Following on from "what do foreigners living here NOT get about xxx"

[HauntedsandCastle]

What do you like about the new country you live in?

For me, bug screens (great invention) am sitting here (it's s'posed to be 35) with my front door wide open and no bugs are getting in!

I too love the critters SB. We have a ghecko that comes most everynight and sits on the window by the door. It even came IN once! DD makes it her nightly duty to see if it's there, she even named it Pink!

I love the fact that I have only been shopping in my local supermarket for a few weeks and one of the girls there speaks to me like we are great friends!

I love the way I don't have to pack my shopping bags

I love the "how are you" ever time you meet someone & it's genuine!

Think you must all live in nicer places than me - here they say 'how are you' & 'have a nice day' but clearly couldn't care less. Sadly, no interesting critters either . Could get onto a very long thing about what I don't like but, being positive:

I love

• local diners for breakfast
• being able to take ds everywhere and him always being welcomed & fussed over
• Cheap petrol
• Double sinks in the kitchen
• Adjustable, squirty thing on the end of the tap to spray dishes with
• Incredible scenery (Grand Canyon, Rockies, fall in New England etc)

and, best of all,

• Netflix

I'm sure I'll think of more. There must be other good things...

lol, mamamaaargh! What's netfix?

And, how can I have been in the states for almost 4 years and NEVER seen a racoon?

Ooo, Netfilx is great - it's an internet DVD rental company. I think Tescos & maybe even amazon in the UK do them too, where you have a list of movies you want to see and they send you a couple at a time. When we moved to the US, I was really homesick and spent days watching The Darling Buds of May to remind me of home!

Personal space, having moved from Amsterdam, Holland to coastal New Zealand.
I can go shopping on a Saturday and still move in the supermarket.
I can push my buggy walk down the street in town with a radius of personal space around us.
I have a big garden instead of a balcony, more space.
No gridlock/traffic jams are tiny.

ahhhh I just love it!!

I love the fact that I don't have to go very far to see the sea ... about 5 minutes walk in fact.
I love the fact that beaches here, even city beaches have not been ruined by 'seaside' mentality ... no shops selling ice creams, no deck chairs, no shops with gaudy blow up dinosaurs
I love the fact that you can get a ferry to Auckland city and see a pod of killer whales
I love the sound of cicadas in the summer ... bloody noisy but not intrusive ...
I love seeing palm trees everywhere
I love the kiwi patriotism (to a point) and the pride of the maori people
I love the volcano cones that are all over the city
I also love not having to pack my shopping
I love being part of a small population - Aus scares me because there are so many people compared to here - Melbourne has the same amount of people as the whole of NZ just about
I love the cafes and good coffee (never drank coffee in the UK)
I love the fact that I haven't worn a coat for 4 and a half years

H&C and SittingBull - where are you living now?

Mamargh - I only ever saw one raccoon while living in America, and I was there for 25 years. They're rural/sometimes suburban nocturnal animals.

I want to live somewhere where it's been blue sky every day for 6 months

Earlybird, I am in Oz, currently experiencing a temp of 35 today...and STILL haven't put the AC on!

haunted see it is very hot down your way and bush fires season started already....

It certainly has. Port Lincoln is that latest victim.

Everyone is quite pleased with me today for putting up with the heat. I have to be honest and say that I didn't fnd it too bad, but then I was indoors most of the day! (but no AC!)

I love the wildlife - squirrels and chipmunks in the garden and once a rabbit! Frogs chirping away at night.
I love that everyone openly admires my boys wherever we go.
I love that they pack my shopping - though often badly!
I love bug screens and air conditioning though understand completely that we didn't need them in the UK.
I love having more than one bathroom, apart from having to clean them all!
I love having a playroom for all the toys.
I love having an internal double garage and driveway.
I love the wide roads and parking spaces - we now have an MPV which has tonnes of space in it.
I love having a microwave over my oven/ hob and it doubling as an extractor fan - great multitasking and space-saving!
I too love the brownies but am still trying to find big American cookies - where do you get them Californifright?

Oh, I meant to post here:

• I like the weather, always fairly moderate, if a bit wet. I can bike year-round.
• I like the general attitude - people don't take themselves, or things, that seriously
• I like the train system, well, it's better than the one back home
• I like living in a giant city, that's very old.
• I like being near mainland europe, even if I don't take advantage of it often enough.
• I like the fact that organic food is reasonably easily available.

I moved from US to UK and I miss everything you guys have mentioned!! argggg..lol

I also miss ....
Refrigerator's I could get more than an ice tray in.
One faucet for hot and cold water.
Showers with good pressure.
Water that actually suds up with just a little bubble bath, instead of half a bottle in UK's extremely HARD water.
Going shopping and having groceries bagged for me!!
Free Refills!!
All you can eat buffets (golden corral, country cooking, ryans, etc)
Hardee's, Arby's, Little ceasars 5$ hot-n-ready Pizza's.
Walmart!!!
Hot Topic!!
The hot hot summers and snowy winters
Lots of good thunderstorms during the summer.
Dairy queen!!
Southern foods(beans and cornbread, country fried steaks, Bar-B-Q's..
The list goes on and on...

However The UK also has lots of things I will miss if I move back to virginia. It is really hard to move to a different country, after living all your life in another. And there are good and bad about both.

Like I wont miss, knowing that every single person in america owns a gun, That nearly every species of animal has a hunting season, Medical and dental costs, the crime rates.. even though strangely I did feel safer there, because of the constant police presence. Ok Ive gone on long enuff..lol

Oh and my kids miss breaking up for summer holiday at beginning of june instead of end of july.

And I miss the long summers, instead of just a 2week heatwave....