Emigrant Diary: Europe VS San Francisco

Eastern Europe for me is a collective image, its edges stretch from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, across the Dnieper and the Moscow River, and Russian is spoken and understood everywhere. In order to define my new feelings and attachments in America and the old ones in Europe, I begin to compare and draw crooked parallels between countries, cities, and people. All this takes on a very cartoonish appearance. But in these distorted sketches, in some places, the real frightening truth is visible. What do you miss while in San Francisco?

Restaurants

Eastern Europe.

How I missed this chic, pathos, style. From the waiters in neat identical suits, from the stunning printing solutions of the menu, which is simply pleasant to hold in your hands. All these terraces, fluffy blankets, candles, fresh flowers - you immediately understand that you are in a restaurant. You know what you should look like so as not to let down the administrator and the chef, and in what order you should sort out the cutlery.

The menu is always replete with diversity, its ranges are sometimes so wide that it is easier to stop at the dessert with a glass of wine. Amazing surprises like an additional menu with rolls and sashimi in an Italian restaurant, or pilaf with mushrooms and lean borsch in Mediterranean fusion, and of marbled beef hamburgers in an Asian restaurant once again make you admire the foresight of restaurateurs, because the proposals really should be for every taste, sure to hit the bull's eye.

True, such hits occur extremely rarely. Behind all this multi-volume menu, there is often a cleverly veiled lack of talent as a cook or lack of experience from his assistants. Grace and grace, unfortunately, can not block the expensive and not very tasty dinner. But the atmosphere, outfits, looks, and general courage - this is something that you will not find in San Francisco!

San Francisco.

Simple, noisy, dark and cramped. Sometimes there is a complete lack of design solutions. Toilets that are scary to go into - only when absolutely necessary. Handwritten menus or just a short conversation with the waiter about the five dishes offered for the evening. People standing in line at the entrance, the administrator is clearly stoned, wearing a stained shirt and colored dreadlocks on his head. So, in terms of food, this will be the place that will absolutely hit the bull’s eye!

The secret is simple - everything is very “specific” (specifically on a given topic): only dim sum in Chinese dim sum (“Shanghai Dumpling King”); salads with tea leaves and ten types of seeds exclusively in Burmese restaurants (“Burma Super Star”); sushi from the Japanese, of course (Ryoko's basement); ceviche from the Peruvians (Lolo); going out in heels (optional) to Michelin-starred restaurants, fortunately San Francisco is simply replete with them (“Coi”, “Omakase”, “Benu”), fried crab in boiling oil - at the fish market, abburger with lobster - at a gas station ( Portola Valley, Palo Alto). Everything is short, clear and nothing superfluous. And showing off, choosing for a long time between burata with melon and octopus tentacles in the nearest coffee shop - this is in Europe, on vacation!

People on the street

Eastern Europe.

Day. Street. People, family, wonderful people, how I miss you! I’m walking right among them and smiling, ready to hug everyone! “Hello!” — I say in the courtyard of our house to a nice lady with a dog. This causes panic in both of them, they simultaneously draw their necks, cast a prickly glance at me from under their brows and retreat into the entrance, silently slamming the door.

According to an already developed habit, I immediately break into a wide smile when I accidentally meet the eyes of passers-by. Apparently a smile is very unbecoming to me - passers-by lower their eyes in fear, blush, some frown and shrug their shoulders irritably.

In the store, everything becomes even more intense, because the “eye contact” is virtually impossible to avoid. So in the look of the worker behind the counter / cashier, I immediately read a dumb reproach - they say, and why did you just get stuck today and buy it all, you just have to waste my precious time clicking through all this rubbish! Therefore, instead of “hello”, communication automatically wants to start with “excuse me, please”.

On the one hand, the mood is really spoiled by this general gloominess and seriousness, and on the other hand, everything is honest and transparent, without any unnecessary curtsy. People here are what they are, and no one is going to play along with you in an attempt to make this world even a little more radiant.

Life is decay, and it seems to me that in Eastern Europe they know about it from the cradle. But let these white-toothed carefree Californians, who do not understand the truth of human existence smile without a reason, smiling!

But here, with the same gloomy facial expression, men automatically open doors for me, bring bags from the supermarket to the car, pass them forward near the coveted elegant WC and in every way, albeit sullenly, show me the pleasant weakness of my gender origin. In California, each of them would have appeared before the court for the complete discrimination of my women's rights.

San Francisco.

Day. The outside. People do not hurry, they just go. They go and look forward, not under their feet, not into the phone, not at the cars passing by. Sometimes their eyes meet with mine, I don’t like this eye contact, because they immediately start to smile, and I, a proud girl born in the USSR, have no idea what to do with it! I learned to smile back only after a few months of living in California. But the catch lies in the fact that most of them will definitely say something nice, for example: “I like your sneakers!” Or “What beautiful hair you have. What kind of shampoo do you use? ”, And I usually get discouraged by trying to remember the name of the shampoo, and now I remembered and was ready to voice it, and the person went on, smiling as well and looking ahead. And I go on, for some reason, feeling deceived in the first few minutes: “Why did he smile, ask, and leave without hearing it? How all is pretended and hypocritical in this American reality! I want to go home to my own, honest and open! ”But now for the rest of the day I peek at myself at different reflections and smile, thinking about what kind of really beautiful hair I have and just worn sneakers!

Projects and startups

In Eastern Europe, in general, everyone is a fan of difficult-to-implement, long-gestating, abruptly completed projects. "What are you doing now?" - “Well, I’m working on a very interesting project here!”, “Great, tell me” - “No, I can’t do it yet!” This is what the casual dialogue during pleasant chance meetings is based on. And it’s always so interesting to listen, brainstorm ideas, recommend people, share contacts, but at this moment you need to behave with restraint and indifference, so that you are a potential threat to this project - you won’t appreciate it, criticize it, won’t understand it, and in the end you’ll destroy the idea, quickly and having realized it clandestinely in a matter of days in his garage.

Those few who, by the simplicity of their soul, are still inclined to trust you, usually talk about something really interesting, large-scale, global, and at the same time completely abstract, not concentrating on details, forgetting the nuances, strongly focusing on the rapid flow of funds and without a clear structural understanding of why / who it is done and how it will work not only during a decent pitching, but also in a living human environment.

Thus, shops of expensive and exclusive brand clothes are constantly opening here, safely closing in half a year, unable to withstand competition from such online giants as net-a-porter or farfetch. The production of already low-budget films and serials is frozen due to unfinished scenarios, illiterately compiled filming schedules, and simply due to the lack of funds in the budget for post production. Here, one after another, great ideas for applications evaporate, as they thought too long, weighed, beat on the focus group, figuring out the exact age of potential users, and as a result, this application has already appeared in the apple store, created by hands and head of western IT people. Although it is necessary to express a separate respect to the two brightest domestic applications - MSQRD and Prisma.

And opening and closing restaurants and cafes is just such a sophisticated hobby - either the wrong location, or a rainy summer, or simply not the season, or the sanitary and epidemiological station and the tax office conspiring with each other. But the main thing is that project life here is always in full swing - today the application failed, then tomorrow we will stir up an advertising agency or, better yet, a small credit bank, or we will close this pet store. Because African pygmy hedgehogs still did not enjoy the expected demand, and in its place we will open a private English-speaking kindergarten or a small underground club with a closed casino for VIPs!

And all this will also be closed after miserable months after a magnificent opening. Not because the good ideas of the nedoconts are thought out or the team with creative minds is just a little lazy, but simply because in my beautiful Eastern Europe everyone thinks broadly. Everyone has such a soul, and the phrase “to be more specific about your ideas” causes irritation and bewilderment, because in principle it is not clear what it means. Here everyone always wants to embrace the immense, and if you want, you have to take it, and come what may.

San Francisco.

So, without a "to be more specific" there is not a single startup. Whether it is a regular application or a vintage store, a health food supermarket or a pizzeria, each of them will have its own specific specifics, specifics, profile. This will allow us to quickly and efficiently gather the right audience around, give the client a clear and capacious offer, spend all our resources on developing not a global, but an absolutely local, structurally formulated idea for themselves, as well as a narrow focus on avoiding excessive competition in their industry.

Here, for example wallpaper. Such a wonderful cozy, homely word. Immediately imagine flowers, waves and romantic zigzags. And then there is a company that boldly declares - zigzags with waves to hell, but the flowers are possible and leave, but our theme is a print from banana sheets; Hydrangeas, hibiscus flowers, daffodils and even roses may bloom on top of our bright large green leaves, but one thing remains unshakable and inviolable - banana leaves! And in one moment the company becomes a trend, because it is very fun and extraordinary to stick the white walls of the house, restaurant, office, club with this avant-garde tropical greenery. And now I also want these in the bedroom!

Applications is a separate multi-volume topic in San Francisco. Yes, indeed, everyone here has an application, or rather its idea. Then every second has this application on Kickstarter, slowly but surely collecting budgets, every third participates with their brainchild on TechCrunch, peering incredulously into the faces of investors, and every fourth, joyfully shouting out “Oh My Gosh”, hangs with a beautiful icon in the treasured Apple Store.

With all this myriad of ideas, the applications created manage to remain extremely “specific”. Do you like to meditate, but are too lazy to go to yoga, communicate with a guru and read Osho’s teachings, here’s “Head Space” for you - sit on a stool, put headphones in your ears and fly away to other dimensions. This application will teach you how to quickly and efficiently disconnect from worldly worries without any unnecessary information of a religious nature. Have you bought a bunch of things on net-a-porter and have absolutely no idea what to combine them with correctly? Here you go, “IStyleMyself” - take pictures of your old and new things, and the smart application will stylishly and harmoniously combine them with each other, giving you different options for all occasions.

Well, everyone has already been captivated by the innovative version of the taxi - black cars, drivers in suits, calling through an application, you and the driver instantly see each other on the map - yes, and Uber also comes from San Francisco.

I was fascinated by parallels, completely forgetting that we, in principle, are perpendicular in nature. Yes, “to be more specific” really works, but this can only be understood and assessed at a distance of 10 000 kilometers from such a collective and broad, in every sense of the word, Eastern Europe.

Comparing the incomparable is a refuge for the jumping thoughts of a permanent immigrant. And in the end there is only one unshakable truth - well, where we do not exist! Therefore, we fly further, missing the harsh faces and pretentious restaurants, but already falling head over heels in love with fake porcelain smiles and madmen with banana wallpapers behind their backs.

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