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

Haven't lived in the UK, but have traveled, and found it absolutely bizarre (and redundant) that many roundabouts also had sets of lights on them. What's the point of the roundabout then?!

"Heya" was a common greeting from people in the North of England.

A couple of things I noticed about hotels. 5 stars doesn't mean the same in the UK as it does here. Top sheets are nonexistent (gross), and the doona/duvet covers were all pathetically narrow, scarcely touching the sides of the mattress. Also, no face washers provided (I think the only place we got face washers was at a hotel in Windermere).

Yes I know that but it's not considered a swear word in NZ - my grandad would have used it! The word I mean 😂

hm yes - about the word 'bugger' - it is not very long since there was a criminal offence called 'assault and buggery' so it's hardly surprising it's not the most popular expletive ever...
I mean, it does have a meaning.

Colombia - hot chocolate is served with a piece of mozzarella-type cheese that you are supposed to stir into the hot chocolate.

Gennz18 - given the activity ‘bugger’ is describing I’m surprised you are surprised

The pants thing always gets me too.

When I was in Spain, I found it a bit strange there was not a word that you could easily use as “excuse me” when you needed to through crowded areas. But everyone was a master in the art of the gentle push.

Toronto, Canada for six years. Friendly people, lots of phone numbers put into my hand.

Take out coffee as soon as one walked out of the front door, although we are becoming like that here.

Snow pants, boots etc for my little kindergarten DCs to manage every morning in winter.....they did.

Much more efficient ways of renewing driving license, buying a house, drive through bank, etc.

Going back 20 or so years, but as an Australian living in the U.K. For a few years the thing I remember as completely confusing me at first was buying appliances with no plug and having to buy the plug separately and attach it - I had no idea how to do this! (I know they come with plugs attached now.)

Also how small the fridges were - an underbench fridge for the whole family.

I'm Irish living in England for 16 years. Things that struck me when I first moved:

• polite drivers
• when offering a cup of tea not having to go through ritual of saying 'no' at least 3 times before accepting the offer of tea ( because it would be impolite to say 'yes' straight away).
• not feelin that you have to acknowledge every single person you pass in the street with a nod or eye contact (this is liberating).
• people abide by the rules, mostly (e.g. no talking in silent carriage of train).

I do miss 24 hr/ 7 day a week GPs .

Ah situp the slipper thing is here too! The children have special slippers for school which they put on every morning! They won't walk around the house now without slippers.

Chickenowner, I do like the country and I can assure you the people like me (or at least getting flowers from some of them last week makes me think that) but there seems to be a bit of a non written rule not to go beyond a slight movement upward of the eyebrow unless they need to ask something. In other countries you would expect a quick “morning! Having a good day? Wonderful , see you around!”

Don’t be so sensitive, every country has its things that surprise foreigners, Britain is no exception (neither is mine)

People pushing. Not queuing, in fact blatantly queue jumping. The same behaviour when driving, so the roads are a bit of a free -for -all (China).

Also - was surprised to find some people considered bugger a swear word (e.g. Bugger off/I'm buggered - as in tired). In NZ it's not a big deal.

American married to a Brit now living in Luxembourg. None of the stores here are open on Sundays, and on Mondays a lot of places don't open until midday. It's illegal to mow the lawn on a Sunday because of the noise. By law you have to shovel your drive and pavements right away if it snows.

It's not all bad though... cheapest petrol and alcohol in Europe. Local cremant won't set you back much more than an equivalent size bottle of San Pellegrino. And they definitely know how to have a good 'fest'. All this business about processed meats being linked to cancer have me a bit because we basically survive on wurst from all the little fests.

Brit lived in the Netherlands for a few years:

Children's birthday parties. I compared notes with a Dutch colleague who had moved the other way. We decided that birthday party 'rules' were definitely one of the 'strange' things:

Dutch party: child is delivered to the party venue and parent departs child hands over gift which is opened immediately and birthday child thanks guest. Party activity takes place.

At the end of the party 30 kids are crammed into a single car. This car goes round the neighbourhood and at each address the car stops, parent reaches in and extracts a child (hopefully yours!).

British party: child is delivered to the party, parents hang around unsure as to whether they are supposed to stay or go. Gift is handed over and immediately removed unopened to another place. Party activity takes place.

At the allotted time for then end of the party parents return and hang around unsure as to whether they are supposed to go in and retrieve their child or wait for the child to emerge.

A few days after the party a thank you letter will arrive detailing the gift - my Dutch colleague described this as a bit like getting a receipt!

Brown Biscuit barrel - that is interesting because when I was working in Czech last year, I parked the car 'facing the wrong way' and there was a big fuss and laughing about it,,,,
I was really confused, as a Brit, we park facing any way we like...

In Austria.
You take your shoes off everywhere. Kids and teachers have slippers for school and if you have a meeting in the classroom you take them off to go in.

Nobody crosses the road until the green man, even if the road is totally deserted. The pedestrian is king on other crossings.

Arriving in Uk:
Seeing loads of 'keep off the grass' signs - they seemed to be everywhere.
Having customer toilets in supermarkets - fabulous invention.
Shops allowing you to return items just because you changed your mind.
Being able to park and on a road facing the wrong way - I occasionally do that now but still feel uneasy about it for some reason.

Zulu warrior

I must just say, Africa is not a country. It’s actually insulting to describe it as a monolith of ‘Africa’, all the same. If you were talking about Asia you would not lump all the countries together like that. Nigeria, is nothing like Botswana, which is nothing like Kenya, which is nothing like Sudan, which is nothing like Lesotho... you get the picture.

Brit in Germany.

Brusqueness/impatience/rudeness from people providing services and public officials. Was very upsetting as a newly arrived 20yo.
The obsession with airing.
It being completely normal not to say please and thank you in shop/to waiting staff. I'm still not over this after two decades and make sure my dc are polite even if nobody else is.
Phone calls for birthdays instead of cards (reverse of the 'card shock' experienced above).
Shaking hands with everyone. I still have to calibrate whether I'm in a 'handshake situation' or not (as things are changing a bit and handshaking is falling a tiny bit out of favour, this can vary with seemingly little rhyme or reason). Relatedly, knocking on the table in lieu of handshakes all round when someone joins or leaves a group. I can't help but find it a bit aggressive, but it's a perfectly normal way of saying hello/goodbye.
One thing that got me every time when I first arrived was being expected to weigh fruit and veg in the supermarket and attach a sticky label to the bags. Got into trouble many a time at the checkouts. Most places now no longer require this, but I still hate the ones that do.
Proper gear! Snow suits, rain trousers, sensible shoes. The Germans (rightly IMO) shake their heads at the coatless Brits and their flimsy school uniforms, particularly the shoes.
The driving. Tbf most Germans are safe and skilled drivers, if often a little, ahem, assertive with it, but I cannot and will not get used to the speeds on motorways. Fucking bonkers.

Stuff like the 'late' school starting age and the relative freedom of children to walk to/from school alone etc no longer seems weird; by contrast, the UK way of doing these things strikes me as strange these days. But the education system in general here - selective secondary transfer at 10 (!) in most places, the way teachers still (expect to) get away with stuff that would be at least a complaint to the Head in the UK, the way some teachers feel entitled to talk to parents, the relative lack of a sense of being in loco parentis - it boggles me every time a new thing comes up. And it's very clearly a great deal better than it once was. Oh, and the endless Diktate (teacher reads a text and the children have to take it down). Didn't that go out with the ark everywhere else?
The casual xenophobia, including in people who would genuinely recoil at any accusation of racism. Germany's odd like that. Comments about areas with high proportions of 'migrant background' people being obvious social hotspots. Stuff like that. There's also a degree of cloying xenophilia which IMO amounts to pretty much the same thing - just an overall sense that 'foreigners' are 'different' and their foreignness is the main thing about them. I can pass for German on most days and detest people picking up on my accent, because they always, always have to mention it - usually in a positive way, but I hate that being made into the main thing about me.

notsure, your colleagues sound incredibly rude.

😂 pingoose I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Oh and how "pants" means underpants not trousers.

"What are you wearing out tonight?"
"Oh just a nice top and some black pants"
quizzical looks from colleagues who think I'm planning on wearing black knickers to a work dinner

Not an agent, that was as seller. Wish I had known!

Trethew I have sold 2 houses here in UK and never got a reduced commission !