>>>BTW, I keep forgetting to ask you about your surname - are you really a Lithuanian, or just a Russian with origins there?
>>
>>You are correct that my last name means Lithuanian. But I was born in the Western Ukraine; so my connection to Lithuania is probably in the ancestry. My father was born in Bessarabia, which at the time was part of Romania.
>>But as far as being "russian", it is only in America I am referred to as a Russian. In the CCCP I was always told that I am a Jew; and to make sure I didn't forget it, I was reminded almost every day :) (The reason I left the CCCP)
>
>You did hint to all of this previously, but I just had to check my memory (IOW finally forget about always forgetting to ask you).
>
>I wonder how many "Russians" in the US have the same referral problem.

There are many jokes about this "misconception" :) We were told we were Jews in Russia. We are told we are Russians in America. Even in Israel, Russian Jews are called Russians. So, ironically, if we want to maintain our ethnic background, we have to live in Russia/Ukraine :)