Questions you have about other nationalities!

[WatermelonWaveclub]

Just for fun. DD and I were just watching a video where Americans were asking questions about the UK. What are your questions (can be for any nationality from any nationality)? And please feel free to answer other people's questions!

I'll start with some questions for Americans:

Are your grocery bags really those ones without handles? They look really awkward to carry!

Why do you not have electric kettles?

In High school films the English teacher for example always gives them some homework to do by the next day and says 'see you tomorrow' - do you have the same classes every day? We just had English twice a week or something!

It's probably different in each household. If we make a roast or any kind of pasta, we always have bread. We usually buy it but I occasionally make bread and I have a friend that has been making it recently and giving us some.
I would say we eat like that once a week.

We can buy nice, freshly made rolls in the grocery, and there are local bakeries that are terrific in my town.

My grandparents always had bread with every meal. Even if it was just a slice of sandwich bread that you buttered at the table.

I used $60K as it's 2 people making $14+ an hour in full time jobs with just 2 weeks vacation. Insurance would be close to 15% of their annual wages.

$355 per month is $4260 per year, which is 7.1% of $60,000.

I have employer-provided coverage and my contribution is about $400 per month.

That link makes sense for leaving a bottom gap to some degree, but they have them on the sides as well. If things are unfortunately timed, you may end up making eye contact with someone in their stall on the toilet 🤯

Is he Galician? Only (half) joking.

The last post for for @LaDamaDeElche

Thank you.
I've lived in the UK for several years in different cities, it was a wonderful time and experience. Unfortunately Brexit made me move back to Denmark.

I’m Spanish (born and raised there) and social pressure is DEFINITELY a thing. As an adult I don’t feel it too much anymore, because I choose to spend my time with people who are similar to me, so I’m in what you’d call ‘reserved’ groups and so I feel comfortable in any social setting I find myself in. Currently not living in Spain but it’s like that whenever I go back.

As a child / teen / young adult, it was not good. I was someone happy to spend time on my own. I hated parties and drinking and spending lots of time outside until the early hours with large groups of people. I never fit in in school and was regularly told how boring and uninteresting I was, because I just didn’t want to get drunk every weekend.

It’s partly the reason why I moved abroad for university. I was able to find my people and not be ridiculed by the class every week for being ‘a boring lifeless nun’. Of course I had nice friends too but there is a huge amount of social pressure on young people to conform and fit in.

No, from Elche. He was a party person but now is into cycling and running, like so many Spanish blokes in their 40s 😂. I’m the party person 😁

Sorry for my terrible math!

That just seems like a ton to me.

Regarding saying ‘Innit’ dd uses this as a way of signally agreement.
So I might say, “I was so hot today at work.” Dd might reply “Innit.” She is agreeing with me. Or “I can’t wait to get in and have a glass of lemonade.” Dd might reply “Innit.” Technically it began as slang for Isn’t it but now it’s used as a form of agreement.

Sorry for my terrible math!

That just seems like a ton to me.

I should have mentioned that my contribution is for a family of four. It would be considerably less if it were just me or just me and DH. You fund the NHS through taxes, which are considerably higher in the UK than the US. We both pay.

Its not just Swedes using snus, there's a thriving snus smuggling business going on in Finland, bringing it over from Sweden (its not illegal to bring over but only enough for personal use so got to smuggle if you want to make some money on it). Horrid stuff, and so bad for the gums.

100% agree with the skill thing. I find my GCSE in plumbing is invaluable in my job as a philosophy professor.

And well done for for pointing out the complete uselessness of learning anything about history. The only reason to learn history is to become a history teacher and, as you've already established, learning about the past is a complete waste of time.

Angelil, yes that echoes what the other poster said in response. I still don't get how the 'liberte' based France is not great on women's right (as the poster said) or gays etc - are people allowed to just be blatant or ryde in this respect?
Hasnt France become worse to live in then it was- apart from the great health service? Are yo not worried also about summers becoming too hot? Sounds like you don't see any major drawbacks there though.

*worse than it used to be

However the thing that I found odd in the States was that they commonly serve crackers with soup! Is that a thing in American homes, or just a quirk of eating out.

Depends. Some people love to see oyster crackers floating in their chicken noodle soup or to dip saltines in it. Some can manage fine without.

My mum used to serve tomato soup with toast fingers for dipping (in Ireland, late 60s). Maybe the crackers are similar..

This is more of an observation about the difference in the ways doors open inwardly in the UK and outwardly in Scandinavia.

@Winniewonka doors open outward in the US too.

I’m American and fortunately have fantastic health insurance through my employer, backup insurance through my DH. We will both have coverage via military + DH’s employer after we retire.

I think $355/month is not a manageable amount for two people living on an hourly wage.

Crackers with certain soups are delicious. I personally find the restaurant serving of crackers too paltry. You break up the saltines in the soup and let them get soft. It is sort of like adding dumplings.

Well said. Agree that colonial history , however unpalatable it is, has to be taught properly in the schools in UK. If you want to tackle racism in the society this will have to be the first step.

I always thought Americans studied a broader curriculum as they don't cut down to 3 subjects for A level. But sounds like they don't study that much of a broad range of subjects in general. Only 2 years of a language? Or would they have started learning a language in Primary school?

There are local and state minimum requirements which have to be met before a student can graduate high school. These requirements vary from state to state and from School District to District. Yes, many students start learning a language in elementary school in my region. This is usually Spanish. My DCs all dropped Spanish in high school in favour of French, German, and Latin.

Just doing the minimum will get you your high school diploma. However, if you want to go on to university you will need to have done more. This depends on your intended major to some extent, and to some extent on the calibre of the university you are applying to, but in general you will need more than the minimum, and this goes for every subject, not just the minimum language requirement. Your years of slogging away in Spanish class in elementary school do not count toward a language requirement for the purposes of graduating high school or university applications.

In most universities you will find you are expected to pass university level coursework in a core curriculum/general education - English writing, mathematics (often to calc III), a lab science, humanities, arts, philosophy, and a mfl or Latin/Greek - as well as courses related to your intended major.

Another one for the Spanish!
When I was living with a family in Madrid, we would have a big dinner on Friday with three or four families with kids and then the mums would leave the husbands to it after dinner and go to a tiny neighbourhood club/ bar with dancing and dance until 2/3 am. I thought this was a brilliant idea, as so many mums in the UK seem to have no child free time whatsoever but the big clubs in my city seem so daunting now. These were like smaller bars, some were gay bars, with mostly 35 years plus clientele.
In general, I think Spain has it right when it comes to socialising, but then I'm an extrovert

You learn about history so that you can avoid making the same mistakes as in the past.

For instance, Of course, it's important for young people to learn about colonisation. Even without assigning blame It for example explains why there are a significant number of people from the ex colonies in the UK. It explains that you have a shared history and many choose to come to the UK because they feel familiar with Britain and not because they see the UK as a convenient gravy train. Don't you think that's important to know to help people get along?

Why are human rights do important. If you know about the arbitrary power that monarchs or later some states used to wield then you will understand why and hopefully vote for a party that won't get rid of them.

Etc

Do you only care about what will get you more money? Do you think schools should stop teaching kids about basic values as well? What about sport or music?

Apologies if you were being sarcastic 😃

Only learning what is needed for a job - that was the concept education / schooling for all started out with. Let the plebs learn as much as I the employer need them to know but not enough to ask questions. Same as education for women.