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 😅

Scotland .... Square sausage and whisky on your porridge 😮

Rural Greece aged about 14. I've got red hair. The children possibly hadn't seen it before and were putting hands on me and coming to point and stare.

I'm Scottish and I have never had square sausages and whisky on my porridge

Going on a school trip to Russia in the late 90s (wouldn’t happen now!). Lived in a small village in rural Cheshire. I remember being my so shocked by the amount of poverty and children in particular on the streets next to these grand gold cladded churches.
plus the police being so heavily armed and people on the street just handing out cigarettes as samples!

Stupid comment!!

Been several times in Turkey and this never happened 🙄 Maybe consider Benidorm next time!!

Need to stop spreading lies, untrue as I spend 8 weeks each year in France and what you describe isn't the case. Open your eyes on English kids that are absolutely vile towards their teachers in schools or with their hoody on bikes terrorising the shoppers in towns !!!

Whisky on porridge is not common.
If you have never had squared sausage even once you must be pretty posh.

I have had whiskey on porridge, though in Ireland not Scotland, and can confirm it is delicious 😋
Definitely not an everyday thing though. I first had it at a guesthouse on a weekend break.
Baileys is also very nice on porridge I’ve heard.

But those sorts of things are nothing to do with North vs South, but rich vs poor or rural vs urban environments.

Compare Tower Hamlets with Jesmond or Jaywick with Harrogate for example.

Quoted the wrong post but the point I was making was about how in 'the North' people are rough unemployed layabouts making it necessary for shops to have security grills to stop the locals from robbing them while this is not seen in the south is inaccurate.

Zante earlier this year.

A street kid, filthy dirty and skinny as a rake, begging from people sat in the cafes along the seafront. Just walking table to table with a little sign and a cup, completely alone. Crossing busy, busy roads on his own, talking to all manner of strangers and being chased away by a couple of business owners.

He came to our table and stood right next to ds3. They were the exact same height and the kid looked the same age...ds3 is 7. They looked at each other and the stark differences AND similarities between them jumped out and made me feel sick to my stomach. I'll remember that image of them next to each other for the rest of my days.

I wouldn't even let ds3 go into the toilet on his own because the cafe was large and busy, much less cross the busy road without holding hands. And here was this other kid just wandering alone in and out of crowds of people, in and out of traffic. Fucking hell.

We bought him an ice cream and gave him some money and he went on his way 😔

Donald Trump.

The thread is about culture shocks. For me, the move from.where I grew up (north eastern deprived town) to a quiet, afflent south eastern town was a culture shock at the time.

I'm.well aware that all the 'south' isn't perfect. But for me, at that time, in that situation, I was in awe of how different my new life was.

Which is what the thread is about. I think!

Surely it depend on what type on nose blowing we are talking about. Even in the UK, a quick wipe away is commonplace but most people don't thoroughly clear out the mucus from sinuses in a public. Its a bit like passing wind - an accident is ignored but if you just let it rip on the bus you'd get some looks.

At least here in Denmark it’s so children emulate you and only cross the road while it’s safe to do so.

Gosh, so many!!!

The traffic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam- learning how to cross a road!
Open drug taking and homelessness in Vancouver, Canada
The open spitting and snorting all over China
Entire families of 5 on a single scooter in Indonesia
The blatant sex tourism in Thailand and Cambodia (and like PP, open with children as well)
The drinking culture in England (coming from someone in Australia it was still beyond anything I'd ever seen!)
Being openly stared at as a young blonde person in India, random people asking to take photos with me and to hold their babies

Amsterdam. It was the first time I had been on holiday to a none English speaking (as the primary language) country. Felt very alone when I turned on the TV and didn't understand anything. Same with people on the street or in the shops!

Singapore - walking out of the airport. The wall of heat and humidity that hit me was very intense and I actually found it hard to breathe. Never felt anything like it.

Agree with the above poster - E Hastings St Vancouver. Streets of people shooting up in broad daylight. Shocking.

I had a square sausage on my first ever trip to Scotland! I’d certainly be declining whiskey on porridge though.

I just saw this on instagram and thought it was very apropos of some of the comments here, interesting if true

I’m from a colder country than England 😊 I guess it’s money! Paying for 4 weeks of storing the body is going to cost much more than 3 days

By me, but my teenage nephew came
To visit from the states last Christmas (where I'm from). I've lived in England for over 20 years. He couldn't get his head round that the English don't have ranch dressing. I was like, "They don't have ranch here, sweetie" and his response was "What? Why not? It's SO good!" He couldn't get his 14 year old head around it 😂😂 Americans put ranch on almost everything 😆

For me, having lived in England since I was 18, going to kids birthday parties in my late 30s after having kids.... the birthday cake to take home in the napkin!!! What the heck?! I found it absolutely bonkers weird. Complete culture shock even though I've lived here for decades.

Yep lots of hawking of phlegm - even in kitchens of restaurants. Our guides told us they were trying to put their foot down (not on the phlegm!) but I don't think it had any effect! I remember thinking, looking down on the pavement, I hope I don't fall over....

Visiting Japan in my early twenties - early noughties. The fact I felt so safe at all times of day and night. The insane respect I was afforded by everyone - felt somewhat like a celebrity. The fact that for the first time in my life I was the only white person in any often very busy space - gave me a lived understanding of what it is to be the “other” one due to skin colour - although there was no racism, so same but different. The noodles. The green tea. The kindness.