After months as refugees, a couple who fled Ukraine arrive in Berks
Jun. 10—It hasn't been the first 15 months of marriage that Jose Jr. and Tetiana Class imagined.
The couple, who first met online in 2020, pictured an extended period of wedded bliss.
The Berks County man and Ukrainian woman were expecting an extended honeymoon where they could relax, enjoy each other's company and celebrate all the firsts that would come with raising their infant daughter.
"I thought it would be lovely, " said Jose, a 24-year-old who grew up in Reading. "We thought we'd travel a bit, maybe take a trip to the Black Sea."
Jose, Tetiana and their daughter, Sophia, have gotten a chance to travel. But it has been out of necessity, not by choice. And it certainly has not been lovely.
"We did travel, but not the nice way," Jose said with a wry smile.
Instead, the trio found themselves refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. That flight ended just over a week ago when, after three months of uncertainty and frustration, they finally found themselves on American soil.
The Reading Eagle profiled the couple's efforts to escape Ukraine earlier this year. Last week, they shared an update of their experience during an interview at the Reading home of Jose's mother, Iris Feliciano.
Fleeing from war
Jose and Tetiana's romance began online, and blossomed in February 2021 when the pair married.
Six months later they welcomed Sophia into the world.
With a baby on the way, Jose decided to stop his back and forth travel between the U.S. and Ukraine and, in April 2021, officially moved there. The young family settled down in Dnipro, a regional capital in eastern Ukraine where Tetiana's family lives.
The area is adjacent to a region that for years has been a flashpoint between Ukraine and Russia, including the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea.
Jose began hearing reports about a Russian threat to Ukraine last summer, and by December he became aware of Russian troops amassing on the border. In February the situation grew worse, and U.S. officials began urging Americans to leave the country.
Jose and Tetiana decided to move to Lviv, a city in western Ukraine near the border with Poland. They figured that would provide a quick exit if Russian forces invaded.
About a week after arriving in Lviv, Russia did invade. Jose and Tetiana packed up Sophia, grabbed a few suitcases and headed for the border.
The trip was a daunting one — they had to make a portion of it by foot and were faced with mobs of people also trying to cross the border — but ultimately successful. Once the family entered Poland they were picked up by a Polish family they had met online who had offered them a place to stay.
The first part of their journey was over. But that didn't mean things would suddenly become simple.
Bouncing around
At first, Jose and Tetiana thought they had found salvation.
The Polish couple who picked them up at the border shuttled them four hours to their home in Warsaw. The couple told them that they could stay as long as they needed.
That was a relief, since a desired move to the U.S. was likely a long way off. Tetiana needed a visa, and obtaining one is a process that can take months.
Jose and Tetiana figured they would stay in Poland while they waited. At least there they would be safe from the dangers of the war.
But after only a week, the Polish family told them that a situation had arisen that meant they could no longer offer them a place to stay. The news left the couple with few options, as all the hotels in Warsaw were already booked by other fleeing refugees.
Jose decided to reach out to another family he had been in contact with online that had offered help, this one living outside of Frankfurt, Germany. The German couple said they had room for Jose and his family, so with some financial help from friends and family he booked a flight.
Jose, Tetiana and Sophia stayed with the German family for about a month, still eagerly anticipating the moment Tetiana's visa would come through.
"Basically, it was a waiting game," Jose said.
Unfortunately, Jose said, the German couple experienced a family medical emergency. It meant he and his family would need to move, once again.
They were able to find an Airbnb for $1,500 a month. The price was really more than they could afford but appeared to be their only option.
A day after they booked it, however, luck struck.
Jose said a friend of the German family heard about their plight. He happened to have an unused apartment, and offered it to Jose and Tetiana rent-free.
The family would stay there until they were finally able to travel to the U.S.
Somehow making it through
The last three months have been, simply put, stressful, Jose said.
"All of the traveling has been hard, especially with a baby," he said. "It's been difficult, long. It was just us, and we were inexperienced in these countries.
"And we were worried all the time about being asked to leave. We somehow made it through."
Jose said he is appreciative of all the help his family has received, from being offered places to stay to getting donations of clothes and toys for Sophia. But it has been a struggle, nonetheless.
In Poland and Germany, Jose and Tetiana faced a language barrier, which made even simple things like visiting a store difficult.
And in Frankfurt, the couple discovered the cost of living was a bit above their means.
"Germany is expensive," Jose said, rolling his eyes.
The couple didn't have much money when they fled Ukraine. They lucked out a bit by, eventually, finding an apartment where they didn't have to pay rent — only having to handle the cost of utilities.
And, Jose said, he was fortunate he was able to work once he settled in Germany. A customer service representative, he was able to work remotely — albeit at some strange hours.
"When we got to Germany I texted my boss and said, 'Well, I guess I'm fired,' " he said, explaining he had been unable to communicate with him during his flight from Ukraine and time in Poland. "But he said no, he understood what were were going through."
Employment provided a bit of relief for Jose and Tetiana, but her visa status loomed over them like a dark cloud. With the war raging in Ukraine, it was difficult to get all the paperwork she needed to complete the process.
That process was slow and often frustrating, but eventually moved forward. On April 28 she had her in-person visa interview.
She then had to schedule a medical exam. That, of course, was not easy.
A medical center in Frankfurt couldn't see her until July. So instead, she and Jose took two trains to make the four-hour journey to Munich.
On May 24, the couple's anxiety over the status of Tetiana's visa got the better of them. They decided they needed to go to the U.S. embassy to check on it in person.
They took two trains and a taxi to make the nearly hourlong trek, only to discover the embassy was closed.
The next day, however, they got an email. Tetiana's visa was ready.
They repeated their hourlong journey, picked it up and booked a flight as soon as they got home.
"I told her, once we get your visa we're going right away," Jose said.
So, on May 28 they hopped on a plane to take the nine-hour flight from Germany to JFK Airport in New York.
"I think he was more excited than me," Tetiana said. "It wasn't that I wasn't excited. I just wasn't looking forward to having a baby on a plane for nine hours."
Jose, Tetiana and Sophia landed at JFK about 2:40 p.m. His mom picked them up and drove them the three hours to Reading.
Finally, they had made it to the U.S.
"It was shock and exhaustion and excitement," Jose said. "A lot of mixed emotions."
Settling in
Tetiana had never been to the U.S. before. But, she said, she has always had a fondness for the country.
"All my life I watched American movies and television," she said. "I feel I've been living here, mentally."
So far, she said, reality has lived up to her expectations.
"The first thing I said was, 'I feel like I'm in a movie right now,' " she said.
She's discovered a love for Auntie Anne's soft pretzels — fresh, warm ones, at least. She's been amazed by the manicured lawns of the suburbs and the way people decorate their homes.
She was thrilled to see her first real-life, bright-yellow American school bus.
"Everything is just so beautiful," she said.
Jose and Tetiana had a visible sense of relief as they sat in the living room of Jose's mom's home. They smiled as they playfully argued about details of their story. They glowed as they spoke about their daughter and the family's future.
That future will likely include yet another move.
Jose said the couple are trying to figure out their next step. They plan to save up some money and move out of his mother's place and into one of their own.
He suggested perhaps they'd relocate to Pittsburgh.
"Florida! Florida!" Tetiana shouted as she clapped and bounced up and down on the sofa.
Her dream was dashed a bit after being informed that the Sunshine State is known for its oppressive heat and humidity.
"I don't like the heat," she said, a defeated tone to her voice.
There will be time to sort all of that out. In the meantime, Jose and Tetiana have been trying to process what they went through over the last three months.
"I think I'm going crazy a little bit with it all," Tetiana said.
Jose agreed.
"It's a lot to process," he said. "It's overwhelming, honestly."
Still worrying
While Jose and Tetiana have found relief in their arrival in the U.S., the couple still have plenty to worry about.
Tetiana's family is still in Ukraine, and the war is still raging.
Tetiana said that while she and Jose were living in Germany, her mother visited for about three weeks. She had ridden on a bus for two days to get there.
"I was trying to convince her to come with us to America," Tetiana said. "But she went back to Ukraine."
Tetiana said she has repeatedly tired to get her family to flee their home in Dnipro, but to no avail. She said her father is unable to leave because men younger than 60 aren't allowed to.
And, she said, her grandmother has had health problems that would make travel and the life of a refugee impossible.
Tetiana said she speaks to her mother daily over the phone and through various communication applications. The mother says the situation isn't that bad.
"They're just living their lives," she said. "They just go about their life and every so often there's a bomb over here, a bomb over there.
"They say it's not that bad. There aren't any Russian soldiers in the city. They just sometimes see rockets flying by."
Jose is dumbfounded by the description.
"It's crazy. I think it's crazy," he said.
Tetiana said that along with her family, many of her friends are still in Ukraine. And, she said, she has seen on social media that some who had fled are returning.
"They're just getting used to the war," she said with a shrug.
Tetiana hasn't been able to get used to it. She said she has suffered from nightmares where she's still in Ukraine watching her loved ones be attacked.
"I'm very scared for their lives," she said.
