Interview with Sedukhin family
Hi everyone. My name is Petr. Three months ago, my wife, daughter, and I moved to the USA. My wife’s name is Marina, and our daughter’s name is Nastenka. She recently turned twenty months old.
I met Marina in the second year of the Medical Academy, and since then, we have been together. I completed my internship at a rehabilitation center for the disabled. But I did not work there for a long time because, as a young doctor, I dreamed of surgical practice. So I saved up money, paid for my education with a rehabilitation center, and began considering continuing my education. After graduating from the academy, Marina got a job as a representative in a pharmaceutical company. Subsequently, I also got a job as a sales representative in a company that sold consumables and tools for trauma operations. That job allowed me to attend scientific conferences and training courses along with the doctors for whom I organized those trips. In addition, I found time to study in the hospital. As a result, I have participated in intramedullary osteosynthesis, arthroscopy, arthroplasty, and endoprosthetic.
In 2012, I decided I was tired of the difficult Siberian climate and moved to Sochi. Marina supported my idea. She quickly found a job in another pharmaceutical company in a new location. I could not continue my career in a small town and took it as a chance to start something new.
I worked as a ski instructor in a resort in my early years. In parallel, I completed the course of an international mountain guide in Kyrgyzstan. I spent a lot of time in the mountains, teaching guests how to ski, organizing tours, and climbing. But there was a job at the resort that everyone wanted, but it wasn’t easy to get it. It was working in the anti-avalanche service. And finally, they needed a new employee. I made it to the interview and proved that my experience, skills, and knowledge about mountains, snow, and avalanches, received from European experts during my training as a mountain guide, is enough to become a worthy member of their team.
People around me presented the work of an avalanche operator as an opportunity to ride in a resort after snowfalls waist-deep in the snow among avalanches when access is closed to everyone else due to the high level of danger. I started as a meteorological technician. I collected weather and snow data and maintained the infrastructure.
In a couple of years, I received a diploma in meteorology from Moscow State University, read many books, and reached an engineering position. My duties included the formation of meteorological and avalanche forecasts, planning, and managing anti-avalanche measures. My authority included changing the resort’s operation and restricting access to dangerous areas. I was responsible for the safety of guests, resort staff, and infrastructure. I constantly wanted to do my job even more accurately and faster. I attended scientific conferences, exchanged experiences with other specialists, studied various theories of snow cover evolution and avalanche formation, and tried them in practice in my work. I followed the research results and invented and carried out my experiments. By processing the received data, I improved my approaches to work. Gradually, I began to share my experience, lectured about avalanches, created a course for training mountain guides, and traveled to different regions of Russia and Kyrgyzstan. I collaborated with travel companies and guide agencies, analyzed the characteristics of their areas, and made recommendations on how to ensure avalanche safety.
Relatively recently, Nastenka burst into our lives, and a month and a half later, the same lottery draw took place, again turning our lives upside down. Sometimes I think that it’s she won. However, I found the result much later, while we were in Morocco, moving there for permanent residence. After weighing all the pros and cons, I decided to do what was best for my family.
To date, I have found my first American job. It requires me to speak, communicate my thoughts and understand English, which helps me learn it. But, of course, I want to get back to travel and exploration, and not necessarily related to avalanches and mountains. I like it, and it works well. Marina is still shy and prefers to stay at home with our daughter.
Many thanks to all those who helped us on our difficult journey. We met many new, kind, helpful, friendly, and caring, people. Once again, I will confirm that our main wealth is people who will lend a helping hand at the right time.
We like our new place; almost everything is unusual around us, and we must study every day. We make acquaintances, try new activities, and study Austin. I hope we will see the rest of America too. We try not to waste a minute in vain and lead an active lifestyle.
Contact information:
Sedikhin Petr
Email: petr.guide@gmail.com
Instagram: petr_sedukhin