Well, as we've now been here for 2 weeks, I've absorbed quite a bit of the culture. Here are a few things about Russian Culture.
Food
In Russia, people eat 3 meals per day. Dessert comes after every meal, and tea with dessert. Fruit is popular, but really only apples and bananas. Lunch, or dinner as it is called, is the big meal of the day. It usually consists of Soup, then the hot meal: usually meat and potatoes, potatoes is always in something, then comes tea with dessert. Dessert is usually a cake or something extremely sweet, along with cookies, candy and jam. Yes, jam, people here eat jam with tea. It's VERY Russian.
Daily Life
People generally stay up quite late here... On weekends you may not get to bed until 1 or 2 AM. That also means that people won't wake up until late. Early enough for work on weekdays, on weekends though, until 11AM. Public transport is very popular here, there are buses, trams, tram-buses, trains, and of course, the Metro. In North America, if the car is full on the subway, you wait until the next one. In Russia, you cram in no matter what. We've been through some really packed times, Papa says we haven't experienced anything yet. I've been told I'll have a heart attack if I go on the metro at 6:30 PM. The metro stations are really far underground. Downtown the escalators to get out of the station are about 200 ft long. Some are even longer!!!
This is the map of the Metro stations. We live 800 meters from Zvesdnaya, it's on the blue line near the bottom. Nevsky Prospekt is the heart of the town. It's also a really busy station. Moskovskie Vorota is where I have my dance classes. It's quite close, only about 20 minutes away. My grandmother's closest station is Avtovo on the Red Line. It takes about 1.75 hours to get to her place from ours.
Driving on the other hand is a story in itself. People pass eachother with no hesitation, and motorcycles have no limits. Seatbelts aren't popular either. When we (Sofi, Lucy and I) were taken to our apartment by our friends, we buckled up in the car right away. Our friends looked at us and started laughing at us. We asked why and they explained that "Russia has many rules and laws, some of them you have to obey, and others you only have to obey if you want to." In other words, if it isn't comfortable, don't bother. The other day, we were walking home and a car pulled into an area where there are quite a few pedestrians, but also cars parked all over. A man was walking toward us and a car was turning in. He is right in front of the car and he refuses to move. He was yelling something in Russian at the car, I don't care to know...
Well, there's some Russian Culture for you! I hope this gave you a new view on Russians. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. :D
