Opinion: 5 reasons why I no longer want to live in Brighton

Brighton Beach, the most famous and legendary Russian-speaking area in the United States, is my least favorite district of New York. Once again I try not to go there. Maximum - go to the beach and stroll along the promenade in the evening.

When I first arrived, I was “lucky” to live in Brighton (as the locals call it) for a while, and it turned out to be not a very good idea. I felt as if I had moved to the Russian wilderness, to a provincial town, where the order of the 90s still exists. During the time that I lived here, I managed to find out why many people still live in “little Odessa” and understand why I do not want to live in Brighton.

Who are you and what are you doing here?

The first feeling you get: you are not welcome here. Not only people with inhospitable faces, but Brighton himself is not happy about you.

Everything is gray and inhospitable: the windows of stores that have been without repair for years on 30, the metro line, which rumbles right above your head and does not allow you to hear each other, signs that are designed to wake nostalgia, take you back to the past.

Rudeness, as strong communication

On Brighton, mostly live those who are already far behind 40. Those who brought with them rudeness and hatred from the Union, and, having come to America for a better life, he did not want to change for the better.

Having lived in any other area, you still get used to the fact that they kindly communicate with you wherever you go. The rest of the city can be heard "I'm sorry" and "Excuse me". Even with a fake smile, they meet me in the store, but this makes it clear that they certainly won't send me to hell.

Brighton gloomy and not so friendly grandparents can rudely send it simply because you accidentally stepped on your foot or because one price is marked on the counter, and when they came to the cashier they were given a completely different price.

English? No, not heard

The local people of Brighton have their own rules and principles. It is a small city in the city. Understanding something new is alien to them, they are stuck in 90's and are not even going to change.

Many Russian speakers in Brighton (and these are not only Russians and Ukrainians, but also Belarusians, Georgians, Uzbeks, Tajiks) do not speak English at all. Yes, yes, having lived in America for over 20 years, they hardly communicate with “foreigners”, that is, with Americans.

Once I witnessed one case when the students came into the store and started talking in English with the seller. The guys are obviously Russian, but there was a friend with them who did not speak Russian. The seller, blinking her eyes, started frantically calling another employee, saying that she had foreigners here and she did not understand them. Need a translator.

Many even rarely travel outside Brighton. It's like in the joke “we live in Brighton, but we don't go to America”.

I always ask myself a question: people come to America, unequivocally, for a better life. But why, having arrived, they forget what they are here for?

They very quickly lose any incentive for development, because the environment drags on and begins to dictate their lifestyle and their own rules. And one of them is that you don't need to learn English, because everyone around them speaks the Russian-English dialect, and everyone understands each other.

How bad to live

They can yell at you, because you came to the store with a large bill and you need to count the change. You can get a wave of negativity if you notice at the checkout that one price is on the price tag and another is punched.

Probably, in no other place in America can you hear so many disgruntled conversations about state policy and about the country as a whole.

People receiving social assistance from the state constantly talk about how badly they live, and how good it is from where they came from.

But you should ask why no one is going back home ... Here you should run without thinking.

Feel like "come in large numbers"

For some unknown reason, I am very wary here and sometimes with fury relate to those who have just arrived. Especially if you are of non-Slavic appearance.

Here I first came across the phrase "came in large numbers" - and they say, why can't you sit here?

Yes, Brighton absorbed all the bad things that happened during the Soviet era, and now it roams around the area. They treat negatively both Mexicans and former residents of Central Asia, who are now filling Brighton more and more. And all these people who moved to New York and decided to start a new life with Brighton, very annoy those who moved here and stayed to live in distant 80.

Of course, Brighton has good sides too, but for me they are hidden under these “imperfections” that turn off young and determined people.

My conclusion: if you are young and speak at least a little English, by no means stay in Brighton Beach. Because it is such a "scourge" that engages deeper and deeper. And the longer you are there, the more difficult it is for you to achieve the American Dream.