Alina
The first in a new series of first person interviews with Ukrainians now living in Austria. For privacy reasons, names are often changed, as is this case in this first interview, per Alina's request.
In this case, Alina wrote to me herself, and her story is a direct translation from her own written words, in Russian. All of the stories you will read this month are from Ukrainians who are in my Telegram group chat and received a supermarket gift card from our Cards for Ukraine program.
“Hi Tanja!
A huge thanks to you for your help.
You really helped me personally, and in addition I can always find useful information in the group!
I have an optimistic story to share. I found a job a month ago. In fact, in my professional sphere: I am a design engineer.
I have been in Austria more than a year now. I arrived here on March 16, 2022. My parents and my cousin remained in Ukraine.
Our city, Kryvyi Rih, is not far from the front line.
At first it was really scary. When I left my hometown, the front line was already only 60 kilometres from the city. You could hear the artillery fire at night. Everyone was in a panic, and no one understood what will happen next, and what we should do.
I ended up in Austria totally by accident, on an evacuation bus operated by volunteers.
We were welcomed by very kind people. It is just unbelievable, how much Austria has done for us Ukrainians! I was given a place to sleep and fed. The owners of the house, who gave me a room, always helped along each step of the way. They told me everything about Austria, how to use public transportation, about the healthcare system, about the laws. In the beginning, this was really important, because at first everything here was foreign, and organized differently than in Ukraine. They also helped me financially, they organized trips and little celebrations. Just amazing people! I am so grateful to them.
For the first six months, I really hoped that I will be able to return home any minute now, and that the war would end soon. But unfortunately that will not happen anytime soon…
On Monday, July 31, a missile fell 100 meters from my parents home in Kryvyi Rih. It hit a multi-story apartment building, right at the stairwell. Several people died. All the windows were blown out of my parents’ home and the roof was damaged by the shock wave from the explosion of the bomb. But it could have been worse, I am so relieved that my parents are alive and are not hurt.
I would really like for my parents to leave, but they don’t want to go. They are already old, and for them it is unthinkable to leave their home and their entire lives and go somewhere else. I can understand them, but I am really so worried about them and I am trying to convince them to consider leaving.
A few months ago, I found work in an engineering company in Vienna. I could not have dreamed about such a job! I have a good decade of experience of working in Ukraine, but my German is still not great. I completed A1 German, and sent my resume everywhere. This company was the first to reply to me, and I went to the interview. My hands were shaking I was so nervous. Thankfully, the employees in the company were so nice, and they patiently listened to me. After the interview, they invited me to join them for a three week trial period. After that, we signed an employment contract, and now I am working 40 hours per week!
The most interesting was the first case. I poory understood the spoken German, and I sat with the eyes of a scared bunny rabbit :) In addition, there was so much new information, I could barely remember even the names of my new work colleagues! Everything I was used to: the program in which I do my work, the documentation, conversations in the office — it was all in German! But I am so impressed and touched by the cooperation and kindness of the people. My female boss brought me up to speed on everything, and slowly explained to me what is expected of me in my role.
Now I am completing an A2 German course. It is much easier for me now, because I am continuing to study on my own, and I can hear German at work, and get used to it.
Today my goal is to continue to learn German, to develop myself at my job, and to help my parents in Ukraine.
I am currently living in a village, an hour away from Vienna. The owners of the house who gave me a room are allowing me to still live there. I need to save money up for a deposit in order to be able to rent my own apartment.
I am 33 years old. The photo of me in the hardhat is from my old job in Ukraine. I had the most amazing work colleagues there, I really miss them. It was so easy to work with them, we understood each other so well we could finish each other’s sentences. We often visited the construction sites. In the photo I am at a repair station for pipes at a metallurgical factory.
The second photo is the result of the shock wave from the missile strike. There is a small vegetable garden around the house which was damaged. My mother plants vegetables there. She really loves gardening. We used to like to decorate the garden with our own figurines: little frogs and gnomes. It was so nice to drink tea on summer nights in the fresh air there.”