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 😅

I remember being pleasantly shocked after spending some months in the Middle East and at how green England was. As soon as we drove out of Heathrow airport everywhere seemed so incredibly lush.

You can buy it in most supermarkets?

In Amman in Jordan, how nice it was that the evening socialising was mostly teetotal so the vibe at 11 pm was just as chill as 6pm.

In Amman and Istanbul the sound of the muzzein coming from many mosques slightly offset by distance and echoes.

In Istanbul, the sheer depth of history and diversity of a living city that has been inhabited and a melting pot for over two thousand years, part of the history of Europe and Asia and North Africa and a place where ideas from all those cultures merged. It made London and New York feel like county towns by comparison!

The ranch dressing thing is funny to me because it really is ubiquitous in the US. Of course, its original use is as a salad dressing, and it is also heavily associated with Buffalo wings (the signature dish of Buffalo, NY) as a dip for the accompanying celery sticks. But people put it on all sorts of things now and use it in recipes. I'm not a huge fan, but I have to admit, it's nice on a baked potato.

Going to several supermarkets in London looking for fresh prawns. I did eventually found frozen ones at 55 pounds kg. This was 14 years ago.

I always assumed England, being an island in the North Atlantic, would have an excellent fresh fish and seafood supply available. I don['t think I've recovered from the shock of the pitiful reality.

I don't think thats true although we tend not to be impressed by people just because they're rich especially if they boast about it.

Most of our good fish is exported to other countries where people are prepared to pay for it. There was a programme on TV about it pre Brexit presented by Ed Balls.

Despite going to America a LOT for holidays, when I went to work there, the biggest shock for me was their reliance on cars.

The company was in a business park, literally no more than half a mile from all the employees' houses and NO-ONE walked. It didn't matter what the weather was, how close the houses were, I was literally the ONLY human outside.

I remember the estate agent showing us the house when we were shopping around... "the next house is next door, come on, get in the car and I'll take you" - we just looked at each other like wtf, it's right there!!!

I just found it incredible how difficult and expensive buying some fresh prawns was, specially in London. It wasn't just the prawns, the fresh fish on offer was beyond miserable.

Coming from Spain and Australia, where fish and seafood is so fresh and abundant, it came as a complete shock.

@tempname1234 it isn't considered negatively by many - but constantly mentioning it or flaunting wealth in front of people who are often struggling to get by is by many seen as a bit unclassy

Ooh say more!! I used to go out there years ago

I'm Irish and getting cake home in a napkin inside your party bag was definitely a thing when I was a child!!

In Sri Lanka driving up into the hills to the tea plantations.
There were several road works along the way. As we passed we were surprised to see women doing the work in their beautifully colourful saris and sandles, not a hard hat in sight!

Must be regional then. Not a thing I’ve ever seen (excepting leftovers). Party bags weren’t even a thing when I was a child but I’ve been to many, many kids parties since 😁

Moving from Germany to the UK. For two reasons: it was the first time I left my home country not just for holidays, and while I had been taught in English lessons at school about the need to queue in an orderly manner and be polite, I hadn't been taught anything worth knowing about class in the UK. It took me a decade, and working at a very establishmentarian institution, to realise how sharp the teeth of the class system are. In the meantime, I was just bewildered by the glimpses I got of mutual contempt between 'posh' and not-posh types and the sharp sense of social competition (this was in London).

I later moved from the UK to Tanzania, and on to the US. Of course, the differences in way of life were much greater when moving to TZ, but I also expected them to be great (whereas I'd naively thought that all European countries are sort-of the same in their fundamentals). And as I was learning Swahili, I had the great satisfaction of learning to function in a completely different language.

When moving to the US, I made the mistake of assuming that I'd figured out the Anglosphere living in the UK. Far from it. Going form London to the West Coast, I had to completely recalibrate my social behaviour. From the jadedness, conversastional lightness of touch and irony of Londoners to the strident fake enthusiasm of West Coast Americans. 'Two nations divided by a common language' really fits.

I’m 47 and definitely a thing when I was a kid and still now. Party cake was never eaten at the party ever. Happy birthday was sing to the lit cake half way through then the parents went and cut the cake up and distributed it into the party bags for taking home. Have to say though, my kids have rarely eaten the cake. I usually end up eating it. Cakes these days have too much fondant and too much icing for my kids. lol.

Are you in Ireland? I have to say I’m surprised, but regional differences I guess.

I totally understand and empathise with your comment...😥
We visited Goa for the first time around the same time and I was apprehensive before we went at how I would react and cope emotionally to the poverty I knew I would see but NOTHING prepared me for the reality!!! 😱
What affected me the most were how many children seemed to be fending for themselves, walking on the street or through a market there would be a dozen or more eager little souls literally clinging to us, begging us to buy whatever cheap stuff they had been sent out to sell by either organised gangs or more often than not, alcoholic fathers...it broke my heart how they would look up with those beautiful brown eyes and we always carried sweets, crayons and other small things that we could distribute but sadly mostly all they wanted was our rupees...🙄
After becoming involved with the charity El Shaddai who was doing amazing work with the street children, that if these little ones didn't sell enough to fund the parents drinking then they got beaten. 😥
One time that sticks in my mind was when I saw a middle aged man begging in the street, he appeared to be buried in sand up to his waist which was of course very odd to begin with, but when a couple of his friends suddenly picked him up and carried him to another spot and I then saw that he literally had no legs at all in fact nothing below his pelvis needless to say the horror and disbelief that this poor man had to resort to using his massive disability to stay alive was beyond shocking...he wasn't the only one by any means but he was the worst and combined with seeing very elderly people sleeping on the pavement 'culture shock' doesn't really come close!! 😩

Just a small thing compared to a lot of these, but I remember visiting Belgium at about age 14, and seeing someone bring a dog (not guide dog) into a chocolate shop. I was absolutely baffled, watching the dog sniffing at all the chocolates at ground level 😆. Not so shocking these days as more UK shops allow dogs in, but back then I was very surprised to see that!

That will be Bravo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bravo_(magazine)
Taught me sooo much about life as a pre- teen in Munich in the early 80s 😁

It makes me urge if anyone does it near me! I once shouted at a man for doing it in the walk through water my children had to walk in to get into a swimming pool! Absolutely disgusting! It went totally silent and I was fuming!

Cultural differences even in the UK I think. My Grandad was brought into church the night before the funeral in an open coffin, 30odd years ago in UK. I think it's less usual now but I imagine related to RC Irish background.

Mumsnet!

The way so many here have zero empathy and seem unable to understand that other people are not them and may react to things differently from how they do.

And some of the mad ideas on here.

Chun king mansions always on fire too! But the most amazing curry’s and samosas the size of your hand!

Oh and not to mention the curtain in the middle of the room with a toilet behind it 😂