RussiaRussia

A small trip to RussiaA small trip to Russia

GeographyGeography

The largest country in the world (1.8 times the size of the US)

Capital – Moscow

Ural Mountains – the border between Europe and Asia

11 time zones+8 hours vs. US Eastern Time

Baikal – the deepest and the cleanest lake in the world

Caspian See – the biggest lake

in the world

Places in Russia

Moscow

Moscow Metro

HistoryHistory

Two Tsar Dynasties:– Rurik Dynasty (862-1598)– Romanov Dynasty (1613-1917)

Socialistic Revolution and the Rule of the Communist Party (1917-1991)– Lenin (1917-24): The Ideological Leader – Stalin (1928-53): The Main Dictator

Market Reforms and Democratization:– Gorbachov (1985-91): Glasnost’, Perestroika– Eltsin (1991-99): Privatization– Putin (1999-20??): Redistribution

EconomyEconomy

Natural Resources:– Second Largest Oil Producer (West Siberia)– World Largest Natural Gas Producer (East Siberia)– Almost all metals and minerals (Urals)– Third Largest Timber Producer (European North)

Services Share in GDP: 68.3% GDP (ER): $ 741 BB (1.6% of World GDP) GDP per capita (PPP): $ 11 K (better than Mexico but worse

than Malaysia) Economic collapse of 1990-98 (lost over 40% of 1989 GDP);

Solid economic growth afterwards (6% a year) Inequality: worse than Europe but better than US (however,

some argue that it is as bad as Brazil); 15% of population below the poverty line

Key Trading Partners: EU (Germany), CIS (Ukraine, Kazakhstan), China, US

Currency: Russian Rubble ($1 = 28 Rubbles)

PeoplePeople

Population: 143 millions (8th in the world) Median Age: 38 years (37 years in US); 35 - for

males and 41 - for females Life expectancy at birth: 67 years (78 years in

US); 60 - for males and 74 - for females Total fertility rate: 1.28 children born/woman

(2.09 in US) Population growth rate: -0.37% (+0.91% in US)

Religions: Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule)

Ethnic Groups: Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (over 100 nationalities)

Dagestan-I was born here-The Most Southern point of Russia-Over 30 different ethnicities-I am Tabasaranian

Famous RussiansFamous Russians

FoodFood

Borscht, Pelmeni, Shashlyk, Plov, Bliny, Caviar The biggest holiday – New Year. Every family has

salad “Olivye”, champagne, and mandarins. Vodka (Peter the Great: “Vot kak!” (this way)

LanguageLanguage

The different alphabet – Cyrillic.

It is based on the system of Greek capital letters.

Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages

33 letters

Меня зовут … – [Menya zovut] – My name is …

Let’s learn Russian

Альбина

Бэт

Джэйсон

Синтия

Эрин

Синди

Джессика

Джеф

Лесли

Кэра

Джереми

Albina

Beth

Jaison

Cynthia

Erin

Cindy

Jessica

Jeff

Leslie

Kara

Jeremy

Good to know

Let’s learn Russian

Спасибо

Пиво

До свидания

Я тебя люблю

Привет

Thanks

Beer

Good Bye

I love you

Hello

Spasibo

Pivo

Do svidaniya

Ya tebya lublyu

Privet

Я не понимаю I don’t understandYa ne ponimayu

Пожалуйста You are welcomePozhaluista

Спасибо!Спасибо!Spasibo!Spasibo!Thank you!Thank you!