Ivan came to American at the age of 15 from St. Petersburg, Russia. He is now 47 years old, has a family, and works as a freelance computer programmer. When asked what he and his family knew before coming to the United States, Ivan commented (he replied in Russian):
I didn’t know much. [My parents knew] what they heard on the “Voice of America” radio, which was actually forbidden. Then people would get together and talk about what they knew. No they never said that [the streets were paved with gold]. Sometimes letters from the U.S. would actually make it to people, this was rare, because people were scared to mail them, because mail was screened. Then people would get together and share the information especially among the circle of people that was interested in immigrating. [This information included] what to bring with you if you left. Then how people live, how they go to school.”
