Today, I talk with Keith who was recently in Kharkov where he met a special Ukrainian girl. They fell in love and are now actively preparing for the process of obtaining a bride visa.
Krystyna
Hello Keith. Please tell us a little about yourself and your experience with Ukrainian dating. Why did you decide to meet a Ukrainian girl for life, not a Western girl?
Keith
Thank you Krystyna. Yes I recently went to Mordinson.com because I wanted to try Ukrainian dating; I had read very good things about the women there and needed a change. I was mostly attracted to their more traditional, genuine values and their views on family.
I like and admire American women but have had many disappointing dating experiences; so many that I pretty much gave up trying 3 years ago. I also knew about Ukrainian dating because my stepfather married a Ukrainian lady after my mom died. It had no impact on my choice but I did inquire about many things for my own information. They have been married for close to 15 years and it has been a good marriage.
Mordinson: Company Definition
“Mordinson” Ukrainian marriage agency is a family owned and operated service for the men from around the world and Ukrainian women interested in serious relationship and marriage. The agency began working back in 1999 and since then we helped dozens of men to meet and marry beautiful and genuine Ukrainian women.
Krystyna
Surely you’ve heard about Ukrainian dating scammers. How did you check out Ukrainian dating companies and why did you decide on Mordinson? What made you finally decide to participate?
Keith
Actually I had heard about the scams and could tell that I had several scams being attempted on me when I went to an international dating site. I backed off and did more research and read that it is best to find a smaller agency that has been around for many years. Mordinson fit the bill. I found many good things about them but more importantly I could NOT find anything of importance that was negative about Mordinson. I gave it a shot and the whole thing went very smooth, I am very pleased with them.
Krystyna
How did you gain your experience with Ukrainian women and online dating? Tell us please about your communication with Ukrainian brides. How did you first come in contact with your fiancée?
Keith
Well I basically sent my introduction to Mordinson and they translated it and sent it to the 5 women that I was interested in. One girl was not interested and the others were. We traded many emails from the beginning of October until the end of December when I went for my visit.
All of the ladies were very nice but fiancée really stuck out to me. She was very genuine and interested, and interesting! And of course beautiful! 😉 She actually made me a beaded picture that took her 70 hours to put together as a welcoming gift on my visit. We are both very excited and hoping for the best, but so far so good!
Krystyna
I know you were recently in Kharkov. Did you like the Ukraine and Kharkov in particular? What do you think about the Ukrainian stereotypes (e.g. the country is dangerous for the Westerners and all Ukrainian women are just for your money)? What are your impressions about Ukrainian ladies?
Keith
I did have some problems with cab drivers over charging but I have to say that the ladies that I met there were extremely nice and did not play games of any kind. My experience is as I read, that any self-respecting Ukrainian woman (that you do not know) will not ask you for money. I think that if you encounter one that does, that it is a red flag and you should be cautious (this applies to any country).
My fiancée made the trip the best ‘vacation’ of my life and it helped that Kharkov was so decorated and festive around the holidays. I am from the southern U.S. so Ukraine is too cold for me but I was very interested in the culture there. The downtown area was particularly clean and they had many fun things to offer.
We had gone to the dolphinarium, the opera, the roller rink, a festival and many great cafes. One of the first things that you notice is the women’s beauty and sense of fashion, it is very impressive. I had a great time and will be meeting her in Kiev in 4 weeks! Many of the people that I talked to are very high on Kiev so I look forward to seeing it.
Krystyna
As you know, a Ukrainian-Western relationship is not easy because of different cultures of the partners. How did you learn about intercultural differences in a Ukrainian-Western relationship and marriage? For example, was the language barrier a big problem for you and your fiancée?
Keith
You know I was very concerned going over there about the language barrier because all but 1 of the women did not speak English. What gave me some confidence was downloading a translation app on my iPhone.
I have to admit that I was disappointed with the app because it can only operate when you are using your data plan over there and roaming is expensive. I recommend to anyone that does this to get a very good international roaming plan before you leave to go there.
Once I was there though it really was not that hard to communicate. Everyone that works at the airports speaks at least some English and Mordinson guided me the rest of the way. My fiancée knew about 30 words in English at the time but we made it through fine. We both thought that we would possibly get frustrated but we never did.
Since then Mordinson has been giving her English lessons and I am getting ready to mail her papers off to the USCIS. I respect her culture and enjoy her enthusiasm for Ukrainian holidays. She takes them very seriously and embraces every national tradition and tells me about them. Her pride in it is attractive to me.
Krystyna
My last question to you is what you want to wish my readers and the Western men who just plan their Ukrainian dating adventure and do not know how to start.
Keith
Well being as I have only done this once and the outcome is yet to be determined I will just repeat one thing that I said earlier. I think that you have to be careful at all times and do not send money to just anyone that asks for it. Some of these scammers can work on you for months. The ones that I dealt with kept going on about hardships and how they were going to pay through it until we can be together.
Eventually they ‘lose their job’ or some other circumstance and it eventually turns into asking you to pay for something (which I never did.) I recommend going to a smaller agency that has been around a long time as I mentioned earlier. Mordinson did a great job and there are others out there. It is a lot of work to correspond with many ladies for months and the whole process including travel is a little expensive but to me it was worth it. Thank you Krystyna!
Krystyna
Thank you so much for your detailed answers, dear Keith. 🙂
About the editor: Krystyna is the author of three dating ebooks, including ‘Krystyna’s lessons on successful dating Ukrainian ladies’ & ‘International Dating Digest For Men: Finding Love Overseas’. As the leading International Dating Expert and Dating Coach Krystyna is a consultant for many dating sites and is involved in a wide variety of different areas, such as personal dating coaching, online dating and matchmaking.
Need dating coaching? Check here: www.krioda.com
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