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.

People in some parts of the US put butter on sandwiches. I married a Yankee whose family butters sandwiches. When he came south to live with me he had to stop doing that.

A sandwich without butter?
Butter can only be replaced with mayonnaise.

But is it REAL butter, you know the Kerrygold type that is food of the gods, or some other rubbish that looks like it?

I agree with Simon above, mayonnaise is the only substitute, but depends on the filling sometimes!

The only thing mayonnaise does to a sandwich is ruin it. Unless it’s a prawn sandwich, in which case it’s acceptable I guess.

Speaking of sandwiches and in the spirit of the thread, when I went from the US to university in Scotland, and was fed my first bacon roll, that was a very nice cultural shock. Then and now, British back bacon is difficult to find in the US, and I had never tasted it. Food of the gods and the first thing I look for whenever I set foot in the UK.

Yea explaining the concept of "hot rolls" can be interesting especially again when people assume the uk being such a small country doesn't have much variation on cuisine. Yet it varies hugely even from one town to the next.

I do love an egg and tattie scone roll on a Sunday

Talking of Scotland, there was a shop near my university that made avacado, bacon and brie sandwiches. I had an American boyfriend who couldn't get enough of them. They were divine.

Brazilians don't put butter in sandwiches unless there's either no other filling or the filling is banana. I have introduced many Brazilians to butter with jam. The heathens.

Ooooo banana and marmite sandwiches

Italian in the UK. Have lived here most of my adult life. It took me a while to get over the following:

• no rinsing after washing up. Boak. I knew my now DH was a keeper when I first saw him rinse.

• really young girls wasted/wearing next to nothing on a night out. I'm no prude and I was young myself at the time.

• lack of prevention/screening (don't expect it to be free but it should be accessible). Age 35 I wanted a mammogram. Nuffield quoted me £420. I still went through with it 'cause I'm a worrier and in Italy we get checked yearly. Girls are used to regular gynae check ups - again not free but affordable. Why the hell do people not have regular screening/blood tests, it would save so many lives. Yet most people see a dentist for check ups regularly and are happy to pay for it.

• how flimsy doors and windows are. Took me a while to realise a country that doesn't need bars at every window is obviously doing something right.

• how incredibly early children are put to bed - including in the middle of summer when it's still warm and lovely!

After the initial shock, I absolutely adore this country. The individuality, freedom of speech, lack of infuriating bureaucracy. The way you can book a train ticket and be reasonably sure there will be a train. How civilised and respectful most people are. My in laws are northerners and they're just the right balance of polite and warm.

When I go back to Italy, I can't stand the macho culture, the lack of rules, the blatant racism and nosiness. And the men. Don't get me started on the men!!

jellyfrizz: Australia - Indicators and windscreen wipers are on the opposite sides.

Not always, as it depends on the brand of car, and often, the country where it's manufactured. I've had cars here in Australia, obviously all right hand drive, but with indicators/wipers on differing sides, depending on the manufacturer. A Holden, strangely manufactured in Spain, had wipers on the opposite side to my Hyundai.

It became a minor problem when my household had two very similar cars, but from different manufacturers, and with differing layouts, and I had to remember which car I was driving. Still, was only a minor problem.

Lots of people mention not rinsing after washing in the UK. I do rinse as does everyone I know, but it wasn't common to do it when I first started washing up as a child in the 70s, and I think it was (bizarrely for a country with So.Much.Rain!) something to do with not wasting water.

I also grew up with parents and grandparents who saved tin foil, plastic bags, string. etc and they were not lentil weaving or planet saving, it was a hang-over habit from the war years (and beyond - it didn't just snap back to normal in 1945, it took years to get the infrastructure back) where everything was very scarce here and/or rationed, not just food and drink but things like petrol and fabric.

That's what I think anyway. Not that we are just dirty washer-uppers

@Nakedavenger
More Aus/NZ. The 'alternate drop' of plated food at events or weddings. For example. There are two food options chicken or fish. Waiting staff alternately place these in front of guests and then what follows is a huge discussion about whether you are happy with your dropped food or you need to find someone to swap with.
Only veggies or children are permitted to opt out of this mind boggling system.

Ha ha! Absolutely love that!

There was a big campaign in the 70s about saving water, probably something to do with the strikes. I remember something about sharing a bath and it was a bit saucy!

There is a village hall, somewhere in the New Forest, which is regularly used as a world class dance centre. I remember it as the place where I learned that, if you wash up by hand and rinse each plate under the hot tap, for a group just in excess of forty people, you will use up all the hot water and there will be no hot water left for showers after the training. Just sayin'

Australia - Indicators and windscreen wipers are on the opposite sides.

As someone else said, this depends entirely on the manufacturer. European cars (VW, Mercedes, BMW, Mini etc) have their lights on the left, indicator and wipers on the right. Non-Euro cars (Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Subaru, Mazda, Kia etc) are the opposite, and those cars make up the majority of cars by a substantial margin in Australia.

Also, I've owned one front loader washing machine and will never own one again. They're infuriating compared with top loaders.

I much prefer front loaders!

Another difference I don't think I've seen is in Australia it's not allowed in house building etc to have a washing ma chime in a kitchen and seen as unhegnic - so separate utility. In England at least in small houses it's the natural place for it - connection to water pipes etc.

I think in some countries it's usually in the bathroom !

The windscreen wiper side isn't just a manufacturer thing. My Toyota corolla in the UK had them on the opposite sides to my sister's Toyota corolla in Australia

Soulrider
I have only ever used toploaders and imo the only factor contributing to poor laundry outcomes is the brand of detergent used. Tide is the best ime, and additives like Oxy and Borax will boost the power of other, lesser detergents.

DanTDM - there was a time when British women used to scrub the pavements outside their front doors every day.

Mayo and/or mustard for sandwiches was a very pleasant surprise for me in the US. I have an exSIL who used to always use butter, and I realised in the course of a picnic lunch that I really didn't like ham and cheese sammies with butter. Especially American butter.

If you've never used a front loader then you have no idea how superior they are :-)

I am British and don't own a washing up bowl. I know it's crazy. I mostly use the dishwasher but when I need to wash up I run the tap and clean under running water. My mums face was when she saw me doing this. I can't get my head round washing up in a bowl of dirty water. I will renounce my British passport with immediate effect.

We had alternate drop at my wedding in the U.K. It’s seen as cheap and poor hospitality in Australia to serve only one meal at a wedding (I HATE it), ditto for a cash bar.

It took a proper battle with the venue to get them on board & to get them to realise that no one would send their plate back and that everyone would sort themselves out - I think we had beef welly and monkfish. The staff coped fairly well up until dessert at which point they started randomly handing out meals

My mother has one. I don't see any difference in the condition of her clothes that are washed in a front loader and mine that are done in the top loader when she comes for a visit. She always brings the maximum baggage allowed so I am able to see how all sorts of clothing items fare in her front loader (despite weather being very predictable here, she packs as if she were off for the June bank holiday in Bundoran).

Soulrider it has to do with the market cars are produced for. The UK will often get cars produced for the Euro market so indicators are on the wrong side.

Indicators are supposed to be on the right if you drive on the left and vice versa for driving on the right, but few manufacturers switch it over for the U.K. market.