"When I ordered French fries in Germany and the waiter drowned them in mayonnaise before serving them to me. It changed my world."
"I moved to Italy when I was 10 and my mom would give me money to buy candy. The candy I chose had a not-so- insignificant amount of alcohol in it...which didn't stop anyone from selling it to a 10-year-old kid."
"Seeing beer as a combo meal option at a Spanish McDonald’s."
"My husband is from Portugal, and when we visited I realized that a beer or a half bottle of wine is cheaper than a bottle of juice. Also, the food at rest stops along the highway is amazing. It's not fast food, but a buffet of local favorites from whatever region you’re in."
"I studied in France and I was shocked to see the cafés and coffeeshops turn into bars at night. They just switched the menu and went from selling hot cocoa to whiskey."
"Getting shoved in a line in China with no eye contact or apology after. I was so offended at first, but then I realized everyone was doing it to everybody so I got over it."
"My Italian culture shock was seeing locals bring their kids everywhere with them, including out to dinner at 9 p.m. Kids, even small ones, were well behaved, even when tired. I saw a few passed out on benches next to their parents after dinner."
"My wife is Japanese, and on my first trip over we went to a yakitori restaurant to meet a few of her friends. Now I don't speak much Japanese — and the man seated next to me spoke no English at all. He offered me a cup of sake, which I gratefully accepted. We said 'kanpai,' and drank the cup. Next, the man diligently refilled my glass and once again, I accepted and emptied the cup. He refilled it."
"We did this a few more times until I turned to my wife and said 'I think this guy is trying to get me drunk! He keeps offering me more and more sake!' She laughed and told me to stop drinking it. 'If you drink it, he has to refill it!' My efforts to be polite (finishing what was offered to me) were actually contrary to what was polite in Japan (leaving a bit of what was offered to show that you are satisfied)."
"In Spain, they take siesta very seriously and actually close almost all shops, restaurants, and businesses. Everything just shuts down in the middle of the day."
"Going to America from the UK and realizing almost no one has a kettle for making a cup of tea."
"Visiting Mexico and watching all the locals walk around comfortably in long sleeves and long pants. The temperature was 95°F."
"Walking into a Japanese convenience stores. They are amazing. My local 7-Eleven has sticky floors and gross looking pre-packaged sandwiches. The 7-Elevens in Japan are squeaky clean and have a great selection of gourmet, prepackaged lunches and dinners. Not only do they have a cold drink section, they have a special heated unit for hot drinks."
"I had a roommate from Australia who was studying abroad in the states. We went out to dinner one night and I got mozzarella sticks. He couldn't believe that in America we just deep fry cheese and then eat it."
"Seeing the inequality in India. It blew my mind. In Delhi, you see people sleeping on the ground in dirt right next to mansions. Visiting the Taj Mahal was the most eye-opening experience. It is by far the most beautiful — perhaps most opulent — man-made structure I've seen on earth, but its surrounding by the saddest poverty imaginable."
"How much beer is consumed in the Czech Republic and how cheap it is. You can't even get a non-alcoholic beverage in a bar for cheaper than a beer. I did a little research and lo and behold, the Czechs have the highest beer consumption in the whole world."
"In America, strangers smile at you when you make eye contact. Back in my home country, you might get beaten up for that."
"America has drive-thru everything! There are drive thru coffee shops, drive-thru ATMs. Even drive-thru liquor stores!"
"Having to pay to use a public toilet in many parts of Europe. I am from Australia where there are free, clean public toilets everywhere."
"The contrast between old and new in big cities in China. China is such an old country that you have ancient temples and monuments (some thousands of years old) located right next to hyper-modern shopping centers."
"My friend and I were walking around Reykjavik, Iceland and we stumbled upon a stroller outside of a shop. There was a baby inside the stroller all bundled up, and there was no one watching this seemingly abandoned child. We walked up and down the road looking for the parent. Turns out, the mother was just in the store across the street. Crime rates are so low in Iceland and people are so trusting of one another that it's perfectly acceptable to leave your unattended infant on the sidewalk."
"Everything really is bigger in America. At Walmart, I saw the largest pack of M&Ms I've ever seen in my life. And it said 'medium' on the packaging."
"I'm from the and have visited several places in the US. The biggest shock is how big the food and drink portions are. A regular sized meal in the US is easily enough for two people back in the UK."
"I was visiting Toronto and I dropped my wallet in the middle of the city. About five minutes later a guy stopped me and showed me the waller and the ID inside. He had been stopping people trying to determine who it belonged to. Not one thing was missing."
"The fact that you can drive for eight or nine hours in a single direction and still be in the state of Texas."
"I was born in Korea and moved to US when I was 6. That's when I realized for the first time that Americans actually eat things other than pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs. I was shocked."
"I visited Albania and there wasn't a single chain store or restaurant. It was a strange experience to be in a large city and be completely unable to find a McDonald's, Subway, KFC or Starbucks."
"Going on holiday in Tokyo and watching 5-year-old kids walk themselves home from school or take public transportation without adult supervision."
"Every time I visit the states, I am taken aback by the sheer amount and variety of food in US supermarkets. Compared to smaller markets in Asia, it's a big change. I always think about how there are so many different types of produce, even things that aren't in season. How on earth do they sell all of it?"
"Trying to cross the street in Vietnam. There are very few crosswalks, and in most places you look for a gap in the traffic and go for it. In Hanoi you just slowly walk into traffic. There are no gaps. You just maintain a slow walking pace and the traffic will part around you. It's scary AF the first time you do it."
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Obviously you weren't blessed with an overabundance of schooling. In Nordic countries it is common for mothers to leave their infants out in the cold even to sleep. They also have one of the strictest immigration policies and do not admit refuges unlike the Netherlands and check out how those countries are doing. Not well.
In Western Australia it’s 2,200 miles from Kununurra to Augusta, and you don’t even leave the state
...in Bonsall, CA it's 487 feet from Smith's cow pasture to Perry's Cafe on the corner.
lol....that's the one! Perry's Cafe isn't there anymore but back in the day.....it was 487 feet from Smith's cow pasture! have a great day Mack.
me too. I got rid of it.
Number 26. Albania is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. Chain stores don't try as the local governments and crime thugs try to extort incredible amounts of money for them to open then demand "protection" money after that. I spoke with a gentleman who owns 17 Jack in the Box fast food places here in Vegas and I asked him about opening stores in Europe or Asia and he just shook his head and talked about how in he was visiting in Eastern Europe and thought about doing just that as he figured he would have al ock on it. THEN he found out why. They told him about FEES in addion to "Inspectors' and the people in the office were honest enough to tell him Albanian mafie would demand huges amount of money to start building as they controlled all the building in the city and then would demand protection moey from American business'. Later as he spoke to other businessmen he said no one wants to build in these Eastern countries because they are totally controlled by criminal organazations.
And even thought Putin taking back these countries and putting them under the old Soviet Bloc would take care of all the local mobsters and maybe they could do business there. They ACTUALLY supported Putin doing this.
I live in Norway, in one of the "big" cities here(I realize that a city with a pop under 300k isn't, on an international scale, BIG, but it's one of the biggest we have :P ). A few years ago, the municipality refurbished one of the bus stations here, including building 3 bathrooms with a toilet, a sink and a baby changing station, which were free to use for anyone.
Not ONE WEEK after opening, they closed the bathrooms. Why? Because some feckless d1ckh3@ds went out of their way to destroy the bathrooms beyond repair. Mirrors and wall tiles were smashed, sinks were ripped out of the walls, exposing the water pipes so it was flooded, baby changing stations and toilets were demolished into dust, TP and soap dispensers were destroyed, and they had shat and pissed on the floors for good measure. The ones responsible were never caught.
It took 3-4 months for the municipality to clean it up and rebuild the bathrooms, and when they opened again you'd have to pay ~$2 to use them. Also, to further prevent having to repair more than necessary, on the second time around they went for that "prison look": Steel toilet with no ring, same for the sink and dispensers and sh!t. No baby station, as there isn't one of those that is immune to vandalism, and they had to cut so much into their operating budget in order to rebuild, that they could no longer afford heating. So now, you pay ~$2 for freezing your @$$ of on a steel toilet.
Loitering is allowed on all public places and spaces at any given time.
You can consume alcohol at public spaces.
Police is friendly and helpful
He did not see any Nazi flying a Swastica flag (Had a lot of those back home)