Natta’s Story: Part 2
After years of travelling between Russia and the United States, Natta decided to leave everything she knew in Moscow and move in with her daughter here in Frederick. It was 2023, and the war between Russia and Ukraine was making travel increasingly difficult.
“The relationship between America and Russia was getting worse,” Natta said. “One day I thought that it might happen that I will never see my daughter or my grandchildren, so I decided to come.”
It’s a decision she’s never regretted. She loves living with her daughter and her family, and she’s also discovered that she enjoys living in Frederick. “Moscow is huge, you can compare it to New York. Traffic jams, lots of people, buildings. Frederick is calm, beautiful, I love the nature here,” Natta said. “It’s the first time probably [that] I can go out and see the sky. In Moscow you cannot see the sky.”
What she hadn’t anticipated was how hard it would be to create a new life using her limited English. She could barely communicate with her grandchildren, who are all teenagers, and don’t speak Russian. The same with her son-in-law: she had a hard time understanding his Baltimore accent and struggled to reply to him in English.
Then there was the way she felt just trying to get out and about in Frederick. “I like to feel myself confident,” Natta said. “It turned out very complicated, when you feel like kind of handicapped when you talk and you can’t express yourself and understand other people.”
Natta realized she needed to feel more comfortable communicating in English if she was going to make Frederick her home. So, she searched around for classes online – and that’s how she came to find the Literacy Council of Frederick County.
She signed up for one class, and then another. She took conversation and writing classes. Two years later, she’s still taking classes with us and doesn’t see herself slowing down. “I’ll take them as long as they let me,” she said with a smile and a laugh.
She’s noticed the signs along the way that let her know her English was improving: the first time she could easily understand her teenaged grandchildren. Being able to follow along with her favorite TV shows. Even going on errands became easier. “I still need to push myself to ask anything, but I’m more confident because now I understand much better,” Natta said.
Natta has progressed so much, in fact, that now she is herself tutoring another Literacy Council student. “I’m ready not only to take, but to give” Natta said.
The woman she is tutoring is about her daughter’s age, and is from Belarus, so they can communicate in Russian. They’ve been meeting at the library for half a year now and she’s been excited to see her mentee make progress.
“I am very proud because she is much better,” Natta said. “I have warm feelings for her. She is a beginner in English, but she is improving.”
As for herself? She’s reading novels in English now for a class, and she’s not sure she’ll ever want to stop learning, or being involved with the Literacy Council. And it’s not just about the language. She enjoys meeting the other students. She hears about their cultures, their lives in other countries, the ways they’re all trying to build a new life here in Frederick.
“It’s a pleasant part of my life here. I’m enjoying to learn and teach,” Natta said. “We are all immigrants but we all have different backgrounds. It’s very good because it’s a kind of support for them and for me.”
Natta is building a new life here in Frederick – and the Literacy Council is honored to support her on this journey.