Welcome to the tweet trends podcast. Hey, what's trending today? Hey, I mean, hey girl and you are tuned in to Trans is the quickest way to find out what's trending today Today I have the first in a multi episode series from a young lady. Her name is Anastasia Rudez She's Ukrainian.
She's a rest coach and also a travel planning magician. Seriously guys She can do a lot with two hours So this first episode is all about being from Ukraine and how the whole situation between Ukraine and Russia has affected her Being here in the United States without further ado. Let's get started You mentioned it. I'm from Ukraine and Ukrainian and I live in San Francisco, California I live here for almost eight years this fall.
I moved in 2014 to follow my heart I got married to an American and it was funny because a few years before that I was like well I would never marry a guy to a different country because that's just late like and then I need this guy and he's like well I'm from San Francisco and yes I'm in Ukraine and would you be potentially need to be interested in you know exploring that I was like okay San Francisco doesn't found it out so yes, but when I moved, you know one of the things that Was really hard for me aside. It's just kind of shifting my whole life completely And moving content and leaving everything and packing it into once you that's a difference in case That's a different story altogether But I moved at a time where it might shock some of people who are listening but the war in Ukraine Which is still going on. It's actually hundreds day to date one hundred days of war in my home country It actually started not in February of 2022. It started in 2014.
It started actually at the late 2013 when Ukrainians decided to say that they are against a certain choice that our politicians were making and in Ukraine kind of like in the US You have the right to say because it's a democratic country and you can just stand up and you have a demonstration It's usually expected to be peaceful like you show up you protest you say let's do something people ignore you when everyone moves on right? It was just the way of life for our younger country We had by that time long 25 years ish of kind of independence of recent independence from the USSR But what happened then what happened in January of 2014 is that our neighbor our wonderful neighbor Putin Who was still it's like how many presidents have we had in the last eight years enough, right? We just have been in power over 25 years So he has been in power then the president in Ukraine while elected by the people was still kind of a puppet and a follower of Putin so he was looking forward Putin for guidance and for things how Putin deals with public uprising he usually squashes it down and People are scared so they don't do that. So he just was like oh you have this thing Well, that's just what you do with this right?
You just come up with a few military you got to know police guys They show up the stakes and everyone runs away because that's how Russians act in Russia because that's what they're used to there used to be scared there used to be Being like well, there's nothing I can do that and so they would rather kind of Like right now there are footages of you know crowd running away and then there's just one guy out like after that was One stick and like really this is what you're running from really stopping thanks with our hands And so what happened in January 2014 and then in February when the actual worst started is that Putin saw that we didn't back down because for us Killing and shooting at innocent people and taking innocent lives is not okay for us for Ukrainians It has always been like we would be chill and not touching anyone when it's like just whatever You know someone stealing their escarption sure there's this or that but when it's like in your face When we just wanted to protest, you know, it started it got bloody and so over the weekend 500,000 people rose up We have a distant with the country Ukraine might seem small It is 80% of like Texas is big Ukraine is the biggest European country by territory We might go to the biggest by the population. We have around 42 million ish right now But like if 500,000 is a huge number it's a big number to show up and tell that hey, this is not okay Right, so we started then but it was kind of then like a wake-up hold for the nation because what you're seeing right now our army being so Powerful in holding off holding on and kind of pushing back at this point. Thank God It didn't exist eight years ago. We didn't have an arm It was a very lame excuse of an army that everyone hated and no one wanted to get into but the worst started down because then Putin started being like Oh, let me go take pieces So that's when he occupied Crimea and then he started occupying the eastern parts of Ukraine that were under his control in a way for eight years So the war didn't start this year the active phase of war started in February Yes, and it was super super hard and tough Let me personally because while I'm leaving here with my husband and my three-year-old I have a ton of family.
I grew up in Ukraine. I have a ton of friends I I grew up all over the country like I've been to all the beautiful places Maybe not all of all of them but too many of them and to know the different parts of the cringe When it all started I I didn't really know like I didn't have words. I didn't have anything to say I was in complete shock and in a way, that's how I got to where I am right now The happy green the happy green color person I am which sounds ridiculous because how can I be happy when there's war going right? How can I be Smiling when there's war going on how can I be raising a child when there are shootings?
Yes, there is place for everything and unfortunately, it's the reality we're in but we also have a choice So I feel like my mind just blew up when you said how far back this situation has gone, but So that makes me feel some type of way about the new system here in the United States because Although it was a while ago I can't say that I recall hearing them say anything about anything happening over there like that To then know that now February wasn't the start it was just ramped up until it got there Um, was it is it difficult for you to watch the news here? So that's one of my self care tools is that I don't watch the news here because for two reasons first of all Knowing the language back in Ukraine. I actually watched the news from the plant like from the source directly So I would listen to the president's lens keys newscast and he's telegram chat is actually super good because they do translations They do the subtitles so anyone interested can find like his official channel and get the like get the news because I get you that It's like the news here, you know, yes, you can get folks versus CNN, right and you can get some kind of differentiation, but it's still You know we gave so my parents have been here when they were broke out in February. They were visiting me and my family They obviously are still staying here each June We've been blessed with how it will around and we've been to a couple of places and we actually gave a couple of interviews where my parents shared their story And one of the interviewers actually asked me like what's the difference?
You know between the news the two here and the news that we see in the US And I was like well and it was at the time it was still March so it was kind of okay Still unclear who's going where and can't we win and it was obviously wearing better shapes than the first few days But it was still mind blowing with scary and horrible and super super active Right and every morning I started where it's like checking in with my friends to the point of I might not be sending everyone a text But I'll be looking you know how when you're in WhatsApp or something you can see when the person was online bus You're educated online today. So they are still safe, you know, they still have reception They still have all the things and it was one of the times when president's allowed to get dressed the US Congress And there was this whole footage of that right and anyone of you listen like viewers and listeners can find it online Like just to see that so I asked my interview. I was like did you see the landscape address? I was like did you see?
And how do you think what you saw that he was showing because he was also showing some footage is from what is happening in Ukraine Realistically versus what the news might be filtering through right? Right and so he gave a little bit of analysis and the way he described it He's like the US news agencies are trying to obviously tone it down They're also not interested in depicting as much the The casualties like the the human suffering they don't want to show like they would be okay showing the building Destructions, you know the blow wings the things but when it comes to showing excuse me killed kids Because that's one of the things we do. We're like we're counting every freaking child that has been killed That has been named by this completely useless show of aggression by a neighbor that wasn't it wasn't really troubled by us other than we exist Because we exist because we have a history because we actually have way more history than our neighbor Our neighbor decided that we don't belong, you know, we never belong the whole history of russian I'm not gonna go into that but the whole history of russian have been suppressing Ukraine and when people tell me like Am I like I'm white? Yes, I'm white I'm privileged from that perspective, but have I known suppression?
Yes, like my language have been suppressed My thing like the literature that I've been around have been suppressed and I've been told that it's like It's a horrible thing. It shouldn't exist. It's just a full coordination of some crazy person You know this and that right and so when these people show up and you talk about it You're like was it unprovoked? It wasn't provoked from our perspective other than we exist, right?
But the world saw that it was ramping up the world saw when when eight years ago All of the things that happened happened, you know what the world did the world was like Oh my god, we're so concerned I was like what say what we get parts of our country annexed so in 1994 Ukraine Deliberately gave away the nuclear weapons We had nuclear weapons. The part of the USSR being one of the biggest parts of the USSR We had a lot of nuclear power and we gave it away Intentionally because we got what's called a beautiful best memorandum signed by us UK and Russia that our independence and sovereignty will be protected Look how that is working out. Wow. How magically this is working out So I don't know what don't want to bash on the us right because we're getting a lot of help now While it's a hundred day but on the first day when the war started I went because I'm an American citizen by now Like I don't do citizenship and when Biden showed up in his first conference I wanted to find a hammer and just knock him on the house because the way he was talking about he's like Well, you know, we're very concerned.
Yes sure. Yeah. Yeah. I know no.
No, this is not a good way to deal with What like the us embassies have been screaming at the us nationals leaving in Ukraine To leave Ukraine since January or since December. They were like almost in caps lock text screaming like leave People can find the text it was almost to the point leave because we won't be able to help you So you have enough intelligence that your embassies are issuing that warning that they're saying that hey It's not the way like get out. We would not be able to help you and at the same time you're president of our president Comes out and there he's like, well, yeah, we're we'll see how the sanctions work. Maybe in a month or so Like what months?
What are you talking about? We're a tiny country. Well, like compared to Russia. We are tiny compared to what Russia claimed they are, right?
We are tiny. We would not be able to hold that month like we needed action last month We needed preemptive action, but everyone was like well, we can't do preemptive action because what if they don't attack? I'm like great. So now we're just like at some point president Zelensky asked the the bigger society the bigger politicians He was like so how many dead Ukrainians would it take for you to take this year?
If we really start taking action because at least my then will have like your measure You know you want your goal to be smart, right? You want it measurable You'd be like, okay, if you need a hundred thousand then we'll wait until we reach that for example, right? I'm not trying to be cruel, but it's like when you're telling me oh the scare of a chemical attack is not good enough to start being more More specific the scare of this is not good enough and here I go to rallies and what I hear from some of the Americans They're like, well, yeah, I understand that it's bad, but I'm scared of the like we shouldn't provide weapons because then there will be Nuclear war I'm like there will be nuclear war if Putin is crazy enough and people around him crazy enough whether he provide new weapons or not Right, there will also be a different perspective that says us who claims to be this super global power Is kind of deflated and kind of not really taking a stance of saving the democratic world. How do you think China is looking at us?
China is like, hmm interesting. Are they really are they like China is big and China is one right? Yeah, and while China is cautious, but China is watching all the time, right? And when us is kind of like Guess what China is not it that maybe they should like side out with us.
Okay, they don't they didn't fully Yes, but they haven't closed up like the flights face or all the Arab countries. The Arab countries are watching, right? So many things have been happening since the last eight years So yes, when the word broke out in February it was the most unimaginable thing in my life Personally because I felt so guilty that at some point probably a week or so before it happened I was talking to my friend who lives in DC and her mom is in Ukraine She just recently got her out safely. Uh, thank god, but she called me and I'm kind of known for keeping up was the news a little bit more, but I was trying to even put it, you know Self-care phase it out like not to listen to as much news because There has always been talking.
Yes, it started ramping up, but it didn't like you could not comprehend Right. It just doesn't lend in your head that someone can just wake up and start the war in a neighboring country out of the group Right, and she was like should I get my mom out and with the information that I had I was like, I don't think so I think she's fine When the word broke, I was actually visiting my friend that same friend And I felt so guilty that I felt so guilty because a week before she would have been on a plane out to the US Or anywhere else she would not be sitting scared every day I mean, yes, it was her decision for the model the decision maker right but for a long time I was like if I said something else if I knew something else right if I saw something else because I saw the same warning signs Everyone else did I know because I didn't have the intelligence that the politicians have And I was like I told her no you are fine And on top of the whole build of me being alive me personal being alive me being here My parents being here I was blessed that my parents were here But my brother is in cave my grandmas in the dessa my friends are spread out across the country You know when they both certain cities like that I was born in or that I visited And I'm just sitting here being fine That feeling Professional school and survivor skills. It's a horrible joy It's a horrible thing and what I realized at that time is that I actually carried that survivor skill for eight years Because because when I moved I didn't move because the word Ukraine broke up Like when I was it was fine Like the first initial unrest kind of settled down It moved into the east and south where the the territories were being occupied Right, so there was still like that was going on But because of how my life was evolving I moved Right and I was there and I didn't like intentionally even name it up until a really really long time almost in 2020 When I finally hired the therapist the therapist I hired because it was covid and all the things were changing and all the other things But what I realized is that I was carrying that guilt all these years Thanks for listening the next episode that we have is going to be on self-care You know where to find me twitter instagram facebook youtube at hey event That's at hy edtte or just look at the hashtag tweet trends