I was and I will...

I was born in USSR, a country, which doesn't exist anymore. Simply, people all over the world called it Russia. My dad was a military officer, so we moved around the continent a lot. We lived in Moldova, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Russia and Kazakhstan. So, it is difficult to tell what my home town is; however, I consider Kazakhstan as my home country. I finished high school there, built my career and gave birth to two amazing kids.
In high school along with academics I learned how to shoot a gun, figure skate and ride a motorcycle. I have gotten a few awards at the national and regional gun shooting championships in Kazakhstan. I was very curious, brave and hungry for life with all its consequences. I laughed and cried loudly and honestly without looking back.
I guess from constant moving from place to place with my parents, I got a passion for exploring new cultural environments, meeting new people, learning about various traditions and customs and being ready to express myself in different circumstances. I think this is why I chose to be a journalist.
After I graduated from main university of Kazakhstan, I began developing my interesting career. I worked for the big and small TV stations as for big and small newspapers. At age 24-25, I have gotten my own TV show for youth and teens, "Specter". There was music, politics, news, interesting people and controversial opinions. I loved it a lot.
My life situation changed unexpectedly and drastically; I was offered to direct public relations in Superior Court. Later this job brought me to a law enforcement field and “made” me a policeman. In police department I again managed the public relations sector. My job was about what Americans used to watch on the TV show called “Cops”, "Cold Case", "ID", etc. I was participating in criminal investigations, arrests, rides, surveillance events and brainstorm meetings. I was cameraman, announcer, editor, script writer, policeman, coy and car driver all at once because of the job circumstance. While working for police, I gained a gigantic life experience when good and bad, life and death, bravery and betrayal exists together. I appreciate that period of my career a lot. It has given me understanding of life meaning, I became more mature, tolerant and wise at that job. I can tell a lot of sad, scary and funny stories about my work of that period.
When I turned 30, I accepted a new job offer as a chief-editor of the regional government newspaper. It was a small piece of official mass media, but very snobby and conservative, kind of old communist style. I decided to refresh a form and content of the newspaper and make it closer to all readers. Through the Peace Corp I invited two volunteers from England and USA to share their publishing experience and teach me something new that I didn't know. They came. It was very unusual for a small city in Kazakhstan, and news got spread all over the country. My colleges from different mass media formation, TV, radio and newspapers, interviewed me and wrote about my brave revolutionary steps. Unfortunately, municipality wasn't very happy about that, so I didn't stay long at this position. However, I never regretted about what I did because I felt so good by telling people the truth. Besides, there was another consequence: distributing district manager from San Francisco Chronicle became my husband. This is how I end up in California.
Of course I went through terrible cultural shock. When I came, I had an idea that America is waiting for me and would be happy to have me as a professional and strong person and journalist. Alias, I was wrong. Americans struggle many obstacles to achieve their goals, the same way Russians do. When I figured that out, I faced a dilemma: to go to school and get an academic knowledge or begin working and assimilating into society and learning unwritten social rules and Americans’ habits. I was hesitating to make any choice, so I did the both. I took a few English and Math classes in a community college; I worked as well. Finally, I realized that I am not progressing any more and need to do something new to move forward and grow up as a person. I finished computer school and received QA Engineer certificate, but felt like I was not at the right place. There were a lot of people who would like to do this job, but didn’t get an offer because I was occupying the position. So I left the field because I didn’t want to live with that guilt.
My next idea was to become an ultrasound technician. I hope I made a right decision, to take the course at Lincoln University. It is my first semester and it is difficult to tell yet what my future is going to be. Ideally, I will finish the 2-year program and start working in medical field. After that I don’t want to stop studying and would like to proceed my goal of becoming a real professional. Ultrasound, I believe, has a big future (not only in medical field but in physical science in general), so there is never end for growing up and improving. I am committed to it.

By Diana Wagle