‘In Poland is no problem, we’re more free. . . . people were not afraid to complain.’

Ewa Moore, born in Warsaw and educated in Moscow, finds Vista a little strange at times. For one thing, the weather’s always warm. And the neighbors in the apartment complex seem to be moving in and out all the time--they just don’t stay put like in the old country. But living here does have its good points, the 30-year-old Russian language instructor concedes. There’s certainly no shortage of work. It seems like everybody these days wants to learn to speak Russian. Times staff writer Leslie Wolf interviewed Moore at her home and Don Bartletti photographed her.

I was born in Poland and went with my parents to Moscow when I was about 3 years old. My father is an executive for the trade company in Poland, so he was sent there for five years. I went to the institute of foreign languages in Moscow and got my master’s degree over there in Russian language. Now I’m working on my master’s in business administration at National University.

It’s hard to compare colleges; it’s completely different. I would say that going to university in communist countries is more like high school here. It’s more strict. You can’t miss the classes, and you need to have the note from the doctor if you miss a class.

After university I was working in Poland for Polish television as a Russian interpreter. I went to France to travel and stayed to teach the Russian language in a private school, and I met my husband in Paris.

I came to America, and I’ve been living in Vista in this apartment over four years. I miss Europe, but you can get used to anything.

My family I miss the most. Every summer I go back to Poland to visit, and this year I went to Moscow.

The prices are still going up, but in Poland people were very excited about a non-Communist government.

I think there are good changes in the Soviet Union, too, because people are feeling more free and they are complaining. I’m not saying before they were satisfied, but they were not complaining about it loudly.

They are traveling more now and not afraid to have contact with foreigners. In Poland it is no problem, we’re more free. We could travel always and people were not afraid to complain and say bad about the government.

Here I have traveled around California and been to Arizona, Las Vegas, the East Coast and Mexico. Everything is pretty.

Now I’m working at Palomar College teaching the Russian language and tutoring privately.

Because of the interest in the Soviet Union right now, at the beginning it was over 40 students for the Russian language class. It takes me a lot of time to check the homework, then study my own homework.

The people from the Soviet Arts Festival called me, and probably I will get involved with it. They wanted me to work for a theater as a translator. I said I don’t have too much time, but I hope I can meet a lot of interesting people, make connections. I think it’s exciting. It’s not every day the Russians are coming.

I’m trying to keep Polish traditions here. However, I am lazy. By far the biggest holiday is Christmas.

I am cooking the hot meal which has 12 dishes, no meat, and I have the Polish carols for Christmas. However, as my husband is American, on Thanksgiving we have turkey. It’s completely something new for me.

My mother is coming in December and will stay for one month. It’s the first time she has ever been here. She doesn’t speak English, and my husband doesn’t speak Polish, so it will be interesting to see how they communicate. They have never met.