When I was a teenager growing up in Russia, I felt studying very boring, I wanted to leave school and have my own life. There were only two ways for me to do this—working in the toy factory in my town, or getting married. I chose the first one. I was nervous when I told my father that I wanted to leave school. I thought he would say, “No! You are going to college.” Instead, he took me by surprise when he said, “OK. We’ll go to the toy factory.”
Two days later, he took me to the factory. I had a very romantic idea of working in a factory. I had imagined everyone to be friendly working together and having fun. I even imagined there would be music and singing. I guess I had watched too many movies as a teenager.
When we arrived at the factory gates, my father spoke to the guard and one minute later we went inside. My father said, “Take your time. Look around.” I walked around the factory, looking at the buildings, the workers, and listening to the noise. It was terrible. I ran back to my father and said, “I want to go home.”
He asked me, “What do you think of the factory?”
“It’s terrible,” I replied.
“And you have another choice, but I think getting married is even worse!” he said.
I went back to school the next day. From then on, I studied as hard as I could. Finally I got into a good college. I enjoyed studying English so I decided to major in languages at college. Thanks to my father and our trip to the factory, I now work at the United Nations and my father is very proud of me. I married a very good man and my life is much better than it would have been working in the factory!
The writer lived in ________ when she was a teenager.
我
