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They left behind their lives as elementary school teachers in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to move to La Crosse more than five years ago after Dilyana won a green card as part of a U.S Immigration and Naturalization Service lottery.
“I’m chasing the American dream with my family,” said 39-year-old Boris. “Opportunities here are so much greater, and I want these opportunities for my kids.”
His 10-year-old son, Mihail, is a student at SOTA I at Hamilton Elementary School, and his 15-year-old daughter, Adelina, is a Central High School freshman.
Boris said his family settled in La Crosse because he has a cousin living in the area. A green card is granted to immigrants only if they have relatives in the United States.
He said he will never forget the date of arrival — April 24, 2003.
Boris and his family landed at the La Crosse Municipal Airport about midnight with only several bags, including one pot and some dishes, to start their new life.
“That’s why I cannot forget this day, the longest day of my life,” Boris said. “It’s the day we started a new page in our life.”
Boris and Dilyana had mixed feelings about leaving their homeland.
“We had family, a profession and our jobs, and we worried about how our kids would adjust to this country,” Dilyana said. “It’s been a challenge, but America is a challenge for everybody.”
Boris said he never thought he would have an opportunity to live in America, so he was ready to emigrate.
“You would blame yourself if you didn’t do it,” Boris said “I was ready for something more.
“The transition felt like you were in the middle of a hurricane,” he said. “There were hard moments, but when you’re in the middle of a problem, you don’t know it’s a problem.”
Boris and Dilyana didn’t speak much English when they arrived but had support from a small Bulgarian community of seven or eight families in the La Crosse area. They said they are grateful to Kwik Trip for hiring them in their bakery where they worked while returning to school to prepare for nursing.
“We wanted to go to college to have a good profession, job security and challenges,” Boris said. “We wanted to use our experience and knowledge to help people.
“We decided to jump into cold water, and it was a jump,” he said. “But we fell in love with nursing, and now we’re going to school just like our kids.”
They both have taken their general courses at Western Technical College and are on a waiting list for the nursing program. Meanwhile, Boris works as a certified nursing assistant on the general medical floor at Franciscan Skemp, and Dilyana works as a CNA in the ICU on a different shift.
“There are moments when I miss teaching, like when I go to my son’s parent-teacher conference,” Boris said. “But we have left that behind and now look to a new life.”
Boris and Dilyana like working at Franciscan Skemp and would like to stay there when they get their nursing degrees.
“People are very friendly, warm and very patient and understanding,” Boris said.
Boris and Dilyana didn’t have a negative impression of the United States when they came to this country.
“Americans are very hard workers, and the surprises were good,” Dilyana said.
They have been back to Bulgaria once, and both of their mothers have visited them for a few months.
They plan to begin the process soon to become American citizens, but for now they are focused on their jobs, school and children.
“I’m a step closer to the American dream,” he said. “I work hard, I pay my bills, I bought a house and I feel more part of the community.”
As Boris sees it, he is like the thousands of immigrants who came to America generations ago in search of a better life.
“I’m an American, too,” he said. “I just took a later plane.”
