I did. Started out, after four months of preparation with my long introduction letter being professionally translated. Met very real women, within two months one and I determined we were attracted to each other and agreed to correspond exclusively and meet. We met at month 3-1/2. Meeting went great and we agreed to pursue the K-1. Next Monday she and her little boy sit on the plane. I only paid them the initial $99 for access to their emails and addresses. Nothing more to that agency. All correspondence was private.
funny nasfan -- I was going to reply that Julian may have something to say...
Elena's Models is pretty good. Still has its fair share of scammers. And also ladies just checking things out. And a good number of real women who I think are willing to relocate out of wherever they may be. If you use the service, exchange messages through their site first before you decide whether or not to share email with them. I found a couple on Elenas on a scam list. Some I just figured them out. Just be careful and be cool.
Oh! And for the record, the lady I am travelling to Russia to spend the cold holiday with I met on elena's. She will be coming to America in a few months for good.
But, I must admit, since I have no real life experience with this woman, all of my experiences can not be taken for any worth since I have not yet been scammed nor have I made countless trips back and forth and met with tons of women and none of them wanted me.
This disclaimer is made to ensure the diehard knuckleheads, who pooh-pooh my comments, will understand that I am nothing to their greatness.
If I don't come back to this forum, then you all can be assured everything is working perfectly and I am in the arms of my young, blond Russian hottie and loving every minute of it.
Then in about five months when she gets her green card, if I'm not back, then you know I am still in her arms and her in mine.
You guys just keep keeping on. Too bad that the only advice that seems to be given on this forum is just about being scammed; none of you have much to offer anyone about what happens and what to do after you determined a person is not being scammed. There is so much to these international relationships. It has been fun jousting with you all.
hey baron555 -- aren't you something else :) I sent flowers tonight using the link you provided. Plus if your order was for $120 they throw in a bottle of wine for the holidays. And from their selection I assume it ain't night train. So I opted to 'raise' the number of roses to get the "free" bottle of wine that will be waiting for my arrival.
Reason for this is I just recieved a phone call from 'good choice flowers'. The lady questioned me at length about the order to be sure it was me, destination and etc. Order flowers 7:30 on a Friday night EST and have delivery early afternoon the next day in time zone +8. Plus I get a phone call from payflowlink.paypal to make sure it is real. Already like this service.
I must be a pussy.
Yes you are and your lady will love you for it. I sent my lady 11 red roses for Christmas this past January. They arrived early and she sent me an email when they did stating that she had had a hard day at work, it was cold in Moscow and she was coming down with a head cold and was tired and hungry and when she arrived home she had this huge arrangement of roses. She said that never in her life had she had so many flowers at one time and she was totally surprised. When she sent me photo of her with the flowers, I was also totally surprised. This company had super super sized the flowers; never had I seen such a large and luscious display.
I earned many points with this and you will too. And I did the same with a champagne on a later gift and they said on their website that is would be a domestic champagne and it ended up being an excellent French varietal. You will earn many points using this service.
Print out your receipt and have her take a picture with the gift. This will be useful later as part of your proof of a relationship.
Sending gifts and flowers to your loved ones is what folks in a relationship do. No matter what the country. And you are the real man for doing so.
First, their name is really goofy and gives a bad impression. That being said, I signed up with elenasmodels, because I thought it the best of the sites I knew of, and I still haven't learned about a better site. Some of the pluses:
1) A higher percentage of genuine and sincere women, compared to other sites.
2) If the agency has checked a woman's identity documents, the profile shows this.
3) For mothers, the number, age and gender of the children is shown. This information is quite important to me, and most sites don't normally show this (though the cupid media sites have recently added most of this information).
4) With few exceptions, the profiles have enough clear photos to get a fair idea of her appearance.
elenasmodels is actually an agency, not just a dating website, and is a lot more expensive than some bare-bones dating sites. But its fee structure is more reasonable than most agencies -- not one that is designed to cost you a small fortune if you start serious communication with somebody. Many agencies (those with strict pay-per-letter, apartment bookings, in-town interpreters etc.) have an incentive for you to spend thousands to meet a woman who turns out not to be suitable for you: you go away unhappy, but they make a wad of money. elenasmodels doesn't operate this way. I paid up front for the deluxe membership, so I could make contacts without having to worry about how many left in my quota.
So if you really wanna get married, I recommend this site.
Elena's site is also advertised in Kiev newspapers. I don't know if it still is. It is a good back up if "your" woman has dumped you or you dumped her and are stranded in Kiev with nothing to do.
I read Elena Petrova's book, "How to Marry a Girl Like Me." It has been a couple of years. One funny thing about that book is it doesn't say one word about scammers.
Baron -- woke up and read email from the happiest woman alive. thanks
Just called her cell, she is logging onto skype now. A good way to start the day.
Baron, actually it has been talked about a number of times, but not many guys ask for help. They seem to think once their girl has the visa the job is done and they have succeeded. The truth is getting the visa is about 20% of success.
Once she moves to your country the hard work starts. Because your not going to be the same guy who she meet in her country. For example you’ll have to work whereas when you listed her you were on holiday so she’s not going to get your full attention. What will she do when your at work? Shes going to be living in what was your home and she want to make changes and if you’re not used to criticism you’re in trouble. There will be lots of small things due to cultural differences that can cause a lot of tension.
She will be totally dependent on you and that’s time consuming and if she’s used to being independent it will drive her crazy, as well as you (and this is highly likely because you would have been in a relationship for at least 6 months living separate lives in most cases). Will she expect to go to a nail salon each week, get her hair done etc. Prices are 10x what they are back in her country. If she had a mentally challenging job back home, what is there for her in your country?
Also she will of course miss her friends and family and at times wish she could go back. If you spoiled her while she was in her country she will expect the same when she comes to your country. If you helped her financially she will be used to a higher standard of living, so unless you have a high paying job you not going to be able to provide this and she’ll look around and think her standard of living has dropped because now she is average. Also all of a sudden she isn’t the envy of her friends, she’s just stuck in a house in suburb.
Basically unless you’re prepared there are numerous costs that will make the initial cost of trips to her country seem like small change. Of course its not purely a financial challenge.
ben - interesting observation... I too have worried very much about the same differences... we talked about it many times. she said she is not used to living in such conditions because of her status before the "crisis" a few years back... and I worry too that she may become unhappy at being left 'alone' while I work. this was discussed very much in earnest... it is a very true reality that a woman is leaving everything behind to come here. although we discussed many things - not pertinent to here - I have a good feeling that everything will work out fine. But there is and always has been concerns about just what you speak of. The thing to do is to be positive of the person and who she is, what her desires are in life and that you both share common interests and goals. Some are fortunate to meet someone on the same level of life. Who share everything and discuss in depth what the challenges will be. And hope to cope with life as a couple and adapting to a whole different existence.
I have offered very many negative scenarios to her. And she responds positively... 'I can work on seedlings during the month.' I must immerse myself to improve English skills' "I can work on my website' 'Read books' etc. Actually much more than that.
Thing is this. We can say we know the person. Yet, there is always the factor of what happens in six months. How many people from the same culture get married and after six months/year then realize they cannot live togethr? TOO MANY! And even after three to five years?
So I recommend to all to have serious discussions about EVERYTHING! Yes, there are cultural differences. Bottom line is we are all people with the same desires. And if there is compatability then a mature couple should be able to figure it out and to make it work.
I am through bringing up the negatives to her. We now only discuss the positives. After six months of discussing everything that can go wrong, we now only talk about everything that is right. And it takes at least that long for anything 'real' to happen. So to each his own. Some are more cognizant of the reality of the situation. Some are just dreamy eyed at the concept of having a lady at their beck and call.
To all: Find a partner in life, not just a girl to have. If all you want is a girl to have or show off, then you are only looking for a temporary fix in your life. It will be a cycle of the same thing over and over again. Best of luck.
oh! I forgot, that's why elena's models works. forget the silly name of the site. I thought it a ruse at first. But there are real women there who are looking for a real man. It is not a place to be thought of as a backup plan. Because to be successful you must put in the time. A back up plan sounds like someone who is just hoping to get lucky and when discovered as such...
{BACK UP PLAN? (J35)}
Ben's comments are good but they assume that the two do not discuss everything in detail and that you do not do a sufficient job of describing/showing to her your living conditions and you two discussing every aspect of her new life.
But as Ralph points out, if you do this, then all the details will have been worked out initially, so there will be no surprises. There are many ways to keep in contact with the family and friends.
The real key, as mentioned, is that you two act as a couple, doing everything together, even while you wait for the visa process. If the two are devoted to the relationship and agree to disagree at times and agree to make decisions together and to never bring the outside world into the bedroom, then they have a great chance.
There are many very useful means of communication available to us. Some though, do not know how to use these to their advantage.
yes, but talking about it may prepare you but does mean when she moves things will go to plan. Absolutely you should talk about everything and the more realistic she is the better. But you probably don't tell her about your bad habits that shes going to encounter. Keeping in contact with friends and family via email, skype, telephone is not the same as being there with them. Although they are very important tools. So to is getting help from your own family and friends.
I wish you guys luck and I don't mean to sound negative but complacency is death. Assume things will not go to plan and expect the unexpected. However if you both want you can overcome anything.