And now for something completely different

So, while I'm trying to explain Russian culture, I figured that I might as well show you a couple of things that Russians do somewhat differently than we do. These are just everyday things that you wouldn't really think about, but it's incredible just how different they can be.

1) House keys

In the US, our keys are very simple. We might have a security system on our house, but for the most part, to get in and out of a house, all you need is one of these:

Yes, this is technically a British car key, but it's the closest thing I could find to an actual American-style house key on the internet in Russia.

In Russia, however, they have a different system, which is reflected in the different shape of most of their keys:

Now, the two keys on the right are normal (or relatively normal) to us Americans, but that weird tab on the very left is actually a key as well. Every apartment in Russia has a strange indent next to the front door where you press a tab such as the one on the left in order to get in. (Additionally, you have to push a button in order to get out the door as well.)

Do I know why this is? No. I'm just telling you HOW it is.

2) Student IDs

In the US, with our fondness of all things resembling credit cards (apparently), when we have student cards, what we're referring to is something like this:

Yes, it's a fake drivers license, but the point is still the same: we Americans love shiny plastic cards.

Well, not so in Russia. In Russia, when you're handed your student identification, you're handed something approximately like this:

Because I'm sorry, I'm not putting my name and photo out all over the internet.

It might not be obvious from the picture, but all the student card is is two pieces of cardboard on which they write your personal information (in pen) and glue on a passport-style photo of you. It's much bulkier than an American ID, and much more fragile too-- when I first got mine, the photo fell off that very night, and I had to go and get it reglued.

3) Public Transportation

Now, in the US, if you want to get on a train or on the subway, you have to print out a whole expensive ticket and get it scanned, and the entire process is very costly and time consuming. Yes?

Russia to the rescue!

Russian public transportation is super cheap (comparatively), and very simple to use. The way you use the entire metro system is by using one zheton (жетон) at the security gate before the escalators (this is the coin that must be accepted or else the semi-screechy siren thing will go off). A zheton looks like so:

A simple coin, but one that you have to specifically buy. No specific train. No specific time. And each coin costs around 27 rubles-- a little less than a dollar.

So, now you know three things that Russians do differently than the US. Aren't you nice and cultured?