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

I am English and lived in Scotland for several years. The funniest exchange is when a friend asked if I wanted a piece of cheese. I like cheese though it was odd to be offered a piece of cheese. I accepted the offer.
Friend then gives me a cheese sandwich.
I say oh! It’s a cheese sandwich. She replies “aye it’s a piece of cheese”
I finally work out that a piece is Scottish for sandwich

Canada - lane changing or emerging in traffic causes problems. In the UK people let you in and it's normal to move across traffic. In Canada generally it's just different here they don't seem to like it. You can literally sit in a lane waiting to move across with traffic whizzing by and you have to wait for 20+ cars to all go pass and wait till it's clear and then you can move across. So I'm just not use to it. Or quickly nipping in and out of traffic too is often frowned upon, even though it's normal to me. It's just different. Roads are bigger in Canada and people just go about their own business and I think it doesn't include thinking about road sharing. Life is easier in Canada, so driving in a hurry and shifting lanes isn't in the agenda and it doesn't happen much, everyone just knows where they are going and take their time I suppose.
Cream in tea and coffee. I'm used to it now and really like it.

Daughter of Aussie now in UK.

My mum said when she came to Britain (early 1970's), she wanted Durex and thongs.

She said she was when she realised Durex were condoms (it was a brand of sellotape in Oz) and thongs are/were flip flops

Londoner in Caribbean

Nobody is EVER on time. Caribbean time is a real thing. Went to a birthday party for a kid that started at 3pm. The birthday child didn't turn up until sometime after 4pm.

Also there is no Sunday trading here and off licenses used to close around 7pm. After about 5 years of living here this increased to 10pm. Stores are closed Sundays and come Good Friday all shops will be shut and even restaurants aren't allowed to serve alcohol, it's against the law.

Fireworks for personal use, big organised displays are more common than before but are still a rarity.

Londoner in The Netherlands

Mayonnaise on chips.
Cinnamon being the only spice and it being in everything sweet.
Buttermilk (Karnemelk) not used for cooking but for drinking.
Washing machines in bathrooms.
Tiled living room floors.
Horizontal blinds in residential properties.
Stating the bloody obvious on home makeover television programmes, homeowners will show you their living or eating areas and then they will go on to describe the things they eat and in do these spaces.

Crates of beer being sold in supermarkets.
The ubiquitousness of whipped cream, cinnamon, fruit teas, deep fat fryers.

People queuing at the bus stop with no one daring to seat on bus stop seats

I found it the other way around.
I went from a city (Lisbon) where everyone queued religiously for buses and god forbid anyone would step in front, to London where queuing was much more relaxed.
These days people in Lisbon are more relaxed as well.

Another one is - when hiking or walking, having so much equipment. I was used to a hat, sunscreen and a bottle of water.

If you did that in the UK, the sun would soon go in, it would cloud over, the wind would get up, and it would piss with rain.

We Brits know that, which is why we carry a rucksack with a jumper or fleece, a set of waterproofs and a flask of something hot to drink. That in turn means it's likely to get really hot, so we have to take a hat, a bottle of water and sunscreen as well.

It's one of the curses of living somewhere with an unpredictable climate.

Italian in uk:
Cards for everything
People queuing at the bus stop with no one daring to seat on bus stop seats
Not rinsing dishes (bleurgh)
Asking how r u or alright when passing each other in the street without even stopping for answer
How once you have kids you can't possibly live in flat
Strong focus on social classes
How everything "great british" is supposedly better
How kids are followed in their every step even in playground
15 years old referred to as children
25 degrees Celsius is a heatwave
How hard is it to strike conversation ( e.g. at the park u ask how olds your baby and person just answer , no asking back and no try on continuing the conversation)
Constant greyness
How kids HAVE to be in bed by 7.30 or you r a bad parent
Starting school at 4
GPS are useless
Very little thinking "out of the box"
Carpet in toilets !
Love of processed food

To the poster who said in Ireland you are supposed to refuse a drink 3 times before you say yes, this is fascinating! Why is it considered rude to say yes first time (for future reference if it comes up!)

Because it’s perceived as rude to put someone to the bother of making you a cup of tea, even though they’ve offered it!
I don’t get it myself.

If I’m offered and want it, I say “I’d love a cup, if you’re having one”. If I don’t want one, I say “I’m fine thanks- I’ve just had a cup before I arrived” and that usually puts a stop to it. It’s like a very intricate dance

If I have a visitor and the visit is dragging on, I find asking them if they’d like another cup of tea a great way of making them get a move on!

Would you like another cup of tea?
Oh no, I’m grand.
Are you sure?
Yeah, sure I’m going soon anyway so wouldn’t get to drink it.

I've lived/worked in a few counties over the last decade:

South Africa:

• learning what "now now" meant as in "I'll do it now now" ... it basically means I'll do it soon as opposed to "I'll do it now" which is more likely to be never!
• taking enough alcohol to parties/meals etc so that you don't have to drink any of the host's stash (although this might be my OH's family's weird thing!)

Switzerland

• having to make eye contact when you cheers your drink (again, this could be my weird inlaws?)

India

• the inability of anyone to say they weren't going to do something ... instead they say yes whilst shaking their head so you never knew if they were saying yes or not!
• being very set in their roles at work e.g. only the person employed to make tea makes tea (you can't make your own or offer to make someone else as that could be seen to threaten their role ... and when you are in such a huge population they want to protect their employment)

Dubai

• how men are addressed for everything first
• no queuing etiquette whatsoever!
• how fabulously dressed and made up all the Arabic women were under their abaya's!

Doctors waiting rooms in Spain are awesome
When you arrive you simply establish who the last person to arrive was and then you know you go in after them, the Receptionist doesn’t get involved at all.
Mind you, it’s all largely unnecessary because by the time you go in everyone will have asked lots of personal questions ( thankfully I was in paediatrics so questions not about me) and will tell the Doctor what the problem and cure is anyway

Thailand - general stupidity.

Singapore - Racism

Philippines - nosiness / not being worried about asking questions British people would.

China - looking out for #1 at all costs.

Also the East Germans were crazy with fireworks. DH and I were out on New Year’s Eve and someone threw a firework at him for a laugh. It went up the sleeve of his coat! How we laughed

Used to live in Spain and now spend half my time there.

Double cheek kissing for everyone you meet/say goodbye to, including men to men
Friendliness of neighbours. Never turn down an offer of home produced wine/olive oil/oranges/flowers etc or it will be classed as an insult especially if you say you have plenty already because another neighbour gave you some.
Neighbours asking personal questions - how much was this house? How much do you earn?
Shops closing in the afternoon -still drives me mad. Especially when you have gone on a day trip somewhere and have to prioritise visiting the shops there before having a coffee or lunch as they will be closing in an hour!
Saying hello to everyone as you enter a doctors waiting room and asking who you'll be behind so you don't queue jump
Drinking and driving, likewise no seat belts or indicating. Often have a baby on their lap while actually driving around small towns, even on motorbikes
School having a "if you want to learn we'll teach you and if you don't we don't care" attitude. Being kept back and repeating the year if you didn't pass your end of year exams.
No after school clubs or activities
Children out until all hours and knowing they're safe
All menus WILL contain dishes based on about half a dozen key ingredients
The plethora of Fiestas and public holidays, all of them celebrate with gusto!

The coloured plastic eggs on the bushes in people's gardens from weeks before Easter.

I bought a set of these when we lived in Leipzig and brought them back to the UK with me. I put them in our magnolia tree the week before Easter and the little boy from next door thought they’d grown overnight!

As a trailing spouse in East Africa.

Never being called by my first name by DH's local colleagues. I was addressed as Mama Husband's first name. So eg, Mama John, Mama David. It was a sign of respect but not just reserved for expats. I did rail against it for a while but then one day I found myself referring to myself as Mama John. When in Rome ...

Also realising that you have to ask the right question. In the UK if you ring someone at their work and someone else answers the phone, you may say 'oh is John there?' and you’ll get transferred to John.

I rang DH at work one day and the secretary answered, when I asked if Mr John was there, she replied that yes he was, said good bye and hung up😀.

Most conversations started with a long list of How Is? Ah Mama John, how are you? And how is the house? How is the garden? Is it windy there? And how is the kitchen? And the Swahili? What can you say in Swahili now?

And then to top it off I’d be asked how come Mama John was so skinny and I should be fat! Mr John was lovely and fat and I need to eat more so that I can be as fat as Mr John. And I don’t look well as I was not fat. 😀

Indicating a lane change here means "I AM COMING OVER NOW!" and not "may I come over please?".

It's.... terrifying.

Aussie DiL raised a few eyebrows in this household earlier this morning referring to her DS as "a spunk"

[i just ran off to tell MN 😀]

Canadian in the UK:

-no idea why all the veg and fruit is wrapped in plastic packaging
-roads are sooooo tiny
-ambulances look like police cars
-mince pies (was not what I was expecting at all!)
-council tax
-how competitive school spots are and how so many people want to or aspire to send their kids to private school.
-how nothing is truly open 24/7 even pharmacies
-no drive through coffee shops or none easily available
-how ridiculously overpriced public transportation is
-how much everyone loves to drink

mere, it depends on the kind of 'alright'. If it's just one word which doesn't go up at the end (is not a question) you can just say 'alright' or 'hi' back. If your ndn asks 'you alright', I would take that as a question and reply 'good thanks, you?' or something not too flowery (just in case they were going for a greeting 'alright' as opposed to a question 'alright'

Yes to tea in other countries, my American neighbour offered me a tea, I accepted and asked for milk in it and was presented with a (warm at least) green tea with milk. Twas disgusting. My fault for not thinking.

Americans also found me very odd for apologising for everything and kept saying 'why are you sorry'?

This thread is so interesting. I’d love to know more about some of the posters, like why they moved to the place they did and what they do there (especially the one in India). Understandably that would be outing though.

I lived in Kuala Lumpur for a while and it has a similar level of polite questioning that caught me off guard. It’s not unusual to be asked about number of siblings, relationship status, job, level of wealth etc just in a normal every day conversation with a stranger. I had gotten used to it by the time I left though.

When I moved back to the UK I found myself having to control my level of questioning of others so as not to appear like an identity thief.

Spain

Parents seem to consider their sons their little princess whereas daughters need to be treated strictly and expected to behave maturely.

Family is way, way more important than to British and French people (my family's French but I grew up, studied and lived and worked as an adult in U.K.)

Also, going out in large family groups.

Eating a proper 2 course lunch with cutlery.

Sibling in matching clothes - I know another poster on another thread said she'd never seen this in Spain but it's one of the things that hit me when I first came.

Many people don't really seem to take holidays outside of summer, Easter (a one week holiday) and the Christmas/3 Kings period.

Many people stay in Spain for their holidays, certainly fewer travel abroad for holidays than in the U.K.

Second and third and fourth homes in the family which are travelled to frequently at weekends.

Oh the US has that horrible tea thing too. You have to ask for hot tea, to make sure they dont accidentally give you iced tea, and then its just a cup of hot water with a tea bag on the side (and often cream to mix in, not milk...yuck)

And the mixed drinks. If you ask for a G and T its 90% G with just a splash of T, it just blows you away with one sip.. I have to ask for a really weak pour and they think I am crazy. The exception is if you go somewhere posh and then they make the cocktails properly

And often if you want black tea all they have is Earl Grey. My dh (German, but doesn't drink coffee and adores English tea) hates Earl Grey and tends to take his own supplies of imported Tetley everywhere.