Immigration

 Dear Dmitri, Hello I miss you so much. America is much different from Russia. I wish you were here with me and could experience this great new country. I wanted to spend more time with you but my family decided that because of the land shortage and the amount of ethnic Russians they allowed to leave it was best that we left as soon as we could. As you know we owned farm land and my mother and father did not want me or my sister to be affected by the starvation problems other farmer families were dealing with. Now that I’m here it feels like I can finally start a better life with my family. Coming here has been a long tiring journey. We took a ship from Europe and now we are living in New York City. I am now working in a sweatshop as a garment worker to help support my family. A garment worker is someone who cuts and sews fabric over and over again all day. My mother and little sister are working there too. There are many people that working here it is very crowded. There are even very young children working there. It is a very difficult and tiring job, but it is a part of my new life. My father works at a strenuous job as a coal miner. A coal miner is someone who removes coal from the earth. These jobs are different from farming and other jobs in Russia. Life in America is much better for me and my family. Here we do not have to worry about there being too many people living here because there are many places to live. In America there are many jobs like garment working, coal mining, steel working, and there is even farming. In Russia most people live as farmers. Living in America means that we don’t have to worry about food anymore. There is plenty of food for everyone and the food is better. There are many different kinds of foods. Here there is no one looking over us we are free to live the life we want. I don’t feel like I have to follow a certain path. I can choose what I want to do because here in America you are given choices. One of the things that I love is the way people dress. They wear fancy dresses and hats everybody wears hats. I have recently bought my first dress. I hope I can buy more. Being an immigrant can make it hard sometimes. Like at work there are many people that have come from many places. We are all here fighting to be here and to keep are new live so people sometimes stare at you in an uncomfortable way. Living in a four story building is different from living on a farm. The building is very crowded. We also have to pay a higher rent then other have to pay. We share the apartment with another family, so there are six other people living with us. We only get paid a small amount of money at work. For a dozen of trousers we make 84 cents. It is just enough to pay for rent and feed everyone. I really want you to come and live in America so we can be together again. This is a much better place to live. There are more things to do and you do not have to deal with the problems that are going on in Russia. America offers many things like jobs, better food, and a better way to live. You will have a lot more freedom in America. Traveling here is very hard because they will only let so many ethnic Russians come to America. There will be difficult thing you will have to overcome, but in the end it is worth it. It is best that you come as soon as you can if you are coming. I hope to see you soon. Love, Karina