The American Dream

Looking at Olga – beautiful, smiling, and full of energy – you would never think that she’s the mother of a large family. In Russia, families with a lot of children are treated with special attention: the government helps them with groceries, it lowers their communal and tax payments, subsidizes land and housing, or provides them with a car. But Olga doesn’t live in Russia; she immigrated to the U.S. more than 15 years ago. Despite the fact that Olga and her husband can only rely on their own resources, they aren’t ones to complain – and what is there to complain about, they have everything in order!

Olga’s day is planned down to the minute: the entire household, her garden, and her small pet-farm count on her. She even homeschools her children. “It’s easier for me to make sure my kids are hitting the books at home than it is to drive them all to school first thing in the morning and then pick them all up again,” she explains with a smile. “On top of that, the standards of online schools are so high that their graduates are often better prepared to apply to colleges than students in regular schools.”

A couple years ago something important happened in the family – Olga and her husband bought a big, spacious house in one of the most picturesque regions of Pennsylvania. They have just a little bit left to do, and then the renovations will be finished. Now the living room is a construction zone, but in half a year Olga hopes to celebrate a housewarming in the home of her dreams.

Translated by Allison Stroyan