After a delay, Zhanna Zakharov’s connecting flight from Russia to Seattle was about to take off when the man sitting next to her said, “Oh, finally.”
Zakharov smiled and answered, “Thank you, sir, thank you.” Then she got nervous.
“I had no idea what he said to me,” Zakharov, 29, said. “I was like, ‘Oh, no, what did he say? What did I say?’ “
Zakharov was on her first trip to the United States and despite studying English in elementary school in Russia, she didn’t really speak the language.
“We learned to read and write,” she said. “I was shy and didn’t have a lot of practice speaking.”
That was back in 2009. Now, Zakharov speaks English fluently, and she was recently sworn in as an American citizen. On June 5, she was one of 19 people to participate in a naturalization ceremony on the flight deck of the United States Coast Guard Cutter Waesche, which was docked along Waterfront Park in Portland for Fleet Week. The only other Clark County resident who was sworn in as a citizen out of the 19 participants was Ridgefield’s Maisie McParland, who moved from the United Kingdom when she was 12.
It was the culmination of a nearly yearlong process for Zakharov, one where she learned a lot of American history. She said she loves history, so reading books to study for her citizenship test was fun. Zakharov especially enjoyed learning the history of the American flag, and what all the stars and stripes represent.
Zakharov’s husband also helped her prepare. He went through the citizenship process a few years earlier after also moving to America from Russia. The two didn’t meet until they both lived here, however. They were introduced through Facebook.
Cheering on Zakharov at the naturalization ceremony was her husband and their two children. They’ve been married three years, and Zakharov stays home taking care of the kids. Now that she’s a citizen, she said she has a lot of plans for her future in America.
“I’m excited to vote,” Zakharov said.
She also hopes to go to college once her kids are a bit older. After living near Moscow, Zakharov wants to travel around the country, visiting some of the smaller, more quiet parts of America.
“I want to see the country-style life,” she said. “Moscow is a loud, very, very big city.”
Planning trips around America, or even just seeing America, weren’t things Zakharov thought about often before moving.
“I never wanted to move to America,” she said. “I never wanted to live here. I liked my life there. I saw bad things, I saw good things. I just didn’t think about moving. I didn’t want to move by myself. I was living with my family.”
Zakharov first decided to visit a friend who moved from Russia to America, but their plans fell through. Since she already had her papers in order, Zakharov decided to visit anyway, since she had relatives in Everett and Portland. She quickly took to American life and decided to move.
She originally lived with her family in Everett, and started taking English as a second language classes at Everett Community College. After about a year and a half, she moved to Portland, where she’s been meeting people and enjoying her time in America.
“Everybody’s so different, it’s just so different from Moscow,” Zakharov said. “There, everybody wears black (clothes). It was like a rainbow to me when I got here. Everybody’s smiling. I love to talk to people and I love to smile.”
— Adam Littman
