Expats, tell me what aspect or social norm of your new country was strange to you?

Well lets compare what you get in the UK without private insurance with what you would get in the US.

why? lots of different systems around. like the i surance based one in germany which is highly regulated. it's mandatory so very very hard to not have cover. not perfect, but where is it perfect.

“Apparently holidays have their own dress code!”

Well, yes... pretty much everywhere is warmer and/or drier than here (Scotland) most years here I can avoid being too hot by just not wearing my big jacket...I mean ok other parts of the UK do actually get sun and warmth, but still not so much as places that people tend to go on holiday to.

The holiday clothes sections aren’t because you’re off on a UK holiday, they’re for places that are hot.

I forgot another 'rhyming' thing. In Germany someone at some point supplied the Pink Panther cartoons with a rhyming voiceover commentary Quite a funny one, tbf.

New Zealander who spent 5 years in the UK.

• So hard to find a good coffee.
• Having to specify not just your name but also your title on forms, being given a list of title options as long as your arm, and wondering every time if I should pick "Marquess" just for the hell of it
• Women's clothing stores having a "holiday shop" on their websites. Apparently holidays have their own dress code!
• Summer being an Occasion with a capital O. See above point on holiday shops. Ready to eat picnic food. Everyone suddenly wearing summer clothing the minute the sun even peeps out. Obsession with sun holidays.
• Clotted cream on scones. So delicious.
• Supermarkets closing early on Sunday's.
• Standing to one side on escalators. Wish we did that here.

The NZ roof shout sounds a bit like the Richtfest in Germany - except that comes complete with the master builder dressed up in a fancy traditional outfit giving a rhyming* speech and a flowery wreath thing being hung up over the roof. Germans are very into building their own houses - basically you acquire property (if you do at all - no stigma attached to renting here, thank goodness) in one of two ways, inheriting or building, and then you tend to stay in that house for life. The British house-buying and -selling culture looks insanely stressful from here.

*The rhyming is a big one I haven't mentioned. All sorts of occasions are marked with awful rhymes. People write dreadful non-scanning doggerel for big birthdays and present it to the birthday person, who usually looks genuinely delighted, over Kaffee und Kuchen. Or stuff for children making an educational point is written in rhyme of the kind found in a 1960s UK public information film. It's almost as cringe as the clapping.

On the handshaking, we had a classmate of ds2's, who I'd met but hadn't had here before, over to work on a presentation this week and he very formally gave me his hand, which I wasn't anticipating at all. And he called me Sie, which I put a stop to straight away (except he then forgot). Can't be doing with excessive Sie-ing. Dc's friends are all first-name and 'du' terms with us, usually without it having to be explicitly established.
One thing I will never, ever, ever get used to is being referred to by someone as (my children's) 'Mutti'. It makes me feel about 70. It's traditional in this region (in the east of Germany generally), but I had thought the younger generation had moved over to Mama.

Gennz18

You nee to get out of London.

Bugger is not a swear word in the north, and pants are trousers in some parts of the UK.

trust me there are cockroaches...

Not like there are in Oz. I can happily leave a loaf of bread on the worktop, I wouldn't i Oz.

I've moved to Britain and I find the national hard on for the NHS impossible to understand-do you just not understand how shockingly bad the service it provides is?

Well lets compare what you get in the UK without private insurance with what you would get in the US.

Interesting about not moving out of the way for ambulances etc. in Korea and Hong Kong - that's something that IS done in Japan.

What car drivers DON'T do is automatically stop at pedestrian/zebra crossings, which is annoying. They also jump red lights, and are also very lax about child/baby carseats. You still see people driving with their kids bouncing around in the backseat, or even with a baby on their lap .
Again, it amazes me, because usually the Japanese are sooo law-abiding in many ways...

Oh and mums on bicycles with two seats attached - one kid in front, one on the back...and then a baby on mum's back!

Another thing that freaks out family and friends back home is the very matter-of-fact way we deal with earthquakes - usually they are only minor, but its such a way of life here, that we don't think very much about it.
Except for the major ones like 3.11.

I know what you mean about make up in Uk - when I come back I am shocked by how much a lot of the teen to early thirties bracket wear these days. Almost like stage make up - and the amount of huge false eyelashes!!

Re not rinsing the dishes - a lot of folk I know do this - I think it’s horrible-puting dishes still dripping with washing up bubbles on the draining board

I'm not expat anymore but oh god so many - the smell of the country, norms, sunrise/sunset at the same time every day, missing old stone and church bells. It took me a few weeks to realise but then it struck me one day when I hestitated on a street corner waiting to cross the road that I couldn't hear a church chiming.

Earthquakes mosquitoes cockroaches typhoons.

Of course, has to be a narrow street.

When you're in a hurry and have to get to school and want to kill someone .

LucreziaBoredYa
Yup, that chatting to mates thing is hilarious. Usually one of those really narrow streets that's not really wide enough for a single car so not a chance of passing em!

Meant to say my expat experience was in a small place near the South of Spain.

Also Boston. Didn't live there permanently but was there for a fair time. Received some hostility when our British accents were noted which surprised me as, you know, the Boston tea party was a long time ago but when later I commented on my Irish ancestry got a far warmer reception (!).

Some decent Irish bars there though.

And you not feeling a need to carry pepper spray has absolutely nothing to do with how I feel.

Actually, it really does.

Americans have a very ingrained culture, whereby they think everyone - including their own Government - is out to get them. See: the 2nd amendment.

On the other hand, most other countries don't feel the desperate need to arm themselves every time they leave the house. Because we don't think our fellow-countrymen are all out to hurt/maim/slaughter us.

It just doesn't occur to us.

Find this thread fascinating.

When I lived abroad the stand out thing was when driving people would sometimes quite literally stop their car to have a chat with a mate they had spotted. Just stop it. Right then and there to have a chat. Queue behind etc. Didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Maybe you should have said pepper spray. You stated you come from the US, and mention carrying a weapon. Most of us are going to think guns, unfortunately.

And I'd hugely agree that having lived all over Britain and all over the States, Britain as a whole wears way more make up and much more badly applied.

Well seeing as I got mugged several times and once nearly killed me in the UK and I've never felt even slightly unsafe in the States....

I meant pepper spray, geez overreact much? And you not feeling a need to carry pepper spray has absolutely nothing to do with how I feel.

Some people have completely missed the point of the thread.

Of course there are some women in the US that wear too much makeup, my sister is one of them. But it's the wearing of false eyelashes every day vs for special occasions that stands out here. Also the horrible caterpillar eyebrow trend. Luckily the horrible eyebrow trend we had in the US awhile back finally (mostly) died.

Fascinating thread.

I’ve never lived anywhere else but I loved the tidying up method in Japanese cafes when on holiday.
If you are in the likes of Starbucks where you take your drink to your table then you are expected to tidy it up after you by taking your tray to a hatch where someone will take it and wash up.

Why are people so shocked by mayo on chips? I’ve always eaten mayo with chips and I’m in my 40s. It was standard in the West Country in the 80s. (Where I lived anyway)

Oh, and you can run down everything else about this country but fuck off running down the NHS.
Everyone knows it’s not free, but free a the point of use.
I know that I would sooner that someone can take a sick child to the hospital without worrying about the cost than pay less tax thanks.

From spending 7 years in NZ..

Kids and adults barefoot everywhere regardless of whether it's Winter or Summer
Kids being lollipop men/women (road patrol they call it)
Instead of saying "Hi" or "Hiya" they say " How's it going?" Whether they know you or they are a stranger passing you in the street.

They say "yeah...No" during a conversation. Very confusing but they are agreeing with you!
They exclaim "yis" (yes) and repeat it a million times during a very animated conversation when they are telling you they know what you mean.
They lift up the end of their sentences
You never buy any fruit or veg unless it's in season..and if it is in season, buy tonnes of it and eat it til it's coming out of your ears.
Adverts on the TV come with their own super annoying jingles that everyone hates
At work, your morning break is called "Morning Tea" or "Smoko"
You can't park on the opposite side of the road the wrong way round or you will get fined.
Dominos Pizza is super cheap (worked out at £3 per pizza)
If you get invited to a BBQ, you take your own chilly bin (cool box) full of meat and beers
If you have bought land and built your own house, you have a "roof shout" which is beers and snacks laid on for your builders
If you get asked to "bring a plate" it means a selection of food. Generally "home baking"
Speaking of home baking, I did not meet one kiwi woman who did not bake a lot. Everyone bakes and shares it around friends, neighbours, work colleagues.

Fond memories!

FGS. Of course people look before they cross the bloody road.

Of course you can't carry weapons. Not that carrying guns is working out to well in America anyway.

And I've seen plenty of American women wearing too much make up. It is most certainly not a feature of all British women.

There really is some crap on this thread.

Being so paranoid about going out that I'd have to carry a gun with me? Nah, not a place I want to live. Nor do I fancy walking around with a knife or some other weapon. Women wear loads of makeup in the US too, I'm sure.

American living in the UK.

Thought of some more...

• That people in the UK look surprised that I like living here.

• That there don't seem to be laws enforceable with fines or the police for disabled parking and giving priority to disabled people in other circumstances.

• That people just cross the road wherever they like without even looking to see if a car or bus is coming. I thought it might be due to low numbers of pedestrian injuries and deaths but my research revealed that's not the case.

• That you pretty much can't carry anything to defend yourself.

• The drinking culture.

• How ugly the more affordable clothes are.

• How much makeup women wear.

Dairyisclosed
Please share with us the wonderful health care system from your country of origin that should be such a shining example to us, please.