what is that you usually do or see in your country or area but is weird to do in other area you have traveled or vice versa?? like it is unusual to wear footwear indoors in asia.
Poutine.
Being able to go basically anywhere by bike, foot, or public transport. And just our bike infrastructure in general. I honestly don’t know how I could live in most other countries because it seems like basically everything happens by car or foot. Being able to bike anywhere is so much nicer and gives a lot of freedom from an early age.
Strangely we Dutch people also seem to be quite alone in our view that helmets on normal bikes are not really necessary. They make bikes more prevalent imo, because you don’t have to drag a helmet along everywhere. You just park you bike and the only thing you have with you because of it is a key, no special clothes, helmets, etc. I think that’s also possible because of our bicycle infrastructure and culture.
Kids learn to bike from a young age, in traffic. You see very young kids just cycle on their smol little bike with a parent on the outside sort of shielding them from traffic. Safely on bike roads, but also just on shared roads with cars. In general kids are quite free to just play outside. I live close to a school and I see plenty of kids all across the neighborhood, just playing without parental supervision. It’s what we did back in the day too, without mobile phones or anything. We’d usually be home on time for dinner or our parents would find us somewhere in the neighborhood and tell us it was time to get home.
Thanking the bus drivers when exiting the bus.
Bzzt, unless you’re Australian this isn’t true. It’s not universal here, but I’d say around 50% do, moreso if you’re somewhere regional.
Ireland?
Staring, the only patriotism you get is local patriotism about once city/region, no national flags, bread,
Wearing thongs (flip flops) in a grocery store.
Kangaroos littering the side of the road (they have about 4 neurones and all of then are suicidal)
The only place I have seen young kids (think 6 years old) swear similarly to here in Australia is in Scotland, and they are just as feral as we are.
Walking down the street at night. In the UK and USA it was apparently just not a thing you did. Here I will walk home at 2am no worries, and tonnes of people walk home from the pub drunk enough to not always make it home and sometimes just pass out on the footpath. Never had a problem, never been mugged or similar in that situation, and after living in the UK and visiting the USA I can definitely say I would never do that there.
Wearing swimmers (bikini or budgie smugglers) and going for food and drink on the same trip. The number of times I’ve gotten coffee, had lunch, or jumped into the bank while dressed for the beach is uncountable, but never ever outside Australia.
Hitting your kids is rare here. Spanking is not really normal and is definitely not common in public compared to my visit to the USA or my time in the UK. In both of those people would cuff their kids or slap their hand when they were being unruly. That is uncommon here and I have seen people intervene when someone was hitting their kid in public on more than one occasion. The same goes for animals, people don’t like you hitting your dog either. Not to say it doesn’t happen, but it is not considered OK.
Healthcare. We have it. We love it. In the UK the NHS was OK, not great, and the USA is terrifying. My meds would cost me about $310 per month but end up costing a max of $38, unless I spend $1200 in the year at which point the rest are free. As in, no cost, just pick them up, zero dollars. Mine are half medically necessary and half for better function, but for some people they are way more necessary and I am so happy they can just go get them, no risk of rationing meds.
People do talk about politics and religion here, but not with random people and not in public. If someone isn’t interested you are generally going to back off quickly and leave it be. Religion and politics are mostly private and the few people who do talk tend to not be too intense about it. Certainly most don’t become a registered Labor or Liberal party member with the group identity associated. It is much more loosely held and less culturally relevant.
Kangaroos littering the side of the road (they have about 4 neurones and all of then are suicidal)
To be fair to them, cutting across the path of a predator is pretty effective right up until the predator is a two-tonne death machine.
Walking down the street at night. In the UK and USA it was apparently just not a thing you did. Here I will walk home at 2am no worries, and tonnes of people walk home from the pub drunk enough to not always make it home and sometimes just pass out on the footpath. Never had a problem, never been mugged or similar in that situation, and after living in the UK and visiting the USA I can definitely say I would never do that there.
Still pretty dangerous for women, I’ve gotten plenty of harassment at night. But definitely far safer than the US.
People do talk about politics and religion here, but not with random people and not in public. If someone isn’t interested you are generally going to back off quickly and leave it be. Religion and politics are mostly private and the few people who do talk tend to not be too intense about it. Certainly most don’t become a registered Labor or Liberal party member with the group identity associated. It is much more loosely held and less culturally relevant.
I think it depends. People are still fairly likely to talk about what they think is a “fair go”, and we’ve had some massive political protests lately. But it feels like each party has to meet in the middle a lot more, so stuff isn’t as polarising, and things that are don’t get talked about as openly.
Also in the US they have to register for a party when they register to vote. Feels like they heard about the concept of the secret ballot from us and then just failed completely on the execution.
Queuing apparently. Which I really don’t understand wtf everyone else is doing to wait their turn. Well I guess except Japan.
Almost everyone has a sauna or at least access to one at or near their home.
Finland for those wondering.
Being very touchy and physical.
Cheek kisses are usual for strangers. And it’s normal to touch people you barely know or have a small friendship.
Country is Spain.
The 7-11 sells (and smells like) herbal tea eggs. That may be more than just here though. I can’t remember if this applies in Japan as well. But definitely Taiwan.
Yellow school buses, apparently.
That’s because US/CANADA cities are not designed with public transport in mind.
The rest of the world uses actual run of the mill normal buses, regardless if it is for school or not.
Trucks driving down the street yelling commercial promos at you through loud speakers. Annoying af
Seconded. Not just Tokyo, either, but even up in sendai
Crippling medical debt and outrageous student loans.
Large-scale evacuations because of unexploded WW2 ordinance.
That’s every country in central Europe I think
Losing a ground war against flightless birds.
Small dinosaurs.
One of my favorite bits of weird history trivia.
In Canada, people do not run from the rain… if they are out and about and it starts raining, they just ignore it, they don’t walk faster, rarely improvise coverage, etc
In Venezuela, my country of origin, people run from the rain like it’s lava falling from the sky
The Brits don’t either. So probably cultural heritage.
Huh, thought everyone ran from the rain. I usually have a hat if I’m outside so the rain doesn’t annoy me.
It really depends on what rain is like in your location in my limited experience. In the pacific northwest rain is usually a drizzle, it’s fine, you don’t run. In the american Midwest, you get a feel for the air pressure, listen for thunder, and look at the sky, then you make a comment about your prediction and keep going if you predict a drizzle but start running if it seems like a downpour.
Canadian here, from the wet coast. I’ve run in the rain before, but it needs to be monsoon level before that’s necessary. Anything less is just meh.
