Whats the most benign / innocent thing you like the most in the US?

[mallafri76 1,012]

I love that you can turn right even when you have a red light. Such a smart thing that keeps traffic flowing.

[Russ&Caro 1,549]

1. In Ecuador, if the shelf-sticker shows one price but the cashier charges a higher price, one is usually out of luck.

2. Do not ever let her collaborate in this manner with Mrs. T-B., or the world will most surely end.

3. Teach her to spell, and liberally say, "rip-off."

I've read stories about Mrs.T-B in other threads. It's safe to conclude that these are two South American mujeres who will never meet.

[mallafri76 1,012]

2. Your mailbox : you can mail the letters at your mailbox if you have stamps.

Whaaaaat?!?! So you don't have to go to the post office, you can just mail it from your own mailbox? That's so awesome.

[heo luoi 206]

lol what? thats not normal?!

[TBoneTX 45,288]

I love that you can turn right even when you have a red light. Such a smart thing that keeps traffic flowing.

Some (why not all?) streets have countdown timers to aid pedestrians (and alert motorists as to when a green light will turn yellow).

Sidebar: In Ojinaga, Mexico, the green lights flash 3 or 4 times before they turn yellow, and the red lights flash 3 or 4 times before they turn green. An absolutely brilliant concept.

I've read stories about Mrs.T-B in other threads. It's safe to conclude that these are two South American mujeres who will never meet.

Well, you guys do apparently live way out in Nuevo Mexico...

[Alaska2012 462]

Garbage disposals! How can you not love garbage disposals?!

[TBoneTX 45,288]

Garbage disposals! How can you not love garbage disposals?!

At least when they work and have an obvious "reset" button...

[heo luoi 206]

Some (why not all?) streets have countdown timers to aid pedestrians (and alert motorists as to when a green light will turn yellow).

Sidebar: In Ojinaga, Mexico, the green lights flash 3 or 4 times before they turn yellow, and the red lights flash 3 or 4 times before they turn green. An absolutely brilliant concept.

Well, you guys do apparently live way out in Nuevo Mexico...

Garbage disposals! How can you not love garbage disposals?!

Still early for my wife here but,

My wife was used to just throwing stuff out the window or feeding the dogs or chickens or birds. They didnt have as much absorbent food waste as here though either. I think she likes it too.

She too thinks the lanes are big and wide on the highways.

She thought the frost / frozen mildew in the AM was beautiful.

She thought the ability of the sun visor in the car to rotate window side was nice.(travelling by car there is usually via back seat)

Some Traffic lights also will audibly beep to aid visually impaired pedestrians.

[TBoneTX 45,288]

Those are good things... but frozen mildew?

[heo luoi 206]

Those are good things... but frozen mildew?

ROFLMAO, I meant morning dew. hehe, my brain is fried after doing all this translating and no caffeine yet in the AM.

[TBoneTX 45,288]

We thus figured.

Speaking of caffeine, I (a native gringo) appreciate the chance to buy an 8-oz. or 12-oz. jar of instant coffee, use it up, and refill it ad infinitum with the little 3.25-oz. jars of instant coffee available for $1 at the dollar stores. The quality of the coffee is just as good, and this method is typically cheaper than buying an entire new larger jar.

Have we named "dollar stores" as something to like a lot in the U.S.?

[trudi 1,317]

From my visits

Love:

Free refills - it's never going to get old for me, I'm like a kid Christmas morning every time

Right on red - brilliant idea and I'm sure I'll eventually stop expecting to be stopped by an unhappy policeman after turning

The choice of places to eat - in England, especially the suburbs where I live you can eat at the local pub, Italian, Indian, pizza, Burger King, McDonald's or Kentucky fried chicken!

IHOP breakfast - love it love it love it

The mountains of NC - so beautiful in all weathers

The trucks - going to get whiplash trying to see all the different trucks with big noses and chrome everywhere and pretty colours...

Mess with my head:

Coffee - too weak for me, not yet found a coffee I will be happy drinking every day - huge problem as I'm a coffee nut

Sales tax - just sticker the out the door price please

Walking anywhere is just not feasible, here I walk as much as possible but NC everything is miles away

Lack of public transport - I have not yet seen a public bus outside of a city

I'm sure that once I've got there the list will change but that's it for now

[Limey 551]

Things I love about here in NC

- people are friendly, rarely do we go to a bar without meeting nice interesting people

- house prices - in Britain you'll pay a fortune for a tiny depressing house, here people can actually afford lovely houses

- my neighbours... we bought a house a couple of months back, and already we're friends with all our neighbours (they are generally a bit older than us, but great fun people)

- the weather

- having the sea and intracoastal waterway so close (we bought eachother kayaks for xmas)

- having attractive ladies (and unattractive ones) comment on how cute my accent is all the time

- sit-on John Deere mowers ("lawn tractors"). I don't have one yet, but I will!

Things that drive me nuts:

- US roads. Driving test is so easy that driving is poor.

- US roads!!! Stop signs everywhere (at most junctions in the UK would not even have a give way/yield, its implied by road layout, and driving test actually teaches you to drive properly)

- US roads!!!!! Stop signs when road layout looks like you'd have right of way. Even the locals seem confused. You either all look at each other waving each other out, or you have to look at the grey back of their stop sign and realise they are on a stop sign and you are not, and you pull out (slowly) - you have no sign indicating that you have right of way.

- US pub quizzes - generally not as intellectual as UK ones - mainly pop music, or sport questions - nothing about world history, geography, art.

- Donald Trump, and others like him

[Kat&Jon 85]

So update from Jon's most recent visit... We went to IKEA! I know that was on quite a few people's list and it was both our first time going there.

There is not a proper word in the English dictionary to describe how ridiculously huge it is! I was in organization Heaven! I wanted to buy every little container they had... thankfully Jon was there to rein me. I am not allowed to shop there unless he is with me for fear of buying half the store....

Full on Thanksgiving Dinner was a HUGE success. He loves it and is thankful it's only once a year. It reminds him of roast dinner, which happens just about every Sunday, and he gets tired of that. We had Turkey and 8 different sides that my Mom and Sister made. He was happy to have a huge plate to put it on because he feared there would be no room! We found he loves Pumpkin Pie but allows me my indulgence of eating almost the whole thing...

He continues to still remind me that we drive on the wrong side of the road and still reminds me that he freaks out every time I turn right at a red light lol. I just remind him we drive on the RIGHT side of the road therefore, as with the word's secondary definition we drive on the RIGHT side and he drives on the WRONG side. Hurrah for definitions and cute ongoing innocent play arguments!

[TBoneTX 45,288]

You uppity Colonist.

We gringos really should spell "tire" as "tyre."