I’ve been a little quieter than usual recently and I have news. Two new immigrants arrived Friday at SFO international. After five long years of dealing with a “safer, streamlined” INS, my Russian in-laws landed. Welcome to America! Land of the In-n-Out burger, the Cheeto, and the deep-fried twinkie! Sacramento is also home to boatloads of other Russians, albeit mostly fundamentalists. At least my in-laws will be able to get pryaniki if need be. Oh, and we can all watch Russian religious shows on local cable channel 19. Nothing like proselytizing in two or more languages! What a great joy it is to immigrate and emigrate…

Don’t ever let anyone tell you immigration is an easy process. Of course, if you’re rich, it might be easy, but most of us in the real world are not, so immigration is not a walk in the park. There are countless fees, forms, and other red tape to walk through. I suspect emigrating from England would be a bit easier than emigrating from Russia…certainly language factor would be among the first.

Oh yeah, we followed the legal process. I confess, if Russia were “just over the river” as Mexico is, I would have been sorely tempted to try a less legal route–especially after being fee’d to no end by the US GOV. But ‘nough complaining! Babushka, Dedushka, we’re glad you’re here!