LIKE IN THE MOVIES
I used to work for a major Ural holding company, whose owners decided to open a network of companies in Cyprus to protect their business from raids. My husband and I were offered to move here as directors of an international company. We agreed. Three of our children, aged 13, 9, and 2, moved with us.
I grew up in a small mining town in the north of the Perm region, from a very simple background. We didn't have visits from famous theaters, extra classes in foreign languages, and we didn't even have ice cream in waffle cones. After school, I moved to Yekaterinburg to study, and the city seemed huge and magnificent to me. It took me a while to get used to traffic lights and underground passages.
I earned two higher education degrees and felt quite confident moving up the career ladder, but I had never been abroad before. Cyprus was my first "foreign" country. At the age of 32. When I was offered to fly here on a business trip, I had to look at the map to find where Cyprus was.
And then, in the summer of 2011, we were offered to move to Cyprus to live permanently. There were good conditions, and we agreed. It was an interesting experience for our older children as well. We started living by the sea, rented a large house, and the children went to school - first a Russian one, then an English one. It was like in the movies.
JOB LOSS
Five years later, the company started reorganizing. Despite already having worked closely together and having access to super-confidential information, my husband was laid off. I was offered conditions that I couldn't agree to for several reasons. So we both lost our jobs. Working with your spouse in the same company is always risky, and we fell victim to it.
My husband returned to Russia and insisted that we all go back. But our daughter had a year and a half left before finishing her English school, and at 17, it was not easy to switch from the British education system to the Russian one. So my husband left, and I stayed in Cyprus with the children.
Six months later, our middle son also went to live with him, and we stayed temporarily until our daughter finished school and we decided what to do next. It was very difficult for our son. After attending a private school in Cyprus, returning to a regular school, living without his mother, and changing all his surroundings again at the age of 14 - the peak of puberty. Only parents who have children of that age can understand how hard it was.
DEPRESSION
My daughter was studying and preparing for her A-levels while also continuing to train on the ice rink (she's a figure skating champion in Cyprus), but I fell into depression. I realized that despite my two degrees, I was not needed here. They couldn't get me a work visa, and for high positions, I was not taken seriously, while for low positions, the migration office rejected me because I was overqualified.
It's scary to feel like you're not needed by anyone. That your skills and abilities are just wasted. Suddenly, my entire career became meaningless. Various thoughts raced through my mind.
REVIVAL
One day, I stumbled upon an advertisement for a psychological training course and decided to attend. After the first session, I felt like I could breathe again. I took another course and slowly began to come back to life.
I started learning again, but this time online for a new profession. I couldn't see any other way to earn a living.
But I had started to believe in myself and that there was still a life to live. I took on my first clients and gradually built up my experience. I never feared work, so after such a long break, I was grateful to have a job and be needed by someone again. I want to say that the most important person who supported me then was my eldest daughter. Not only did she complete school, pass her A-levels, participate in competitions, and go to university all on her own, but she also supported me as best as she could. Thank you to her.
SURVIVAL IS NECESSARY
I gradually sold everything in the house that we didn't need because we didn't have enough money. I needed to find a way to pay for my youngest son's school fees, which were not cheap. But he's such a bright kid, he loves to learn, and he adores his school. I couldn't break him down like that. I was willing to give up everything for him. There was a time when we had nothing to eat and couldn't even fill up the car.
In early 2019, I was finally able to sell our house and buy a small apartment. We had money for school fees and living expenses. By then, my husband and I hadn't seen each other for a year and a half. They paid for his travel to make the deal, and we spent New Year's together. It was wonderful. Then I realized that nothing had changed between us, and we were still a family.
A NEW LIFE
Alongside this, I started my blog on Instagram, writing about life in Cyprus and education - as I have a degree in teaching. I have always been interested in educational programs and the new British system, having changed three English and three Russian schools for my children in Cyprus - I had a lot to share. People started writing to me, asking questions, and thanking me for saving their time searching for information. That's how my first Instagram client appeared, who literally forced me to take their money. I remember the shock I felt that I could earn money that way.
Later, I opened my educational agency in Cyprus, New Horizon Education, and started working with universities. It turned out to be in high demand.
A year ago, I got my third degree - in psychology, and now I am specializing in career guidance counseling. I want to work with teenagers so that they understand where they should go to study, and which program to choose, so they don't regret wasting time.
MY LOVED ONES
In March 2022, for well-known reasons, I convinced my middle son to come here. We lived apart for 5 years. I am very happy that he is with me now, and I realized how much I missed him. By that time, he had moved to Moscow, started filming videos, participated in good large projects, went on expeditions - he really enjoyed it, and he was self-sufficient. But times are such that it is better for him not to be in Russia right now. Recently, he launched a YouTube channel for me. It is still very small, but we are already receiving thanks for the information we share there.
My daughter graduated from university with honors this year and has now found a good job in Limassol. She has a wonderful boyfriend, and I am happy for her. Children can feel life now and go after their goals with their own efforts. I believe in them, my children will succeed in everything they do.
And I am sure that we will remember the periods of our difficulties and overcome them with a smile. My husband still lives in Russia, but we plan to move him here, and I believe it will happen.
I AM ALIVE
I am grateful for this experience because I have changed a lot myself. I used to be a strong, authoritarian woman, "everyone sits down to eat, everyone stands up, falls, does push-ups, cleans up the dishes, let's go relax, look right, look left." It was very tough. "I have to be successful, I have to go to Dubai for the weekend, I have to have a new iPhone, a new bag, I have to have a pool at home..." All of those "must-haves" are gone. It's as if I woke up and shed a cocoon. And under that cocoon, under my authoritarian self, was a living and ordinary woman - me.
