What's the biggest culture shock you've experienced?

[Sacredhandbag]

Good or bad?

For me it was definitely the bike culture in Amsterdam - and I loved it.

But also, the over enthusiasm of shop workers in America, the silence in the streets in Japan, and the way Australians are so outdoorsy but can't handle the rain 😅

In Marrakesh we went on a tour of the souk(s). Me and 2 teenage daughters. We didn't get hassled at all - maybe because we were with a guide but I was amazed to see a baker with a massive wood fired oven built into the wall of his shop where people would pay a few coins to bring their food to be baked /roasted as many houses don't have ovens.

I know this was quite common here back in the day but I was surprised to see it in this day and age.

This is something that's changed a lot in the UK, probably going from minority shoes off to majority shoes off in the last couple of decades. I don't want to start a conversation about it though as it's been done to death on MN from both points of view.

Working in Hong Kong
I had to up my ironing skills
People were so neatly dressed, practically starched in place

You could spot the Brit a mile away 🤣

Much more recently than that in France.

I think I would love the nonchalant attitude.
Here you’ve got to call 101 which takes forever. I’m always scared someone will accidentally hit it.
I love the respect cows get. They are awesome ☺️

Ha! Many’s a time I have tried to explain notions to friends from the UK or US - they do NOT get it, no matter how I explain it. Especially our American friends - like they just can’t comprehend it

Now might be a good time to confess about my most embarrassing ever miscommunication over this guy I liked. Convo with my friend

Me: Yes, he's ever so nice. He's spending his holiday taking some disabled people to watch the cricket
Her: Oh really, when?
Me: In a few weeks. It must be a test match as he'll be gone for a week
Her: I didnt know there was a test match coming up. Where is it?
Me: Lords

Drop mic. My friend (a catholic) stopped laughing after about 10 minutes.

Might be a regional thing. I live in the Loire Valley and a glass of white is very much the go to apéro, with or without something to nibble on. My husband is from Dijon and it is the same there. On the other hand, you don't see it as much in Britanny or in the North.

I wish we could do that in every bar in the UK. I can't drink alcohol, can manage one can of fizzy drink or one fruit juice, so half the time sit there with water. I would be in heaven if the sold tea. Not everyone that goes into a pub wants alcohol.

Blackberries, crab apples, plums, rose hips, sloes, damsons, hazelnuts, elderberries. Shall I go on?

When you come from a poor place, there is no free food just hanging about that nobody can be bothered to harvest. Even the lush verges amazed me that they had no animals tethered there to eat the free grass. It was culture shock to me.

Lived in china in the mid 2000s, toilets with no doors or partitions were fairly common and is not something I could cope with! I became an expert at holding it.

It's not never. But wine not being a typical standalone drink is definitely a thing. It's much more typical with a meal.

yes, that's what I thought.

Germany?

The lack of pavements is insane. I stayed in a place near Boston and the entire neighbourhood had no pavements and there was no such thing as a bus stop (or a bus). I couldn't imagine the area I live in here to have no pavements anywhere. I don’t know how the more elderly managed their lives there. I couldn't live like that.

Downtown Vancouver. Shocked at the number of wasted people on the streets, shooting up quite openly. Some of them looked to be at death’s door.

As a French woman...that's absolute nonsense.

From Greek Stock and i have the opposite problem to you, my face shows every emotion without me thinking about it, it just happens and often gets me into trouble.

Reminds me of the time I was visiting family in Johannesburg and we had to get an Uber from the restaurant to a bar which we could literally see across the street - except the street was a highway and there was no other way of getting across!

Probably Belgium :)
You can get hot drinks in British pubs too though. It was a bit awkward 20 years ago unless they served food, but now is totally normal and free refills in the Spoons as well.

eh?

Or perhaps they are all very entitled and don't care about bothering people about small things?

Yeah Japan has some wonderful bits of its culture including a no tipping culture! However it also has its downsides but it is lovely in so many ways.

"Perhaps its the high level of service end expectations in their own country which makes some Americans appear a little demanding when encountered in other countries."

Well, yes, of course.

Nothing could have prepared me to the drinking and drug culture in the UK. The way it’s treated so casually is baffling. I’ve never seen anything more depressing.

Also no one going for walks after dinner.