'Enough five minutes to fall in love with this city': Ukrainian told how to become local in New York

Alicia Keys, in the chorus of Brooklyn's Jay-Z's iconic Empire State Of Mind, declared that "nothing is impossible when you're in New York." IN Bit.ua We decided to check if this was true and talked to Olga Samofalova, the founder of the PR agency Pony and Bridges, who moved to live in the Big Apple, but visits Ukraine from time to time.

Photos of the heroine of the article

Everything was trite simple. My husband was offered a job in New York. But this story began three years ago, when a close friend just packed up and left for California. And did not return. Then I began to whisper to my husband and all our friends about America, not as a country for traveling, but for living.

Everyone looked at me strangely. “Why do you need to go to America, everything is fine here: apartment, car, business, friends - your whole life,” I heard a million times. But you don’t have to run for a better life to want to move to the USA. The challenge itself was interesting: would it be possible to become part of this huge metropolis? And then everything was like in a dream. My husband called and said: “Well, let’s go to New York?”

Received a contract, were interviewed at the embassy and began to prepare for the move. As a result, our whole life fit into six suitcases + a small handbag for a cat. And after a few months, we walked through the snow-covered Central Park.

Photo: travel.bit.ua

Describe your first impressions of the city.

We flew to New York in a terrible blizzard. The subsequent flights were canceled, the news was about a snow anomaly, and a traffic collapse formed on the roads. The governor of the city declared a state of emergency, as it was the third largest snowfall in the history of the city.

With the strongest wind minus 15 felt in the city like all minus 25. But it kept us in the hotel, though we could walk in short dashes from warm establishments and shopping centers. When I first went to the streets of Manhattan, it seemed like I was in a movie.

Famous houses with fire escapes that you see in almost every American blockbuster, screaming ambulance sirens, yellow taxis and traffic lights, thick swirling steam from steam pipes and incredibly beautiful people who have come in large numbers from all over the world. And everything was white and white around, as if New York had become one continuous snowdrift.

Photo: travel.bit.ua

When you return to New York, for example, from Ukraine, is there a feeling of longing for the city?

As well as from any other city, from NY it is also necessary to leave regularly to feel more deeply. Yes, I really miss. Behind this lightness and freedom in the actions and manifestation of oneself, how the old is being taken care of and history is being valued. Behind the smiles of people. Behind the air. For parks and squirrels. For the responsibility and consciousness of the residents.

Is New York a myth buster? Has your attitude towards the city changed after moving?

“New York is a concrete jungle, inhabited only by fat people who eat fast food. Ha, they’re still smiling fakely,” if you put all the myths about NY into one sentence, it would look like this. But!

1) As for the parks. Only in Manhattan is more than 15.

Most often, parks have free football fields, volleyball and basketball courts, exercise equipment, tracks for running and cycling, and in the summer, in every microdistrict of the city there is a free swimming pool and yoga and dancing classes. Well, how can you be fat?!

2) Food. Of course, in the summer there are no such delicious strawberries, tomatoes and cucumbers as in Kyiv, but the food is decent. If you want to be a raw foodist, get the raw food counter at the supermarket, if you want to be a vegan, yes, please. Do you want to eat only organic products? If you can afford it, go for it! By the way, the yolks in organic eggs are not bluish, but yellow and taste like those from grandma’s from the village. Avocados, seafood, pineapples, Greek yogurts and cheeses. And there is even buckwheat, which “our people” often bring in kilograms to the USA, for fear of dying from buckwheat malnutrition.

3) Fake smiles. Well, it’s really more pleasant when they smile at you insincerely than to be rude to you sincerely, as often happens in Ukraine. When I smile back at another stranger in New York, I remember Little Raccoon and the main message of the cartoon - share your smile, and it will come back to you more than once. This is close to me.

Can you get lost in New York like Macaulay Culkin in the second part of Home Alone?

Photo heroine article

In New York, one of the largest metros in the world. It consists of more 400 stations. You can really get lost in it, but only at first. Armed with electronic cards, everything becomes clear. The main task is to know where you are going, in the upper, lower or central city. And the city itself is lined up with squares, you walk like a chessboard, sometimes even if you want to get lost, it will not work.

What tracks would go into ost cities?

Top 6 of my daily playlist

If in Ukraine kids know by heart the songs “Time and Glass” and Monatika, then in NY every self-respecting little reads rap. Therefore, hip-hop culture comes in especially here.

How long does it take to walk in the Big Apple? And how much to fall in love?

Photos of the heroine of the article

It took five minutes to fall in love with this city, and half a year was not enough to see all of New York. It is huge and multicultural. Chinese, Italians, Irish, Germans, Mexicans, Russians, Jews, Poles, Greeks and others live in communes in five districts of the city. Therefore, walking through a particular area, you find yourself in another world, not always adapted to the realities of New York. For example, in Chinatown, near the airport, live frogs are sold for cooking. They are sitting in a large box and waiting in the wings. And by the way, you will be almost the only European in it. They do not know any other language except their own.

Photos of the heroine of the article

Therefore, learn more and sign language. And most of all touches the area where the Hasidim (super-Orthodox Jews) live.

Coming off the bus on Saturday, you find yourself in the "Matrix" or "Man in Black". Absolutely identical men in white shirts, black long or shortened trousers tucked into snow-white socks walk the streets. Over the shirt they put on black hoods or jackets, and shoes with no buckles and laces on their legs.

But the most important thing is on the head. It was the first time I saw such a headdress. It is called a shtreiml - a huge hat made from fox or sable tails. Most often worn on Saturdays, it can weigh several kilograms, and its price ranges from $1500 to $5000.

Women look more modest. They never wear trousers, tight dresses and blouses, short and narrow skirts, and at any time of the year they wear stockings or socks. And some married Hacidans shave their heads and wear wigs. And now imagine that the Hasidim live literally in a few blocks from the super trendy hipster Williamsburg.

And it is precisely this diversity that makes you feel the true picture of New York.

What could Kievites learn from the inhabitants of this city - and vice versa

I would like to tell a few stories that shocked me in this city. Similar in Kiev never happened:

1) Once in the winter I forgot the gloves in the bus. I went to the courses, listened to music. The driver announced that the route was over and offered to transfer to another bus. In a hurry ran out, did not even notice the loss. A young man, apparently sitting next, brought them to me.

2) Bus. Mum with baby, 6 years old, is sitting at the back. Baby hysterical something wailing. The bus driver to the horn, announcing the stop, appeals to the crying child: Little beauty, dont edge! And the girl calmed down. So simple!

Photos of the heroine of the article

3) Between the cars in the subway in New York, you can move. One morning, at rush hour, the door between the cars opened. A man of homeless appearance climbed onto the handrail between the doors, showing that he was going to commit suicide.

Since the metro has a considerable amount of psychos, I didn’t even pay attention. Well thrown out, all business. And the girl who was sitting next to her went to him, dissuading not to do so.

She sincerely worried about him and tried to help that such indifference caused me to shock. And what do you think, the man turned out to be an ordinary beggar, and the girl ran into a nearby station in hysterics, telling him before this: why don't you just be honest and ask for money. Getting for it before him 10 bucks from the wallet.

In general, just like that on the street can weigh a compliment. And it will not be in style: “Hey girl, how beautiful your eyes are,” but intelligently. In winter, a guy came up and began to tell how he liked the color combination of my clothes. And just recently, a couple in a bar began to shower compliments on my T-shirt. It's damn nice.

I sincerely would like to see the people of Kiev learn to smile more and pay attention to details.

Is New York rubbery? Do you feel like the city is overcrowded?

It depends on where you spend your time. For me, Times Square is taboo. The worst place in New York. An endless stream of people, a lot of advertising, a huge number of soulless tourist restaurants with barkers. Homeless people. Nightmarish nightmare. Of course, in Time Square it seems like there’s really nothing to breathe, there are so many people.

How to feel local in New York? And is it necessary to strive for this?

If you want to be happy in the place where you live, it is desirable to understand the culture and feel the spirit of the city. Invented a set of rules, how to become local in NY.

1) Know well language. Not English, American.
2) Minimally communicate with your diaspora.
3) Go to local parties and watch people.
4) Try to catch the pattern of communication and behavior.
5) Smile!

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