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When people leave the comfort of their home and familiar surroundings to visit (or stay at) an unfamiliar environment, the adjustment period can be fairly intense, especially if the two locations are completely different, such as going from a small rural area in the US to a large Asian metropolis.
But we can also experience the uncertainty, confusion, and anxiety that comes with this change even when moving from one place to another within the same country.
So when the question "What is the biggest culture shock you have ever faced?" was posted on Quora, people who have gone through it immediately started sharing their stories. We collected the most interesting ones to show you that sometimes, no matter how much research you do, there are things you simply can't prepare for!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I am an Indian living in United States since last six months. These two countries are very different in many ways which we already know. I am going to write about the cultural shock I faced at personal level. I was born with deformity in one of my arms so I definitely don’t look like a normal person. And, I grew up around people who inadvertently made me feel I wasn’t one of them. Going to any public places would make me so conscious as everyone’s eyes would be on me. They would stare at me all the time, would feel sorry for me, ask me questions. Sometimes I would not be in a mood to give any explanation, but would still do just because I don’t want to be rude. After all these years, I started living with a belief that anything of this would never change. I moved to US, and, it’s been six months, not a single person has looked at me as something was wrong with me, not a single person has asked me any question about why I am like this, not a single person thought or made me realize that I am not normal. I appreciate them for respecting every individual as they are. This has definitely made me a lot more confident person than I ever was.
Michelle Carlson 2 years ago
OMG, with all the hatefulness we've been seeing on the news here in the US with book banning and drag shows and trans people, this made my heart smile that maybe, just maybe, we're making some baby steps forward.
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LokisLilButterknife 2 years ago
I know that the United States get a very bad rap on this site and I understand that there are a considerable amount of problems that the country is dealing with, however, there are so good people there.
TheAmericanAmerican 2 years ago
We've got A LOT of problems, but we've still got a couple redeeming qualities ❤️
JE Cummings 2 years ago
This is refreshing after hearing so much bad about America, and especially today.
Janos Schumacher 2 years ago
Pretty standard depending on where you live in the States. I used to play Ultimate Frisbee in college with a guy who had no feet, and no hands. He didn't wear prostheses. No one ever brought it up. It wasn't important.
Florence O'Grady 2 years ago
Thank God we still have people with common sense and courtesy in the USA. Some people probably do have questions. I would, but I don't have any right to bother them with those kinds of questions. If we became friends, I would eventually ask. As a total stranger, no way.
tabithapaquette98 2 years ago
That is lovely. BP loves to put the US down, so it is very nice to read a good story!
Weasel Wise 2 years ago
How can this possibly be true? Cuz if you asked the average person outside of the US, or the average BP commenter, this country is full of evil, stupid Trumpers that can't possibly treat people different from ourselves with basic human dignity.
Ozymandias73 2 years ago (edited)
Ummm, a majority of us US citizens hate Trump AND his followers. There are far many more of us that are caring, friendly, and considerate to others than the media portrays.
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#2
I would like to share my culture shock experience after I came to Germany from India in 2016.
(The incident is not exactly about me, but I witnessed this).
It was my 2nd day in Germany and I had to travel to the university for completing some paperwork formalities. I chose to travel by local public transport bus. It was peak hour time so the bus is fully occupied by passengers. I was standing in the bus and after 5 minutes the bus stopped at one stop. The driver got off from his driving seat, stepped down from the bus, and came to the middle door of the bus. The reason he came was to help a handicapped person to get on the bus by unfolding a wheelchair ramp
All people were there, nobody made any noise nor any angry faces. I was stunned by looking at the scene that happened. Because in my country I have never seen such a gesture by a bus driver to help a handicapped person and that too during peak hours in a crowded bus.
The second cultural shock was just after 5 minutes when I stepped down from the bus at my destination stop. I saw the same person crossing the two-lane road on Zebra Crossing using his wheelchair. All the cars (more than 8–10) stopped on both sides of the road. There was no noise, no horn nothing. After the person successfully crossed the road, vehicles went off.
This moment really gave me goosebumps, that how can people behave so nicely and show such gestures and follow rules.
RP 2 years ago
I had a similar culture shock but from the opposite perspective. I found it absolutely unbelievable that wheel-chair users had to books train tickets in advance and then go through a whole and very cumbersome process of being lifted into trains with a special lift instead of hte trains just being level with the platform. Also, the number of times I've seen lifts (elevators) installed AFTER a set of steps is mindblowing. The cherry on top was when I read on my university website that the 'Disabilities office' was not barrier free so you had to make an appointment to speak to them in another building if you are a wheelchair user. People are nice, but not nice enough to lobby for literal structural equality.
Nightshade1972 2 years ago
A friend of mine is a professor in the UK who occasionally uses a wheelchair. Her university asked if she'd like to be on their new (as of a few years ago) disability inclusion panel. She said yes--then it turned out that the meetings were held all the way across the very large campus from where her office is, the meetings were on the second floor, and the elevators were on the complete opposite side of the building from where the meetings were held. After she showed up late a few times (after repeatedly begging them to move the meetings somewhere more accessible to her), her disability flared and she was in the hospital for a while. When she got out and returned to campus, she discovered that she'd been kicked off the committee for her "tardiness"--so the only people remaining on the "disability inclusion" committee were totally able-bodied with no direct experience of disability.
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* * * Being_Cori * * * 2 years ago
well that's how Zebra crossings are supposed to be used, its unfortunate that in some countries they do what they want
Scott Rackley 2 years ago
Bus drivers in Chattanooga, TN do this. Hydraulic ramp and special spot where they lock the wheelchair down.
René Sauer 2 years ago
*lol* often times the driver doesn´t even need to get up. More often then not another passenger will jump up and open the ramp for the wheel chair.
usernamenotfound 2 years ago
I am a newer wheelchair user when my lupus is relapsing, and in my part of Canada, you'd never see this. My ex-husband couldn't even push me across the street without cars getting impatient and rude. It is stressful to go out. I am frightened to even try a bus lol
bottomless.abyss.of.bordem 2 years ago
The first 2 posts make me feel for disabled people in India.
Angela Jester 2 years ago
I'm shocked by their shock at this.....how horrible must it really be in India?
Katie Lutesinger 2 years ago
They have handicapped ramps like this on buses in my part of Australia too, plus the bus will have a system which lowers it on one side to make it even easier. I even helped a woman get her wheelchair up one once!
Ozymandias73 2 years ago
We have those kinds of buses here in the US as well. Same demeanor of the passengers and drivers as well. It's nice to see it being done in other countries.
#3
Right here in the United States. I am a white woman, born in 1948, raised in Ohio. When I was around 16–17 years old, I took a bus to Florida. When I got off the bus, I had to go to the bathroom, so I stepped into the first bathroom I saw that said “women.” I then left the bathroom and stopped at the water fountain for a drink of water. Imagine my shock when I turned around and found a group of people yelling at me and telling me to get out of town and saying I was a very sick person, etc. I had used the “colored” bathroom and drinking fountain! I had never heard of such a thing and to this day (52 years or so later), I still find it disturbing.
Noyfb noyfb 2 years ago
Federal law and federal enforcement made the South abandon those age-old customs, but the remembered prejudices live on in the older people there. Generation by generation, the South is outgrowing those hateful habits. It will take more generations, but eventually the prejudices will fade. BUT FORTUNATELY, brave protestors will hasten the process. Our Black brothers and sisters will not wait for white people to gradually change their ways. The time for that is long passed.
Mark Johanen 2 years ago
Hmm. I'm a Northener but I've visited the South many times. I have never, ever, seen separate "white" and "colored" bathrooms or water fountains. It will not "take more generations" until those are gone. They are already gone, and have been for decades. We do not need "brave protestors" to fight them. The brave protestors already did that in the 1960s. Have you actually been to the South in the last 50 years? The battle is over. The good guys won. You are far too pessimistic.
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Rostit . 2 years ago
Oh just wait. Desantis will bring that right back if him and his racist/fascist GOP friends have any say. right back to the 1850s... Florida -needs a purge of far right republicans.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
If you had been black and mistakenly used the "white" facilities, you might not be alive to post this.
LokisLilButterknife 2 years ago
Sadly, not much has appeared to have changed in parts of Florida with racist and homophobic Desantis banning LGBTQIA+ literature/teaching and books that feature people of colour in prominent roles.
Busy Panda 2 years ago
How they depict Obama in school books, then? Or Justice Clarence Thomas for that matter. Imagine a pic of Supreme Court Justices with Clarence Thomas missing head and arms🤣😂🤣😂
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Spellflinger 2 years ago
My mother as a child once went to the last seat on the bus - lots of kids love the last seat. Bus driver stopped the bus and came back to make her move. Said the back of the bus was not for nice girls. What he meant was it was not meant for white girls.
Nichole Harris 2 years ago
My husband just got a new job in a southern city.... The building was built in the early 1900s there's 3 bathrooms....a single men's, a single women's, and a3rd larger one that's more communal and less nice that's marked men's.... He was confused so he asked..... apparently that was the negro bathroom once upon a time🙄😳
Michelle R 2 years ago
My mom was born in the 1950's. When she was a little girl, they lived in Tennessee for a year and she was very confused about the different bathrooms and water fountains.
#4
A month back I moved to Brussels. Just after checking into my guest house, I came out to see if I could buy anything to eat. So, I stand on the side of the road near the zebra crossing. There were no crossing light signals, so I kept standing thinking I would cross the road when its empty. 30 seconds on the road and I see cars are piling up. I have no clue, WHY?. 1 minute and I start wondering. Then I see the the person first in the line calls me up. I thought he might be asking for direction. I reach out to him, he screams something in FRENCH. I reply: English? He went on like: “Cross the road, you stupid!”. I ran across the road, stopped and realised they were stopping for me so I can cross the road. Pedestrians first. Well, I couldn’t blame myself too. Dude I am from India, I am not used to such respect on the roads. I try that in India, I might never see the road again.
Ge Po 2 years ago
Lots of west-europian countries: on a zebra-crossing without traffic-lights, pedestrians have the first right of crossing. Cars have to stop if it becomes clear that you are intending to cross.
Sandor M 2 years ago
I guess most of the european countries, not just west .
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Aldhissla VargTimmen 2 years ago
I'm from Belgium and it's the law here that you have to stop if a pedestrian wants to cross a zebra crossing. You can fail your drivers exam when you fail to notice a pedestrian.
Mojo Flizash 2 years ago
I just heard the term "zebra crossing " for the first time this evening. So much more fun than the utilitarian "cross walk" in the States.
Fat Harry 2 years ago
I don't understand. He's waiting for the road to clear in order to cross, but doesn't cross when it's obvious that the cars are stopping on either side of the zebra crossing?
Neha 2 years ago
Don’t know why you got downvoted for asking. I’m from India and that is not what happens there. If you want to cross roads even at a zebra crossing you got run/walk fast for your life cuz no car is going to stop for you. I can absolutely understand his hesitation and confusion. That was also a big culture shock for me when I moved to the US from India back in 2002. People stopped? Freaking amazing!!
Load More Replies... Jane Doe 2 years ago
I saw someone try to walk at the cross walk in US. Rush hour, he starts walking. Guy in a truck jumps out of his car and starts screaming at him for waking. I’m from the US. This city in particular. This is typical behavior from guys drving sport pick up trucks in the city.
Tiramisu 2 years ago
In Pakistan, my experience is to just walk into the traffic in a straight line across at a steady pace, the traffic will weave around you
Ken Beattie 2 years ago
I've seen similar in Thailand as well. Either that or the crowd waiting to cross builds to a large number then basically takes over the road. So traffic has to stop because 30 pedestrians are all walking across. So weird coming from Australia where pedestrians have right of way on Zebra crossings.
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never snarky 2 years ago
This happened to me in Toronto. I was waiting to take a picture of a trolley and cars kept stopping. I finally realized I was a traffic hazard. I moved my position.
#5
When travelling around Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam I saw how much people appreciate immaterial things compared to the UK. One night in Vietnam I stayed up drinking with friends and convinced them to come to the beach to watch the sunrise, thinking we’d be the only ones there. The beach was packed with families & the children played all around. When the sun came up the whole beach burst into applause. It was such an amazing moment & made me realise in England people are too busy to look at the sky and appreciate the beautiful things in life, and I vowed to not become like that again.
Robert Trebor 2 years ago (edited)
I was driving in western Pennsylvania and came over a hill and saw a huge field of blue flowers on one side of the freeway and another of yellow flowers on the other side. I pulled way up off the road to just drink it in. A state police car came up behind me and he came to my window, and I expected to be told to move on. Instead, he told me liked to eat lunch there during the blooming season. Enjoy, he said, and be careful getting back on the highway.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
And both sunrises and sunsets are absolutely FREE! You don’t have to spend any money to witness them. Even if you’re blind, you can experience the rising warmth or cooling down. For FREE.
The Problem With Censorship Is ******* 2 years ago
Haha, so "and then everybody clapped" stories are real sometimes! Cool. :-) (No sarcasm here by the way, I really do love this!)
Hetal Vyas 2 years ago
This happens in Goa at sunset. The whole village we were staying in, goes to the beach and watches the sunset together ❤️
Jjh 2 years ago
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm English and love the generic grey drizzle
Jiji The Cat 2 years ago
I don't know why someone downvoted you. here, take my upvote :)
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#6
Castles in Germany
I have never actually seen such castles. These kinds of structures always seemed magical to me. When I saw that there were such structures in Germany, I realized that castles were not just fairy tales.I was very excited when I first saw it.I've never seen anything like this before. I felt like I was living in the middle ages.
Rizzo 2 years ago
I can confirm that. I live neearby and I've been there a few times. :)
Load More Replies... LokisLilButterknife 2 years ago
I don't think I could ever get tired of castles and historic ruins.
Gwenn Kuhns 2 years ago
Walt Disney modeled the famous Disney castle after the ones in Germany.
Binky Melnik 2 years ago
When I went to Germany, I also ended up doing little besides seeing castles. (And drinking. 😀) I hadn’t meant to, but there were sooo many, and I’d never seen a genuine castle before. (DisneyLand doesn’t count.) They’re remarkable! I saw everything from beautiful, well-reserved castles to castles in such disrepair that they were mere shells, but I was shocked by how many castles there were! I guess that’s why I don’t see ‘em much: Germany is hoarding them! (And I don’t blame ‘em; they’re awesome!)
mysterious(all pronouns) 2 years ago
I get to travel to several European countries in about a week, and one of them is Germany, amd I think I will get to see at least one castle, so that will be fun.
R Dennis 2 years ago
After seeing Versailles and Fontainebleau, I understood why the people revolted... just seeing them made me want to break out the guillotines.
Nicole Weymann 2 years ago
I love medieval fortresses (like in the pic), but I can do perfectly without the pomp and circumstance of palaces like Versailles.
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Japanese Toilets.
Well what’s all the hype about a toilet?
As the airplane arrived in Narita Airport, I, customarily, for some reason, go to the toilets. (I dislike using the plane’s toilets when we’re near landing)
Big surprise.
When I opened that cubicle, I nearly got disoriented. Random buttons in separate menu screens astounded me.
I mashed all the buttons and I realized that there was a heater, a bidet water sprayer when you have to take a dump, and on some toilets, they open automatically when you come in. They even have an option to play music to help you concentrate when… doing your stuff!
I literally said “OH MY GOD!” in the cubicles, and pretty much everyone knew that I was a tourist, but you know what? Screw them. Lemme enjoy my time with this gracious toilet.
I was literally in front of the Lamborghini of Toilets. Let me bask in all the glory.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that the music mainly masks the sound you make when relieving yourself or taking a dump
ADJ 2 years ago
It has been 30 years since I heard it for the first time and to this day I have no clue how to use them. Demolition Man is one of my favourite movies.
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Alex E. Hentay 2 years ago (edited)
Once you use them a few times you realize that not having one is like using an outhouse. Toto Washlet…they sell them in the US, at least. 5 stars, certified fresh.
PandaGoPanda 2 years ago
My new colleague held up a flight after she spent too long trying out the fancy loos at Haneda!
Nicola Roberts 2 years ago
I can confirm this is absolutely true. I was teaching in Japan for a short time, and one of the biggest reliefs when I returned to the UK was knowing how to use the toilet. No two were the same and I will never take that for granted again 😆
SkyBlueandBlack 2 years ago
Man, I went in 1994, and I don't know. So many buttons. Japanese toilets are confusing.
Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
You get this culture shock about this toilet, then all over again when you encounter a squatting toilet. xP
#8
Hello all, I am an Indian and I visited Pakistan 4 year ago. The biggest culture shock I faced in Pakistan was how nice the people were to me despite being an Indian. I visited Lahore with my grandfather (he lived in Lahore before partition) and the people would always ask if we were Indian (we were Sikhs so I guess they can tell by the turban). I remember the first time it was when we visited a dhaba and the guy came to take our order, he asked us if we’re from India and when we said yes these were his exact words: “Tussi sadda mehmaan ho, tusi muft ke liye hi kha sakade ho” (You are our guest, you can eat free). We refused the offer but had no choice. This happened everytime, I had heard many stories of people talking about their grandparents in Punjab (india) and talked a lot about their friends before partition from elders. People there were very nice, I wish I could go again if getting visa was not so hard. Aside from visa, the biggest issue was trying to understand the Urdu-influenced Punjabi, otherwise it was amazing experience for me.
ADJ 2 years ago
To understand this well one must know some background on India - Pakistan history... Circa 1 million people died in fights between sikhs and hindu from India and muslims from Pakistan in late 1940s, when British Raj was partitioned to form these countries.
tabithapaquette98 2 years ago
@ADJ, thank you for clarifying. That helped a lot.
Load More Replies... Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
Really random, but I was just chilling talking to my wife, eating lunch on a bench in a quieter corner of town not so long back, and some tourists passed me, and I just suddenly heard this "good day nice to see you", and it was this muslim man with his family, turns out he was actually blind but heard "friendly voices", it was kind of wholesome, because I don't normally consider myself friendly sounding. He over from Pakistan and was visiting relatives and they were having a day out. We spoke a little, about how he liked the area, he said he loved the sound of the sea, since back in Pakistan he is so far from it. It makes me smile now, such simple things I take for granted made this old, blind man so happy.
Binky Melnik 2 years ago (edited)
I’ve been under the impression that Pakistanis and Indians don’t get along (I assumed it was because of the border wars) because when I’ve mistaken one for the other, I’ve always been very sternly corrected. I’m delighted to see I’m very wrong! Whatta nice story.
#9
There’s a pop-On one side, every meal is potato based. On the other, it seems not a single meal is eaten without a tomato in the form of sauce, pizza, salad, etc.
I grew up on the potato side. Every day was a form of potatoes - usually roasted as a side with a form of meat. To switch things up, there were also boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato pancakes, and so many more I can’t think of.
Then I crossed the line. Obviously I’d had tomatoes in the form of pasta sauce or marinara, but never to the frequency or variety that they have on the other side of the border (yes, I’m being dramatic. Bare with me).
culture line in Europe called the tomato-potato line.
It was like my taste buds had exploded. Every meal had a new flavor and depth that I had never experienced. The tomatoes were different too - better quality, grown near to the location rather than being shipped hundreds of miles. So much more spice and taste can be incorporated into a tomato based dish.
Though I may be biased, I then vowed to never stay in potato territory for food. I learned to cook, reducing my potato consumption to maybe once a month, and have since relished in the variety of foods there are to try from so many different cuisines.
Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
This map is absolutely wrong, and it's more related to what you personally order at restaurants during your travels. I worked for many years for a Spanish university, and receiving foreign students was a part of my duties. Many of them said to me that Spanish meals were always fried. This shocked me, because we of course eat fried meals, but not that often. Indeed, the problem here was that they always ordered fried tapas.
Take me to dinner first 2 years ago
Allow me to say portugal is not that tomato-based at all, of course we have a lot of tomato (and I find them tastier than the brazilian ones), but the most popular dishes always have potatoes, way more than tomatoes
Talitha Jansen 2 years ago
This is a very uninformed post, I can understand OP getting a culture shock because they were used to eating potatoes in their region, but there is no line like that. Many European countries eat both
Ge Po 2 years ago
In the Netherlands, we've been eating rice, pasta, bulgur, couscous, taco's/tortilla's, pizza, etc ever since I can remember. (The Netherlands are even one of the biggest exports of paprika, tomatoes and cucumbers, especially to that yellow part for Europe.) However, yes, there is a group that eats mostly potato-based dinners, but that group is quite small and mostly in their 80's or up-over.
The Problem With Censorship Is ******* 2 years ago
As much as I love rice and pasta and whatnot, don't touch my AVG. XD
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The Starsong Princess 2 years ago
It’s not a binary choice. You can have a world with both, even at the same meal.
#10
I lived in the Netherlands for a couple of years then and my Dutch boss invited me to her wedding. There was a beautiful ceremony in a romantic castle and after that we were served some tiny snacks and petit fours.
After that we took a group picture and then the wedding manager announced that those who have a fork and a knife pictogram in their wedding invitation could proceed to the dinner hall and the rest can go home and thanks for coming.
So there we were, hungry and stuck in the middle of nowhere. Until one of our colleagues called her husband to pick us up by car and bring to the nearest train station where we bought ourselves döner kebab.
I still don’t get it, why should someone treat their guests differently. If you can’t afford a wedding dinner for everyone, it’s perfectly ok with me. You can go for an intimate wedding with your family or close friends or just serve cake, I don’t care. But not treating your guests equally completely blows my mind even 20 years later.
Jiska Veldhuizen 2 years ago
Yes that's very common here, you'll either be a reception guest or a day guest, only the last one gets wedding dinner. I am not married yet but if I ever do, I'll only plan to invite a handful of guest and have dinner with them all haha.
Alexandra 2 years ago
Usually the invitation tells you what kind you are, reception-only or day-guest (including dinner). Also, usually start- and end-time of the reception is included. Day-guests are family and close friends; reception-only are co-workers, schoolmates, neighbours, people you play soccer with. In my humble opinion, not serving a bit more substantial during a reception than petit fours and tiny snacks is bad form.
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jessica r 2 years ago
I'm Dutch and I know many people do this, but I've never considered it "normal". At my wedding everyone was fed. Simple food, but I rather feed everyone than sending people away to go eat a steak myself.
Caro Caro 2 years ago
Yup. Invites for wedding and reception. Then you have to leave and come back for the party. No way. My husband and I invited everyone to every event and it was a blast.
Load More Replies... Ge Po 2 years ago
We had a church wedding, where everyone (so also church-members and acquaintances) was invited, with cake and a simple lunch. Then we moved on to a different location for dinner and a more intimate celebration. Made it feel less like being thrown out, for the church-service/reception-guests.
Sonja 2 years ago
In Germany we handle that differently. The ceremony is announced in the newspaper, nowadays people also use social media to announce when and where it is. Usually it's in a church anyway and everyone who wants to can come. Sometimes people even send gifts and money if they know the couple or their family. The guests who are invited to the celebration later get an individual invitation card. I really like wedding ceremonies, so I usually went to every ceremony held in our villages church and give a card. I only stopped when I left the church, but I still send cards to the couples in our small village. It's tradition.
H. Hünsel 2 years ago
german here and hardly never saw any wedding ad in the newspaper
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Mariaf 2 years ago
question: are the ones invited to the dinner expected to provide a financial gift to the couple? Because then it kind of makes sense.
Monday 2 years ago
Usually not. Close friends and family are invited for the meal, more distant friends and colleagues just for the ceremony. You have people that do it the opposite way too where only the closest people can come to the ceremony but many more join for a reception.
Load More Replies... October 2 years ago
Because of this I have ended up in snackbars wearing a formal galadress more times than I care to remember.
Oerff On Tour 2 years ago
I have the same experience as a day-guest, during the time of "Nouvelle Cuisine". And not only at weddings. (For those of you who don't know "N-C", the portions are a bit on the small side. *Waiter:" How did you find the steak?" Guest:"By rolling the pea aside".)
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Wendy 2 years ago
Indeed, very common, also in the countries surrounding The Netherlands. When we got married, we had people coming to the venue around 18:00 to have dinner, and other people around 21:00 to join the others for the party. All normal here. (we did have snacks and fries around 22:30 for anyone who got hungry)/
Evija Pakalniņa 2 years ago
The worst kind of weddings. They do that in UK too. You have to save the whole day anyway and travel twice that day. Very silly. And still expected to bring a present. Not cool.
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Barbara Kelly 2 years ago
Making an open announcement at the event and publicly segregating guests is very poor social relations. Invitations indicating exactly what the people are invited to, sent before the wedding, save guests public discomfort and disappointment. In North America there are issues regarding size of wedding gifts and how guests may be expected to help cover the cost of the wedding. Some couples look for subsidy of the honeymoon , as well.
thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
That doesn’t really make sense to me to see it that way unless everyone gives cash, which isn’t really a thing where I grew up. People in New England are mostly more reserved about money than very open about it. If you bring a gift to a wedding instead in a place where people think that way, do they return it for cash? Otherwise it isn’t going to cover the cost of the wedding, which will have to have been mostly paid for in advance. There would be sizable deposits for the things not fully paid for, unless it’s a very casual backyard wedding or something.
Load More Replies... #11
Plastic surgery in Korea.
I know it sounds quite normal as so many people now are doing it. It seems like not a big deal but allow me to explain a little bit.
What shocked me is how many Korean people obsess with changing very small parts of their looks. They can always point out something they dislike about their looks and usually, it is something that wouldn’t even be noticed by others.
One of my coworkers decided that she wants her forehead to look a bit more round so she spent over $5000 to take some fat from her butt (she’s skinny, the butt was the only place to take that fat of course) to put on her forehead. I heard the liposuction was very painful.
At first after the surgery, her forehead looked swollen and after two months, it looked exactly like her ‘original’ forehead. I mean, what’s the point of going through that much pain and money to get a change that is not noticeable?
Tabby_Sohee 2 years ago
Yeahhhhh Korean toxic beauty culture is a thing and it’s really bad, to the point where it just about drives the equally bad bullying culture and the “pretty privilege” culture - except pretty privilege is beyond just a societal norm, your looks almost determine your lifestyle in modern-day Korea. I really wish it wasn’t like that. And insecurity too, in people of all ages - HUGE problem. Im glad I live away from that part of the Korean culture here in the US, but I have so much family there and I see a lot of people get so insecure and unhappy over things that really shouldn’t matter :(
Nea 2 years ago
Considering what you shared, I see how EVERYONE must have some sort of insecurity about looks. Sounds tragic.
Load More Replies... LokisLilButterknife 2 years ago
This deeply saddens me. I watched a fascinating documentary about beauty standards and striving for unobtainable perfection in the K-Pop industry. It was almost like watching a horror movie as they showed before and after images of the "idols" and they didn't even look like the same person. Tragically, some K-pop idols take there own lives because they feel so much immense pressure to fit these unobtainable standards. South Korea looks like a gorgeous country with so many wonderful people, however, they truly need to confront this obsession with their toxic beauty culture. It fuels the already horrific bullying culture and generates so much strife for people.
Array Index Out of Bounds 2 years ago
I don't think I know what I'm talking about here, but WHY change your looks? Is it because others judge you? Hey! Anyone who judges YOU are really looking at themselves! Be yourself, you beautiful Panda!
Lucille 2 2 years ago (edited)
Beautiful message :) I wish it was louder than the voice of social acceptance (which is why so many people change their looks in the first place). I even hear my own coworkers making fun of people, “her forehead is so big, his lips are too feminine” etc. We need to accept our own beauty - but we need to accept other people’s unique beauty as well :)
Load More Replies... Nizumi 2 years ago (edited)
Good lord, and I'm questioning my decision to spend $20K getting my hip replaced so that I can walk again. Been waiting in the system for years and still no surgery date in sight.
BakedKahuna 2 years ago
I hope that you at some point get to say "Best decision ever". All the best to you.
Load More Replies... tabithapaquette98 2 years ago
If you don't like your forehead, just get bangs! Very inexpensive and if you get them done right, very cute.
Adam Chang 2 years ago
One time when I was going to the bathroom I saw a guy trying to arrange his hair in the forehead. I was in the bathroom maybe 5 minutes. This guy was still there fixing his hair.
Lucille 2 2 years ago
Sounds like he was having some anxiety about his appearance :( poor guy
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Dawnieangel76 2 years ago
The doctor(s) who decided to market plastic surgery as a vanity procedure should be burning in hell.
#12
While walking on the streets of Tokyo, I realised that the streets are cleaner than any place I have seen (except Iceland of course).
This was not the culture shock though.
I was shocked when I couldn’t find a bin on the street to dispose off the empty bottle of water I had grabbed.
One of the locals in the hostel told me that they have very few bins on the streets.
It amazes me how the Japanese are still able to keep the streets so clean.
I have been to quite a few places around the world but I am yet to see the Japanese level of commitment to cleanliness.
CP 2 years ago
That should be the expectation everywhere. That is how I roll.
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Fudge 2 years ago
there are bins in Tokyo. you just have to know where to look. every convenience store (7-11, Lawson's etc) has them right by the front door. and they are practically on every street. people usually throw their trash away there. or next to vending machines you can usually find bins. As I understand it, most bins where removed following the deadly sarin gas attacks of 1995, to lessen public fears.
SCamp 2 years ago
Correct, it’s both an environmental action (ie. take your rubbish home) and an anti-terrorism measure
Load More Replies... R Dennis 2 years ago
I am always shocked when I see people just throw their trash out the window of a car. I saw more than once people just open their door and dump big bags of trash. The only thing I have ever tossed out of my car were apple cores into wooded areas...
Alex King 2 years ago
Assuming this is somewhere else because this would never happen in Japan unless it was done by a tourist.
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Frostfire 2 years ago (edited)
They try to reduce littering with having hardly any trash bins, if you need one they'll usually be by the vending machines tho, when I was there with my brothers we were really careful about following customs etc, for example they don't walk while eating or drinking, it's just not done, usually you either eat it right where you bought it or take it to your next destination, they frown on jaywalking heavily, we even saw completely drunk businessmen stop and wait for the light even tho it was an empty street, we never tipped as they don't have a tipping culture, just generally tried to be respectful tourists, I'll never understand entitled people going to another country, be completely rude and oblivious, it doesn't take much research at all to make sure you don't act like a complete a$$ in a different country, I honestly got reverse culture shock coming back to the u.s, it's so dirty here and the customer service is horrible, I miss the clean streets and nice people
SkyBlueandBlack 2 years ago
Clean, no graffiti! For a 14-year-old from Los Angeles, I was gawking like a tourist.
Robert T 2 years ago
Cleanest city I ever visited was Zurich. They actually wash the streets. However, despite the cleanliness, there was still loads of graffiti.
Load More Replies... Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
The reason there are so few bins in public spaces around Tokyo is down to a sarin attack back in the 90's on the Tokyo Subway, which saw bins removed from many public places.
LokisLilButterknife 2 years ago
I also was quite surprised to learn that eating on the street in Japan is frowned upon.
Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
if you duck into a side alley and generally stand still, out of sight, it's ok, or if you're sat down outside a restaurant or at a vendor, it's ok too. It's moreso walking and eating, iirc.
Load More Replies... RP 2 years ago
This shocked me at first, but then I realised that most of the litter (excluding the mess smokers leave) comes from being blown out of overfull bins. It is especially bad after rubbish collection day. When you cannot dispose of your rubbish easily, you get a lot more careful about the packaging you buy too!
#13
Not the biggest but the most recent - I learned that Americans don't tend to have electric kettles in their homes.
Every home in the U.K. has a kettle. (It may even be true to say that every home in Europe has a kettle, though I can't absolutely confirm that.) When you move, the kettle is the last thing to be packed and the first thing to be plugged in at your new house.
The fact that some Americans don't have kettles is the clearest possible indicator of the differences in our cultures.
Sara Rosen 2 years ago
Most Americans just use stovetop kettles. This isn't the first time I've heard people note the difference but I can never quite understand why this is so shocking, don't both boil water?
BakedKahuna 2 years ago
An electric kettle stop by themselves, when the water is boiling. There's no need to watch it.
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Julie Zugz 2 years ago
Every American house has a coffee maker of some kind. I only drink tea once in a while so I have a stove-top kettle for that but my daily brew of choice is coffee.
Keisha Washington 2 years ago
Every American home does not have a coffee maker.
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Huddo's sister 2 years ago
Do you have a gas or electric stove? Even a gas one seems to take longer to boil water than a kettle, but electric ones are abysmal! I use the kettle to boil any water that I need for cooking too, as it takes so long to boil from cold on the stove.
Load More Replies... R Dennis 2 years ago
My first trip to England, I wondered why we didn't have them. I have had one now for 5 years and it just makes sense... tea, pour over coffee, ramen...
BakedKahuna 2 years ago
Yesss. And heat up some water quickly for mopping the floor or for boiling potatoes or pasta. I would rather give up our coffee machine than the electric kettle, although I drink way more coffee then tea.
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#14
In China, whether it is in movies, TV series, or comics, when characters need to cover their face, they always cover the lower half of your face. But the opposite is true in the United States
Liz Orreo trex ago go 2 years ago
Computer scanners measure the distance between the eyes, eyebrow mounds, nose bridge to identify people.
Jane Hower 2 years ago
Yes, because we want to BREATHE. Which is why masks are so bad for you. Dr.'s use them ONLY when visiting a sick patient or doing surgery. It stops the spittle from infecting someone else - it does NOT protect the wearer. But americans have been duped and scared shitless by the Covid scamdemic and are still walking around alone outside or d\riving alone and wearing a mask. Utterly stupid.
#15
I am an Indian who worked in DUBAI for 6 months. Unfortunately, the holy month of Ramadan fell in between the time I was there. The biggest cultural shock in my life is that during ramadan, no one is allowed to consume anything in public by law, not even allowed to drink water. And mind you, the temperature in a “CONVENIENT” 50 degrees centigrade. Respecting one’s customs is a good thing but forcing people to crave for water in such an uncomfortable weather is not just a shock but I felt that the law was itself archaic and unscientific. So dont get fooled by the glitz and buildings, Dubai is still middle east. I am not a muslim and still I was forced to follow such practice. All the muslims are supposed to follow the ramadan style of fasting by law. So “RAMADAN IN DUBAI” was my biggest cultural shock. I am going anonymous because I dont want to get jailed at the GCC airports for badmouthing the region. Frankly I dont expect much rationality and a fair treatment from the judicial systems there.
TomCat 2 years ago (edited)
"Frankly I dont expect much rationality and a fair treatment from the judicial systems there." .. Smart, smart person. Side note: my biggest fear is being put in prison in another country.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)
I don’t want to go to prison anywhere, though the Scandinavian countries’ prisons look OK. However, I would still be in there with some really bad types (not all of them would be, but there would still be enough for me to try to fly under their radar and to keep me sleeping with one eye open. So, not even those prisons would tempt me to do anything to get out in them.
Load More Replies... Cate 2 years ago
Dubai is an awful place. I don't understand why people go there. It looks modern and carefree but it is anything but. The misogyny, racism and elitism is bubbling under the surface. Great airlines though!
thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
I don’t either. And what happened to the daughters of the ruling emir is horrible. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/05/08/the-fugitive-princesses-of-dubai
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similarly 2 years ago
I just want to say that, from what Muslims have told me personally, in Islam "no one is allowed to consume anything in public by law, not even allowed to drink water", is not 100% strict, even for Muslims during Ramadan. Pregnant women, very young children, and in fact anyone whose health may be harmed by fasting is allowed to eat or drink during Ramadan. As well, while I know nothing of Dubai, in my experience, Muslims I've known (from Africa, the USA, and Malaysia), don't expect non-Muslims to follow their rules. Those rules are for Muslims. I read an article about a man traveling in South Asia, who was surprised to find no one in the restaurant he'd heard was popular. On finding out it was Ramadan, the man was embarrassed, and although the owner told him it was okay, the man asked for his food to go and took it back to his hotel out of respect for their customs. Though I realize this will obviously not be true of all places.
Mary Hiers 2 years ago
A professor I had long ago told of going on a trip to, I think, Finland, during a year when the month of Ramadan happened during summer. And because they were so far north, the sun didn't set until very late and rose very early. He said the Muslims who were also on the tour had a very hard time of it.
Kim Kermes 2 years ago
I believe Muslims who are above the Arctic Circle, or the Antarctic Circle, follow the hours in time with Mecca. Astronauts, too.
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Vikylein 2 years ago
Yes! I lived in Qatar for a few months and during Ramadan you cannot smoke, eat, drink or listen to music in public. Doesn't matter if you are not Muslim
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Kim Kermes 2 years ago
In public. As a foreign worker, you weren't treated as well as foreign travelers. Plus, men doing heavy labor, pregnant or nursing women, the ill, the very elderly, and children under a certain age are explicitly exempt from fasting.
MotherRobinson 2 years ago
I've also experience this when I was in the US Navy many years ago and went to Dubai during Ramadan. Everything thing to do with food was closed until sundown for I can't remember how many days. Culture shock for me as well.
Jane Hower 2 years ago
Or fair treatment here in the US - we are becoming a sick society of the CANCEL CULTURE
Tiny Dynamine 2 years ago
When a religion, any religion, forces you to do something that's not illegal, then you really need to question its validity.
#16
*Eating up the banana leaf*
My friend from MIT was going to Tamil Nadu with me. He was a complete American and didn’t know ‘Indian stuff’.
We went to one of the local restaurants and ordered a full set of meal.
In Tamil Nadu, food is served on a banana leaf. So when we went there, he was perplexed but didn’t ask me a question.
When we had finished our meals, I told him to stay here and take care of our belongings while I go to the washroom, and then we swap.
While I was not there, he started chewing the whole banana leaf
Nea 2 years ago (edited)
Honestly sounds made up to me. I (Indian) have eaten on banana leaf with tens of Europeans and Americans. They all could guess its just a plate. Also when they see something so unusual, they talk/ask.
Isa 2 years ago
Well everyone is not the same !! He is from mit he thinks from all angles.I would have done the same if never seen anything like that in my life lol.
Load More Replies... JE Cummings 2 years ago
LOL, I laugh, but at least the young man was willing to step outside of his comfort zone.
Rick Schwarzman 2 years ago
This has to be fake. How does someone smart enough to get into MIT not pick up the cue that the banana leaf was being used as a plate and not a food item!
#17
I moved to the US after getting married. My husband and I went to a restaurant on the very first day for lunch. We parked the car and went inside. Without waiting I simply walked and took a chair for myself at a table. I could see everybody staring at me like I've done a big crime. I turned around and found my husband standing near the door and laughing. Out of embarrassment I stood up, placed the chair back in place and walked away. So then I came to know that a designated person specifically asks us how many people are there to dine and leads us to our table. You should enter only with him and not grab a table greedily. I am from India and getting the table norm is: You walk in. Scan the area like a hawk. Find an empty table (sometimes an empty chair also would suffice). Sit and order your food.
Final score:
92points
Sonja 2 years ago
In Germany most places are self seating. But there are those where you get seated too. If there's a hostess stand and no sign on it telling you to seat yourself, you'll get seated. If there's no hostess stand, you seat yourself. My culture shock was the hostility that was only barely masked by a customer service smile in the USA when you dare to ask for a specific table according to your preferences or needs because it messes up their seating plans. In Germany the servers and hostesses are less bubbly and people in general don't bend backwards for every little thing, but I still have a better feeling dining here. Waiters and waitresses are less likely to indulge AHs and are more honest. I have the feeling that most of them actually like what they do. They are genuely friendly versus trying to get a better tip friendly.
Plebbit 2 years ago
Ugh. I feel really gross about "customer service friendly". There's a delicate balance between being forthcoming/honest and polite/professional. Too often the polite gets too mixed in with corporate and feels so phony. There's a certain US fast food chain that forces their employees to say "my pleasure" instead of any other form of "you're welcome". It's so blatant. Takes away any feeling of being genuine. I very much doubt anyone working there is getting pleasure at giving me a sauce packet, and they shouldn't be forced by their employer to say that they are.
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WonderWoman 2 years ago
I *think* in USA they do that for distribution of customers for the waitstaff and so the ransom - err tipping is spread more evenly by the overlord who seats you
Monday 2 years ago
It's that way in South Africa too. Less for the tipping thing and more for keeping work evenly distributed between the staff. We are a tipping country, but servers don't go batshit crazy when they don't get the tip they want.
Load More Replies... Robert T 2 years ago
This is where you need to know the type of place you are visiting. In the UK we have three kinds. Places where you find a table yourself first, places where you find a table after you have got what you want from the counter, and places that will seat you and come and take your order. They normally say "please wait to be seated" on a dais at the door.
Cathy Roberts 2 years ago
This isn't true of every restaurant. Some are seat yourself, though they will usually have a sign that says so.
Lesley Relph 2 years ago
There's usually a sign in restaurants in the UK that says 'please wait to be seated' and that's the norm for evening meals. In cafes and tearoom where they serve breakfast or lunch you can often choose your table, and it varies as to whether it's table service or whether you go to the counter to order.
Mojo Flizash 2 years ago
Some are self seating in the US but it'll likely tell you on a sign somewhere.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
We have a mix in Australia. Pub bistros and some sit-down cafe/restaurants you wait to be seated, other places you grab a table. You can only really tell by whether there is a podium or a sign at the entrance. Also, some places, whether you wait to be seated or not, you order your food at the counter, others the staff will come to you. Same with paying, you might wait for the bill, or you go to the counter, you just have to be observant to work it out :)
#18
First few days in Australia. Friends invite me to go to the beach.
Friend reminds me, “Don’t forget your thongs!”
“Wait, what?! Thongs?!”
Thongs in Australia:
SkyBlueandBlack 2 years ago
Well, duh. Thongs, flip flops, slippers, chanclas, they're for the beach.
Fred L. 2 years ago
Go out of Australia and you find a rather different piece of cloathing for that word.
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Uncanny 2 years ago
You don’t want to be walking on sand in an Oz summer without your thongs. You’ll be forced to do the ‘oooh…aaahh! dance 😁
Pink Princess 2 years ago
On on the bitumen in the carpark. Good thing I hate the beach
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Melissa Matusevich 2 years ago
I grew up in Florida in the '50s and we always called this type of shoes thongs.
Jumping Jellyfishes 2 years ago
Also grew up in FL. Older folk called them thongs and flip flops, but we called them slaps
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Mary Hiers 2 years ago
In college, I worked in a laboratory as a general helper and one of the people I helped was an Australian grad student. I was writing some stuff down for him and he suddenly asked me if I had a rubber. It turns out Australians (at least in the 1980s) called erasers "rubbers."
Amelia Jade 2 years ago
We called them thongs when I was a kid. My aunt refereed to them as sloppies(??). I'm not sure at which point we started calling them flip flops but that's what we say now.
Spittnimage 2 years ago
I've always called them thongs since the '60s; long before the underwear came along and stole the name.
Tyranamar Seuss 2 years ago
We used to call these thongs when I was a kid in US. My grandmother called them "go aheads"
#19
I took a trip to Egypt. I chatted with a shopkeeper in Luxor. After ten minutes of pleasant conversation, he asked me if I was married. I said, no I have never been married. He said “You POOR woman! You have never been able to find a husband? I can solve your problem! Let’s get married! We will be a perfect couple.” I learned that this is normal, that American women will get marriage offers after a ten minute courtship. Egyptian men work fast. They let you know right away what they want. In the hotel, in Cairo, I walked down the hall and smiled at one of the employees. He sprinted over to me and wrapped his arms around me. I learned that smiling and eye contact with get women instant attention. Egyptian culture is different than USA.
Katrin Krueger 2 years ago
Also, they regard it as an absolute character flaw if you're not married (like you said, you didn't "manage to find a husband", like no one wants you.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)
Good rule of thumb when visiting Egypt: Always have wedding ring on (for single women, it’s probably safe just to buy a cheap one and wear it), so the men will leave you tf alone. Hell, I’m 62, and it wasn’t that damn long ago when single women had to do the same thing in the US, ffs. In my early 20s, back in the early 1980s, I worked a public-facing job. I finally went and bought a cheap wedding ring to wear to work, just so I actually could just work, totally unbothered by men trying to strike up some rather suggestive banter with me. Other young single women I worked with started doing the same thing. Sad we had to lie just to be left alone.
Debby Keir 2 years ago
Once went to Tunisia and got offered 2 camels for my 16 year old daughter - I hope he was actually joking.....
Tiny Dynamine 2 years ago
Ten minutes? In India, it's the second question you are asked after your name.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
My sister used to work with a lot of Indian and Sri Lankan women and she got asked a lot whether she was married (she was only 20/21) and they wanted to set her up on blind dates.
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Diolla 2 years ago
Not just in Egypt. Happens in many other African countries. Fastest wedding proposal I ever got was in Benin where a guy from a band I was sitting next to offered me a drink while they were on break and his next sentense was "will you marry me?" I laughed and said no, I don't even know you. He shook my hand, said "my name is Jaques, NOW will you marry me?" LOLL
Russell Tilling 2 years ago
Won't go to Egypt again, Treat you with disdain, or full-on sales-aggressive.
michael Chock 2 years ago
Ugh. Reminds me of how people are when it comes to cats. If there is not a collar they see it as their right to claim it. Disgusting.
#20
When I visited Germany and went to the local swimming pool. After paying, I was directed toward a door. I walked in and found myself in a big locker room. Thing is, it wasn’t the men’s locker room. It was a joint locker room. There were cubicles most people were going into to change, but some were changing right out in the open. There were separate showers for males and females, but while I was showering I witnessed several women, in their bathing suits, come into the male showers to talk to their male friends or family members as they were showering. Nobody batted an eye at this or found it unusual. Then, walking into the sauna area, everyone was naked, and it was mixed gender. I had heard that was how it was before this, but actually experiencing it was a bit strange at first.
Deborah B 2 years ago
...and meanwhile in the US there's disputes about if trans-women are allowed to use the ladies room.
Vedette Aecus 2 years ago
Actually, no one would mind "real" Trans women using women's restrooms. The objection is against men pretending to be Trans women to violate women's privacy. The problem becomes, since no one can read minds, you can't tell which are which. Therefore, the "safe" option is to exclude all. As with many laws, the ones who aren't lawbreakers get penalized because of those who are.
Load More Replies... tabithapaquette98 2 years ago
A lot of Americans are ridiculous about nudity. It's crazy. Violence is fine and dandy, but the human body? It's so dumb! We all have bodies!
Moezzzz 2 years ago
Yeah, and violence sometimes happens BECAUSE of nudity. It's insane
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RezFidel 2 years ago
Yeah.. why shouldnt it be like that? And remember german sauna rules: Shower first, NO clothes (a*s naked!), big towel for the sweat and ..the most important thing: SHUT THE FÜCK UP! No whispering either.. you´ll get whipped with wet towels intantly mostly. Sometimes there are designated saunas for chatting... Cheers.
Chrissie Anit 2 years ago
I once sat in a German sauna with an American mother and her two children. They wore their bathing suits, while I was naked. They said nudity made them uncomfortable. So I felt uncomfortable the whole time, sitting next to them, thinking I was offending them (I didn't have my bathing suit or another towel with me that I could put around myself).
Load More Replies... michael Chock 2 years ago
In the US it is assumed that if you are naked you are having or want to have sex. The same groups that push this are also the same groups that are obsessed with knowing what's under your clothes, if it matches what the delivery room wrote down at your birth, what you do in your home and with whom and how you do it. Conservative culture here really is sex culture.
Ryan Smith 2 years ago
Wait -- where are all the Europeans complaining about the 1-cm crack between the door and the stall in public bathrooms in the U.S.?
Cthulhu Kitty 2 years ago
Being naked when it's expected and someone watching you pee and wipe are totally different
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Mojo Flizash 2 years ago (edited)
In a public park? You'd be arrested for "public indecency " and maybe even a pedo charge if there are kids around in the States.
Load More Replies... Lunatic Loner 2 years ago
I'm German and I've never entered a public swimming pool in my life where people have changed their clothes in public or where women suddenly go into the men's shower to chat. I can certainly imagine that there is, but to be honest I wouldn't recommend doing it unless it's explicitly allowed somewhere. Even if we are quite open about such topics, we are not all nudists and think it's okay if strangers see us naked or we have to see them naked without being asked. By the way, it's different with the sauna, there are mixed ones, but also a relatively large number of separate ones (for the reason mentioned above that not everyone wants it).
Saint Tim the Godless 2 years ago
We're just animals. The human body is nothing special, and most of them are pretty damn ugly. It's stupid and backward to get hung up about it - and yeah, it says YOU have sexual hang ups.
#21
I was in a nice hotel in Japan. I got in the elevator with a young Japanese woman. When the door opened, I waited for her to exit. She did not move.
I gestured for her to go. To my surprise, in perfect English she said
“In Japan, the man always goes first.”
I saw this custom in action, as groups of Japanese were men first and women following behind.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
Perhaps you disturbed her for some reason, and she did not want you walking behind her.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)
F**k that s**t. Whoever needs to exit can exit, ffs, and anyone not exiting need to let them by. Regardless of what they may or may not be packing in their undies.
Papa Patata 2 years ago
Arabs do this too. Learned it the hard way when my Arab ex pulled me back to let others go in front of me.
#22
The first time I went to China on business, I casually strolled down Nanjing Road in Shanghai surrounded by sophistication and passerbys wearing Chanel and Prada.
Suddenly, a woman carrying a baby, dressed top-to-bottom in brand clothing stopped, lifted the baby up in the air allowing him/her to defecate. I was so shocked that had to stop and looked at the scene in horror. The baby didn’t wear a diaper under the onesie but rather had a deliberately made opening.
Surely, I thought this to be the exception vs. the rule until I saw it everywhere across China — moms allowing their children to go on the street and picking up their poops like we pick up after our pets.
In China, it is socially acceptable for kids to urinate and poop anywhere on the streets. Sometimes, you just see a kid while walking, squat and go!
Cathy Roberts 2 years ago
I have mixed feelings, honestly. It's better than filling up the earth with disposable diapers, and they're cleaning up after themselves. Definitely different. And gross but then again.....so are diapers.
Lori w 2 years ago
I don't know if that's better or worse than the us, where Ive seen moms use restaurant tables to change their babies.
David H 2 years ago
it comes from the rapid urbanization, where once poor village people were all of sudden middle class in modern cities and certain rural poor backwards village things made its way into the culture of the cities. BTW the upper class in China do not do this, it is a sign you came from a poorer background
Jake Lewis 2 years ago
I've seen that in rural parts of China, but not Shanghai. Their strict littering laws would prohibit it I think
WonderWoman 2 years ago
Did the mother have a poop bag to collect the poop? Or is it just all over the place and you must watch your step?
Betsy Ray 2 years ago
OP mentioned the mothers clean it up much like picking up one's dog's feces.
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Sherri Harvey 2 years ago
How do they know when their baby has to pee is my question? I mean you have small signs from a small baby that they are going to poop (sometimes) so, how do they know?
BakedKahuna 2 years ago
Yeah, the last time I was in Hong Kong, in a restaurant a tourist from mainland China changed the diaper on the neighboring table. Wasn't very hungry for the rest of the evening.
Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
I was at a rest stop off the Jersey turnpike and saw a woman change a female toddler's diaper on the hood of her car in front of a row of truckers. One of the most disturbing things I have seen in my life it was like she was purposely exposing her child to these men. Why not use the back seat or front seat or rest room changer? It still bothers me.
Load More Replies... #23
It was when I went to Iran.
I was at a hotel and having breakfast. I poured some tea and the sugar was nowhere to be found. So I asked the waiter for it and was waiting for the crushed sugar that I’ve been using my whole life. Instead, he came back with small cubes of sugar..
So I took one and put it in my cup of tea and started stirring to dissolve it. But unfortunately, my tea got cold and the sugar cube was still intact.
And that’s when someone told me that I was supposed to keep the cube in my mouth and just sip my tea over it. I never got used to that and was never given crushed sugar for my tea even when I asked for it explicitly.
Me 2 years ago
In my german childhood sugarcubes were quite normal, but we put them in the tea/coffee. If it was hot enough they would dissolve well. I only put them in my mouth if noone noticed and I loved it
Marcos Valencia 2 years ago (edited)
I don't think it's the same than our sugarcubes; I think OP is talking about a single (and very large) crystal of sugar.
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Marcos Valencia 2 years ago
OP must be talking about sugar crystals, not about sugar cubes. brown-rock...d66a72.jpg 
BakedKahuna 2 years ago
Oh I love the lump sugar (?) for the eastfrisian tea ceremony. You put one piece of it in your cup and pour black tea over it. Then you use a spoon to put some cream on top of it. Counter clockwise, as a symbol to stop the time, when you're having your tea. When you're done with preparing your cup of tea, you drink it as it is, no stirring! So you can taste the creamy part first and the more you drink, the sweeter it gets. It's kind of addictive to me to enjoy the tea like this.
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Say No to Downvoting 2 years ago
My grandmother (very VERY Anglo) was a stickler for serving sugar cubes with tea, and they always dissolved. Maybe your tea wasn’t quite hot to start with? Sugar cubes also make a great treat for visiting grandchildren (aka ME) when wanting to spoil them and keep them occupied while the adults have tea 😜
Tyranamar Seuss 2 years ago
It's a different type of sugar cube. More solid. Not granules pressed into a cube.
Load More Replies... Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)
Sugar cubes were the norm in restaurants before the little paper packets. I’m 62, and remember those days. Restaurants always had those little tongs for you to pick them up (to keep fingers off them), and you’d just drop them in your cup. One cube was equal to a teaspoon, just like the packets are. Sucked when you ordered ice tea that was served unsweetened, though.
Jennifer Brown 2 years ago
How big a sugar cube was it??? Was the tea served luke warm?? Lots of places use sugar cubes and I've never had a problem getting one to dissolve in a cup of tea
Ivy la Sangrienta 2 years ago
What kind of sugar cubes don't dissolve in hot tea?! They're still fairly commonly used here up in the nordics
#24
Visiting Maharashtra for the first time. I'm your regular UP guy. The girls here in UP have to stay alert and aware of their environment. Most girls don't take a stroll here unless with a group of friends or if her male relative is accompanying her. But the Maharashtra is another picture, I had seen young girls and women loved to take a stroll in the night at 10.00PM after they finished their meal. The girls usually go alone, and they don't have to worry about their safety. It was like Iiving in other part of world. In my stay here in Maharashtra, I have seen guys are more respectful toward females. Imagine, if you walked up to your crush and ask her out, she rejected you'll be furious. But Maharashtra guys take a ‘no' respectfully and let the girl. I had yet to met a guy who stalked the girl or harrased her because she rejected him. Caste system. Although, there are lot of castes here. People don't love to have their caste badge displayed. Everyone mix with everybody, people don't stuck to their castes. Female empowerment. Parents don't discrimate among their daughters and sons. Maharashtrian girls marry later, as that of UP. (The girls are usually married here when they turns 19) Average Maharashtrian girl marries at 24, and surprising thing they are not forced into marriages. Parents make sure, their child will got best education irrespective of gender.
Sapna Sarfare 2 years ago
I am from Maharashtra... And this progress is due to centuries and years of social reforms that we made happen...
Julie Zugz 2 years ago
Of course a girl can say no! She should not have to fear harassment. Men from that place need to learn to take rejection gracefully. Also, women should feel safe walking alone anywhere. Let's create a world where that can happen.
Angela Jester 2 years ago
I'm just...I'm not sure I have the words to express my feelings about this person's honest surprise at women being treated like people nor how deeply misogynistic his beliefs are. He doesn't even realize it himself.
Mojo Flizash 2 years ago (edited)
The treatment of women in certain parts of the world really are a culture shock to me. I live in the States and not long ago I bought furniture from a Muslim friend. I had to borrow my parents truck and my mom came with me because we were going to have lunch prior to picking up the furniture. The guy we were picking up the furniture from knows my mom well too. When we got to the house to get couches we were asked to take off our shoes (no biggie except it's kinda hard to carry furniture and having to move it to the door and then set it down to put our shoes back on then resuming moving said couch. But that wasn't the culture shock. My mom was being friendly and came in and the muslim guy yelled...very sternly for his wife and she immediately snapped up and raced in the lead my mom to another room to chat and we got odd uncomfortable stares when my mom walked in and addressed nicely the guy and his two college age sons. He very deliberately separated the men and women. Jarring
Mojo Flizash 2 years ago
As an American I get nervous when I bring up someone's race or ethnicity. I can assure you that what I posted was not bashing on their customs, especially since it was their home. It was just sooooo different and my mom and talked about all the way home.
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Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
Ik it's part of tradition, but forced/arranged marriages are disgusting. And the Caste system seems so... wrong. Archaic, even. But it isn't a part of my culture so I guess I don't understand it or really have the right to say too much.
thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
The caste system is seen as wrong, officially — it was legally abolished in 1948, and that was added to the Indian constitution in 1950. People who are very traditional nonetheless still find it useful to cling to, and use it as justification to treat lower caste people poorly. The colonial system codified and perpetuated it — it was a central organizing method for the British Raj.
Load More Replies... Marina Rocha 2 years ago
This reads like a culture clash to me. I have very little interest in India and their misogynistic culture. I find it really disturbing
#25
Yes. They have two faucets. One feels like walking on the surface of the Sun, and the other as they say, is your ex-girfriend’s heart.
You cannot have anything in the middle.
They do not combine in one pipe like in the rest of the world, so you have to alternate between the two, and see how it feels to have frostbites and 2nd degree burns at the same time.
Meanwhile a letter from UK arrives.
Bloody hell! My Hogwarts invitation!!
Silvana,
Firstly, we call them “taps” not “faucets”. We should know, we invented the language.
Secondly, a day may come when my Kingdom will work on improving the plumbing system to a more advanced technology, but it is not this day.
Also, my dearest Prince William has already delighted us with 2 perfect children, so we do not require your genetic material.
Yours Brexitly,
Queen E.
Anyone-for-tea? 2 years ago
A single tap is a lot more common now! We have finally caught up! Even in my house that was built in 2010 all the sinks had single taps.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
We used to have the same in Australian houses too, though any place built after the 70s(?) had a single tap. The thing people visiting might not realise is that you don't get frozen on one hand and boiling on the other, because you are supposed to put the plug in and run both to an adequate temperature and wash that way, like the much older 'wash bowls' that were around before indoor plumbing.
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Tim Fawcett 2 years ago
It is traditional - back when gravity fed hot-water systems were used - the hot water relies on a header tank in the loft - it was not unknown for the water in the tank to become contaminated - for instance bymould or creatures getting in the tank and dying. By separating the hot and cold taps, you prevented the potable cold water from being contaminated. I remember growing up that we were warned never to drink water that had come from the hot tap and never to use it for cooking.
Lyyyy 2 years ago
That actually makes sense. Hope they’ve improved the hot water quality since then.
Load More Replies... Robert T 2 years ago
Unless you are visiting somewhere which is trying to maintain a traditional look, most places have mixer taps, and many now have automatic taps. You don't have to faucet, you just let yourself flow.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)
All sinks used to have separate hot and cold water taps, including in the US, even in major cities. It’s just the way they were made up until, I think, the post WWII era. I’m 62, and remember living in houses in the 1960s that still had separate taps. What you had to do is put the stopper in the drain, run water through both taps into the sink until that water is the right temperature, then do your washing up out of it, instead of from water running out of the tap and down the drain. The thing is, that sink water gets dirty, so you have to drain it, clean the sink, then refill it to have clean water to rinse off with. If the old fashioned separate taps were still in good working condition and weren’t unsightly, my parents kept them until they either stopped working or looked like s**t. Then they replaced them with modern combined taps that could regulate temperature better. They figured it was silly to remove perfectly fine working taps just because the style changed. They saw no point in wasting the money. Use it up, wear it out, then replace it, but still try to recycle it into something else if you can. That was their way of thinking. I think you can guess both of my parents were Depression babies. Some of it rubbed off on me too. I hate paying full price for anything if I can help it. I also consider anything that’s working just fine in any new home I move into to be a windfall. If it works, why rip it out and replace it? While it’s still working, why not just save your money until the day it finally stops? You’ll have more that way.
Fat Harry 2 years ago
Yeah, this hasn't been the case for a long time. Sure, plenty of places still have two separate taps, but one mixer tap is now way, way more common.
Mojo Flizash 2 years ago
I use them interchangeably but faucet is probably the most common in my family.
Load More Replies... Panda Boom 2 years ago
My bathroom has two taps and I HATE it. My hands are either freezing or burnt. I will get a mixer one day..
#26
I had heard that London is very expensive. When I landed there, after couple of hours, I went in a local chicken shop (as they call it, it's basically a fried chicken shop) to get something to eat. I gave the order and asked 'how much'? The guy on the counter said "Three forty nine" and I thought "Oh My God, London really is expensive man... A chicken burger for three hundred and forty-nine pounds." I said sorry, I did not bring the money and went out of the shop to stay hungry rather than spending 350 pounds on a chicken burger. In Pakistan, we do not use hundred most of the times when we are telling the price. For example, if the price is 150, I would say one fifty rather than one hundred and fifty. Later I discussed this with a friend and you can imagine what would have happened. The burger was 3 pounds and 49p.
Vicki Doggurl 2 years ago
You assumed it was £349 even though the shopkeeper didn’t say Three hundred and forty nine pounds?
GFSTaylor 2 years ago
That's common everywhere in the UK. It's just a way of abbreviating "Three pounds and fifty pence."
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Josy 2 years ago
Wow that is super cheap. Here i Munich a Burger is 15 € not including fries...
Jennifer Brown 2 years ago
no one would have thought 349 meant three hundred and forty nine dollars...that's absurd
#27
Dong chim or poop needle
Dong chim is a popular prank that is played all over Korea. It involves using your index fingers to poke someone between the bum cheeks with as much as force one can muster.
This bizarre prank is very common amongst the children of all ages and is treated as normal amongst the adults as well. It is believed to have originated in Japan where it is popularly known as Kancho which literally translates to Enema
In the above image - a statue in one of the Korean cities representing the most played prank in Korea.
This prank is not only popular in Korea but is also very popular in Japan and Taiwan.
This prank is so popular that even video games are made on the Dong chim. The players are given an option to poke their fingers in the bottom of - the mother-in-law, gangsters prostitutes, ex-girlfriends and ex boyfriends.
Just to know about it is kind of a shock. I feel lucky that I did not get a chance to experience it
Tyranamar Seuss 2 years ago
Used to have the wedgie. Not tolerated in schools anymore.
Load More Replies... LokisLilButterknife 2 years ago
There's an entire episode that features this on the Canadian-Korean sitcom "Kim's Convenience"
Monique Ruffier 2 years ago
It isn't so common in France but do exist (one finger only) and called an "olive"
DramaDoc 2 years ago
i keep waiting for this to happen in a K-Drama (so far, nada...) That said, in the US it seems to be atomic wedgies and purple nerples...
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Debra Timah 2 years ago
I was raised in Nebraska. Learned it from my mom, who was also raised in Nebraska. Finger to the b******e region (over their clothes), but only with enough force to startle the person. Big dogs often goose people when they go to sniff the person's butt. You could get goosed with an object, too.
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thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
My grandmother (in the US) used to use that phrase occasionally, “being goosed,” and I’ve always understood it to mean pinching or grabbing someone’s butt, not a finger between the cheeks, and not with as much force as possible. Cambridge Dictionary says it’s “to press or take hold of someone's bottom.”
Load More Replies... #28
I just visited New Delhi, India for the first time, and here are the things that shocked me. India is not the best place to visit during a pandemic and here is why. People spit literally anywhere and everywhere. You will find spit literally at every step you take on the street. It is so normal that no one is bothered by it. Uber drives just casually spit from the car windows. Similarly, street vendors would casually spit on the pavement while they are talking to customers. This applies to everyone; the random people on the street, people at the hotel, people you see outside the malls etc. For the most part of the trip, I remember feeling anxious all the time because I was too scared of getting sick. We needed a negative PCR to go back to our country and I could not really enjoy the trip because I was paranoid and freaking out all the time. We also went to see Taj Mahal and you cannot enter with any kind of food or drink. They had a bin next to the entrance for this which was completely covered in red spit inside and out. The whole area was covered in spit as well. I honestly cannot understand how people can be so carefree at a time like this. Pandemic or not, it is just unhygienic and disrespectful to others walking on the street.
Agfox 2 years ago
2 friends who visited India were determined to try street food until they saw the stall owner spit in the cooking oil to see if it was hot enough to put food in to cook
albernistuff 4sale 2 years ago
FWIW - cooking at that temperature is more that enough to sterilize the food. Disgusting, yes, but unsanitary, no. From a health risk, your salad full of raw ingredients is more dangerous.
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Deamhayness Doom 2 years ago
"India is not the best place to visit during a pandemic". Jeez, NO place is. Everyone should've just stayed at home and we'd have gotten rid of that sh** much earlier and with less dead or damaged people
Kitty White 2 years ago
I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but here in the US it took the Spanish Flu pandemic in the early 1900’s to make spitting in public a misdemeanor crime.
Alex E. Hentay 2 years ago
What’s the purpose of the spitting? Not that I never spit, but it’s pretty rare. If one is somewhere dusty, I get it. Where I live chewing tobacco is still a thing in places. Disgusting, but again, I understand the need to spit. Baffled.
ChickyChicky 2 years ago
If it's red spit, it's because they're chewing betel leaf, it's got some narcotic properties.
Load More Replies... thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
I spent several months in India years ago but had forgotten this. I don’t understand why this person was traveling during the pandemic though, if they were at all concerned with their own safety or that of others. It sounds like they were traveling recreationally rather than for work or a family emergency, to be visiting tourist sites.
Florence O'Grady 2 years ago
A lot of people got caught in other countries during the pandemic and couldn't get home.
Load More Replies... Tyranamar Seuss 2 years ago
Spitting was done away with in the US due to public health concerns with tuberculosis. First they had spittoons. Then they just outlawed it in public completely (local laws).
Mary Kelly 2 years ago
india is not the place to go if one is overly concerned about cleanliness...
#29
I would like to share the cultural shock that my mother-in-law faced. She recently visited us, here in Canada. We took her for an outing on the other day she landed. As we stopped at a crossing, she saw a homeless, so she asked me for some change. The homeless started to bless my MIL in English. My mother-in-law closed the car window and turned to us saying, “wow, here beggars also speak English.” She continued, “if she can speak in English, why don't she get a job?” I had to explain her that in Canada most of the people speaks English. It's just considered a language here, not like India where it is considered as one of the major skills. For many Indian still speaking fluent English means that the person is qualified to get a decent job. She also shared it with her friends on whatsapp.
sofacushionfort 2 years ago
Culture shock from reading this entry: “homeless” as a noun rather than an adjective.
Jerusalem Cat Syndrome 2 years ago
Clearly, her English is not fluent, and in many languages, the word "person" implied in the form.
Load More Replies... thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
What language did she think most people speak there? Did she not see any TVs playing or hear announcements or see advertisements going through the airport? I know in Montreal many people will switch between French and perfect English, but my understanding is that most Canadians have English as their first language. I can’t quite get my head around the idea of visiting another country and not knowing what language(s) people there tend to speak.
#30
I landed in Malaysia for the first time in 2010. After settling-in myself at residence, I called my friend who picked me up to catch up further. I told him let’s have tea and he took me to a local Malay stall that sells tea.
We ordered “Take away” and the guy hands me over this plastic bag full of hot tea with a straw.
I was totally shocked as to who drinks hot tea with a straw? Apparently, Malaysians. To top it off, some of the locals ask to add ice and call it ice-tea.
It was very shocking culturally experiencing it but I got used to it with time.
RapidUnscheduledDisassembly 2 years ago
A friend of mine went on a mission trip to the Philippines and the vendors there will do this with bottled drinks that they sell... because they can turn in the bottles for the recycling money! Smart, but a bit of a shock to tourists who have to learn how to deal with it. I can't imagine doing this with a hot beverage that was never in a bottle to start with!
Deamhayness Doom 2 years ago
I don't want to know how many chemicals from the plastic bag AND straw dissolve into peoples' hot tea o0
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
The logistics alone would be awkward, until/unless you figured out a good system for drinking it without spilling hot tea all over yourself. F*****g OUCH!
Heather Talma 2 years ago
How does one HOLD a plastic bag full of hot tea? Wouldn't that burn the c**p out of your hands?
#31
Ok so I read many answers to this question. But most of them were which they encountered outside their native country but I encountered it within my country and that too just a month ago. My aunt recently shifted from Delhi to Ahmedabad. So in my December vacations we went to visit her. My aunt told me that in Ahmedabad before marriage the girl can go and live with the boy’s family (on special occasions like Diwali or New Year) for few days with whom she is going to get married. Based upon her stay, the girl can make her decision if she really wants to marry that guy or not. And this is practiced by majority of people over there before marriage no matter from which background you are. Whereas in Punjab or Chandigarh nothing of this sort happens. But this cultural difference wasn't a shock instead it felt so good to know that such practices also prevail!
Brenda 2 years ago (edited)
The Amish have a custom where the intended actually spend the night together. Can't remember the name of it, but basically a rolled up blanket is placed between them so no touching (or anything else) occurs. This allows the couple to spend time alone together (something they cannot do otherwise) to talk & get to know each other better. If they decide they aren't compatible after that, no hard feelings.
Samantha Mannion 2 years ago
My husband is from Ahmedabad and I am white American. His parents have a love marriage as well as his sisters. I am the first outside of their race to marry into the immediate family and it took a very long time. After 13 years together we finally got his parents on board and tied the knot! It all happened really fast once it started though and now we all live together and I feel like a part of the family. The are a bit more strict on some things because they are Jain but once they accepted me in they would do anything for me like their blood daughters. Very very tight family in Ahmedabad and Gujarat in general that I've seen.
Kitty White 2 years ago
This makes sense on so many levels… most importantly, seeing how the man’s father treats his mother is a very good indicator of how he will treat her.
Jane Alexander 2 years ago
Mom always said "You don't marry the man you marry the whole family" I didn't like it, but it's true.
#32
After landing in Copenhagen airport I was looking for a drinking water tap to refill my waterbottle. I couldn’t find a tap around me, so I went to a security personnel and asked her. Me: “ where can I get water? “ She: “ It’s there “ She pointed her finger towards a toilet. I didn’t get her. I thought she didn’t understand my question or my accent. So I asked her again. Me: “ I mean drinking water “ She: “Yes.. vand.. It’s there” I didn’t dare to ask her again. I went straight to the toilet and searched the premises. She saw me roaming clueless and came to me. She: “ see mister, you can either buy a water bottle for 60 krone in the store or fill from the tap in the washroom. It’s the same water. “ Same water? Seriously? I stepped inside the toilet and was shocked to see many people filling their bottles directly from handwash taps inside the toilet. I know water quality in Denmark is great, but not to the extent that they supply that even to the toilets.
Adam S 2 years ago
Really? I thought in most European countries any tap had drinking water unless specifically marked as not drinkable (e.g on a train)?
Ge Po 2 years ago
Yes, we are so spoiled with almost endless amounts of drinking water that we flush it down the toilet and water the garden with it ...
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Mitchell 2 years ago
I thought all developed countries had potable water running from the tap. In fact it’s a bugbear of mine that we flush our toilets with drinking quality water. I wonder if OP is from a developing country.
Beck 2 years ago
I heard that the water we use has been around since the dawn of the earth. It all just gets recycled. So even if we flush with drinking water, it will come back around again.
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Deth Invictus 2 years ago
No idea where you are from but we even flush with drinking water in Australia.
Ken Beattie 2 years ago
It was a huge culture shock for my Father's second wife. She's Vietnamese and they lived in Thailand for a long time before moving back here. She finds it hard to believe the tap water is safe to drink. In fact where they live now the water comes out of a naturally sand filtered aquifer so the water is better to drink than most bottled water.
Load More Replies... Robert T 2 years ago
Bottled water and tap water are not the same, but they are both potable (drinkable). This applies to pretty much the whole of Europe. And yes, the toilets use the same water supply.
albernistuff 4sale 2 years ago
Best you do some homework there; at least in Canada, there are no rules or regulations regarding bottled water, other than it be safe to consume. ALL of the bottled water, unless it is clearly labeled as 'Spring Water' is just tap water, maybe filtered.
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Tashtegoo (Tashtegoo) 2 years ago
In Germany every Tap has drinking water unless there's a sign saying otherwise like in the garden, but that has most often to do with the quality of the plumbing or the regularity of it's usage and not with the water itself. The water comes from the same source, why would you build two different systems for it if you have enough good water? In hotels in Spain for example I don't like water from the tap - it has too much chlorine and just tastes bad.
PandaGoPanda 2 years ago
Where are you from? All water is potable in many European countries, Japan, and others.
LAWLAWLAW 2 years ago
I used to work customer service for the water board in UK, I remember one guy who had just moved here from abroad was totally blown away that it's the same water that comes out of the taps as flushes the toilet, he just couldn't believe that he could drink the water from any tap in the house
Mojo Flizash 2 years ago
All pipes carry the same water in the States except maybe am isolated instance. I used to be a contractor. Water is water. (Note: I'd just buy the water in these cases)
#33
The biggest culture that I have really shocked is eating food with hands in India.
after washing your hands, you should eat food with your right hand.Indian culture, the left hand is commonly viewed as dirty and unsanitary, and therefore rude to eat with. Avoid serving, eating, or touching any of the food with your left hand.
and the other point is that Avoid letting the food touch your palms. Hold the food near the tips of your fingers when you're bringing it to your mouth.
That is a good experience, If you travel in India don’t be afraid .Try it!
Nea 2 years ago
Indian here- maybe I have once or twice heard something like this but have travelled far and wide across the country and never experienced this being a real thing. Eat with any hand or with spoons/forks/knives. Nobody cares.
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Krod Mandoon 2 years ago
As a leftie, we already deal with enough issues, like ink all over the side of our palm, being forced to use right handed sporting equipment in school because that's all there is, learning to pick our seats at the table carefully as to not be bumping elbows with the person next to us, holding back striking old ladies for forcing their grand children to use their right hand when they are clearly lefty (maybe that one's more of a personal issue) Not a chance I'm changing my eating habits because of some old wives tale. I'll respect your culture until it disrespects who I am.
Say No to Downvoting 2 years ago
Thank you! Leftie discrimination isn’t spoken about enough!
Load More Replies... Sapna Sarfare 2 years ago
We have modern toilets now... but ya, left hand is used to take the mug for water... you know the rest...
Load More Replies... Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
the eating with the right hand and the left hand being dirty is pretty common across the middle east, too.
Ray McArdle 2 years ago
Not just in India. Eating with your hands, and using just your right hand, is in other cultures.
Diolla 2 years ago
I'm left handed and have spent lots of time in a country where it's common to eat together from one communal bowl. So it's REALLY important not to use your left hand for obvious reasons (toilet paper not really a thing there either). The solution was, they would locate a spoon for me so I could use my left hand without touching the food. Easy.
#34
In Norway I saw this
It is a common thing to put on train doors to indicate that this carriage will not have a conductor.
Coming from a less developed country this was a huge WTF for me.
You mark on which carriages tickets will not be checked???
It is like writing on it “Travel in this carriage for free! No one will check tickets here!”
Why would you make it so extremely easy for people to cheat??
Robert T 2 years ago
Pretty sure it does not mean that. It will mean that you cannot buy a ticket on the train. You must buy one at the station beforehand. Tickets may be inspected either on the train or as you leave your destination. I nearly got into trouble in Portugal for not buying a ticket, as I didn't pass through the ticket office to get on the platform (completely didn't see it) and naively assumed I could buy a ticket on the train. You couldn't. The conductor didn't speak much English, so he let me go when I offered to pay. I made sure I bought one on the return journey!
Aboredpanda 2 years ago (edited)
This. There are carriages with conductor as well, if you haven't pre-bought your ticket. And the conductor-less carriages are randomly inspected relatively often. It's a trust based system related to societal respect.
Load More Replies... Take me to dinner first 2 years ago (edited)
The best part is that if you ask them they would answer something like "why would I not pay it if I can?"
Lena Flising 2 years ago
I don't know if this is so in Norway, but in Sweden, the ticket-checkers can enter the train at one station, go through the train to check everyone's tickets, and then leave the train at the next station. Usually at a stretch where there is longer than usual between stations, or when the train passes over to a different zone where tickets get more expensive, like from one county to the next. So no conductor doesn't have to mean no-one to check the tickets.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
They do that in Australia too. You can't even buy tickets on the trains, you have to buy them at the station. Not all stations are manned though. If not, you have to use the machine, which is fine if you just need to top up the balance on your ticket but if you need a whole new card you are out of luck.
Load More Replies... Krod Mandoon 2 years ago
I read that as "if you want to ride with a raving drunk homeless lunatic, this is the car for you, no conductor to try and remedy the situation!" at least that's my thoughts after riding the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority, think Metro or Subway) which has no conductors and lots of people I'd rather avoid being near, compared to the Metra (think Amtrak but with a similar station layout to a traditional Metro/Subway) which has conductors and the only clearly homeless person I saw was quietly sitting in a seat not bothering anyone. BTW, not intending to hate on homeless people. Homeless does not equal drunk lunatic on the train, however, drunk lunatic on the train quite often does seem to equal homeless, just the way it is
thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
Places outside the US have more accessible mental and physical healthcare, and social services.
Load More Replies... Jennifer Brown 2 years ago
One reason why Norway is one of the happiest countries. Others don't see it as "cheating" if you don't pay, it's looking out for the less fortunate.
#35
Cultural shock in U.S!
I see girls with bare legs wearing skirts when its like -10C outside. I asked one - don’t you feel cold? She said no, cuz i am hot ;)
LittleWombat 2 years ago
When I was in my teens/20s/maybe 30s, I put fashion over the cold of our Chicago winters, so skirts and heels in snow, ice, and sleet? Of course haha. Now that I'm older, I'll happily dress in the least attractive clothes as long as it keeps me warm and comfy!!
Moezzzz 2 years ago
Yep! When you're young, you'll do anything to look good, no matter the weather! Now, at 45, I just want to be comfortable
Load More Replies... SkyBlueandBlack 2 years ago
Fair point. I wear pants. Always pants. I live in Southern California. In the desert.
Kim Kermes 2 years ago
I live in the Mojave Desert. If it's windy in summer, it feels like a heat gun. Pants or a long kaftan is protective.
Load More Replies... never snarky 2 years ago
When I was growing up (in the US), girls always wore skirts. I used to walk home from school in freezing weather with bare legs because we were not allowed to wear pants to school. Fortunately, that has changed.
Hiram's Friend 2 years ago
When I was in school (last century) in North Dakota, the girls would wear trousers under their skirts and remove them once they got to school. Girls always wore skirts, boys always wore slacks. If your slacks had belt loops, there'd better be a belt in them. Collared shirts. No blue jeans. Girls' skirts had to touch the floor when they were kneeling.
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Tracy Butler 2 years ago
Denim miniskirt & uggs was the winter uniform for college freshmen in 2004 😂😂
Cate 2 years ago
Newcastle and all areas north in England. Any cold winter's night or early morning. The young girls out clubbing wear barely anything.
StitchIsCuteAndFluffy 2 years ago
Apparently this is lots of teenage girls. Not me. I’ll wear pants in the winter
Jennifer Brown 2 years ago
I see people with puffer coats on and hoodies when it's 90 degrees out and I can't believe they haven't gone into heatstroke!
Richienotsorich 2 years ago
I saw a young lady in her puffa coat a few days ago (June) wearing it hanging off her shoulders like a feather boa. It was absolutely pi$$ing it down and her t-shirt was soaked...all so she could look cool!
Load More Replies... #36
During a trip to Costa Rica I noticed something that I considered fairly remarkable. If you’ve been on a road (in a vehicle) in Costa Rica you know things can get fairly scary - the roads are narrow and as a visitor it seems chaotic and dangerous. However, what astonished me was how drivers behaved when someone was walking along the road. My wife and I were walking from our hotel into the small town of Puerto Viejo along the road after it had been raining. There was puddles and pot holes everywhere and it was nearly impossible for drivers to avoid them. As each car approached, I braced for an inevitable tidal wave that would soak us, but it never came. Every single car that passed went out of their way to slow down and in some cases drive off the road to avoid splashing us. In contrast the college town where we had just spent several years - drivers would go out of their way to hit the puddles and soak as many people as possible. I’m sure you can find examples of the opposite, but this one experience did a good job of encapsulating the general feeling of kindness and generosity I’ve experienced throughout the country when visiting.
Charlie the Cat 2 years ago
If you drive through a puddle in the UK & splash someone on purpose, you can be fined up to a maximum of £5000
#37
Some of my family lives in Poland. I was visiting my aunt there and out shopping at Tesco. We went to the checkout line and I smiled widely at the cashier. She gave me a dirty look and then started yelling at me. My Polish language skills aren't the best and I looked at my aunt in confusion. She responded to the cashier, “Relax, she is just an American. They are a lot less miserable than us Poles.” The cashier was not used to smiles and pleasantries and just assumed that my smile was because I was making fun of her.
Katrin Krueger 2 years ago
Laughing in Poland and Russia often means you are laughing ABOUT them - vice versa, we consider non-smiling people very rude but both sides just try to be respecful.
#38
The biggest culture shock which I have faced was when I had been to Germany.
German Toilets
German toilets have a flat plate like structure unlike Indian toilets, so that your excreta waits on it till you flush. You can appreciate it before pressing the flush button.
Alexandra 2 years ago
Perhaps. But it's recommended that you check your stools for early signs of bowel cancer and that's easier to do with a shelf.
Load More Replies... The Dark Sun 2 years ago
Nope. These "Flachspüler WCs" (Wash out) are out of style for at least 30 years. You must have used very old bathrooms.
Jan Rosier 2 years ago
Love to visit Germany, and still go there sometimes. But this kind of toilet keeps creeping me out. Luckily it's not everywhere in Germany, but it is definitely the only country I've ever seen them.
#39
When I came out from airport in Ghana, A taxi driver suddenly stopped and started making sound “Tsssshh Tsss” continuously. I was shocked. In India , this is almost like teasing a girl. I felt bad and asked my husband to hurry up and go home as soon as possible. But then I came to know that Tssssss sound is used to call someone or to get attention. A mother was breastfeeding her child without covering herself and no one cared. I was surprised. Yes , no one cares about these things. (Update as many people failed to understand: it raised respect for the people in my opinion. ) Shops close after 7 pm .Almost all shops are closed on Sundays because people go to church. Slowly, shopping mall culture is ruining the peaceful life here. In local markets people don't use weighing scale . Stuffs are sold by either counting or bucket wise.
#40
My biggest cultural shock would be from the time when I lived in the state of Mizoram, India. I belong to the nearby state of Assam but the cultural differences are way too different. My father was transferred to Mizoram and so, we had to live there for 3 years. My first shock was when I saw that all the shops and the entire town closed down by 6:00 pm in the evening. The next day, I woke up in the morning to jog around the town and saw the town was alive by 6:00 am again. After a few days, I got to meet the local people and I found out that everybody there had their dinner by 7:00 pm. This was another cultural shock as I was accustomed to have dinner after 10:00 pm. They strictly believe in early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. The biggest shock which I witnessed would be how westernised their society was. Most boys and girls in our class sat together which was no way happening in my state or the mainland. Definitely not. Nobody will be judging you if you walk hand in hand with your boyfriend, hugging and other romantic gestures were quite normal there. Try doing the same in the mainland or even in Assam and the police will be on you. Oh hey, and lastly, the towns were clean and nobody threw garbage on the road. Something we need to learn from them.
#41
In Malaysia, whenever my family are out to a restaurant for lunch or dinner, we order several dishes to our table and we share it amongst us with rice. One day, my Australian friends and I decided to eat lunch at a Chinese restaurant. The waiter seated us and gave us the menu. Everyone took turns ordering their dishes and when the dishes came, everyone picked up their chopsticks. I grabbed my chopsticks excitedly and picked up some of the food and shoved it down my throat. My friends watched me in disbelief and I had no idea what I done wrong until one of them called me out. Turns out, I expected everyone to share their food together. Except, everyone took their own dish and ate it themselves. I was so embarrassed that my face was as red as a tomato! Still today, I wonder how some of my friends are capable of finishing the entire sweet and sour pork dish themselves without getting sick of the taste.
Tucker Cahooter 2 years ago
Sounds like the Aussies acting just as they would do in Oz. We would normally only share the food if we were explicitly ordering a banquet.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
What about eating with your family? Don’t you pass the bowls and plates of the meat, sides, breads, gravies, etc to each other?
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Nikki Sevven 2 years ago
In the US, it's common to eat "family style" in a Chinese restaurant, but generally not in other types of restaurants. Er...except for oversized appetizers, which are intended to be shared.
Sheena Leversedge Wood 2 years ago
in the UK, a Chinese is definitely sharing multiple dishes, so you get a bit of lots of different things. an Indian, it can go either way, the more of you there are, the more likely you are to eat sharing style
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
All the places I've been to in Australia you share
Load More Replies... Huddo's sister 2 years ago
Every Chinese place I've been to in Australia encouraged you to share- that's why you have a lazy Susan on the table.
#42
I have a cousin, who is married and lives in California. She has a son and two daughters. A few years ago, their family visited Mumbai as the kids wanted to spend time with their grandparents. They had been in Mumbai for 4–5 days before I went to visit them at my uncle’s place. My cousin told me that she took the kids to Essel World, Nehru Planetarium, museums etc. I personally like Essel World so I thought the kids must have also loved Essel World. So I asked the kids, what did they find adventurous since they had been here. Their answer shocked me! And I am not making this up. And they said unanimously We loved the auto-rickshaw! The boy explained further. Its the same words the american kid and his twin sister used to describe our cheap daily ride and it goes like this- “Its so open. And there’s no seat belt. He drives so awesome. Oh! And the way he swerves the three wheeler through the crowd and the cows is so amazing. I so much wanted to sit on the front with him, but mamma didn’t let me” I was speechless!
Stardust she/her 2 years ago
My mum and her cousin once had a laugh about how when they were kids they hated autos and always wanted to ride in a car while their kids prefer autos over cars
#43
Marriage to Maternal Uncle and Marriage between first cousins I am a Punjabi. For us, maternal uncle is just like father and cousins are brothers and sisters. We tie Rakhi to cousins. Even my mother’s cousins’ kids are my brothers and sisters only. But when I got to know that marriage of a girl to her mother’s real brother is a common practice in some communities/families in south India, I was in utter disbelief and shock. Till date, I cannot digest this. A little less shocking but still bewildering is the marriage between cousins. More than awkwardness, such marriages have much higher chances to give birth to children with major defects. EDIT - I did not write that I am disgusted by this practice. Every culture/community has their own traditions. I am a person who respects everyone irrespective of anything. I wrote, it was a SHOCK, since we never heard of it in childhood when we had little exposure to other communities.
Brenda 2 years ago
I didn't get any feelings of disgust from your post. I read it as you found it hard to believe.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
Especially in this day and age, when we know what could happen when people with DNA that close to their own get together and have children. Not. The. Children’s. Fault. It’s the society’s fault. 100%.
Load More Replies... Shark Lady 2 years ago
My great aunt and uncle were first cousins, it's legal in the UK. It's generally fine if it only happens once, it's when it happens multiple times in a single family that you tend to get problems of birth defects etc. Apparently it is more common in cultures that still require a dowry, as it's a way of keeping the money within the family. I said apparently as it is something that I have read rather than experienced myself.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
It's legal in Australia too. My parents are first cousins. Aunt/uncle and niece/nephew are legally allowed to marry too, but I've never heard of it happening since I was born. Anyone who does marry family usually gets genetic counselling beforehand.
Load More Replies... Sapna Sarfare 2 years ago (edited)
It is common in Maharashtra but only between kids of a brother and sister... Chances are low though out here. Chances of defects in kids would be low since people do not marry within gotra... for those unaware, gotra is what you call a lineage...two people from same gotra cannot marry
Becky Samuel 2 years ago
The risk of a child being born with a genetic defect as a result of first cousin marriage is somewhat less than the risk of one of the parents being over 40. It is estimated that around 1 in 12 people is either in a cousin marriage or the product of a cousin marriage.
#44
So, I land in Dubai with my wife and miss the connecting Emirates bus to Abu Dhabi. With the next bus being almost 2 hours later, we thought of taking the normal public bus from Al-Ghubaiba. As soon as we came out of the metro station, we had to cross the road and go on the opposite side to hop onto our bus. Since the signal was green for the oncoming traffic, we stood patiently at the crossing for the pedestrian signal to go green. A moment later the car approaching towards us stopped before the zebra crossing to let us cross the road. We didn’t understand this gesture, since the signal for vehicular traffic was still green. Indians will understand this situation better, since vehicles at times don’t even stop after the signal goes red. It was later that we were told that in Dubai pedestrians have a right of way. Mind blown; culturally total shocked.
Noname 2 years ago
I had never heard of the "zebra" in reference to the white lines painted on the street to denote a designated pedestrian crossing until a Brit used the term. Where I'm from in the USA, we call it a "crosswalk".
Jayne 2 years ago
Slovak here, and children call a pedestrian crossing "zebra" because it is easier than "prechod pre chodcov" = "crossing for pedestrians" and they can easily remember what to do when approaching it (look left-right-left, be cautious, etc.)
Load More Replies... #45
in Budapest, walking on a road just beside the footpath. There was a car behind me and I was unknowingly walking in the middle of the road, until I realized and made way for it. The person didn’t honk even once and kept driving behind me at the same speed I was walking. Really? Hats off to their patience?
Malfar 2 years ago
The Hungarian politeness is interesting. I was escaping from the war in Ukraine, to Israel through Hungary. An armed soldier on the border gave me a bag with food and... that's it, I didn't know where to go next. I look at him, and he just does hints with his eyes in the direction where I should go and says quietly, "Okay, okay".
Sue From Michigan 2 years ago
I think I'd feel pressure to speed up if the car stayed behind me. Couldn't one just wave them around so the car would pass?
#46
Helsinki, Finland
My mum was on her official tour. She went to a restaurant and ordered a meal with salads, fries, veg. sandwich etc. She's a vegetarian
When her order came she found something wrong with her sandwich and called the person serving her.
She- What have you put in to this sandwich?
He- Ma'am, it has cheese, onion, FISH, etc, etc.
She- Fish? I ordered a vegetarian sandwich, isn't it?
He- Yeah.. Fish eats green plants. It's vegetarian.
Few restaurants in Helsinki consider fish to be a vegetarian food. My mom visits this country quite often and she is now always particular about non-fish vegetarian food.
Finnish people have something called non-fish eating vegetarian, which is unknown in India!
Firstname Lastname 2 years ago
I myself am a pescatarian, but there's a separate word for a reason! Hopefully she got a new sandwich.
madbakes 2 years ago
This entire thread is culture shocks people experienced. This person experienced this. They shared their experience.
Load More Replies... #47
My biggest culture shock was in the United States after I had lived there all my life for 14 years. It was when I found out that these rice cookers are not very common to have in a house. Growing up half Fillipino, I had one at my house, and all of my relatives had one. I remember it really well. It was Eighth Grade Spanish class, our assignment was to explain a recipe in Spanish, of course I was assigned to do chicken and rice. I remember going up in front of the class and reading my recipe to them. As I explained how to put the rice in a rice-cooker (in Spanish of course), I was met with many confused faces from my classmates. It was then I realized a rice cooker is not as common as a toaster or microwave to many Americans because rice is not a staple food for the average diet of people here. Was I embarrassed? Not at all, but I was really shocked because of how after 14 years of my life at the time, I had thought most people had rice-cookers in their homes.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
And you get that wonderful sticky rice too! I always preferred sticky rice to the well advertised rice that doesn’t stick.
Load More Replies... Nikki Sevven 2 years ago
I have some small appliances for foods that are harder to make without them, like a Cuisinart ice cream maker. But rice is easy. 1 cup well-rinsed rice, 2 cups cold* tap water, 1 T butter, 1 t salt. Bring to a boil. Stir, cover tightly, turn off the heat, and wait 20 minutes. *Hot tap water can leach minerals from your water pipes, and that's not Good Eats.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
I just cook rice in the microwave. Did used to have a rice cooker, until the seal broke on it.
#48
Not I, but my mother did. My mother has two daughters. It goes without saying that she worries about their wedding and dowry. We are natives of Uttar Pradesh where dowry in the form a cash, cars, jewellery, home appliances is a common exchange. A few years ago my parents were invited to attend a Gujarati wedding. It was a two day ceremony in Surat, Gujarat. First day was Garba night and next morning the actual wedding procession. It was an arranged marriage. 1) Guests were not expected to bring gifts. Everyone just handed envelopes filled with cash to the bride and groom in the form of blessing. 2) Unlike the lavish North Indians weddings, breakfast was a silent and simple morning affair. Lunch consisted of dal, rice, salad, papad, paratha, puris, roti, dhoklas, paneer, aam ras and kulfi as dessert. While uttapam was the only South Indian and non Gujarati dish garnishing the menu. 3) The bride’s family did not gift items like bed, cupboards, car etc. Neither the bride was accompanied with multiple suitcases ladened with clothes and accessories for her in-laws and extended family. Out of curiosity when my mother enquired about gifting laddoos to the groom’s side as a mark of auspiciousness. The groom’s mother waived off saying they have already ordered one box of sweets and their family is not much into sweets. 4) The next morning the bride was back to her mother’s place unaccompanied by her husband to bid farewell to relatives and friend. I find this culture shock more like fresh air from the usual rituals. It gives a glimpse that our society and its thinking is changing. Even though it is a painstaking slow process but we are on the right path. Mother can't stop talking about them. And I, well, what can a girl secretly hope for.
#49
I was in Singapore this Feb 2017. Our tour guide proudly asked us in the bus to look outside and tell us what they notice or see different than our country - India. Everyone looked outside, few minutes passed by and people shouted “Traffic police?”. She said, “Yes! We have no traffic police. Everything is monitored on the CCTV cameras. One of the reasons there is so much obedience in public”.
Stardust she/her 2 years ago
In my city in India we have signs saying that there are cameras so traffic violations will be caught. The people still don’t care and I’ve seen thousands of idiots on the roads everyday who’ve almost crashed into us or someone else’s car
#50
I am based in China. It has been a pleasant experience to live in China. However, cultural shocks do exist. #1 Chinese people take shower in the night (not in the morning) #2 Drinking hot water: how come restaurants serve hot water in June, the freaking summer season? #3 People asking personal questions, like age, salary, house buying plans, etc. #4 Finding relationship at the workplace is way too common #5 Men are expected to buy house before getting married (and pay EMI for the next 30 years). Too much of gold digging in China #6 Sex “only” after marriage is still very much common #7 In many parts of China, men pay a heavy amount of money to women's family before getting married #8 Bragging is a part of the culture. If you don't post your updates on WeChat, you are not enjoying.
Lama 2 years ago
Yes. Get home, shower, wear something comfy and clean and step into bed clean :)
Load More Replies... Sue From Michigan 2 years ago
In the U.S. it really depends on what you do for a living as to when you would shower. If you work a physical job during the day it makes sense to shower at night, a white collar may shower in the morning.
Colleen Glim 2 years ago
I have long hair that takes hours to dry properly. Showering at night just means a VERY bad hair day tomorrow
Doyle Alan 2 years ago
Same. I have curly hair and showering at night means in the morning I looked like I had a fight with a light socket.
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Cathy Roberts 2 years ago
Showering is more a personal choice than a cultural thing. I'm in the US, work at home, and usually shower in the afternoon or right after I'm done working.
BakedKahuna 2 years ago
Hot water is one of the favorite beverages in China. Especially amongst elder people. Maybe it's a custom from a time, when water wasn't always safe to consume just like that?
Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
they serve hot water because when water is boiled, it kills or inactivates viruses, bacteria and such, not all water in China is considered safe to drink otherwise.
That Goth Demon (zey/zem) 2 years ago
Showers in the night are things I do just because it's easier.
#51
Moved from India to Europe for studies and work 2 years ago. The following could probably also apply to a lot other countries in the world. 1. Paying rent to stay at their parents' I've seen a lot of my friends paying rent to stay in a house owned by their parents. In India, what is your parents' is also yours. There is no way I'd pay them rent. 2. Not calling their parents over phone everyday A lot of my friends (not sure if it is common or if its just with my friends) call their parents once a week or once in a fortnight. If I don't call my parents before, during and after work everyday, I'm probably dead to them. I also have to call my grandparents, sister, uncles, aunts (a list that could comprise of 15 people, atleast) every week. 3. Civic sense and self-discipline Now a lot of fellow Indians might disagree, but one of the biggest shocks to me was the basic civic sense people and children (who probably learn from what they see) have. I'm hoping us Indians get to this level very soon. P.S - I don't know why but I swear, kids here seem to make less fuss about everything as compared to us. It's probably because parents clearly differentiate pampering and spoiling kids.
Shark Lady 2 years ago
Not all parents expect rent from their working children and some will save the rent to give to their children when they move out to help them furnish their new home. However, less well off families expect all of those who are working to help with the expenses of the household.
Beth W 2 years ago
I’m from the UK, as soon as I started work I gave my mum money. It wasn’t “paying rent”, I was contributing to the household. She worked two jobs to clothe and feed us growing up, (single parent), contributing to the household where I ate, slept, had laundry done etc and so my mum could have a little more was the least I could do.
#52
Soft Drinks
When the first time I was stepping my feet in Germany, I was shocked when I saw how people drink soft drinks almost all the time..In the morning before work, my colleagues will drink a can of Coca-Cola, and every time we have a short break , again always Coca-Cola or other kind of soft drink.
And not forget to mention, Red Bull..this kind of energy drink it's seem becoming everybody's favorite drinks to pump their spirit..
One package of can soft drink contains 24 pieces..and its common when I saw some of my colleagues have it in their room.
Nash Nopper 2 years ago
it is not "that" common here .... the younger germans yeah but not everybody ...
BakedKahuna 2 years ago
Especially not having a can of it, despite the energy drinks. Usually it's bottles.
Load More Replies... Sonja 2 years ago
I am German and most people I know drink water. Also free refills are not a thing. So you have to pay full price for soda every time you get one. While you can just drink any tap water.
RP 2 years ago
Stepping out of Germany maybe? I know no one in Germany over the age of 20 who regularly drinks soft drinks, unless you are from a very specific subset of the lower classes.
Alex E. Hentay 2 years ago
Would love to get some clarification around, “a very specific subset of the lower classes.”
Load More Replies... Ge Po 2 years ago
In Norway, Pepsi-Max is replacing coffee now. Coca cola has tried, but failed. Pepsi rules, although only in the light version. But there it does outnumber any other soda by far. Norwegians (less than six-million people all together) consume about 9% of all Pepsi-Max that is produced.
Robert T 2 years ago
A lot of IT people do this. I used to get through a lot of Coca-Cola when I was in my 20s. It really isn't good for you. I hardly touch the stuff now.
Andreas H 2 years ago (edited)
Ah. Thank you. Now I have an excuse to be a 50yo 125kg sugar addicted diabetic. I did IT my whole life (non smoker of course)
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#53
We were in the Restaurant of Malaysia and I was very hungry at that moment. So like in India i just shouted loud “Excuse me” and then all the people in restaurants turned on my side and gave a very skeptical look like I asked for their sister's hand for the wedding (usnke behan ka hath mang liya ho). Then the waiter came to us and explain very politely that you don’t need to do that, you just need to write the number on paper (which I used like tissue paper) which are in front of food in menu and just hit the button (there is button placed over the table) and then waiter come and took the paper with a smile means you don’t need even speak with the waiter. Then I understood why they all gave me a weird look
#54
Japan One of the first things that I have noticed are the vending machines. In Austria (and in the USA) you usually find them in big department stores. But in Japan, they were everywhere. Every 100 meters or so, we pass a white vending machine selling bottled Green Tea, Oolong Tea (my favorite), Pocari Sweat, etc. There are 2.7 MILLION vending machines in Japan - one for every 50 people. All of them consume more energy in a year than a nuclear power plant can produce running nonstop for 4 months!
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
Pocari Sweat? OK, I looked it up. It actually sounds like it tastes really good.
#55
Early English dinners. Listen. Growing up in India, I'd never eaten dinner before 8 PM. When I arrived in Oxford, dinner timings at the buttery (canteen) read 4:30 PM - 7 PM. The first time I saw that, I legit went in expecting snacks. But no, actual full dinner. At half past four in the evening. I can't tell you how many times I've finished class, gone back to my room for a nap, woken up at 8 and missed dinner at the college buttery. The fact that I love my 5 PM tea doesn't help either, because I'm meant to be having dinner at 6. Do I take tea at 10 PM then? Does that work? What. Things only get worse in the *summers because the sun doesn't want to set even at 9 PM. Thanks to England, dinner now confuses me. Lol.
Roan The Demon Kitty 2 years ago
then you get Northern England, where "Dinner" is what most,would call lunch and what most would call Dinner is "Tea" (not the drink, yes it's confusing to some people)
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
We used to say that in Australia too, but the younger generations have had more of an American influence and say lunch and dinner most of the time.
Load More Replies... #56
In my own country, India. Reverse culture shock? After living in Japan for 2 years, I met my Indonesian girlfriend. Telling this to my parents was already a shocker (my father honestly couldn’t believe I could get a girl to like me). Fast forward a few days, we are all having a nice dinner at this old woman’s house who happened to be immensely religious. Everything is great, finally the self-righteous religious talk subsides, she is still the lovely old woman who fed me great mutton biryani, but she had to bring up my love life. Lovely old woman who fed me great mutton biryani: You should be careful son. Don’t end up with one of those foreign girls. Who knows what those girls are thinking The son who can’t get a girlfriend: Um.. Not-so-lovely old woman who fed me great mutton biryani: Your mother has sacrificed so much for you. You can’t shame her by bringing in those girls from other lands into our community. (Mommy is already looking down in shame) The son who can’t get a girlfriend: Aunty… Annoying old woman who fed me great mutton biryani: You don’t already have a girlfriend in Japan do you? You can have fun with your girlfriends but in the end you should come back and marry our own Indian girls. (The biryani tastes bad at this point) The son with the moral highground: I already have an Indonesian girlfriend. She’s a good person. I don’t think you can change my mind aunty. Things get really awkward from then.
#57
In Amsterdam Decathlon shop, I saw an Orange headset. I love orange color and I wanted only that piece which was for around 14.99 Euros. Then I noticed its right side clothing was bit peeled off. It wasn’t that noticeable so I asked him I’d have this one. He said, “Sir, I’d look for another piece. This has a slight defect.” Pointing towards peeled cloth. He searched for several minutes, but did not find an orange piece. He then billed it and handed me. I saw the bill with 11 Euros. He said, “Sorry about the piece. Since there is no other available and this one you see has slight defect, we offered 4 Euros discount”. He smiled and I really didn’t believe him. I was so happy!
PandaGoPanda 2 years ago
I’d like to know what the writer was expecting, since that all sounds pretty normal to me.
Nikki Sevven 2 years ago
In the US, damaged items are always reduced in price, and usually placed in the same "clearance" area of the store.
Load More Replies... #58
In China, every kind of animal is eaten, like the famous joke *everything having 2/4 legs are eaten in china except chair and table*. But know which is the most expensive non-veg, The testicle of the bull. It is one of the first choice of non-veg eaters. Dogs head, boiled eggs in urine, fetus, bulls testicle, there is nothing they deny to eat. Just name it and it will be on your plate.
Shark Lady 2 years ago
My dad lived out in China for a while for work, he would tell us all the weird and wonderful things he had eaten, the first day he hadn't been taken out to eat by colleagues he headed straight to McDonald's. In the UK he will only go to McDonald's if someone else insists on it!
#59
In 2014 when I went to Saudi Arabia for work. I was at this gas station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia refueling my truck. I heard a call for prayer from the mosque. It was prayer(namaz) time. Everything stopped, they closed the gas station, and shops and went to pray inside the mosque. I asked my friend why they closed everything, he said the Saudi government is strict about their religion. Islam comes first in Saudi. This never happened in UAE and in India. I was surprised that they closed everything for 10 minutes. You cant work at the time of Namaz in Saudi, it's against the law over there. And you can't go near the holy mosque in Mecca if you are non-Muslim. You will see boards 50km from the city. In case you go near the Mosque and they find out that you are not one of them. Then you may rest in peace.
Sapna Sarfare 2 years ago
India does not have a state religion... so that is why you do not see.. no idea why there is a comparision... Saudi is the hub of islam. so of course, it will be taken seriuously. And many know that Mecca is not open for non muslims. Why is it a shock? Why compare UAE & Saudi? They will have their own rules
Charlie the Cat 2 years ago
Then you may rest in peace! 😲😂It's lovely that they are so tolerant .
#60
When I was doing my Masters, I was a TA(Teaching Assistant) of a professor. Being fair, tall and handsome he had only 2 pigs in his life, nothing else. One day I asked him why he is still single ? He said, “I had a very beautiful wife. We were in love with each other. She had 2 dogs. My pigs and her dogs, they never liked each other. They used to fight each and every day. In the end, we got tired and I asked her to give up on her dogs. She asked me to give up on my pigs. And this is how we got divorced.”
Julie Zugz 2 years ago
You couldn't figure out how to keep the animals separate??? Pretty simple - dogs inside, pigs outside.
#61
I was hazed during training at a fast food restaurant. He was "teaching" me how to wash dishes, and he had me stick my hand in the grease catch. Then he flipped a lever, and hot water seared my trapped hand. My eyes bulged. I cried out, yanking my hand free. I turned to him like, "what in the world, dude?" and in response he pulled the sleeves up on his grimy t-shirt, revealing a nasty selection of burns and scars of his own. He said, "In a kitchen, everyone's got these." Then he snickered and walked away. At that moment, I was sad. Not because my hand hurt. I sprayed my hand off with some burn goo, and truthfully, my hand just made me mad. I was sad because I knew that at this monolithic fast food company there was no way for me to change the culture. Every person in that place stayed as mad as I was clutching my burnt hand. Even if I trained 100 dishwashers and thanked a thousand customers, leadership baked disrespect and disloyalty baked into that company like rat dung in a pizza crust. There was no respect for the intentional creation of culture in that restaurant, which is a great way to create a very caustic working environment unintentionally. When I work, I want to be making things better -- not only for the bottom line of the company but the experiences of my coworkers.
Sue From Michigan 2 years ago
Where the hell is this? The "hazers" should have been charged with assault. In the U.S. that would be a pretty good lawsuit.
What do you think ?
Myrra Starry 2 years ago
I'm from Southeast NC, US. I've been to Europe a few times. Had awesome experiences each trip. My biggest culture shock was from within my own country. I moved to southern Vermont, US, when I was almost 20. To be with a long term boyfriend. We got pregnant with my eldest son(16 now!) and married shortly after. Mistake. But, my biggest culture shock was the racism. People always think and say to me, "oh you're from the south-racism" and yes. There is racism here still. But the biggest racists, blatant, outwardly vocal racists, I've ever met. Were from Vermont. They were incredibly racist towards Asian people and Indian people. I don't know why people think that there are just white people. It's diverse, like everywhere, but the words they used, that I would hear, walking down the street passing people of Asian background or Indian, not Native American, Indian. I had never heard in my life. It was atrocious. I left quickly, with my baby. And went home. No ty.
Richienotsorich 2 years ago
Obviously not met Eastern Europeans. Most racist, homophobic, sexist people I've met.
Load More Replies... DramaDoc 2 years ago
Domestic culture shock here: I moved from the Philly area to Omaha, NE about 20 years ago and completely flipped out when I hit Iowa. Turns out, vast areas of farmland (no trees, hills, anything) make me slightly agoraphobic and panicky. I also moved during tornado season, and let me just say that the last movie I watch pre-move was Twister (not a great idea).
thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
I don’t tend to be panicky but I think being someplace as flat as that part of the country is would make me feel uneasy. Also not being able to get to a beach or see the ocean relatively easily. Tornados would be even worse!
Load More Replies... Emma S 2 years ago (edited)
In Marrakech's big outdoor market there are no prices on things. You're expected to haggle the price with the stallholders. As a typical Brit this made me uncomfortable and I definitely overpaid for rubbish. Also the stallholders can be very pushy and some will follow you. The amount of mopeds on the road was a surprise as well, and many people riding them had children on their laps and neither wearing helmets. That would definitely get you pulled over by police in the UK.
Goose of the Ahonkalypse 2 years ago
I hate haggling with every fiber of my being.
Load More Replies... Agfox 2 years ago
My wife & I visited New Zealand with our 2 toddler daughters in 1974. We had 3 experiences that surprised my wife & I at the time, viz. First: being laughed at in a supermarket when, not being able to find the milk, I asked at the checkout counter. Milk was sold in a separate store called a Dairy. Second: checking into a motel & being given 3 pints of milk for our overnight stay. Third: checking into a different motel & seeing a doona for the first time (aka duvet, comforter, quilt etc) on the bed. Also, parts of New Zealand are as picturesque as you'll see anywhere else in the World
Vikylein 2 years ago
I was there last year. Alcohol is only allow in the hotel bars that are well "hidden" (like on the 5th floor or something like that). If you have a special permit you can also buy it in the ONE place they sell it, but is a limited amount and you can only drink it at home (I didn't have such permit)
Lyyyy 2 years ago
Well, statistically india is the country with the most people+open internet. Sooo, for every Us citizen there is like 4,5 indian people?
Load More Replies... Myrra Starry 2 years ago
I'm from Southeast NC, US. I've been to Europe a few times. Had awesome experiences each trip. My biggest culture shock was from within my own country. I moved to southern Vermont, US, when I was almost 20. To be with a long term boyfriend. We got pregnant with my eldest son(16 now!) and married shortly after. Mistake. But, my biggest culture shock was the racism. People always think and say to me, "oh you're from the south-racism" and yes. There is racism here still. But the biggest racists, blatant, outwardly vocal racists, I've ever met. Were from Vermont. They were incredibly racist towards Asian people and Indian people. I don't know why people think that there are just white people. It's diverse, like everywhere, but the words they used, that I would hear, walking down the street passing people of Asian background or Indian, not Native American, Indian. I had never heard in my life. It was atrocious. I left quickly, with my baby. And went home. No ty.
Richienotsorich 2 years ago
Obviously not met Eastern Europeans. Most racist, homophobic, sexist people I've met.
Load More Replies... DramaDoc 2 years ago
Domestic culture shock here: I moved from the Philly area to Omaha, NE about 20 years ago and completely flipped out when I hit Iowa. Turns out, vast areas of farmland (no trees, hills, anything) make me slightly agoraphobic and panicky. I also moved during tornado season, and let me just say that the last movie I watch pre-move was Twister (not a great idea).
thewomaninthestripedshirt 2 years ago
I don’t tend to be panicky but I think being someplace as flat as that part of the country is would make me feel uneasy. Also not being able to get to a beach or see the ocean relatively easily. Tornados would be even worse!
Load More Replies... Emma S 2 years ago (edited)
In Marrakech's big outdoor market there are no prices on things. You're expected to haggle the price with the stallholders. As a typical Brit this made me uncomfortable and I definitely overpaid for rubbish. Also the stallholders can be very pushy and some will follow you. The amount of mopeds on the road was a surprise as well, and many people riding them had children on their laps and neither wearing helmets. That would definitely get you pulled over by police in the UK.
Goose of the Ahonkalypse 2 years ago
I hate haggling with every fiber of my being.
Load More Replies... Agfox 2 years ago
My wife & I visited New Zealand with our 2 toddler daughters in 1974. We had 3 experiences that surprised my wife & I at the time, viz. First: being laughed at in a supermarket when, not being able to find the milk, I asked at the checkout counter. Milk was sold in a separate store called a Dairy. Second: checking into a motel & being given 3 pints of milk for our overnight stay. Third: checking into a different motel & seeing a doona for the first time (aka duvet, comforter, quilt etc) on the bed. Also, parts of New Zealand are as picturesque as you'll see anywhere else in the World
Vikylein 2 years ago
I was there last year. Alcohol is only allow in the hotel bars that are well "hidden" (like on the 5th floor or something like that). If you have a special permit you can also buy it in the ONE place they sell it, but is a limited amount and you can only drink it at home (I didn't have such permit)
Lyyyy 2 years ago
Well, statistically india is the country with the most people+open internet. Sooo, for every Us citizen there is like 4,5 indian people?
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