When I was in the Marines I had a friend that was from extreme rural Africa.
So we took him to 3d shows and such. He had been in the US for around 6 months but even things like tv was an amazing luxury to him. Someone in the group picked up one at a pawn shop off post and gave it to him and he was just amazed that someone would just give him a TV.
Something nifty. He had it set up so direct deposits would go to an account his village had access to. His salary as an E2 in the Navy made his family semi royalty in the village.
The discpline in driving. In my country, even when the signal light is color red, they just brush it off and continue accelerating. F*cking morons.
That things would get fixed. I had a vending machine in my dorm building, it broke down and said well s@#t guess no more vending machine. Absolutely flabbergasted when I saw the machine repaired and working
The postal system. The logistics of delivering millions of letters to millions of homes on a daily basis is astonishing. Especially at that price. The idea that I can send a letter across the country and have it reliably delivered the next or possibly even same day is truly impressive.
You’ve got so much fresh water, you s@#t in it!
The quality of the public infrastructure, and how respectfull city planning is with pedestrians. Sydney is full of beautifull little gifts in the shape of shortcuts, stairs, parks, pathways. Everywhere.
It truly is a joy to just walk through the city.
Also, dogs are more polite that people where I come from.
Giant grocery stores are full of food and always fully stocked.
Coming from Ukraine to USA in the 90’s, my entire family’s jaws dropped for hours.
The lights. So many lights from street lamps, traffic lights, huge buildings lit up all night. Oh and the highways blew my mind. They were so wide and full of so many cars.
I was 6 and I’ll never forget that first drive from the airport to my new home in December. It was also my first time seeing snow.
Not getting suspicious when a stranger talks to you on the street. I can’t get over it, I get anxious every time, but people in Canada don’t seem to mind at all
Where I come from, when a stranger approaches you, you nope the f@#k out
Toilets ..flushing toilets that you could repeatedly flush too
How little theft there is. I was always told to always mind my bag and make it clear I’m holding it tight. Now I can freely leave it beside me, sometimes not even look! I’ve had friends leave a purse on a table in a restaurant and I made jokes about how easy it would be to steal it. Just a lot more relaxing in public due to less theft.
Another one is how less physical fighting in schools there is. From a young age I was always told “if someone hits you, hit them back harder” but when we moved to UK my dad told me before my first day of school “if someone hits you, tell the teacher”.
drinking water directly from water taps
How things actually work.
You can rely on your electricity not going out at least twice a day. If you buy something and it breaks, there’s warranty with little to no hassle. Internet actually works more than it doesn’t. Public transportation actually arrives and shockingly, it does on time. If you hire a service, it’ll actually be done and with an expectation of quality. The list goes on.
Of course it’s not perfect and there’s s@#tty people everywhere, but that’s the exception, not the rule. And it’s a massive difference.
A Tsongan African man who was staying with me came rushing in the first week he was staying me and woke me up. He was extremely excited that there was a garbage truck with a motorised arm and was picking up the wheely bins as it went down the street “Have you seen this! Have you seen this!” He kept exclaiming over and over again, “Amazing, amazing!” It made me laugh very hard, but he was a lovely guy.
Coming from the worse country to a better one, it surprises me how easy it is to do a transaction online.
Apply visa? do it online. They will notify you once they need documents, once you are ready, etc. Every step of the process.
Pay bills? Fine, do online banking.
Order food, groceries? Do it online, call for delivery.
Schedule for appointment? Call, Do it online.
Meanwhile in my country, you need to do all this PHYSICALLY. Fall in line for hours. Registration done?
On to the next step – payment. Uh oh, you need to go the bank, collect the receipt and come back here.
You want to do it online? Good luck with the s@#tty websites and slow internet. I could go on and on.
Its day and night comparison.
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