'I don't like all this': how Russians survive in New York and deceive the system

New York is the freest city in the world with breathtaking architecture and the most affable people. So it seems to those who have seen enough of Woody Allen's films, fans of "Sex and the City" and romantic American comedies. Actually the atmosphere of the metropolis has undergone dramatic changes due to socio-political protests, presidential elections and the pandemic. Lenta.ru report published the story of the Russian traveler and writer Igor Rotar. He went to the city of skyscrapers and told how Russian-speaking immigrants live there.

"We don't go to America!"

Igor felt that New York is “our” city at the airport. He saw a woman at the bus stop. His inner voice confidently prompted to address her in Russian and was not mistaken. The lady ended up from Yekaterinburg and was stuck in the United States during a pandemic. To somehow survive, I had to sew masks. But now everything seems to be fine, I got a guy - an elderly lawyer - and came with him to see New York. By the way, the young man of Yekaterinburg showed amazing awareness for the overseas resident. Looking at Igor's thick beard, he took him for Herman Sterligov and even showed his photo on the Internet.

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To save money, the writer decided to stay with a classmate in the famous Russian-speaking area of ​​Brighton Beach. Igor says that as soon as you get on the orange line of the New York subway to Brighton, you get the feeling that you have already left America. Firstly, almost all passengers read, which is not at all typical for the United States. Secondly, if you look closely at the books, these are works by Marinina, Dontsova and other Russian bestsellers published in Moscow.

All signs in Brighton are in the language of Pushkin and Tolstoy. And if you address the locals in English, then there is a risk of hearing unpleasant expressions addressed to you.

So, Igor asked the Brighton man how to get to some quarter of New York, to which he received a proud answer: "We do not go to America!" In fact, this is an isolated world with its own newspapers, Russian shops, restaurants, taxi companies and so on.

“Alas, the society here gives off a mossy Soviet smell,” says Rotar. To understand what he is talking about, it is enough to read several works by Sergei Dovlatov, written during his life in New York.

The story of a classmate

He talks about his classmate. She lives in a very modest apartment, even by Russian standards, with mice and receives unemployment benefits. But he secretly works bypassing cash taxes. Another “business” is that she is supposedly caring for an elderly mother as a nurse (they pay for this), although in reality the mother does without her help. According to Igor, such tricks are still the most harmless of the ways to make money in Brighton.

For example, many people fake accidents with insured cars and receive huge sums. The same tactics is applied with fictitious diseases discovered in a Russian patient by a Russian doctor. Many Russian-speakers live in cheap, subsidized apartments for the poor. They get a fictitious divorce and as a result have two almost free apartments. They rent one of the apartments to their acquaintances at a real market price.

Among this category of our former compatriots, such an anecdote is popular. Two emigrants meet. One asks the other: "Have you already settled down?" "No, while I'm working!" - the "loser" answers.

Igor, having watched this kitchen, began to feel a certain disgust and decided to flee from the Russian-speaking quarter to the hotel. But even there he continued to be persecuted by associations with Russia. The Mongolian administrator helped him to settle in the room.

- Oh, and we helped you a lot in Soviet times. Many Mongols knew Russian. And I know. I lived in Russia for seven years!

The next day, instead of a Mongol, he saw a polka behind the counter. She also spoke excellent Russian. By the way, this woman helped him out when Igor was returning to San Diego. He had an evening flight, and she allowed the room to be vacated three hours after the scheduled check-out time.

Friendship with a masochistic tinge

It's funny, but the Poles help in all parts of the world. According to Igor, they immediately want to be friends when they find out that he is Russian. "True, this friendship happens with some slight masochistic tinge." First, they talk about how much grief Russia has brought them, and in recent years, the "terrible Putin" has also appeared in the conversation.

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“But in fact, unlike Western Europeans, they are interested in me precisely as a Russian, they have a kind of Slavic solidarity,” says Igor.

"Skyscrapers, skyscrapers, and I am so small!"

Igor, of course, did not come to New York to communicate with his compatriots. He lives in provincial San Diego. New York is one of the very few American cities where cultural life is on par with Europe's.

Igor admits that he just doesn't like New York skyscrapers. He understands that this is an indisputable creation of human genius. “But, - says Rotar - they put too much pressure on me as a person of a chamber, I can't just physically stay in this city for a long time.”

According to him, he tried to artificially imbued with the romance and beauty of the "stone jungle". I reminded myself that the heroes of many of my favorite works had visited this place. He specially watched Woody Allen's film "Manhattan", listened to Gershwin's music. Alas, the effect was only partial: the narrow streets of Prague or Bukhara, as well as Suzdal, he liked much more. By the way, he by no means considers such a taste to be correct.

The writer says that he knows a lot of very educated people who are charged with the energy of a big city. "Alas, I am not one of them."

Moscow is more oppressive than New York

According to Rotar, Moscow oppresses him even more than New York. Indeed, unlike our capital, in the City of the Yellow Devil, with the exception of Manhattan, there are not so many high-rise buildings. And sometimes even blocks of one-story mansions come across. In New York, compared to white stone, there are fewer traffic jams and less crowded in the subway.

However, there is still one undoubted advantage of Moscow over the largest city in the United States. Igor believes that the weather in New York is just awful. In summer, the heat is stiflingly humid, and in winter, cold rains and sleet are complemented by strong winds.

In addition, according to the writer, after San Diego, New York unpleasantly surprises with several more points. Firstly, it is the frank, bordering on rudeness, the unfriendliness of local residents. “For example, when you ask for directions, many passers-by simply do not stop. However, in Russia I have heard the same complaints against Muscovites, ”says Rotar

And, finally, the City of the Yellow Devil did not like him for its high cost. So, even a modest hotel room will cost more than $ 100, a glass of wine in a cafe will cost at least $ 20, lunch - $ 50. Moreover, it seems to Igor that there were no such prices on his previous visits. It seems that inflation is caused by the massive distribution of unemployment benefits by Biden in connection with the pandemic.

It's not profitable to work

People of non-prestigious professions (taxi drivers, waiters) are now simply unprofitable to work, they will receive their two thousand dollars a month at home, but if they go to work, they will not pay benefits. Companies are forced to sharply raise employee salaries, and as a result, prices rise.

"So what then prompted you, you strange person, to go to such an unpleasant place?" - you ask. The answer is: an abundance of zero-level museums, ”Rotar answers.

Usually, Russians know only the famous Metropolitan at the level of the Louvre. This is a unique place that won't even take a month to explore. But he is far from the only one - in New York there are still several top-notch museums with real masterpieces of painting.

Another plus is the fact that they are all located on the famous museum mile. It is located next to Central Park, a favorite among tourists and locals. The park is simply huge, you can really get lost in it, according to Igor.

There are several artificial lakes and even untouched wilderness for migratory birds. Igor claims that after wandering around these places, you can forget about the crushing skyscrapers of the metropolis.

"Dzotov Bridge"

But, of course, it's not at all stupid to walk around New York. Igor began his walk in Times Square. This is a kind of quintessence of everything that is in a metropolis, showing its soul in an exaggerated, vulgar form.

He began by walking among travelers from all over the world and refreshed himself with shawarma from the Egyptian owner's halal stall. Then Rotar decided to walk through Manhattan to the famous Brooklyn Bridge. The fact is that the bridge did a disservice to one of his fellow journalist. He conditionally named it Dzotov.

Dzotov wrote a novel in which the hero throws his girlfriend off the Brooklyn Bridge. It turned out that throwing a person out of there is simply impossible physically. Igor decided to sort out this embarrassment.

Indeed, the footpath goes in the middle of the structure (between the streams of cars). But there is still a danger, cyclists and cyclists are driving along the path at a breakneck speed. And one almost knocked Igor down, but as a result she fell down herself. Dzotov had to write that his hero ran over his beloved on a bicycle.

"New Robinsons"

During the peak of the pandemic, New York was one of the epicenters of the epidemic, and there were even field morgues in the parks, Igor says. Now this problem is in the past, most of the townspeople are vaccinated, and on the street it is not so often to meet a masked man.

According to the writer, the city coped with one disease, but could not overcome another.
Black Lives Matter posters ("Black lives are important") came across every 300 meters - the situation was somewhat reminiscent of the USSR with the same slogans "Glory to the KPSS!"

Once, in a cheerful mood, Igor turned to the young people sitting at the next table in a restaurant:

- Hey! How are you? Are you Americans?
- Go your own way!

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Such rudeness is very uncharacteristic for modern America, says Igor. But, fortunately, on the same evening his former classmate, and now an American millionaire, Vadim, explained the situation.

“Nowadays it is not recommended to pester people like that. In the summer, BLM supporters pestered café patrons and turned over tables. Among them were white people, so they will not take you for a fool with such questions, but for a provocateur. In general, everything develops directly according to Pelevin's novel The Art of Light Touch. So, they explain to my five-year-old daughter in kindergarten that people are of 13 sexes. Now in kindergarten they want to allow transgender people to choose - go to the men's or women's toilet. That is, some boy will decide that he is a girl today and will watch my daughter relieve herself. I don't like all this! Before the presidential election, I took out 10 thousand dollars in cash to quickly leave in case of turmoil. This time it worked, but for how long? I strongly doubt it! My only hope is my home in the mountains. I will stock up on food, ammunition and live there with my family, like a new Robinson! ” - says Vadim.

For Igor, this time New York turned out to be a rather frightening place. And he was relieved to return to his quiet, provincial good-natured San Diego.