At about my age of 17 years old, my mother presented to  me a number of forms that required my completion. They were biographical data sheets that would eventually be posted with my picture upon the internet for thousands  of marriage minded American and western-European men  to see.  At that time; I could neither see the merit of my mother's attempt to find a way for me to "escape from Russia", nor the thought of attempting to carry on a relationship with any man as far away as ten-thousand  miles! My mother explained to me at great length about  how my future opportunities and the economic resources available to me in Russia were extremely limited. I was a young girl who, at the age of 17, simply wanted to pursue the boys, drink beer and vodka with my girlfriends, and to party -- hard.

Without remembering exactly how long it was before I began to receive letters, some months went by and a letter here and there began to arrive. As I have already stated; my own interest in this "process" that was beginning to unfold was not only the last thing I had on my mind -- it was an outright annoyance. I sat, with  mom hovering overhead, and answered every letter. The letters originated primarily from America, but I did receive letters from France, and also from places as far as Australia and Mexico. All of the letters that I received were handwritten in English; the data forms that I had initially completed requested my admission that I did both speak and read in the English language. I had begun to learn English years earlier, and I highly recommend to any girl (woman) interested in marrying a foreigner is to begin to learn his native language as quickly as possible.

Arina Sokolova at 7 years old