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

993 replies

AjasLipstick · 18/03/2018 06:53

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.

OP posts:
BagelGoesWalking · 23/03/2018 13:15

Unicorn you see, as a Brit, thongs and sandals immediately brought up a very different image than the one (I think) you meant Grin

ConferencePear · 23/03/2018 13:50

TempusFugitive -

Real Wensleydale cheese does not have bits in it.

BitOutOfPractice · 23/03/2018 15:04

Wensleydale should be eaten with Christmas cake to appreciate it's true glory!

swivelchair · 23/03/2018 15:52

I've used toploaders in Canada, with that agitator thing in the middle that eats clothes, with 'hot' water from the building's hot water - TBH, it's one of the things that put me off using re-usable nappies, because I just couldn't imagine how they could be clean..

I've also used a japanese top-loader though, without agitator, and that was fantastic - so fast, with an inbuilt water heater, I'd have one of those again.

When I lived in Malta and we went to buy a washing machine, I found to some amusement that they still had brand new twin-tubs for sale! Wooden tongs and all!

OlennasWimple · 23/03/2018 16:30

Cheese with bits in it sounds like one of the Christmas "specials" that supermarkets in the UK produce, that people buy because they think they look nice but no-one eats because they are grim. It was probably apricots in the Wensleydale (which shouldn't be squishy, but the fruit can make it soggy sometimes)

Top loader washers are the norm in the US too - I hated ours. Yes, it was quick, and useful for popping in the inevitable dropped sock after the load had started. But then I had to clamber into the machine afterwards to disentangle the sock from the bottom of the machine, and the stuff was never quite as clean as I wanted and it was very harsh on the clothes. (I guess clothes being that much cheaper in the US means this is less of a concern for the market than in other places?)

winglesspegasus · 23/03/2018 17:00

this thread is a delight/have lived in a few different countrys and all over the usa ,also a some time in canada.
Canada;yes montreal is very french .quebec is notorious for the xenophobic communities(if you don;t speak french they will not acknowledge you)but there is a wonderful cultural aspect there, music
and art,winter sports and it is gorgeous.
the rest of canada pretty much speaks english-sometimes with an irish or scots accent.go up to the nw of ontario and you will hear a wonderful mixed up french-english-ojibe patous,
again for the people with blinders on.the usa has a population of
over 300,000,00 .we don't all carry guns or see the need for them.only time in 60 years i ever felt unsafe was when a drunk bothered me at a lonely bus stop.he got too close and i thumped him with my backpack full of books.before he was off the ground a cop pulled up-laughing his ass off and hauled the guy away.
grew up in a family of cops.father ,step father and 2 brothers,plus assorted uncles and aunts.guns were there,not as toys or ego displays.we learned to shoot and never ever told anyone who came to the house that there was a locker of them in the basement.or the shotgun in the hall coat closet-for when the bears tried to peel the door off its hinges or the coyotes came for your cat.
Jamaica-worked for 2 yrs and was "adopted"by a local family and was promptly moved out of my rental into thier home.
wonderful people, food and music.horrible racial problems.
ireland everyone trying to feed me.spent alot of time answering questions about america.
australia and Nz to work,loved it all cities,outback,coastlines mountains.and indiginous people who showed me the beauty of the deserts and the oceans.
i love cultural differences be they good or bad,we all learn from each other and hopefully for the good.

to the person who was in Boston--Boston doesn't care about the tea party.it has (along with chicago)a huge population of Irish catholic decendants,some only a generation ago.
Husbands granny was a "mail order bride" in 1917,family wanted the only child away and safe.
Mexico-would go every year so nephew could know his family.very traditional,we had to wear skirts outside the casa.not allowed to go to cantinas,but old uncle would go and buy us all the booze we wanted.
beautiful Day of the Dead ceremony/festivals.saints days too.
we were very sheltered but very loved.
Columbia was a bit scary and cruwded in the cities.jungle was awe inspiring.
dont refuse food or drink.Mamas would be hurt. still have friends who come to visit.
all in all i find the world a wonderful place.

winglesspegasus · 23/03/2018 17:04

alot of countrys still sell."archaic " machines,washing .sewing(treadle),wood cook stoves because theres no electricity.i regularly sell treadle sewing machines to american indian women here,

juneau · 23/03/2018 17:55

Brit in Switzerland.

Wine is always served at an event. Even if it is held in the morning. At school meetings, at kids birthday parties, at church... wine, wine, wine.

I think I would like Switzerland (or at least this aspect of it) Grin

Ah American prudishness ... I thought America would be so open-minded - the home of Playboy, a huge porn industry, actresses that frequently wear very little - but I once tried to sunbathe topless on a beach in N. Carolina and almost got arrested. The beach police (who knew these even existed!), swooped down in minutes 'This is a family beach ma'am, you need to put your top back on'. Me 'Whaaaa? This a beach! I always sunbathe topless!'. It was only my English incomprehension and possibly making their day that saved me from experiencing the inside of a jail cell for public indecency! My DH was once booked for 'public urination' Grin. We're wild, I tell ya!

juneau · 23/03/2018 18:00

All this talk of Italy too - I lived there for a year and some aspects of it I absolutely loved - but I'll never forget trying to open a bank account. I walked in armed with my passport and expected, as an EU citizen could so in Britain, that I could open a bank account. Er no. I was told in no uncertain terms that I was 'una persona sconoscuita' i.e. an unknown person. 'But I'm a British and EU citizen' I tried to reason with them. 'You're not Italian' was the reply. And that was that. I never did manage to open a bank account. But I could sign my pay cheques over to the bloke who ran the bus company that we used for our transfers and he could give me cash. He also provided me with a mobile phone and SIM card, because of course I couldn't get one of those either, unknown person that I was Hmm. I love Italy, but fuck me it's a bureaucratic nightmare. I wanted to live there initially, but after a year I was done and came home. The bureaucracy defeated me.

BitOutOfPractice · 23/03/2018 18:07

I don't think I've ever seen anyone topless on a beach in the uk though juneau. And topless bathing seems to be very much in the minority in France and Spain though. So the American reaction shouldn't really have surprised you.

Toadinthehole · 23/03/2018 18:23

As for the urination: a Canadian friend mentioned to me in shock about the British habit of pissing in pubic, so it's not just the US.

LiquoriceTea · 23/03/2018 18:52

I've never seen English people urinating in public.... are you sure that's a thing!?!? Apart from toddlers in woods...

oblada · 23/03/2018 19:05

Loveintokyo ' No wonder the French are so narrow minded when it comes to foreign cuisine.' - that's a bit of a rude generalisation no?

Last time I checked the plat national in France was couscous. Isnt it curry or sth in the UK? In that the most eaten dish kind of thing, not the best or favourite.

Other cheese to consider: comte, cantal, gruyere for the hard cheese variety :)

LoveInTokyo · 23/03/2018 19:06

Juneau, what do you do if you’re a foreigner in Italy with a job? How do you get paid if you can’t open a bank account?

oblada · 23/03/2018 19:07

I've seen people urinate in public in the UK, usually after hours, drunk.
Not sure if it's a British thing...
Bathing topless was the norm/very accepted when I used to go to the beach regularly in France, but that was a while ago...

FinallyHere · 23/03/2018 19:20

Grew up in north German / Scandinavian countries, where 'nudity' is regarded very differently to, well, lets say many other places.

I was involved in the induction and orientation programmes for a global corporate for many years, which provided plenty of interesting stories. Talk of topless bathing has reminded me of the experience of one young man, straight out of uni, pleased to get a trainee ship and a bit dazzled to find himself on the week long induction course on the other side of the world from home. These course s tended to be held in hotels with quite good facilities, which everyone was encouraged to use in their brief periods of downtime. He was brave enough to try the sauna and horrified when a woman approached him, clearly upset with something he was doing, as he sat in the sauna, on his towel in his bathers.

He thought he had upset her by somehow getting into the women's section. From previous experience, we were fairly sure that the sauna would be unisex and that she would have been telling him how unhealthy it was to be sitting in bathing trunks rather than with all skin exposed to the air.

The most difficult part of the course was always the section on different cultures, but there was no shortage of material. It was also where I first came across the idea that things are different in different countries, in our increasingly global world, people doing a similar role, especially for the same global corporate, will have a lot of experience in common, too, which their previous peer group, who had not moved countries, would not recognise.

Natsku · 23/03/2018 19:31

Top-loaders are the norm here in Finland and they work perfectly well.

Public urinating is a thing here too - have seen far far too many penises in parks in the summer shudder

juneau · 23/03/2018 19:43

Juneau, what do you do if you’re a foreigner in Italy with a job? How do you get paid if you can’t open a bank account?

I don't know! This was a long time ago, to be fair, it was in 2000. Maybe things have changed since then but I'm not holding my breath.

LiquoriceTea · 23/03/2018 19:48

Gosh I don't think I've ever seen a penis in a park!!

yummytummy · 23/03/2018 19:58

this thread is so fascinating! i think it should go into classics. how does that get decided by mn?

Unicornsandrainbows3 · 23/03/2018 19:59

Bagel I realised as soon as I pressed 'post' that they have different meanings in the UK!

Natsku · 23/03/2018 20:01

You haven't lived if you haven't seen a penis in a park!

SenecaFalls · 23/03/2018 20:35

but I once tried to sunbathe topless on a beach in N. Carolina and almost got arrested

I actually gasped at that. Growing up in the US South as I have and still living near a Southern US beach. Yeah, we definitely don't do that. Smile

AverageSnowflake · 23/03/2018 20:45

Butter on a sandwich...wtaf?

I'm American and we put mayo or mustard on a sandwich, never butter.

LoveInTokyo · 23/03/2018 21:25

I can’t imagine eating a sandwich without butter on it... Confused