I immediately thought of my next door neighbors, immigrants from the Soviet Union. They were Russian Refuseniks who finally got out in the period of Glasnost and Perestroika. The are ultra proud Americans now and their son graduated from Harvard with a full scholarship.
My GF/SO used to live next door to a Ukrainian family. Hubby was a physicist in the old country. His wife, whom we later learned had lukemia, died several months later after they had moved in. Very sad. He was a great guy loved to grill out.
My GF moved away and we lost track of him. He did share with us his recipe for Ukrainian (Russian borscht is shit - his words) borscht. And a batch he made. Outstanding meal.
Despite the loss of his wife, he was making the most of his new country.