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

Oh, US toilets. Huge gaps at between the floor and the bottom of the door (ds has escaped I don't know how many times) and huge gaps at the side usually. No bloody privacy at all.

Oh, US toilets. Huge gaps at between the floor and the bottom of the door (ds has escaped I don't know how many times) and huge gaps at the side usually. No bloody privacy at all.

Oh good move MNHQ! 👏

It is a fascinating thread!

Germany had milk bags for a while, and possibly still does, but I haven't consciously seen any for a while, only cartons. I've seen special jugs for them too. I think they were considered particularly eco-friendly, but obviously in the long term deemed not worth the faff (which is deeply surprising in a country like Germany that loves to proclaim its eco-friendliness*).

On milk, I find the concept of skimmed milk baffles people here - there's whole milk and 'low-fat', which is pretty much the same as semi-skimmed.

*That - sorry, Germans - is a very partial eco-friendliness (cf. all the big Audis and BMWs and no speed limits on the motorway...). I am proud that they're switching off their nuclear power stations, though.

Being able to choose and talk to your lobster before you eat it.

I remember milk bags in Sainsbury’s a few years ago, I also remember bursting a few trying to get them into the special jug
They don’t sell them anymore, guess they didn’t catch on here

Yes, I used to buy the milk bags from Sainsbury’s. I don’t really shop there anymore as we moved and the nearest branch is a drive away. They might still be there.

Milk bags were tried in the UK a few years ago, possibly Sainsbury's. I think you were encouraged to freeze them too. Not sure what happened, maybe they're still available?

Canadian in the UK here. The milk bags can be recycled.
It is the same milk system that costa uses when they make hot drinks.

Dh was shaking the first time he had to do a roundabout in Britain. 😂

Brit in NZ:
No shoes
Wearing PJs in supermarket/McDonalds/anywhere
Use of word “bugger” on TV
“Bringing a Plate” to parties - i.e bring your own food
People bringing their own sausages/beers etc to a BBQ they have been invited to - literally one bloke just brought two sausages a banana and six beers

4-way stops are the greatest American invention of all time imo, and very neatly express a lot about expectations of how Americans feel American life is to be lived - co-operative, rational, respectful of unspoken rules, and mutually trusting.

Weirdly, or perhaps not at all weirdly, I have not yet met any Brits who are not suspicious of 4-way stops, and get very stressed by them.
^

Spot on.

On the flip side, North Americans are utterly petrified of roundabouts and need actual signage on how to use them

Can confirm that the bags are recyclable

We have a milk pitcher.

I feel like an infidel

The bags were fully recyclable I think they may have even been organic, cellulose maybe?

First time I saw milk bags was in Israel about 30 years ago, a big shock after milk bottles in the UK!

Which has led me to ponder, do any other countries have their milk in glass bottles?

I'm in NZ and soft packaging is recycled, might be the same in Canada

To be fair though, if children in the uk weren't allowed to play in the rain, they'd rarely get much playing done.

Something I noticed upon returning to the uk is how much people go out in the sun. Children are sent out in the midday sun in June and expected to put suncream on in the morning, at home hours earlier! I was as I'm now so used to Brazilian obsession with never getting even an eyelash in the sun between 11 and 4. The British relationship with the weather is often a bit odd though. I didn't know that till I left and saw how others do things.

Another difference (but mostly noticed upon returning):

UK school: children have rain gear at school and are encouraged to play out in the rain.
Portuguese school: children are expected to melt in the rain and footballs will be confiscated if said children play in light drizzle.

Football practice tends to be cancelled if it rains (the coaches are the prima donnas, or snowflakes), but games are played under downpours.

Milk bags sound clever

6 is so true.

Des Bishop put it on a t'shirt.
Or was it Hairy Baby? V funny though. Ive no immersion. I couldnt handle that stress

6) never. Ever. Leave the immersion heater on. You’d swear it was a nuclear bomb not a boiler. Never leave the immersion on.

In Malta they call it a 'Geyser' - I loved that, although it took a while for my landlady to understand what I was talking about when it started leaking until I learned that!

Oooh I’m going to have to read this thread properly later!

I moved to Ireland from the uk in 2005.

1. ‘what’s the Craic?’ (Pronounced crack) first thought was ‘holy shit, that’s legal?’

2. people saying hello to strangers and having conversations on public transport. It’s like an inverted London.

3. everyone knows everyone. Even if you’re not from Ireland there will be a connection. Sure, you know your man in the shop, his aunt used to go to school with my aunt and her brother in law had a dog that he got off your man’s son who was in last week fixing the washing machine. I’m serious.

4. it’s not ‘sandwich’: it’s ‘sangwich’.

5. don’t insult Taytos by buying walkers instead.

6. never. Ever. Leave the immersion heater on. You’d swear it was a nuclear bomb not a boiler. Never leave the immersion on.

Aww, this reminds me why I love Ireland