Things that baffle you about another country

[Soubriquet]

America:-

Why are the gaps in the toilet doors so wide? Do you really enjoy an audience?

Why can’t tax be included in the price? If I want to buy something for a dollar it should be a dollar! Not dollar plus tax!

Australia:-

Still weird that you have Christmas in summer.

Wonder if they have different Christmas songs there.

Can’t see walking in a winter land being a big hit.

More like hiding from a hot heatwave

Has anyone else just googled drop bears?!

Also the amount of tip expected is around 18% in restaurants. DP was really offended when the server in one place wrote this on the bill.

Do you have to take a calculator out with you, obviously there's one on your phone now, but before that? 10% is easy to work out.

@Gwenhwyfar

"it does get quite hot here, and for quite a few months. "

It just doesn't though. Low to mid twenties is not hot. If the temperature goes over 30 it gets into the news! Anything under about 33 and you can cool the place down by opening the windows. We just don't need aircon.
Are you sure you're not going through the change?

I really don't understand that either. Britain is not hot, if it was millions of Brits wouldn't flock to Spain and so on every year in search of the sun.

The U.K.

The class system in the U.K. is unbelievable! It is like something from the 1700's. Do you not see that it is completely ridiculous? The first time I heard about it was seven years ago. I was working at an international school in Spain. An English man was also teaching there. We all went out for dinner one evening. He looked at me and said, "this is why I like working in International schools, I get to mix with people from different classes to me". I nearly fell of my chair. I couldn't believe it. Everyone else at the table ( all from different countries, looked at him with total shock too). I had never heard some one speaking like that before. I was so shocked!

Later on, I visited England several times, and I also lived there for a period. I heard people talking about "upper middle, middle middle, lower middle", "which school is upper middle class?"

It seems to be a very cold and nasty system. People only say that they are middle class so that they can look down thier noses at other people. They want to feel better than others.

There is NO CLASS.

It is absolutely bonkers. It is 2021, not 1701.
Please move forward with the times.

There's a class system in Spain too Anne.
And funnily enough, the most class conscious person I've ever met was Swedish, a so called equal country.

@Gwenhwyfar I lived in Spain for a long time, (I am not from Spain originally - I have been a teacher in many countries in Europe), and I never heard one person talk about class. The only people I have ever heard talk about class - are English people.

And Europe is not just one country with one timetable either

Europe isn't just EU countries, many people seem to not know it either.

Does anyone from the U.K on here think that it is time to move on from the class system?

@wowfudge

We been to several US states over the year. Oregon has no sales tax so the price on the ticket is what you pay which makes it easy. Alcohol laws in PA are bonkers - there's a finite number of licences available for restaurants in Philadelphia so lots are BYOB instead. A place can only apply for a licence if another place relinquishes theirs.

You can buy all sorts in a supermarket in the UK, but you have to go to a liquor store for booze in many US states and a pharmacy for paracetamol, which is called acetaminophen.

Also the amount of tip expected is around 18% in restaurants. DP was really offended when the server in one place wrote this on the bill.

I've only done 10%. It was like that in Las Vegas.

The only people I know who talk about the class system do so so they can (in their opinion) look down on others. Most people don't GAF.

"The only people I have ever heard talk about class - are English people."

Yes, but talking about it is a different thing.
It's many years since my short stint in Spain, but at the time people there were very class conscious. There were rules of behaviour that were different for different classes. There was a bit of showing off (that would actually be considered low class in some countries) like older women walking around the main square in their fur coats. Shop assistants turned their nose up at my friend when she went to their shop in jeans. I found it to be a pretty class conscious society, but it could be where I was based.

Not being able to buy a travel plug in the USA when in Florida was quite surprising but was a while ago.

@Annedunne181

Does anyone from the U.K on here think that it is time to move on from the class system?

A more equal society, yes, but it's totally wrong to deny that different classes exist - that's what right wing politicians want us to do so that we don't vote along class solidarity lines. But this is too vast a subject for this thread.

@WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo

The only people I know who talk about the class system do so so they can (in their opinion) look down on others. Most people don't GAF.

Totally wrong. Most people on the Left talk about the class system because they want to get rid on inequalities. You must talk about it and acknowledge it. But let's not go down this road or we'll derail a very interesting thread.

Tipping is not hard to figure out, I mean seriously.

If you can book flights and hotels, fill out the ESTA, navigate your way through airports and unfamiliar transport and all the rest, you can remember to tip your server 15%. It's not rocket science.

Ireland. One of the strangest and most religious countries I have ever been to.

The sheer power and control that the people gave to the Catholic church.

I thought it was very strange how people let the Catholic church have so much power and control over them. I have never seen such religious power. The catholic church had total power. The catholic church kept abusing people from every angle, and yet the population was still devoted to the church.

Also there is a place in Ireland where Catholics go on holiday to punish themselves. My friend's mother told me that she went on a weekend's holiday to thnis place called lough derg, where she was not allowed to have any food and she was not allowed to have any sleep. To purge her soul. It is very popular with Catholics in ireland. People go every year. You couldn't make it up!

[quote Annedunne181]@Gwenhwyfar I lived in Spain for a long time, (I am not from Spain originally - I have been a teacher in many countries in Europe), and I never heard one person talk about class. The only people I have ever heard talk about class - are English people.[/quote]
I don't think the English generally talk about class much. Depends where you are and what you're doing.

People of a certain class (upper class) have behaved appallingly to me in the past though - I've had Sloanes push past me in M&S Simply Food and then similar behaviour in Wimbledon Park in a cafe place - woman just pushed past me. I'm a 'normal' person. I've also had rude behaviour from lower class types - e.g. if you're in a certain pub and they 'think' you shouldn't be there they can be quite aggressive.

@Gwenhwyfar that's interesting as its definitely the opposite with people I know!

But as you say, let's not derail

First world countries with lots of sunshine - why don't more of your domestic properties have solar panels?

Most of the US - why don't you line dry your laundry? All those tumble dryers guzzling energy when the sun is blazing down outside! Honestly it makes me weep.

And yes of course the US - why can't you do anything about the fucking guns?

@Annedunne181

Ireland. One of the strangest and most religious countries I have ever been to.

The sheer power and control that the people gave to the Catholic church.

I thought it was very strange how people let the Catholic church have so much power and control over them. I have never seen such religious power. The catholic church had total power. The catholic church kept abusing people from every angle, and yet the population was still devoted to the church.

Also there is a place in Ireland where Catholics go on holiday to punish themselves. My friend's mother told me that she went on a weekend's holiday to thnis place called lough derg, where she was not allowed to have any food and she was not allowed to have any sleep. To purge her soul. It is very popular with Catholics in ireland. People go every year. You couldn't make it up!

But surely that's expected?

When I've been there with DM and stepdad (he's Irish) you get the death notices read out on radio, Angelus bells ringing etc. Step-grandma assumed when we visited them when she was alive that because we flew into Sligo Airport we'd automatically be interested in visiting Knock (pilgrimage). No way...

They're also scared of the doctor or were - when I was there at 10 years old I was vomiting and having diarrhea and it took ages before my DM was allowed to take me to hospital (they wouldn't have a doctor in the house!) whereupon I was in isolation, on a drip and lost half a stone in weight as I had gastroenteritis. But that's down to paying for the doctor.

Yeah I agree , lets move on from class, as it is a thread in itself

Ireland. One of the strangest and most religious countries I have ever been to.
Was this in visit in the 1950's?!Nobody I know apart from my mother takes a blind bit of notice of the Catholic Church.

@Chicchicchicchiclana

First world countries with lots of sunshine - why don't more of your domestic properties have solar panels?

Most of the US - why don't you line dry your laundry? All those tumble dryers guzzling energy when the sun is blazing down outside! Honestly it makes me weep.

And yes of course the US - why can't you do anything about the fucking guns?

Not sure about first world countries not having solar panels but in a lot of Spain especially Malaga, Sotogrande etc there are lots of wind turbines which create electricity.

To be fair to US - i've got a good friend there and she now washes everything at 30 degrees to be eco friendly whereas it used to be much higher. Still uses the tumble dryer though.

Also, Germany - why don't you have Marmite? *

*light hearted

@MedicineHat

Nope we are obsessed with guns here too, but our country wasn't founded out of a fear of government so the obsession remains largely about hunting

I don't think Canadians are as obsessed with guns as the US. I don't know anyone who hunts or has a gun. Mind, that could just be my family and the people I mixed with. Although...maybe Alberta is different?