In order to achieve success in the States, Rinat Bulgakov had to travel a long way. Like a hero of a Hollywood movie, he strove hard and desperately for realization of his "American dream"...
       America lodged in my heart...
       "I dreamt about America since I was 14. I entered the department of foreign languages of the Bashkir State University for this. I did not want to be a schoolteacher. I worked as a children's officer in the Regional Department of Internal Affairs of Sovetsky district in Ufa. I obtained the rank of senior lieutenant, but soon after that, I had to quit for reasons of health. My friend once gave me some books to read. They were wrapped in an advertiser. One of the ads changed my life radically: it gave the address of Americans looking for pen friends.
       From 1986 to 1990, I received letters from America. And in 1990 we went to the States on the invitation of the American family.
       On those days America struck its roots deep in my heart...We made the most of that two weeks' trip. We saw the lights of inimitable Las Vegas (by the way I contrived to win 10 dollars in one of the casinos). Then there were Hollywood, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara..." Rinat tells with a smile.
       Then he came back home and went on corresponding with friends from different countries. But thoughts about America never left him. Quite the contrary, it attracted him with renewed vigour... But he had no money for the ticket. Being aware of his financial straits, one of his pen friends offered him to work in Austria and invited to her boarding house.
       "I sold many of my belongings in order to get money for the trip to Austria. I got a job on a farm that was several kilometres away from the boarding house. I got up at 3AM to be at my work position at 5 and send the cows to the pasture on time. I cleaned sheds, met cows and even milked them. However, I managed to stand this tempo of life only for three weeks. But I had the sum necessary for my trip to America," Rinal Bulgakov recollects.
       67 dollars in the pocket...
       "I returned to Ufa and immediately bought a ticket to the USA. I had only 67 dollars in my pocket when I arrived in America. The person who was to meet me at the airport never came. First, I lived in Toledo (Ohio) in the family of Anthony, English teacher. We had corresponded and got in touch on the phone with him for a long time before that. One day Anthony invited me to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. There I met interesting people who helped me a lot afterwards," my interlocutor continues.
       The search for a place to study wasn't going easy. Then he finally managed to complete documents for the study in the University of Toledo. In 1995, he obtained a license for teaching English in high school and became a full teacher. Soon after that, he was offered a position in one of the schools in Toledo.
       "Pupils were out of the problem district. It was impossible to keep discipline. They could sit with their legs on the desk, stand up in the middle of the lesson, be rude to a teacher, sit deliberately with their jackets on in a hot weather. I worked for 19 months in such conditions," Bulgakov says.
       In search again...
       After an extensive job hunt, he finally found a job that suited him in all respects. Our compatriot received the position of a personal assistant of the vice-president in a major furniture company. His duties included meeting and support of delegations, arrangement of company's guests. Rinat Anvarovich often acted for the vice-president on important meetings. All that time he also worked over his doctoral thesis.
       Stars, ups and downs...
       The wife of Rinat Bulgakov also defended her doctoral thesis in America. She found a good and promising job. Their son entered the college. The Bulgakovs moved to Baltimore (Maryland).
       "For 15 years of life in the United States I was through a lot of things. In 1994, I tried myself in many occupations. I worked as a loader it the warehouse at night and studied in the daytime. I understood from my own experience that it was possible for anyone to get out of poverty and reach the proper standard of living. I visited concerts of the world stars: Tina Turner, Madonna, Paul McCartney and many others. A few months before the destruction of the World Trade Centre, we were on an excursion on the roof of one of the Twin Towers. I enjoyed visiting of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Chicago, the Niagara Falls, Beverly Hills and other places of interest of the USA," Bulgakov recollects. "What have I not seen or heard there? There were both positive and bad things. That is life..."
       Homecoming
       Job hunt was not successful. Citizenship was required. They did not gain it for a score of reasons. Rinat Anvarovich had to return to Ufa. However, his knowledge and experience help him to accommodate himself to the Russian way of life. Now he is pleased to tell about America, teaches English and shares experience of "American" life.