SERVICES, BEAUTY INDUSTRY, FOOD:
why is it worth loving Ukraine even more?

We all know what it’s like to explore new countries while traveling: iconic locations, national cuisine, interesting customs … But if you go to another country to live there for a long time, then you have to explore it in a completely different way because you immediately come across a lot of everyday questions and problems.

Since February 24, more than 6.2 million people have fled Ukraine. It is a huge number of people who had to leave their native country because of the war and who suddenly faced a whole bunch of new problems: where to rent an apartment or a house, how to pay the utility bills, how the public transport system works, where to get a haircut, where to buy the usual products, what to do if you have a toothache or you need to go to the doctor for a scheduled check-up, how to enroll your kid in a kindergarten or a school… And a new country, which should become your temporary shelter or a new home, brings to light its other sides – not touristic but routine ones.

We asked Ukrainians who are currently living abroad, how everything is arranged there and what things are better in Ukraine, what could be an example for other countries and what should be borrowed from us. Here is a small top of observations that we’d like to share with you.

  • Beauty industry. Almost everyone says in one voice that Ukraine has the best nail technicians, hairdressers and cosmetologists. And we also have very nice prices as the cost of the same procedures can be half less as, for example, in Poland and three to four times less compared to prices in Germany.

Olena, temporarily lives in Spain:

“Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of the territory of Ukraine, about 100,000 Ukrainians were forced to move to Spain. And although this country of a true Mediterranean paradise attracts tourists from all over the world, it still has a lot to learn from our country. For example, the service sector and especially the beauty industry. It’s not a secret that beauty procedures in Europe are of much worse quality than in Ukraine. Spain is not an exception to this rule. Therefore, many Spanish girls are looking for Ukrainian specialists who provide a much wider range of beauty services and do it very professionally”.

  • Payment systems, online banking, digitalization. To open an account in Ukraine, it takes a maximum of a day, but in Bulgaria, for example, the same procedure will take two weeks. For many countries, the possibility to transfer funds from card to card, and convenient online banking applications right on your phone is still the future. But it is already available in our country.

“What might other countries learn from us? Ukraine is a great example of the high functionality of online banking anAd the range of offered services. Modern Ukrainian Neo-banks is a true role model for Europe thanks to their exceptional content, services, and functionality. I’d like to add digitalization here as well. Ukraine has a head start from the point of view of transferring all services to paperless technology and the prevalence of digital doc flow, which is extremely relevant in our realities”.

Olena, lives in Poland:

“I can’t help but mention the “Dila” application. This is a unified platform where you can settle a bunch of issues. There is also a similar app in Poland, but it is much less functional and has much fewer options”

  • Internet. All of us are used to inexpensive home Internet, to 4G that can be used even in the subway or somewhere in the mountains, to free access to Wi-Fi in any restaurant or café. By the way, everything doesn’t work like that not everywhere. Internet is more expensive and slower in many other countries; it isn’t so available anywhere and anytime. And, for example, in Germany, you have to wait up to two weeks to get the Internet at home.

Vika, lives in the Netherlands:

“The Internet in Ukraine is much faster and much cheaper. And there is one more thing, for example in the Netherlands you have to pay a fine in order to terminate a contract regarding the Internet provision (even the mobile one)”.

  • Food. The quality and variety of food products in Ukraine are also our significant advantage. There is a wide selection of veggies and fruit, a large number of craft productions and small farms, and Sunday food fairs. All that we should appreciate and love even more.

Vika, lives in the Netherlands:

“If talking about vegetables, everything here is almost tasteless – cucumbers, tomatoes, and the greenery are just so thin. Sometimes it seems to me that even my dog ​​has more vitamins in his food than there are in the local vegetables. You won’t find sauerkraut in the grocery store and you won’t find it at the local farmer’s markets either, which, God willing, you might be able to find somewhere once a week. What else surprises me is the packaging for everything. For example, every 300 g of blueberries is packed in a plastic box. Apart from pasta (oh yeah, it is definitely from Italy) and rice, there are no other cereals. I’ve recently bought 300 grams of buckwheat in an eco-store at the same eco-price of 5 euros, and when I boiled it, it became like glue from the warm water in which I washed it. Of course, there are a lot of sauces here, different kinds of cheese, different types of dairy food… But I like simple food, I like rhubarb, cherries, honeyberries, currants, gooseberries, just fermented products, but you won’t find them here”.

Olena, lives in Poland:

“I still really miss delicious herring and a good selection of fish here. There were never any problems with this in Kyiv, as in Ukraine in general. But in Warsaw, for example, it is impossible to find a fish supermarket. We also have many more interesting cafes and restaurants. In Kyiv, particularly in the city center, almost every place has an interesting concept, perfect service, delicious dishes and a fantastic selection of coffee”.

  • Working hours of stores and pharmacies. There is currently a curfew in Ukraine, but even now our stores are open 7 days a week, and before the full-scale invasion, it was easy to find, if not 24-hour stores, then certainly those that are open until 11:00 p.m. But in many European countries, it will be difficult to find open stores or pharmacies on Sunday, and in the Netherlands, for example, stores are open until 17:00, except for the weekends when they can be open until 17:30.

Olena, lives in Poland:

“Everything works all the time in Ukraine: stores, supermarkets, beauty salons, delivery services. At first, it is difficult to get used to the fact that all shops are closed on Sunday because it is a day off in Poland. But later you kind of like it, because there is a day when you do not think of purchases at all and you do not spend time for shopping”.

Olga lives in Berlin:

“To rest on Sundays is my new Berlin habit. Even stores are closed on Sundays. It was difficult for me to get used to this. At first, it seemed that this was some kind of lack of freedom, a limitation of my rights, but at some point, I realized that this was a huge bonus. This encourages you to arrange a real weekend for yourself and your family – to walk, to visit museums, theaters, or cinemas.” Full interview.

  • Health care system. We are used to making an appointment with a doctor for today in Ukraine, calling an ambulance, to buy most of the necessary remedies without a prescription at the pharmacy. The system works in many countries differently.

Inna, temporarily lives in Germany:

“Here I faced with the fact that to make an appointment with a doctor for a check-up, you need to wait for at least 1 week, and a visit to a narrow-profile specialist takes you from 1 to 3 months”.

Liia, lives in the USA:

“Here drugs are a completely separate topic cause almost everything is by prescription, even a conventional herpes virus meds can be bought only after a doctor’s prescription”.

Olena, temporarily lives in Spain:

“Do you have a toothache? To get to the doctor for an appointment, you need to get a “city”. Sometimes patients are on the waiting lists and could wait for an appointment for months. While waiting, they are advised to take ibuprofen. This also applies to chronic diseases that require regular examinations. To go for an ultrasound check, you can wait for your turn for 3 months or more”.

  • Less bureaucracy. When we complain about the number of papers that we need to collect for something and the number of offices that we need to visit to get all the necessary signatures and permits, we simply do not know the number of slow bureaucratic processes in other countries. And this number is much more than here in Ukraine.

Liia, lives in the USA:

“Here there is a very bureaucratic system for processing all documents and the taxation system is quite complex. One more thing that I started to appreciate already here in the USA is that in Ukraine person – entrepreneur pays just a penny of taxes compared to here and you can manage it yourself, but here you need an accountant to figure it out. In general, I have the feeling that Ukraine is a startup, which means that everything is quite flexible, and the USA is a big bureaucratic machine”.

Yep, life in each country has its pros and cons, and it is really valuable if there is an opportunity to exchange experience, to take the best cases and implement them in your country or city for a more comfortable life. So let’s end up with an open question to you – what do you like more in other countries and what, in your opinion, should be implemented in Ukraine?

Do you want to be the first one to read our articles every day and explore something new?
Subscribe to our Telegram channel!