Markku and Alla, 2002

My name is Markku. I am from Finland myself, but I found my love in Russia. The most interesting thing is that the person who helped me was my old friend. His name is Ville. We have been friends since childhood, we shared everything, helped each other, in other words, we are almost brothers. We have a lot in common interests, tastes sometimes people even say that we look like each other.

Our fates are also alike; we were both confirmed bachelors until 40 years of age. It was not that we didnt care for having a family, a love companion and kids. We worked a lot and we did not have much time for meeting girls. So one day we thought it is not a bad idea to find girlfriends through a dating site.

So we addressed this agency and I really did not thank that so many girls could be interested in me. Their photos showed that they were unbelievably beautiful. I corresponded with several, but I couldnt choose the one that I would trust most. I couldnt get through on the phone to some of them, with others we couldnt find much in common.

In fact, it was not the language barrier. We had English as the language of our communication. I realized that Russian girls know English even better than most Finns. However, I wasnt able to find common ground with any of them. Of course, we conversed and corresponded on many interesting topics, we answered each others questions, we tried to find out more about each other. But I feel like I didnt get to know any girl properly.

I discussed it with Ville, and he said that from his side things were going great. As I found out, he was almost sure about one girl and was even going to visit her. So my friend empathized with me and advised me to correspond with one girl that he had written letters to before. Ville described her as a very beautiful, intelligent and interesting girl.

It turned out that he and Alla corresponded for about a month and he managed to get to know her well enough during that time. Ville assured me that she would be the perfect match for me, that he already knows her and has known me for such a long while that he is sure we would be very good together. Ville also liked Alla very much, but she was taller than him and he was not very happy about it. Ville found himself another girl called Vera.

I certainly decided to make one more attempt and to write a letter to that girl Alla. After several letters, I also understood what a wonderful girl she was. My friend was absolutely right, Alla was very beautiful, clever, she was so interesting to communicate with. It seemed to me that she could keep up any conversation, become a good friend for anyone.

I think that one cannot find everything about a person through the Internet. However, back then I was sure that I found out enough about Alla, so if we were to meet in person, my admiration would only grow and even increase. So I was not going to wait for our meeting for a long time. I called her and said that I was very eager to meet her. To my sheer happiness, it turned out that Alla was already waiting for me to make up my mind that I wanted to visit her.

I knew that Ville was also making plans to come and see his girlfriend in Russia, but he was not going to do it as soon as I was. I decided not to wait for him. It was March 2002. The long-awaited Spring of my life. Alla then lived not far from St. Petersburg, in Gatchina. This is the place which I have never been to.

I stayed in a hotel that was located nearby, so it was easy for me to get to Gatchina. Actually, Alla went to St. Petersburg more often because she worked there, and she came to see me almost every day. When I just arrived, Alla met me at the St. Petersburg train station, which was really nice of her. For me it was another proof that she was serious about me. Alla even took some time off at work in order to accompany me to the hotel. This Russian lady surprised me every day!

We spent our first romantic evening in a Chinese restaurant, I knew that she liked Eastern cuisine. I am not a great fan of this kind of food, but for Allas sake I was ready to do it. We went to other restaurants and cafes and once even went to a casino! All in all, we spent our time together having as much fun as we could. The two weeks that I spent with Alla resembled a honeymoon before wedding.

When I was leaving, Alla saw me off at the station. It was not easy for us to part. But we knew it was not for long, things have changed a lot. In summer, in the end of August, Alla came to my place in Helsinki. It was a long-awaited event for us. Finland is a very beautiful and rich country. I had no doubts that Alla would like it here and I would do everything for her to like it.

I would also like to mention that my friend Villes story also had a happy end. His wedding with Vera took place a month later than our own one did. Meanwhile, me and Alla got together on September the 16th 2002. This day became a very important date in our lives. Every day on that day we go to a Chinese or Japanese restaurant. I even got used to Eastern cuisine.

Still, I like the way Alla cooks. At first she could only cook Russian meals, but then she learned how to make Finnish food too. Alla takes great care of the house, she is a fantastic friend and a lovely woman. With her, my life became more simple and more fun. I am very happy with her!


Presented by Anastasia Affiliate "Cross Roads St.Pete"