Sarah Seegars was intrigued by a sentence in John Codega’s dating app bio: “I was detained in Russia one time.” On their first date, John shared the story of an incident that occurred overseas during the early part of his teaching career. Two years later, in 2024, the couple, who were then engaged to be married, sat down with StoryCorps so that John, a teacher in Columbia, could recount the story that captured Sarah’s heart.
TRANSCRIPT:
Seegars: It's our first date, and you say, “I was detained in Russia one time,” and then you tell me this story, and that was two years ago. So, first of all, John, why were you in Russia?
Codega: I was there as part of a teaching program called Deliberating in a Democracy. I got a call from a lady, Bebs, who's my travel hero.
Seegars: Bebs?
Codega: Bebs. Yeah. I mean, this is a lady who traveled the Trans-Siberian Railroad with a 2- and 3-year-old through communist Russia to get back from Japan.
Seegars: Jeez.
Codega: Yeah, she's hardcore. So Bebs calls. She's got a real gravelly southern voice. And she told me I was in this program and that my partner school was in Kaluga, Russia. So, she says, “You gotta get a visa.” Okay, fine. What do I fill out? “Just put down ‘tourist.’ It'll be okay. That's what we've been doing for the last few times we've gone. No problems, no big deal.” It finally shows up. So, I'm going to Russia. It's like my dream of what Russia looks like. It's all Stalinist apartment buildings, brutalist architecture everywhere. Just real…looks like the real deal. This school had a dentist on staff.
Seegars: Nice.
Codega: So, the kids got dental care. We're coming out of the dentist’s office, and I remember coming into this foyer, there's a camera crew. They're like, “Oh, you know, we're here filming a story for a local TV station. Could we interview these American teachers?” So we're all like, “Sure.” Now, we're most of the way through the week. And so, we do the Q&A, and about halfway through, we hear, “knock, knock, knock.” And I look over and there's this woman at the door. She tries to come in, and Nina, the teacher, is like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.” So, we finish out with the kids, and that woman comes back in with two other people, and they're all wearing blue suits. So, Nina's like, we need to go with these people. So, Marguerite and I sit down at this big table in the principal's office, and the lady goes, “Passports.” The lady looks at them and she goes, “You're here conducting seminars.” I said, “No, we're just visiting schools.” “No, no, no. Conducting seminars. You're here on a tourist visa. You're violating your visa.” She's got our passports, and “boop.” She opens her jacket…right in her inside pocket. We go into this police station, and it starts off with, “What's your mobile phone number? What's your address in America? Who is your employer? How much do you make a month?” So about three hours by this point, they keep asking all these questions, and at that point, the lady turns over this piece of paper, and they have prepared my confession for me. And it's all in Russian. It's basically like I was there knowingly violating the Russian constitution, that I had entered the country on false pretenses, that I was there conducting seminars, is what they called it, and that I had no intention of being a tourist and all this stuff.
Seegars: Confessing.
Codega: And then they're like, “Well, now we'll talk about the fine.” So, it was about 250 bucks. Like, 5,000 rubles I was looking at. But, yeah, so that was it. So, I got home safe and sound, and it's the best story I have.
Seegars: What did Bebs have to say for herself when you got back?
Codega: Oh, she was like, “Nah, you're fine. You got back.”
Seegars: You made it back.
Codega: No, you were fine.
Seegars: Could have been worse, though, right?
Codega: Could have been worse. Could have been.
Seegars: Now, you were able to use that story on your dating profile.
Codega: That's true.
Seegars: And it didn't kill with the Russian women, but guess who it killed with?
Seegars and Codega: (together) This lady.
