Full Interview (With Russian-New Zealand Adoptee Anya)
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- Опубліковано 4 гру 2020
- Welcome!
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Here on my channel I share my journey, topics for adoptees, my vlogs, and support for others adopted, including their stories and journeys with my An Adoption Story series.
As a Russian-New Zealand adoptee, adopted at the age of two from an orphanage in Arkhangelsk, Russia, I share what I've been learning on my journey with my upbringing here in New Zealand, my current life, and how I connected with my birth family. I also share what my bloodline means for me with those connections from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
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Her story is heartbreaking. To have siblings who were left behind and then she returns to volunteer at the same orphanage in order for the opportunity to not only help others, but to see them! The only thing that's bigger than her smile, is her heart. What a beautiful soul ))))))))))))))
She's like a long lost Russian Emperatress, i could listen to her whole day
You're such a natural interviewer, Alex. With how good your channel is, though, I'm not surprised.
Slavic souls...love from Serbia
Ваш диалог на русском - очень трогательно! Ребята, так приятно, что вы тянетесь к русской культуре, ведь это ваше наследие по праву.
You both look sooo SLAVIC :-)))
Yeah but slavs come in all shapes and colours though
@@keptins I know because I am :-)))
@@keptins she meant Balto Slavs and yes.. South Slavs do look different
Actually they don't, but it doesn't matter either way
@@sglacf belive me, I am Slavic too, so I know what I say...
Great interview Sasha. Anya is such an amazing person. She has touched my heart because she is so resilient and brave. May God protect both of you. Spasibo from NC, USA!
Alex,
You are an excellent listener and beautiful seeker of information and truth.
Makes for great videos!
Thank you & God bless. :)
Congrats Anya on your achievements in Russia. You have done so well. You seem to be a balanced sensible and highly intelligent young person with incredible insight into your own behaviour. Your assessments are so mature and humble as well really. Thanks Alex for the great interview
Alex, thank you for asking Anna about her experiences with the language. It brought back memories of my journeys, when learning Dutch and German.
Growing up in Canada, we spoke only English at home. My father was Dutch; he spoke Dutch and German. My mother was German; she spoke German, and, understood Dutch. Although my Dutch relatives spoke English to varying degrees, my German relatives spoke only German.
I started learning German, because they spoke no English. Also, there were many more resources for learning German than for learning Dutch. When I started with German, I gained a very large vocabulary after a few months; however, my grammar was non-existent. In the summer of 1978, I spent five weeks in Europe of which four were in Germany. I could understand a lot, and, could communicate, albeit in broken German.
Anna and you are right about acquiring a "survival level" of the language - enough to buy food, find accommodation, use public transport. From there, language skills can grow. While Anna did not like Novosibirsk, I think that she should have stayed there the whole time, because it would have forced her to speak Russian. It would have been initially harder; however, her language acquisition would have been faster than in St. Petersburg. Hearing English only slows her down in that regard.
When I returned to Germany as an exchange student in 1981, I had learned a lot more German, including a lot of grammar, and, was very comfortable in a German-only environment. When meeting other Canadians after six weeks, several asked me how my German had become so fluent so quickly. I attribute that to being in a place, where no English was spoken, and, to an acceptance on my part that I would make grammatical mistakes. At the end of that stay, I did achieve a high degree of fluency. My parents were shocked by my fluency. I could now speak better German than my father!
Dutch came accidentally in 1984. One morning, I was standing in the Maastricht branch of the Vroom en Dreesman department store chain. All of a sudden, I could understand Dutch! Although I could not speak a word, I could even watch the national news, and, understand everything.that was said. When I came back to Canada, my dad said that the local dialect of Dutch, spoken in Maastricht, is very close to German. I did learn Dutch for two years as an elective in university.
Thirty-five years on, I can still speak German like a native. My Dutch is still very good, but, sometimes I have to "talk around something" to say that, which I want to say. It is not direct, more descriptive. I am sure that you know what I mean by that.
Speak all the Russian that you can! Make mistakes with your grammar! While no teacher of Russian would ever say that, making mistakes are all part of the learning process with language acquisition. I am sure that your Russian is already better than you believe it to be. Please, please, please avoid speaking English while there. That will only slow you down.
I look forward to your next video! Sorry for the length... this one really struck a chord with me.
Best of luck!
Andrew from Toronto
Истрия у Ани впечатляющая. Привет Ане из Новосибирска. )))
Nice documentation of the adoption experience.
How incredibly far you have come in a few months.. she is inspiring.. ❤️
I really enjoy these videos where you talk with someone else about their experience as well!
Definitely!! And I will do more!! :)
I've spent all afternoon looking at videos of yours! This one was also very interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience and Anya's too!
Anya is a super amasing young lady. I feel sorry for her younger siblings still in Siberia. I would encourage adoptees to learn their native tongue as much as possible as that is quite a barrier connecting to your roots, irrespective of where you are from
Thank you for the suggestion.
I love these videos! i am actually adopted from russia myself, and I can really relate to these videos! I hope you have much success with youtube! Thanks so much for providing a place where you talk about adoption and your journey with it!!
It was a very interesting video,. Thanks to you and Anya for sharing your experiences. My son has a deep interest in Russia. We have visited Novokuznetsk twice and we really enjoyed meeting the wonderful people there.
You did a good job of looking her in the eyes Alex.
A wonder interview to share with others in need. Awesome!
Очень рада видеть твои видео :))) русская из Канады :)))
You both are incredible people, such kind big hearts, amazing role models. Thank you for being you ❤️ If you ever need help translating from/into Russian, if need practice, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Love to both of you, you really inspired me to be a better, kinder person ❤️
Wonderful talk. So impressed with the courage and determination to pursue your goals.
Very interesting and heartbreaking story of Anya. Must be very difficult to know that you have siblings in orphanage who was not so lucky to be adopted. Just the whole situation is horrendous that her mother has 6 children and cannot manage to look for any of them. Beyond understanding
This so true indeed!
My mother's parents died, she was an orphan too, she knew no better and struggles daily trying to support herself. However she's very proud, so no one can help. It was destined to be cyclical, but we broke that.
Hey. I watched this before. Just wanted to say you're very brave and look very happy in the video. Hope it works out with her. Good luck!
hello from nepal, lovely story
I just come across your videos, I'm so happy that you found your birth family.
She's so classy 👌
You are so blessed to be able to experience your heritage, I never knew my father but it is as if you always have a bond with your heritage. I have always wanted to visit my father's country but life is a rush that is why you have to do it while you are as young as you guys.
This conversation is so deep, its like Shrek's Donkey deep-deep-deep. Its like mountains of layers of meaning... This is a great interview which made me quite emotional.
You are welcome
Like onions right? Many layers
@@AnyaGrace15 absolutely, Anya. I hope my comment didn't offend you. Did you have a chance to visit Russia in 2021?
@@iskandermakhmudov Not at all, it was a lovely comment! Unfortunately, due to Covid I have not been back since September 2019. I'm grateful to have spent a month there and to have seen my family again when I had the chance. We keep in touch. :)
Good lord you two would make gorgeous children!
Alex you have a calling!!!...Such a great interviewer......maybe connecting adoptees wth their birth families could be your calling??...Love your vids....
Amazing video, thank you anya for sharing your experience 💖
Shes so gordgeus.
Yes, she's pretty 🦋
Agreed damn
Great interview!
Greetings from Canada 🇨🇦! Enjoyed watching the video. Great job Alex!
I'm sure it's different when you look slavic and are in russia itself (I studied russian in kyrgyzstan, which probably helped since so many people I met didn't have russian as their first language either) but the best advice I was ever given in learning russian is that the grammar isn't nearly as important to learn as vocabulary if you're using it primarily to communicate. you can pick that up along the way, listening for context! my russian is still a work in progress, but a simple "лростите, мой русский язык очень плохо" was usually enough for people to be understanding.
Wow what a Video.. Keep going learning the russian language :) really liked your small conversation
Russian government should automatically give every single adoptee russian passport. You both will make such a great ambassadors of a russian culture in your country
My daughter's name is Anya. My husband wanted Anne & I thought it was too plain. My children also met a brother & sister, at Church Camp Roman & Anya that were adopted from Russia 🇷🇺 to Missouri, USA 🇺🇸
It’s a really nice name! Oh wow! :) Hello to you and your entire family!
Hello my Wife is adopted from Russia and she has a sister out there named Anya that was also adopted. Can we have a conversation?
thank you!
Is different or difficult to leave behind your country without your culture. There is a saying down here "You can take a Serbian outta Serbia, but you can't take a Serbian out of a Serbia". God bless you. Just like any Kiwi I wish you a safe pathway along your journey ❤. God bless you love
Wow Anya is a beauty!
Guys if you need to learn russian. You can watch russian youtubers, movies.
Hi, beautiful and adorable people ! While listening to your conversation about learning Russian language , it hit me, that you find learning language hard more because of hidden inner resentment . Through my 30 years living and working in Canada I've met quite a number of people who spoke fluently Russian being not of Russian origin. I always got the answer,that Russian is easy to pick up. Those people spoke R. without an accent, some studied at R. Universities , some worked in R. for a couple years. They even sang me the popular R. songs. Try to read out loud the best children poetry by Korney Chukovski. After that not only you won't have any barriers, but also you will understand a lot about Russian culture. I am 67 Russian babushka from Toronto. I think I could 've help you with R. language or culture. Feel free to ask questions. It will be my pleasure. Marina
Very attractive young woman, and impressive story
Listening to Russian music helped me to learn the language
So beautiful
lol, you keep this up Alex and you'll meet your wife.
haha not sure how to answer this.. but hey.. you never know the future right! I am sure I will one day find that perfect wife, I am sure of that. My time will come!
@@alexgilbert Yes my comment is in jest, not all adoption stories are a good one, I'm glad you found happiness brother. you get your smile from your dad.
Omg, Alex. Your flirty eyes... 🙈
Glad I'm not Anya. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to concentrate during the conversation.
You're handsome!
🤣🤣 Thank you!! I didn’t mean to have flirty eyes if it looks that way. I did have a good conversation with her of course! One day when my future wife and I get married, then of course you will hear all about it. I do go on dates here and there but my life gets busy! But you never know one day as I start to get older! And thank you for the compliments! Thank you always!
@@alexgilbert Haha, I understand, but I liked them though. They made my heart flutter.😁
I do have to watch this video again later, because it was too hard for me to concentrate.
Thank you for all your effort.
I love your content.♥️
Your eyes are very open and frindly, of both. To learn more verbs ( past and future) are much better the conversation. The best is practis. All the best wishs and blessings from germany.
@@alexgilbert Dude, go for Anya!!! Just do it!
Очень хорошо
I'm a bit surprised about Anya's story unless I got it wrong, but she said she was adopted when she was 5... meaning she was talking russian then- ok, she had no way to hold on it obviously, but still the basis should remain somewhere in her memory so that it should not be such a strugle to learn it back ... Alex seems to have experienced the russian language with ease even thou he was not even 2 years when adopted... wonder why... but anyway it's interresting you listen to both stories, very " rich " life experiences the both of you !
Alex and I are both relearning from the start.
Although I was fluent, I completely lost the language in favour of English. Children's minds are very malleable: It's often a period of picking up skills quickly but also losing them if not needed. I had no one to practice with, However, I have excellent pronunciation. That is the thing I kept: my ear for the sounds and ability to produce them with my throat/ mouth.
hi, Anya, how are you? Thank you and you? thank you very much, EVERYTHING IS GOOD AND DELICIOUS.... THAT'S WHAT THE RUSSIANS SAY. WHAT KIND OF BORSCHT DID YOU EAT AND HOW MANY GRANDMOTHERS MADE YOU SOUP FOR THE EVENING.
You are both such special people. Perhaps Anya can find her paternal side of her birth family through DNA testing
My father has passed, we never learned his name and records in the late 90's during the collapse of the USSR were hard found
has your adoption influenced how you think about parenting, in other words? if one day you plan on having kids ( I don’t know if you plan on ever having kids) would you consider adoption ?
Yes, I want to adopt.
Hello nice young man kisses from France 🇫🇷😘😘😘😘
Hello to you in France!!
That's why children should be adopted to similar people , at least speaking same language ( Russian descendants in this case). My children speak English and French in school, and at home we speak our language. Your adoptive parents should keep your native language- pay for tutoring. They did not care about your native language.Sad
They did care, this isn't the whole story. They inquired and we rejected the offer. If we had a nanny who spoke Russian that may have worked but we aren't that family. Adoption in Russia is only internal now, so your wish is now the reality... except if someone asked me - with what I know now - whether I preferred to be adopted to an NZ family or a RU family, I would pick NZ - regardless of a potential loss in language acquisition. There are always things to be gained and/or lossed.
Based Russian Mongol people
with that IQ I still don't know how you manage to use the computer.
@@ingvarz7468 what, keep projecting, IQ isn't a good determiner of intelligence