around a 7/10, with much more to learn. He says he still has trouble with some words and sentences, but for the most part, people understand him. Overall, David found the United States to be extremely welcoming towards him, resulting in an easy integration into the United States culture.

Membership

One of the most important questions I asked in the interview was, David, do you truly feel American yet after living here for 10+ years? His answer was an astounding “Yes”. With his American citizenship, he claims it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him. David says without his United States citizenship, he would probably be fighting in the war against Ukraine right now. He mentioned that the support system at the University of Virginia is top-tier, and nothing makes him more comfortable than having friends to support him. He also credited his mother and father for adopting him and says he would never be a United States citizen without their help. When asked about ever revisiting Russia, David gave mixed emotions. He claims he would love to, but that the government is also very stern in Russia, and much different from the United States. David says one day he hopes to truly live out the American dream with a proper job and to support his own family in the United States. He claims the U.S. is the best country in the world, and that loves living and flourishing here. In the end, I learned so much about David’s unique citizenship situation, and how his life has changed since becoming a United States citizen.

David’s image

Conclusion

After interviewing David, I learned so much after hearing his individualized immigration story. It gave me a new perspective on how hard it is to move across the world and start a new life. This project was thoroughly enjoyable, and I got to interview and get to know someone I barely knew. While using topics from our class, I created an interview personalized for David while learning more about Russia and his migration. Overall, this project taught me more about the migration process, while learning firsthand through a migrant.

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