Expats, tell me what aspect or social norm of your new country was strange to you?

[AjasLipstick]

I am a Brit in Oz and for me, the hardest thing to get used to was Sunday trading hours being like the UK in the 70s.

The weirdest thing was how much less formal people are...kids are dressed very informally and parties for children never have kids dressed up in party dresses but in shorts and t shirts. I like it now I'm used to it though.

Don’t all British primary schools change into pumps (slippers) when they enter the classroom? Was standard where I’m from in W. Yorkshire

Never had kids change here (south england).

Do kids never go missing or decide to th away? One of the local schools has just had extra high fencing installed as a kid tried to escape during lunch...

I went to the corner store in bare feet once when I first arrived from nz. Only the once mind - all the dog shit and glass on the street. Plus everyone looked at me like I had escaped from somewhere!

Oh how I miss the clean pavements of nz. Or as my children know it "the wonderful place we can run around in bare feet".

I bet kids feet are better in nz aren't they??

Ghanaian in UK. When dishes are washed in a washing up bowl, it goes straight from that bowl to the draining plus drying stage. There is no rinsing of the soap. And the same dish water is used over and over again. Yuck!
When people invite me for their parties, I have to pay for the privilege. Back at home if you choose to invite people for a party, they are your guests, you feed and water them. They bring you gifts. And parties are food/drink/dance/merriment no Avon, virgin vie/and what have yous.

German petrol stations sell alcohol. Lots of it. There is no need for off licenses for there are petrol stations.
And around New Year, petrol stations also sell fireworks.

I'm UK and don't think I've ever paid to go to a party. Usually take a bottle or chocolates/birthday present depending on what type of party!

Not exactly an 'expat' experience, but from working nightshifts in the hospital as the only Brit in a crowd of Filipinos...Putting salt on fruit like pineapple, mango, melon. Sounds gross, but tastes so gooood!!!

I'm an American married to an English guy. We lived there for the better part of a decade and then I talked him into moving to my home state. Moving back here was an adjustment for my husband, but it was also hard on me. I hadn't lived here for so long and so many things had changed. I wasn't prepared for it. The most difficult aspects for DH were driving and just how aggressive people over here can be at times. We live in Texas, so the pushiness and machismo are even worse than they would be in a different area. He's had to learn not to be intimidated by that type of behaviour. People are so much more politically polarized here these days, and it's something we've both had to learn to tiptoe around. In the US, we don't have a lot of driving instruction before we are handed a license, so you see a lot of crappy driving over here. He didn't really drive before we moved here, so that was very stressful for him. For me, I got used to being able to walk wherever I needed to go and it just doesn't work like that here. You have to have a car. We build cities for cars, not for pedestrians. Also, it might be safe to take public transport in a few American cities, but ours is not one of them.He did have to learn some Spanish because not everyone here speaks English. I grew up having a basic knowledge of it because you do need it. In our part of the States, you sometimes have conversations where one person is speaking Spanish and the other person is speaking English. It sounds odd, but if you end up in that situation, it makes perfect sense. I got used to the healthcare in the UK and being able to use a lot of other things that you probably take for granted. Here, accepting any help from the government is considered shameful, no matter how much you need it. We had to put our son on state healthcare for a short time, and I had to hide that from other people. My son had to go to a dentist, and I misunderstood that the practice where we had made an appointment didn't accept Medicaid. When we showed up, the receptionist basically told us "Get out" with her tone and her body language. There are a lot of things that I do appreciate and dislike about both countries. I felt like I was constantly treated with suspicion in the UK simply because my qualifications are from the States, and I am from a more conservative state. That doesn't mean I'm conservative, but that was what people assumed. I had a few people go into angry rants at me even though they didn't actually ask me what my views were on things. At the time, I was open to settling there permanently with my family, but as a foreigner, I didn't always feel welcome. I can't count the number of times people immediately asked me "When are you moving back?" when they found out where I was from. I got the impression that people think we all rich and we have it so great over here. It doesn't work like that.

Australia's obsession with presenting the road toll statistics on the nightly news, on a State by State basis ... almost like a league table, eg:

"Deaths on the roads this public holiday weekend:
NSW ... 6
VIC ....3
SA ....3
TAS ... 1
etc "

Mary gardens inIreland - never seen anything like it before, but each town in the West seems to have one!

Jassy I had a full bridezilla moment with the venue my sister had said yes to because they couldn't do more than one dish for each course. DH says it's when he knew he was marrying the right person.

My comment was 'So you are telling me that everyone is to get the same thing for each course and at 10pm we have to serve bacon sandwiches? This makes no sense. I just flew here and at 30,000 feet I had a choice of two mains and I only paid £350 for my seat. We have guests who are vegetarians, Muslims, Jews and a couple of vegans too. I'd be better off getting married on a jumbo jet! At least BA can put a meal in front of them that they can eat with unlimited alcohol for the whole flight!'

I cursed my sister out and walked away from £1500 deposit that I had paid in good faith. I could still kill her for her lack of detail. My number one criteria was a menu with 3 choices for starters and mains with separate fruit and cheese plates for after. They also charged £40 corkage for champagne. Considering at our wedding we went through 144 bottles it's a very good thing we didn't stick with that venue!!!!!

Fascinating thread, but brits may like to know that in the UK you are not meant to park on the wrong side of the road either:

www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/waiting-and-parking-238-to-252

This is a fascinating thread, I love it!

Someone mentioned lack of bidets here in the UK. I understand in a basic way what they are for, but... for those who grew up with them as standard, outside of the UK (not British who were posh enough to have them, it’s not the same thing ) how often would they be used day to day? Are they used after every time of going to the toilet, or just after certain times? What do you dry yourself with? What do you wash yourself with? Or do you just rely on the jet of water to do the job, hands free? And does not the invention of moist toilet paper make the need for them obsolete?!

Spaniard in the Uk for the last 16 years. All mainly ok except I still can't stomach a fry up for breakfast, we have coffee and pastries and the odd cheeky bit of cognac in the coffee- or chocolate and churros 😋

I do have a funny story about my first encounter with the charity culture here, which was new to me.
I went into Iceland for a few bits. Go to the checkout. Two girls in some sort of scout-y uniform start packing my bags. I give them a surprised look but they carry on and I don't understand why they are doing it. My English wasn't great at the time so I just smile awkwardly and make a run for it with my bags. The cashier stares at me. I was so flustered I had forgotten to pay! Thank God I had not got out the door yet! I go back to pay and the whole qeue is staring at me too, and so are the little girls. I swear I had NO IDEA at the time this was a fundraising thing and normal in the UK
I felt like such a knob my face is still burning in shame 16 years after....😂😂

English - I still find sweet things for breakfast weird - like American pancakes or pasties or muffins or churros! In my mind they're for after meals or afternoon tea!

Using c**t almost as a term of endearment.
Going to a party/bbq and taking your own esky with drinks. Only drinking from your own esky and leaving with it (and it's contents) when the party is finished.
Even witnessed this when a neighbour asked us (brits) to pop round for a glass of wine. Gave her a bottle of wine. The other couple (oz) brought a lunch box sized esky with coke in it. Which sat beside them the whole night. (Esky=cool box) - weird !

Ski40 - don’t feel bad about the charity packers. They’re relatively new to the uk (in my cosmopolitan suburb of a mjor city at least) and I don’t really like how they are there without warning. Always feel awkward if I’m paying by card and don’t have change because I feel I “owe” them something even though I’d rather pack my own bags. I give to lots of charities so I don’t feel I should have to give to checkout packer charities without warning iyswim and then feel awkward if I don’t/can’t.

@Doodles - you just have to say no to those kinds of parties!

@SundayGirls thank you! I did get a lot of stick for that at the time...and yes it is horrible when you have no change on you. Makes you feel so bad xx

@StickStickStickStick believe me nothing like a load of hot churros after a long night out.. even if that's just a distant memory for me!
Now I have them as a dessert at the mexican restaurant (Chiquito) and it feels so weird to me having them after a meal ha ha xxx

As a teacher in the Netherlands, I want to teach in Germany, I work in secondary ed and the older ones at that, I certainly don’t consider myself ‘in loco parentis’ what a thought!

NZ to Uk.
Late night shopping - shops closing at 7pm - hardly seems worth it. Late night shopping to me was 9pm.
Having central heating - I love it, along with double glazing.

@AnElderlyLadyOfMediumHeight

Living in Germany sounds AWFUL why on earth are you there?!

The phenomenon of Mary gardens began in the US and spread to Ireland. The first one in Ireland was at the Knock, Mayo shrine.

You see a lot of small statues of Mary and/or bird baths featuring St Francis in front and back yards in the US. (They are not Mary gardens).