33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

5 languages in Scandinavia and Russia). Russian is the most commonly spoken language and nearly everyone learns Russian as the main means of communication between ethnic groups. English and other popular international languages have only recently begun being taught in mass numbers, but many young people have at least a working understanding of English today. Culture of Russia Justin Dodge The way of life in Russia has incredible variations. Go to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and a village and in many ways they may appear to be different countries. St. Petersburg has a youthfulness and liberal aura as a student center, Moscow exudes power and wealth, Yekaterinburg feels like an industrial town allowing life in the desolate unknown, and villages seem to move slowly, but peacefully. The traditional Russian culture is heavily based on rural living and village life, but the Soviet heavily industrialized and urbanized the people, changing the daily way of life in the country. Today nearly 75% of the people are urban and nearly a third work in industries, such as mining, oil, coal, metals, machinery, and military equipment. Only about 10% of the people still work in agriculture and the rest work in the services fields. Although the farmers tend to work from sun up to sun down, for most people the work day begins at about 8:00 or 9:00 am and continues to about 5:00 or 6:00 pm. The GDP per capita in Russia is about $18,000, but the wages differ greatly from urban to rural settings and some occupations, such as engineers in the oil industries and lawyers everywhere, make significantly more money than nearly any other occupation. Education is very important to the Russians and getting into some university programs can be very difficult (although bribery helps). Like workers, most students get to school via public transportation in the cities. School runs at about the same hours as most work schedules, but usually finish at about 3:00 pm. Evening and weekend (Saturday-Sunday) life for young singles tends to be based on grabbing a drink with friends