If you live abroad

[NonUrinatInVentum]

From the country you're from (I'm in Switzerland but from Ireland) what's the weirdest thing or quirkiest custom about the place you live?

In Switzerland you're not allowed flush the toilet after 10pm regardless of whether you do a No.1 or No.2 👈🏻 not envy.

Stranger and neighbours frequently and freely give you an earful about how ill behaved your children are and how to remedy said behaviour.

You can Google any Swiss licence plate and find out the name and address of who owns the car

You can google a person's name and find out how much they earned in the last three years here. I kind of hate it.

You can also google their phone number and find out their name and address. Hate that too! Although I will admit it has been handy from time to time. Luckily I've managed to fox the system and it thinks I still live at my old address.

There's the saying here "There's no bad weather, only bad clothing". This results in many outdoor full day activities occurring in snowstorms, ice storms, thundering downpours, generally miserable weather. Luckily I quite like to be outside but I have often felt like quite a pansy for being cold/wet/uncomfortable! Apparently I need better clothing..

Not Switzerland but Sweden - DH also lived in an apartment with a "no flush after 10pm" rule - it was not fun when he had norovirus.

That toilet rule is grim.

In Italy when you walk into the local Tabacchi/newsagents you always say good morning as you walk in, to anyone who happens to be in there and obviously the shop keeper.

When I moved back to England and did the same in WH Smiths, everyone looked at me like I was the local nutter

I rather like that ‘good morning‘ rule, @Thunderpunt

@Damntheman - You can also google their phone number and find out their name and address. Hate that too! Although I will admit it has been handy from time to time. Luckily I've managed to fox the system and it thinks I still live at my old address.

Are you talking about Sweden? If it is and just so that you know the law changed last year and it became a crime to register (folkbokföra) yourself at the wrong address or to deliberately not re-register yourself at the correct address when you move - up to 2 years in prison.

Also depending on where you live and where you have moved not registering your correct address may be tax evasion and/benefit fraud as income and property taxes depends on where you live. Or conversely - you may be paying to much tax.

If you are really concerned about people knowing where you live then the simplest, legal way is to rent a PO Box and register it as your official post address (you will have to give the tax office your real address) - I once had to do this for safety reasons.

Norway Lunde. It's not a crime. I'm registered at folkeregisterert at the correct address, it's not my fault if gulesider hasn't updated themselves properly ;)

Just moved back to the UK from Germany. Some strange laws...
You couldn't hang washing out on a Sunday.
You couldn't do noisy DIY on a Sunday... Including mowing your lawn. A friend even had a robot mower that wouldn't work on a Sunday
Having a small beer or wine at a family event was socially acceptable... In the park, fire station open day, at the funfair... And it was served in a glass.

France has the good morning rule as well but many fewer pleases and thank yous. La bise is a nuisance as well, every morning you have to kiss everyone at the school gate, the office, etc. it goes on forever. BUT if you try to re-kiss or re-good morning someone you have already seen that day you are severely told off.

Also, in France when you do la bis you take pains not to touch the person in any other way, whereas in Greece it would be rude not to also hug (the degree of hugging depends on the level of friendship).

I hate poor plumbing in island areas in Greece where you have to throw toilet paper in a basket...grim.

Swearing is pretty normal in Greece. People are offended depending on the intention behind the word and how it is delivered rather than the word itself. So 'malakas' can be a term of endearment and a massive insult.

Oh in France if you go to a communal lunch/dinner like a village fete you have to bring your own plates and cutlery.

Oh good Damtheman - some people here don't know the law changed

The quirkiest thing that I encountered were the unwritten buffet rules that all Swedes seem to know. When invited to a buffet meal, especially the famous Christmas buffet, there is an order that the foods are eaten - basically you eat in courses and you take new plates and cutlery for each course - so for example the order would be

• herring (usually several types)
• other cold fish, eggs, fish eggs
• cold meats
• hot dishes
• cheeses
• dessert and coffee

(usually breads, boiled potatoes, salads and veg can be eaten with savoury courses)

An American friend unintentionally caused outrage from her MIL because she ate a meatball before she'd eaten salmon!!

The other quirky Swedish custom that I knew nothing about was all of the longstanding traditions surrounding Studenten/A-level final day (if any of you have kids in Sweden - start saving)

• student hats
• hat ceremony
• student ball + multiple BBQs, teas, clubbing, class parties and a champagne breakfast on the big day
• photos and yearbooks
• photo placards and banners
• hiring a class lorry for the procession
• flowers and toys to hang around the student's neck
• outfits for all above

Then there is the big day where usually the kids go into school for a final time to get their grades (usually a tea or lunch is laid on). Family wait outside with baby photo placards. Next comes the traditional class "run" out of school where each class runs out waving their grades to be met by family who hang the flowers and toys around their necks. Then the board the lorry and there is a procession around town. Then they dismount and in our town they are organised to march around the streets with their baby photo placards. Then everyone disperses to family meals and receptions.

To think when I left school in the UK there was just a student disco and a cup of coffee and "bye"

caused outrage from her MIL because she ate a meatball before she'd eaten salmon

That's hilarious. It's so easy to accidentally break social rules

Christ Lunde, in Norway the school leavers just get hammered for a month (during exam time) :D

Appreciate you having my back on the law thing even though it's a little different over here, thanks anyway!

I'm also in Sweden and the thing I find the weirdest is the need to conform. One person does something different and then everyone else does the same. So if we put our bin out on a Monday instead of a Wednesday (because we're going away), within half an hour all the bins are out. We bought a robot lawnmower and within a month all our neighbours had one. And they're not embarrassed about it either. They saw our and came over en masse to have a proper look.

But without doubt the weirdest Swedish custom is the night screaming, an example of which you can see here:.

I'm in Germany. I'll be back!!

My friend who is Ukrainian was showing me videos of his 14yo's secondary school graduation. They children were all formally dressed and performed a choreographed dance in the town's square before parading down the streets.

DH has just said to me, 'how come you can't flush the toilet after 10pm yet you can all start screaming?'

I lived in Germany and also was told in no uncertain terms what was, and was not, acceptable behaviour on a Sunday.

It was in the 80s in Hamburg so I don't know if things have changed but my boss at the time would change to addressing his children's friends that he'd known since KG, formally as soon as they had their 14th birthday. I know from visiting DS when he spent a year in Berlin a couple of years ago that the formality thing isn't so strict any more but is that just Berlin?

Also, when on holiday in France you have to say'bonsoir' after 6 pm and not'bonjour'. People get very upset if you get it wrong.

Yes you can flush your toilet. Yes, you might also get some grumpy neighbours complaining about it. But you can also tell them to bugger off. www.thelocal.ch/20190909/swiss-daily-dilemmas-can-i-flush-my-toilet-at-night

Also, when on holiday in France you have to say'bonsoir' after 6 pm and not'bonjour'. People get very upset if you get it wrong

Oh no no, French wuold not make it as simple as that. Bonsoir can be any time after 'end of the afternoon'. Some people start saying it at 4.30. Some 5, some 6, some whenever it's getting darker. The main thing is though that as a foreigner, whatever you choose, you're wrong.
So I walk around in what I consider is an evening, say Bonsoir, the person replies Bonjour!
I meet the next person: Bonjour! French person: Bonsoir!!

Just to fuck with you, basically.

That Swiss thing? Some years ago, friends were posted there for 2 years.The Company had rented the villa,etc. for them,organised the furniture shipping etc, so come the time the family drove from the uk to switzerland, arriving on a saturday. The sunday morning the o/h did the usual brit thing of washing the car...
all the neighbours came round, introduced themselves, and welcomed them. How nice!
NOT. They'd also simultaneously complained about them to the p'lice for washing their car, resulting in a visit from the cops.
FFS!

I'm in Ireland right now. I've had to adjust to how friendly/nosy everyone is.

For example, when we first came, we had foreign numberplates - after the 3rd or fourth time of someone asking where they were from, I stopped being suspicious about why they were asking, and realised that they were just interested and asked.

The Swedish night screaming is a real studenty thing to do - you don't hear it elsewhere.

Similar with the wheelie bin conformity you get it in suburbs and "villa områden" (detatched home neighbourhoods) but out in the sticks where we are - our bin lives permanently against the neighbour's barn.

When I lived in Denmark neighbourhood residents associations (beboerforening) have extraordinary power and are a haven for nosy neighbours. Where DH lived they had banned certain garden ornaments, including flagpoles, used to do annual inspections and send houseowners lists of things to rectify, and almost managed to club through a controversial decision that would have required the whole neighbourhood to buy identical curtains!

almost managed to club through a controversial decision that would have required the whole neighbourhood to buy identical curtains!

I lived in an apartment building in Vancouver that required everyone to have a certain shade of vertical blinds in the windows. No other window treatment was allowed. (and I hate vertical blinds.. especially down to the floor, with a toddler learning to walk and pulling on them)