Elena Lypnytska (left) and Nadiya Yatskiv take a coffee break at Village Cafe, 2304 W. Chicago Ave.

"People here take things much easier," Elena says during conversation on a rainy Saturday night at the cafe, across the street from the ornate St. Olha Vlodmyr Church. "Ukraines are more closed.

My Ukrainian friends [in Chicago] say things like, 'You have so many American friends.' I say, 'Come on, you're here. What makes the difference if it is American, Ukrainian, Greek, Italian?

' They think to be Americanized is not the right way." Elena and Nadiya are from two small cities next to each other in the western Ukraine. They became best friends in 2000 at a university in Lviv, Ukraine.

One of the biggest shockers for the young immigrants was to see how Americans could dress down. "I never wore gym shoes in the Ukraine. Never," Nadiya says.

"In the winter, summer, rain, whatever -- always high heels. Always. When I got here, it was, 'What are you wearing?

' Flip-flops, gym shoes?!" She crosses her legs to reveal fuzzy black boots.

"Maybe it's not just about Ukrainians but about Europe," she continues. "There's more style [there] than the U.S.

My mother is 45. She would not go one block to the store without makeup."

"Back home you have to have your makeup, your clothes and your heels," Elena adds.

"It is stupid, but it is all about show-off. Here, my style changed for the better. Maybe it is not so much about gym shoes.

You can wear three T-shirts and still wear a dress. "You just have to know how to put everything together." It all comes together at the Village Cafe, where all three girls work part time.

They hear American music on the coffee shop's satellite radio, and they notice the fashions from customers, who range from West Village slackers to grungy Streets and Sanitation workers. The coffee shop is owned by John Kidis, who also owns the historic Violet Berk Flower Shop next door. Cultural assimilation was even a challenge for Kidis, an Oak Lawn native.

"Different ethnic groups get different flowers," Kidis says. He has owned the flower shop since 1989. He carries nearly 100 varieties of flowers.

"Ukrainians like gerber daisies and lilies. Mexicans like their roses and carnations. It reflects the neighborhood.

Most of the kids who work here can't speak the language too well. I try to make them a little more cultured. That's the way it's always been going on here, Ukraininan, Polish or anybody.