It's all about Russia
RUS-A MEDIA
Russian Information Guide |Rus-a| Tips for foreigners in Russia| Around the city
How to write address in Russia (letters, forms etc.)
You can write address in Latin or Cyrillic alphabet. In Russia we start writing addresses in letters or application forms from specific information to general.
First we fill out the name of addressee, then name of the street and number of apartment/room. Finally we write city or village, mention region, country and postal code (Russian Zip Code).
Examples
Sergey Romanov
8 Marta Street, building 6, apartment 20, Moscow, Russia, 127083
or
Сергей Романов
Улица 8 марта, дом 6 кв. 20, Москва, Россия, 127083
Streets and house numbering in Russia
In Russia is mainly used European style of numeration - numbers of houses start at the end of the street. If two streets intersect - the house which is located at their meeting point will have two numbers, separated by a slash. Each number belongs to one of such intersecting streets like in Tverskaya street, 25/9 (25 is the number along Tverskaya street and 9 is the number along intersecting street).
If you look at the direction where numbers of houses increase odd numbers will be on the left and even numbers will be on the right. Of course there are some exclusion for example in Saint Petersburg and some other cities, but in general Russia sticks to this rule.
Streets and Districts
Some houses in Russia (especially in big cities) are integrated in special zones. In such zones all houses have the same general number but get additional components named "korpus", "section" or "stroenie" (buildings).
On the map you can see with the house number, which belongs to a couple of houses additional letter "с" (in Russian "c" is acronym from "stroenie" "строение") or letter "k" (in Russian "k" is acronym from "korpus" "корпус"). Sometimes you may see additional letters a, b,c...
Street in Russian is "Ulitsa" (acronym on the map - "ul."). Small streets are named "Pereulok" or "Proezd" (acronyms - "per." or "pr-d". Highways are called "Shosse" on the map you will see international acronyms - "Hwy" or Russian "Sh". Main streets – avenues - are called in Russia "Prospects". They also have international abbreviation - "Ave".
Big cities, such as Moscow, consists of several large districts which are called "Okruga" - "Severny Okrug" (North District), "Ugo Zapadny Okrug" (South West District), "Severo Vostochny Okrug" (North East District) etc. Smaller areas, which are located inside one big district and on the map in English are also called districts, in Russian they are called "Rayony", for example - "Rayon Aeroport" (Aeroport District) or "Khoroshevsky Rayon" (Horoshevsky District).
How not to get cold in Russian winter.
In Russia it is always cold in winter time, In some regions and even in the capital temperature falls -30°C degrees below zero and even more. In winter we are using three times more energy than in summer. Here are some practical advice from us Russians how not to get cold in winter because of severe frosts and bad weather.
Avoid going outside if you are tired or hungry. It is good to eat before going out. Try to eat food with many calories. If you go out don’t stay at one place because when you move your blood circulates, it is good for you and your health.
Choose write clothes. Use warm things, scarfs, hats, gloves to protect hands throat and face. Shirt + pullover are obligatory in cold times. Wear woolen socks to warm your feet. Feather jackets, sheepskins, fur coats and snowboard sport wear, warm rubber-soled boots which don’t get wet are good variants to survive. Warm wear for winter you can easy find in sport shops and in big trade centers which start to sell winter collections since October.
If you feel cold get inside a warm place – shop, car, café – anywhere for 5-10 minutes. This will help you to recover energy. Vodka is not a way how you can survive cold. Alcohol takes energy in fact. You may feel warm inside and positive but in fact your organism will make much more efforts. Better to take some hot tea or coffee.
Don't shake hands if you are wearing gloves or mittens
It is a serious breach of Russian etiquette. In winter to warm hands Russians often wear gloves, mittens or something else. But when Russians want to greet somebody or to say good bye and to shake somebody's hand as a sign of good attitude or friendship (In Russia we shake hands every time we say hello or good buy) it is obligatory to take off gloves etc. and before such kind of interaction. This rule is followed more between men, as Russian ladies sometimes kiss each other (on the cheek) while meeting.
