I am new and have been doing the pay per letter thing at AFA. It appears the women i have been writing to is real but I want to get her personal info..adress..home phone..etc. I bought her some flowers and in the message card i gave my personal address...I just hate the idea of calling/writing and going through an interpreter. It open up the door to mis-understandings and even fraud. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thank guys
I felt the same. As baron states, just ask. I was skeptical of the same thing. However I did include my eamil address after realizing I wasn't forward enough. I thought for sure the agency automatically provided it to the woman. Wrong! Include it with every correspondance until you achieve results. I received a letter from a lady today in my personal email for the first time. I was skeptical that she didn't receive it. Then she apologized profusely for not writing sooner. She was away in the country with family for an extended Easter celebration. No internet to be had there.
They want to bypass the agency as much as you if they are sincere. There is a noted difference in the messages that come directly from the lady than the ones sent through a third party.
Julian, The FSU has tons of holidays and it is not outside the realm that she was outside of the city and had no Internet.
Myk, do understand what Bear is getting at. How many letters have you exchanged with this woman via AFA? I don't see a problem sending some flowers after you get to know the woman (no harm in doing so without meeting her first) but if you send them too soon, it may appear you are "buying" her with these gifts or she may be expecting them and then more in the future.
guys, there is a way to tell where letters originate from. The originating ip address is in the mail headers. i suggest you become acquainted with it. I just received a letter in my personal email from an attractive lady who said she saw my profile on a site. She said she was from russia but i could see the letter originated in atlanta. strangely enough this is where european connections is located.
Wow, someone's been reading RussianDatingGuide for advice. You are kidding yourself mail headers are going to be accurate or useful. You might get lucky though. Just because it arrives from Ukraine instead of Atlanta, does it tell you anything? Sure it tells you your Atlanta people are probably not legit (or does it?) but what does it tell you when it comes from FSU? You have an automatic sure bet?
i have no reason to believe that the originating ip addresses are not accurate. if you have some useful information myusername then lets hear it. and reread my post because you didn't seem to get the gist of it.
I've been communicating with some Ukrainian girls. The most likely on my very short list is a divorced girl from Kherson. I'm thinking to visit her in August or September 2009. This would be my first visit to Ukraine.
She offered (not demanded) to meet me in Odessa or Kiev because Kherson does not have an airport. On the face of it, that's a nice offer, but I'm an experienced traveller. I can fly to Odessa, and easily take a bus from Odessa to Kherson.
I would like to see her home city, and then _IF_ we get on well then I would be delighted to take her to one of the other cities because I know that being with someone 24 hours per day is the only way to establish whether the relationship has a future.
Now, should I be pleased that she suggested to meet me in Kiev or Odessa (no request to meet via agency with costly interpretor), or should alarm bells be ringing ?
Is it a good sign, or a (hoped for) shopping trip ?
(I tacked this onto this thread because I don't think my question warrants a new thread.)
It's not so easy to distinguish the "good girls" from the "bad girls".
A decent woman might well offer to meet you in Kyiv, because she knows it is a lot easier for a first-time visitor to manage.
I can imagine that it might also be on her mind, that if you come to her town, she would be expected to invite you to visit her home -- and she might be worried how a man from the "land of plenty" might react to her quite possibly humble living situation.
If you haven't been before to a former Soviet country, it can take some getting used-to.
For myself, I prefer to meet someone in her town, I think it is a better way to get acquainted. Especially, if I am serious about a woman, and she lives near family, it will be valuable to meet them -- and anyway meeting her friends or family is a great way to begin to understand Ukraine.
If you tell her that you prefer to come to Kherson, and she doesn't "push back," then you know she wasn't looking for a shopping trip. But if she does resist, there could be several reasons... it's not so easy to tell...
TRAVEL
------
I haven't yet visited Kherson, but here's my take (and when you read this, maybe you'll understand better why she offers to come to Kyiv).
OPTION A, BUS FROM KYIV: Find your way to the appropriate bus station, and catch an appropriate bus. At least 12 hours of actual road time, probably with a change in Odesa, and probably requiring an overnight stay in Odesa -- could easily be 24 hours elapsed time. (But there may be direct buses, I haven't enough info online.)
OPTION B, PLANE & BUS: Fly on to Odesa, find your way to the central bus station, and then make the 5+ hour bus trip to Kherson. The buses don't seem to leave later than mid-afternoon, so either your flight must arrive to Odesa in the morning, or you need to stay overnight in Odesa.
OPTION C, TRAIN FROM KYIV: Fly into Kyiv, find your way to the train station, and take the overnight train to Kherson -- leaves after 9 PM, arrives after 10 AM. I don't know whether this train ever fills up; if not, you can count on buying a ticket at the station, otherwise you would need to figure out how to book a ticket in advance (there are surely companies that can do this for some fee).
To travel by bus, it is VERY helpful if you speak a little Russian, or at least can phonetically read Cyrillic. It is also helpful for train travel, but someone without the language might find it a little easier on the train. In general, drivers, conductors, ticket cashiers etc. will not know English. Signs and printed information rarely have Roman letters. Sometimes you can use dollars or a credit card, but usually you will need cash Hryvnia to buy tickets (or anything else).
Also, the buses are usually not air-conditioned, and the weather can get hot, so be prepared to bake -- I bring plenty of water.
Now, should I be pleased that she suggested to meet me in Kiev or Odessa (no request to meet via agency with costly interpretor), or should alarm bells be ringing ?
Is it a good sign, or a (hoped for) shopping trip ?
I'd say it is a good sign, if all the other factors of your relationship pan out, meaning emails that answer your questions, talk live with her on the phone, seen her on Skype calls, etc.
What would be a great deal would be for her to meet you in Kiev, you guys do a little bit of Kiev, then train on down to Odessa and do Odessa together and then go to Kherson. Of course you want to meet her family and her friends. Ask her about this. If she also wants you to meet her family and friends, then for sure this is a good sign. If she is against this, then she wants to go out shopping!
its not necessary to meet family and friends on first trip. In fact, I would say don't. concentrate on the two of you only.
on second trip it should be mandatory.
when a girl asks you to meet her family you know she thinks highly of you. once you meet them they will always be asking about you. I meet my girls parents on every trip she said it keeps them happy. it was on the last day of my second trip to see her she decided to introduce me to them. as mentioned above unless you can read the signs better to have her meet you in Kiev or Odessa. if you really want to take the train or bus pm me and I will give you the link to my sight with the contacts.