Dear *имядруга*. I was very glad to receive your letter of 12th December and I thank you for that. I also thank you for the answer to my question, it was very interesting to know about traditions in the US.
In your letter you asked me to tell you about our traditions, and I'd glad to tell you about it.
In Russia etiquette is very important thing. If any person won't follow the etiquette rules in society this person will be bad automatically and people will look askance at him/her. We follow etiquette rules everywhere, in conversation, in eating, in each public place like restaurant, swimming pool, concert. At school, university, work we also have special rules. Russian etiquette rules can be completely different to foreign countries, so foreigners must be very carefull in it.
You also asked me how Russian meet other people. It depends on situation really. If teenager or young adults meet somebody we just say, "Hey, what's your name?". Adults meet others more politely. They often say, " Hello, nice to meet you, can I ask your name?". They also can add compliment to this words, like, "You look amazing" or "Your dress suit you so much". If we already know the person that we greet, we behave more relaxed of course. If it's our relatives or friends we say, " Hey, what's up" etc. But if we don't know each other that much, or this person older than you, we said "Hello" or "Hi" or we can just nod.
If you visit Russian family you must bring something like present. It can be box of sweets, bouquet of flowers or bottle of any alcohol, it also depends on people that you visit. We never visit someone with empty-hands. At dinner you must be very polite with everybody, it doesn't matter if it child or adult. And you must thank this family for 'kind welcome' when you leave.
Dear *имядруга* I hope I could tell you everything you wanted. I will wait for your next letter. Can you please tell me about education in the US I'd like to know about it.
Love, *твоеимя*