сынок wrote:Barbara wrote:
On a pleasant subject, how did your parents meet at the DP camp ?
And when they came here, what were their reactions? Like, was it difficult to adjust to the
cultural life [lack of, that is] and general society ? Or they didn't have too much trouble to assimilate ?
What about the language for your mother ? Sounds like your father already spoke English
as one of his 4 languages perhaps ?
Enough disclosure on my parental background ... with all the interest, maybe I'll write a book 
I will tell you though that they really disliked the west ... the crime, the deception, twisted Hollywood productions and behaviors, the obvious and apparent hatred and discrimination towards foreigners - especially Russians. It was very sad for me growing up to hear the longing to be back home. Even when there was a supposed 'amnasty' program implemented sometime post Gorbachev, father and the rest of the Russian community laughed at it. Neither my sister or I would dare travel to Russia to visit as tourists. As in most WW2 eastern families (and even today), the man would be the best speaker of a new language. The woman usually played the traditional roles of child raising, housekeeping etc ... no need to really grasp a new language in detail. Now, back to my search ... 
In Greece, the situation was sometimes reversed.
Yes, it is true that the husband would often come to America, get a job, send money to the wife and children, and then when he could afford a house, he would send money for his wife and children to come stay in America, so yes, the husband could speak better English than his wife, especially if he were involved in the import-export business.
However, just before and after World War I and World War II, many Greek families came to America together. Often the wife could speak more English than the husband, because she wanted to immigrate, so she learned quickly from her friends who had English speaking friends. When at Ellis Island or another entry port, the immigration official would ask the wife what her husband's name was, she would respond, "George," then when he would ask what his first name was, she would respond: "George." Since many immigrants barely understood English, and they could not hear the word "surname" but only heard "name," both the surname and the first name became the same. However, in the process of becoming a U.S. Citizen, it was better that they not change their names legally.
That is why there are a lot of folks here from Greece that have double names: George George, or Alexander Alexander, or even John John. Then there are those with the names John St. John. I guess that is another story.
