Sakhalin: Ruslan was walking down a central street in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk dressed in a white shirt, a red tie and black coat and hat. He was wearing sunglasses and carrying a leather brief case. Though it was a Russian holiday, he said he was returning from work at an oil and gas institute. A Chechen by nationality, he said he was a career oilman, having worked on Sakhalin since 1969. Ruslan said he often worked on weekends when overseeing projects in the north of the island. His family left Sakhalin to return to the Caucasus, so he has been living without close family for the past 16 years. He said he traveled to the US for work, visiting Texas, Oklahoma and New York. Ruslan said his father was a teacher and taught him ”to find a common language” with people of different nationalities. ”People are the same,” Ruslan said. ”It’s just that their upbringing is different.”
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- Ruslan went to work despite it being a national holiday.
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- Ruslan, a career oilman, has been living on Sakhalin since 1969.
