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Insights and reflections about being a couple with different cultural background.
Insights and reflections about being a couple with different cultural background.
Bilingual book: Russian-English and Russian-German.
Bilingual book: Russian-English and Russian-German.
The book “My Russian Wife” is not a typical book about love and romance. It is about how you build a loving and lasting relationship despite of differences, but the book also contains insights about several aspects that are just as relevant for business as for the personal life.
“This little book is about being married to a Russian woman, by a man from a European country.
“This little book is about being married to a Russian woman, by a man from a European country.
It is about how our different backgrounds, values and experiences make our marriage both challenging and fun. I know we share this situation with a lot of other couples and I do hope that what I am writing about is relevant and interesting for them, and for anyone else who reads it. This short book is a summary of what I think about my partnership and life with my wife, my opinion about Russia (and Europe), but it has no deeper mission than to be fun and maybe a source of reflection."
“This book is about my Russian wife Ania, my relationship with her, and how our cultures sometimes give us each a different perception of reality"
“This book is about my Russian wife Ania, my relationship with her, and how our cultures sometimes give us each a different perception of reality"
Kjetil Sandermoen
Kjetil Sandermoen
Kjetil Sandermoen was born in Norway in 1956. He has two children from a previous marriage. In 2016 he married Ania Chediya and adopted her daughter Marta. They live together in Zug, Switzerland as the Sandermoen family.
Kjetil Sandermoen holds a degree in Economics from Karlstad University, Sweden. He speaks and works fluently in Norwegian (mother tongue), English, German, Danish and Swedish. Founding investor and principal owner of the University of Fredericton, a fully designated Canadian degree granting university. Sandermoen School of Business provides graduate programs (MBA and EMBA). Author of books on business and management.
"We sometimes see and discuss things as if we are from two different planets. Our so-called memes are different.
"We sometimes see and discuss things as if we are from two different planets. Our so-called memes are different.
She spent her childhood and youth in the Soviet Union and experienced how this imperium crumbled and finally collapsed.
She spent her childhood and youth in the Soviet Union and experienced how this imperium crumbled and finally collapsed.
I grew up in Norway, a democracy, still a poor country in my childhood but I experienced how the country transformed into one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Our backgrounds are very different from each other.
I grew up in Norway, a democracy, still a poor country in my childhood but I experienced how the country transformed into one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Our backgrounds are very different from each other.
”This book is in no way meant to be a comprehensive work on all my opinions about my wife, our relationship or Russia. They are far too complex for that.”
”This book is in no way meant to be a comprehensive work on all my opinions about my wife, our relationship or Russia. They are far too complex for that.”
“One of the first impressions you get when visiting Russia is the thousands of beautiful women in the streets. [. . .]
“One of the first impressions you get when visiting Russia is the thousands of beautiful women in the streets. [. . .]
As a man, I have to admit that it’s hard not to stare, but I am Scandinavian and was therefore brought up to not look at women with what could resemble obvious desire or sexual interest. It is considered humiliating and disrespectful to a woman to reduce her to a sexual object.”
As a man, I have to admit that it’s hard not to stare, but I am Scandinavian and was therefore brought up to not look at women with what could resemble obvious desire or sexual interest. It is considered humiliating and disrespectful to a woman to reduce her to a sexual object.”
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Introduction
Fortune seekers
Back to the USSR?
My Russian wife is hard to understand – but she is a Real Woman
Showing your woman respect
I’m sorry
Are you happy?
Friendship and family = the Russian social security system
Trust and living in Moscow
I’ll believe it when I see it – Swiss efficiency vs. Russian bureaucracy
Getting married
Discovering Europe and Western values
Being a Russian mother
Food
Russian women’s position in society
To behave like a princess
Values
We have a lot in common
Charming (and strange) Russian habits
Paying your bills
Berezka – Russians love their birches
Boring
How to make your partnership successful – in life and in business
Ania’s borsch
ONE BOOK — TWO LANGUAGES*
ONE BOOK — TWO LANGUAGES*
* The Russian and English (or German) text is synchronized page by page opposite each other in the paper book. This makes the book an excellent training book if you are learning one of the three languages.
READERS FEEDBACK
READERS FEEDBACK
Reading this wonderful book "My russian wife" by Kjetil Sandermoen together with my husband, enjoying warm spring evening ... 20 years together, our swiss-russian family went through ups and downs, excitements and surprises, difficulties of translation... very inspired reading this book and quite happy, that this book is not over yet! Anna Chediya Sandermoen, compliment for your family, you are so cool!
Svetlana Keller
My Russian Wife is a myriad of reflections of a Norwegian businessman and his Russian wife he married over more than 3 years ago. It has intriguing anecdotes and amusing short tales of their relationship; his and her cultural differences in day to day living together as a happy couple, that understands the real values of life in a good relationship. I bought the book to understand the Russian wife viewpoints of the book, since I wanted to know a bit more of how Russian women think and where they come from living in a European culture, so to say. After reading this book, I understand Russian women a bit better now, and hopefully it will help others who want to know more about the cultural and historical influences Russia has on them too.
In any case, a good read if you like to marry a Russian woman or have encountered Russian women in your life and always wondered how they think.
Bernard W.G. van der Woude
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
Written with candor and humor this is actually a book for both him and her. I find it not only a entertaining reading but also a good help against being "lost in translation" in a culturally mixed marriage. I have a Russian wife too and, although coming from Romania - a culturally closer place to Russia compared with Norway, I discovered myself many of the moments described so well in the book. I highly recommend "My Russian Wife" to Russian-Non-Russian couples. Why not a Christmas present?
Florin Sirzen
"This book also contains some of my own reflections about Russia — especially on topics that are relevant for me in trying to understand my wife"
"This book also contains some of my own reflections about Russia — especially on topics that are relevant for me in trying to understand my wife"
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
Want to know why some people are unhappy in marriage while others live happily together for many years? Does happiness depend on differences in culture, nationality, beliefs, habits, or tastes?
The book of the Norwegian writer Kjetil Sandermoen is a life story about difficult moments in the relationship between two outstanding people, himself and his Russian wife. History organically, and often with humor, intertwines with the philosophical reflections of the author on family, economic, political, cultural topics.
READ MORE
READ MORE
The author positions the book as a guide on family relations for international couples, but the real benefit of this book is that it will be interesting to anyone who is looking for harmony in relationships with a loved one.
Based on the example of his personal experience, Kjetil discusses how a feeling of deep natural kinship arises and develops between spouses, bringing with them the desired spiritual and physical comfort, love and trust.
Because it gives useful advice in solving difficult questions about family happiness, emotionally supports the reader’s interest in a friendly tone of the narrative and is simple and easy to read.
The publication of the book “My Russian Wife” is framed with full synchronization of Russian and English or Russian and German texts so that international couples or students learning foreign languages have the opportunity to independently get acquainted with the author’s opinion on a given topic and practice language skills.
Olga, USA
”Russia fascinates me and I love my Russian wife”
”Russia fascinates me and I love my Russian wife”
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