Strange things you're not used to

[Jeraly 4]

main courses being called 'entrées'

there is NO logic there...

Ha ha - this drives hubs and an Australian friend of mine absolutely nuts

Haha - I never understand that as well... maybe there is a desire for more courses... maybe you have an appetiser, then entrée then a main course, then desert, then cheese board, coffee and mints... that sort of thing - you know

StP - absolutely awesome that you can get the print back I know I would be the same - we have very little money here (and have just had to deal with our savings not turning up...) but if there was something that devastated me so much then money would be no object if it just helped me settle and made me feel better - I mean if we are going to live here, we want to be happy, right?

As for store room... well our living room looks less like a store room now but as there is no furniture, we have things like a computer on the floor, two on the sofa along with the VCR/DVD player, piles of cans and bottles and card to be recycled... We did pick up a corner desk for my computer yesterday though for $60 from Big Lots - it is just what I was after as it shouldn't interfere with any other furniture we eventually get and is small enough to fit in the corner without obstructing the French doors - I get to put it together (or try!!) later - yippee!!

[island_princess 2]

The very first thing that I noticed that honestly amazed me is --- a lot of fat people just anywhere you go. I mean, there are lots of fat people too in the Philippines, but not as fat as the fattest here. The second observation justified my first----the food servings in the restaurants are way too big for a single seating. Also, in the grocery shops, there is a special cart for obese people to ride. Do they need to exercise more? Anyway, these are just some of it, but eventually I gradually understand the culture I am in now.... so it's fine.

Edited July 26, 2008 by island_princess

[newenglander 0]

As a lifelong USC, I feel guilty being inside this thread with all of you telling your stories about life in the US. I feel like a spy. But it's entertaining.

Some, well MOST of the things you are complaining about are things I've never even heard of! It all depends upon where in the US you are living and a lot of what I've been reading just is not typical of what I know of this country.

I am familiar with the unfriendly employment practices in our country. A lot of us have no time for life outside of work and that's no good. If the average American knew that workers in other countries had so many days off there would be a lot of jealousy and resentment. (Better not tell them.)

I'm familiar with hearing people say "innernet" for internet and "Torono" for Toronto -- it annoys me too! On tv they talk about "winner" weather and you can't tell if they mean WINNER or WINTER. I don't know where this got started (probably CA, isn't that where most things start in this country? good AND bad?)

People do not say ten cent, they say ten centS. Twenty five centS. They will say "It's a 25 cent piece of junk", not "It's a 25 cents piece of junk." Does that make sense? (oooops, a pun.)

Super sizing, as it's called, of food portions started in the junk food industry, I think. I know it didn't used to be like this. I remember some years ago ordering a SMALL coffee and actually GETTING a SMALL coffee at Dunkin' Donuts. Then one day I ordered my small coffee and they made me get a big one -- at a higher price. In fact, they told me that was the new SMALL.

I think it all started in the greedy junk food/fast food places. It's based upon greed for money, as is most everything in the US. If they keep giving people large portions, pretty soon, people get used to large portions and think they really NEED large portions. They're hooked. The food places get more money that way, plain and simple.

I've never heard of NOT recycling. Our towns provide us with recycling bins and you put out glass, plastic, paper and so on. It's picked up on trash day every other week.

I would have culture shock if I went to a place like this:

______________________________________________________________________________

-The obscene number of telemarketers! Thank heavens for the No-call list!

-mailboxes on the street instead of the slot through the door - and mail carriers in cars only, not walking (may just be here, don't know)

-no bulk food - anywhere! Have to buy in pre-selected, pre-packaged sizes

-high price for produce and lack of in-season local produce in grocery stores

-notary publics in Customer Service centers at grocery stores and at UPS stores

-bag boys that put only one or two items into a grocery bag so you end up with 20 bags instead of 6!

-number of pharmacies - one or two on virtually every corner it seems like

-number of churches and where they are - in shopping malls, industrial centers, street corners, houses, 4 or 5 churches across the road from each other all of them different and so many of them 'megachurches' . . . almost as many pages of churches listed in the yellow pages as doctors or lawyers - with weird exotic names. "St. Pauls" or "****Methodist Church aren't good enough anymore - it has to be Salvation Cathedral of Praise, God's First Breakthrough Ministry, Shield of Faith Christian Assembly, Bread of Life Church, Light of the World Church, Anointed Wounds of Faith, etc. (all taken from our local phone book . . .)

-'illegal' day workers gathered in parking lots waiting for a day's work from a drive-by employer

-election signs - everywhere, all of the time, obscuring street corners and roadways (there is always an election for something or other going on!- no wonder people get saturated and don't bother to vote anymore)

-higher percentage of overweight and obese people

_________________________________________________________________________

(Borrowed this from earlier on -- could not believe what I was reading and just knew I would have to post to this thread.)

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?????? Telemarketers, yes. Fat people, yes (see fast food restaurants/Super-sizing.)

But the rest, especially all those strange sounding churches (if they really are churches) is very weird. The very names made me laugh, they sound so stupid. I could NEVER in a MILLION YEARS live in the place you are living. I'm not a church goer but if I were, I could choose from Congregationalist, Methodist, Baptist, Catholic and a few minorities like Greek Orthodox. Those in the list sound like make believe churches, pretend, made up, even scary churches. Oh, that's right, they have that creepy polygamous (sp?) place in Texas too. That reason alone is good reason for the culture shock that I AS AM AMERICAN would experience if I had to live in a place like that.

What you are reacting to is just ONE PART OF THE COUNTRY -- there are plenty of places that are not like that.

There are lots of good things about this country and lots of bad things depending upon where you are coming from. Please please don't judge our food by our junk food "restaurants" -- go to places that have real food, locally owned places. Go to our farmers' markets for locally grown produce. Buy your food in bulk in a natural foods store. Don't accept the millions of little flimsy plastic bags they try to give you in the grocery store--bring your own canvas bags.

We have some really good foods like blueberries (which are in season now, in July--try blueberry muffins!!), we have great ice cream, we have pumpkin pie in the fall, pancakes with real maple syrup are very GOOD, strawberry shortcake in spring, fresh corn on the cob, LOTS AND LOTS MORE.

What my UK fiance does not like over here is peanut butter (American kids are raised on PB&J sandwiches=peanut butter and jelly), he won't eat summer squash (he thinks it's a gourd!), and maybe one or two other things.

I'm hungry now for blueberries. Got to go have some. I apologize for my disorganized rambling and my interrupting of a thread that I have no business lurking on. LOL

[truffles 2]

Drive through everythings..... most shocking to me was the drive through ATM.

[Ontarkie 14,221]

hehe i liked your post Newenglander, glad you can get a giggle from this topis I know I do.

I did notice even in the real food restaurants you get way too much food, but it is good. fast food places have an affect on many things. I think the strange things we are not used to are not always bad but weird and funny at times. But I really wish the cold water would really be cold when I turn on the tap not hot.

Also the drive thru banks are so retarded ppl getting that lazy they can't walk into a bank to get their money, they dont use the atm they actually deal with a teller for petes sake get off your ### and go in. But thats just me I dont think trusting some dum ### tube that gets sucked up to hold my stuff.

Another thing is this we need your SSN for everything and ppl wounder why there is soo much identity theft.

[Gemmie 142]

Agreeing with the drive-thru bank.

I was so shocked when Bill pulled up to a little station with a tube to cash a cheque!

He says it's good if there's a line in the bank and you just need something small, but I still think it's stupid.

I also agree about the telemarketers. The phone rings about 10-15 times a day and no one even reacts because they know it's marketing.

[Reba 2]

People do not say ten cent, they say ten centS. Twenty five centS. They will say "It's a 25 cent piece of junk", not "It's a 25 cents piece of junk." Does that make sense? (oooops, a pun.)

Here in North Carolina, (and I"d hazard a guess, in quite a lot of the south east, I know folks from WVa, GA, SC etc who say it too) they say "cent" no matter how many they have. Its never pluralised, unless they're talking about sense. Which very few of them have.

[StillThePrettiest 3]

What you are reacting to is just ONE PART OF THE COUNTRY -- there are plenty of places that are not like that.

well, of course; I think we all know that... the problem is, we find ourselves IN one place, and most of us are not likely to move around in a hurry, being as we can't work and have no money and can't even open bank accounts and all that jazz, so we just react to - and have to cope with - the situation we find ourselves in

the list you quoted is pretty hilarious... sounds just like where I am (Texas)

not all of those things amaze me though - we had some of those weird church names, just for instance, in my part of London... and I avoid others, such as the bagging issues, by always taking my own bags to the supermarket (which is always an adventure, as I don't think it's at all common, but everyone's been nice about it so far... my accent always causes questions, so I guess they put it down to the vagaries of a furriner )

however, some things are just not that easy - take recycling, just for one... I think I would have made about twenty phone calls on that subject, to all manner of people, each of whom referred me on to someone else... I even attended a recent meeting of the HOA, which I would have done anyway, but my prime reason was to find out why recycling has been withdrawn from my neighbourhood... the answer? 'very few people participated'

so on my morning walks I see garbage bins STUFFED with aluminium cans and glass bottles and paper and so on, and I stack all my recyclables in the garage in a series of neat boxes, and every six weeks or so we drive down to the closest drop-off point (which is about twenty minutes away - the phone calls resulted in one piece of information at least ) and throw everything in the skips... I won't be letting it end there, but I have to be honest: I really don't know where to start with it

as for some of your other advice - I agree with it wholeheartedly in principle, but the practice can be somewhat different! go to local restaurants? try finding one! I think I've found something new and interesting, and then my husband says he 'went to one in Georgia', or 'there's another one over by Highway X', and I say, all disappointed, 'it's another chain?'

I've started calling those places 'links', for obvious reasons

of course, there ARE some, just far fewer than I would like

and farmers' markets... oh boy, we have looked and LOOKED, and there are some good ones in our area, but most a reasonable drive away, and not a huge selection, and quite pricey, for the most part... there are few natural food stores, too, and those we have found are also on the expensive side, which, as I mentioned above, is a bit of an issue with the one salary thing

I think in the end the thing I'm noticing the most - and that will be the single biggest factor for me wanting to move back to Europe - is the set-up of places... these enclaves of neighbourhoods, all stop signs and low speed limits, with JUST houses, and a few exits out on to the main streets round the edge, and EVERYTHING, but EVERYTHING you could want to do a drive away... and the strip malls and other businesses are just so damn ugly! neon signs and ugly shoddy buildings and yuk yuk yuk everywhere you look... I'll live with it, because I have to, but I'll be actively investigating our options of getting out in a year or two

Edited August 1, 2008 by StillThePrettiest

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I can't believe you people don't think drive-through ATMs aren't amazing - I LOVE them!

Edited August 1, 2008 by rkl57

[newenglander 0]

Me again. I can't stay away.

Drive up windows at banks are a good thing, imho, they're great when it's snowing and freezing cold, also in the sweltering summer weather. Where I live it's either one way or the other most of the time. Better to use a drive up window than fall on the ice or to get all sweaty and yucky from walking.

I still can't believe you don't have recycling -- I think it's a LAW where I live.

Different parts of the country.

I think in the end the thing I'm noticing the most - and that will be the single biggest factor for me wanting to move back to Europe - is the set-up of places... these enclaves of neighbourhoods, all stop signs and low speed limits, with JUST houses, and a few exits out on to the main streets round the edge, and EVERYTHING, but EVERYTHING you could want to do a drive away... and the strip malls and other businesses are just so damn ugly! neon signs and ugly shoddy buildings and yuk yuk yuk everywhere you look...

I've seen that when I go anywhere near Boston or any other large city and it is SAD. They've taken lovely places and purposely made them UGLY. They'll take farmland and make it into enormous condos. SAD. It's all due to greed for money--whoever will sell off their land to get money for it and whoever buys it and wants to make even MORE MONEY. Everything here is MONEY. Where I live there is good zoning though, although the towns can vote to override the zoning laws and often they need the tax money that all these new developments would bring in.

It's happening here in New England too -- one day there are horses grazing and next time you pass by, there are condos and businesses. Some towns take a stand against it and do not allow these things, thank goodness. Some towns won't allow a Walmart or a McDonalds. I've read about areas of this country that have those tight little neighborhoods with HOAs (I think it means home owners associations) that enforce strict rules on the residents -- and it does sound surreal and horrible.

From what I'm reading here, I don't think I ever want to see the rest of the USA! I saw CA once a long time ago -- it was all crowded in with houses crammed next to more houses, not much greenery (plastic grass!!!!!!!!!!!!), and no character to the neighborhoods at all. No independently owned stores either. I wanted to go home immediately. If it was that bad back then, how bad is it now!

I have zero tolerance for what I hear about the South. Those crazy churches with their nut-case "preachers", the food, mostly fried -- I'd be obese if I lived down there, I just know it. No recycling? Huh????

I agree about the giving out of your SS # -- what's with that anyway? We were always told to never give it out to anyone, it's top secret -- and now everybody seems to ask for it. One rule I heard lately is to not give it to anyone you did not call on the phone yourself. Don't know if that helps very much.

My fiance complains about the UK but I'd rather live there because it's more like how it used to be HERE. I keep telling him, Wait until you actually LIVE here, wait until you try to get health insurance, wait until you have to pay a heating bill in winter and an electric bill in summer due to air conditioning, wait until I take you to a city where no one even speaks English (his big complaint about England), wait until you try to keep a car on the road with excise tax, yearly inspection, registration, high insurance, etc., wait until you want to use a mobile phone over here $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. He says tv is more expensive over here and you get a lot of nothing.

Wait for a summer heatwave or winter blizzard -- then see how much you like it here. (Actually blizzards can be fun, but it sounds better the other way. We plan to take up skiing.)

He misses our ice cream, the courteous treatment of customers in stores, lack of crime--he can't believe I leave the car unlocked with things on the front seat and no one ever takes anything, can't believe that farmers leave produce out for people to buy on the honor system --just put your money into the box).

He also says that if things don't work out here after two years, we can go and live in England.

Things I don't like about England -- too much drinking. Too much smoking. Clothing is more expensive. Fear of not being able to go to a dentist -- horror stories about that. People think it's HOT when it's in the 70s F -- but they still won't buy a simple FAN to cool off. (They wouldn't be able to complain then.) So far, in my visits, those are the things I cannot get used to.

That's plenty from me for now. LOL. I'm off to eat some freshly picked tomatoes!

[*julez* 124]

I can't believe you people don't think drive-through ATMs aren't amazing - I LOVE them!

I'm with Robin on this one! The drive thru ATM is one of life's great conveniences, especially when its 10F outside, which it is very often in my neck of the woods!

and then there's the frustrations of dealing with drive thru food service....

[Jeraly 4]

I can relate to the bag thing - Trader Joes actually pack bags properly and ENCOURAGE you to bring the bags (paper with handles ) to reuse them - that is great I keep forgetting though and we have a large pile of bags on the fridge (including my two co-op ones from the UK that I brought ) We don't have a garage which is really annoying - we have a tiny square piece of counter in the kitchen and when that gets full, it all goes into a carrier bag (after all - we have thousands - I really don't see the point of putting just one thing in a bag - wouldn't it be better to just carry it on its own???) and we take it to the next city over where they pay you to recycle - you get a voucher to use in the grocery store (which has a deli and stuff which is cool - fresh meat!).

But yeah - the bag thing really annoys me

[Alex & Rachel 78]

The very first thing that I noticed that honestly amazed me is --- a lot of fat people just anywhere you go. I mean, there are lots of fat people too in the Philippines, but not as fat as the fattest here. The second observation justified my first----the food servings in the restaurants are way too big for a single seating. Also, in the grocery shops, there is a special cart for obese people to ride. Do they need to exercise more? Anyway, these are just some of it, but eventually I gradually understand the culture I am in now.... so it's fine.

I have had the opposite experience. San Jose seems to be full of short, petite people of Asian or Latino descent. Walking around the malls I'm about 4 inches taller on average and probably 4 sizes bigger! On the plus side I may finally find clothes my size in the sales.

[pegbert64 0]

I can't believe you people don't think drive-through ATMs aren't amazing - I LOVE them!

I love them too! Now, if I can just learn not to scrape my rims on that darn curb that they put alongside the teller window, then my car might love them as well

[StillThePrettiest 3]

I can't believe you people don't think drive-through ATMs aren't amazing - I LOVE them!

I'm with Robin on this one! The drive thru ATM is one of life's great conveniences, especially when its 10F outside, which it is very often in my neck of the woods!

oh, I'd love drive-thru ATMs if I had a car to drive through with

and if they let me get a bank account...

...oh, and if they let me earn any money to put IN said bank account...

you know what? I hate bloody drive-thru ATMs

I was fortunate with the bag thing... I've spent quite a bit of time in Germany, where for AGES they've been recycling champions, and where for at least fifteen years you've had to pay for any plastic bags you wanted, along with your shopping (at least at some supermarkets; I can't speak for them all)

so when I was studying there (1993! egad) I got into the habit of always having a couple of calico bags in my shoulder bag, to pull out when necessary... my favourite shopping bag I bought back then, and it's still going strong (had to mend a tiny hole once), and I've used it in Germany, Australia, the UK and now the US

no joke, it fits about what would normally go in around five plastic bags... I can't even beGIN to imagine how many plastic bags it's saved me over the past fifteen years :D