We live in Kings Beach by Lake Tahoe. It is an insanely beautiful place where people come to vacation from San Francisco and other big and small cities. Just so you can picture it.

"Twenty three dollars and three cents, please" or about the attitude towards Russians.

• "That will be twenty-three dollars and three cents, please," I say confidently and clearly to an American. And then comes the phrase I've gotten used to over the last three months:

• "Sure, one minute. But may I ask, you have such a wonderful accent, where are you from?"

• "I am from Russia, Saint Petersburg."

• "Wow! That's great, that's a cultural city! How is the World Cup going? I saw on the internet that they built such a stadium, I think in Saint Petersburg, by the way. Can you tell me about the Hermitage, or about the capital of Russia? By the way, are you here for long? Do you like it here? My name is Thomas, what's yours? Well, see you later, thank you so much, have a great day and, of course, welcome to America!"

By the way, that is exactly why everyone already knows my name and says hello to me on the street - it's so great So, this kind of dialogue is a typical situation that happens every day. My tongue is already falling off from telling everyone the same thing, but they are genuinely interested, and some even ask how much a ticket costs and say they would like to visit there too. I've even met those who have already been to Saint Petersburg and they said it will be in their hearts forever.

In all this time, I haven't encountered any negativity. A couple of times they asked where the accent was from, and upon hearing my answer, they replied, "Oh, I see! I knew it right away." I've talked to different people, and not once did anyone ask about politics, our president, etc. It seems to me they have no idea that there are any sanctions or anything like that. Everyone is friendly and insanely sociable. And they often laugh at their own president themselves.