The other experience was a trip I made in the 1990s , when I was a correspondent based in the United States , to the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn , N.Y . There I wrote a story about the burgeoning , bustling , altogether vibrant Russian immigrant community that had arisen there -- a perfect example of people retaining some of their old cultural identity -LRB- drinking samovars of tea , playing hours of chess and attending church -RRB- while quickly taking advantage of America 's free and open capitalism to establish an economic foothold .