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.
I haven’t seen anyone using parasols/umbrellas when it’s too sunny in UK, but it’s pretty common in Korea. I don’t think I’ve seen them in Europe in general either. No idea for anywhere else to be honest.
East and Southeast Asia in general. Umbrellas are not just for rain, but protection from the sun as well.
They don’t protect you against the sun, unless you’ve got one with a special layer on it.
Pretty sure they meant it protects you from the heat of the sun. Like a cowboy hat or rice hat protects you from the sun
A lot of umbrellas in Asia have a UV protection layer on them. Also, like the other comment said, it protects against heat and direct exposure.
Sri Lankan sun burns should change your mind.
Only a matter of time until it is adopted globally.
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I saw a college student walking with an umbrella in plain daylight.
My first thought was, “That’s a bit dorky. Is this guy cosplaying a Victorian lady?”
My second thought was, “You know what, it’s hot as hell outside. You do you, my guy.”
Seen it in the Caribbean, I expect it’s plenty common in places where the sun is a deadly laser.
Southern Europe here where the sun is also a deadly laser. Only parasols you can see are held by Asian tourists. Most people don’t even wear sunscreen.
I live in Spain, when I started to use an umbrella in my way to work during the worst days of summer I expected to receive weird looks, nope, a couple neighbours even copied me.
Oh believe me it’s coming. UK pays weather roulette a lot, and an umbrella is the perfect weapon
when it’s too sunny in UK
lol
Is that the British term for “it stopped raining for five seconds”?
I remember a British ad where police is in front of a bank where a robbery with hostages is taking place.
The sun shines and both police and criminals enjoy it and together (I think they were doing a BBQ and the ad was for a BBQ sauce)
That’s also due to the still very widespread asian beauty ideal of white/pale skin.
We europeans used to idolize that too, if you look at old paintings and portraits the women have porcelain skin almost every time, because it meant you were of high enough status and wealth to not labor in the sun as the well tanned peasantry.
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.
Most states in the US don’t require you to register for a party, although there are some that do.
Also, there are places in the US that are incredibly safe, but most of the big cities are not. But the US is very large and diverse.
First of all,
You fuckers need to bring out your own dictionary.
Budgie smugglers? I thought that’s Australian for Gum Boots. Turns out, it kinda is actually, but for your Johnson & co.
Secondly, When wearing a thong (the real sexy kind) in a grocery store becomes a norm in your part of planet, I’m moving there permanently.
Third,
Lunch\Cafe in your beachwear?
Bro, you should’ve started with this.
Imma land there now.Secondly, When wearing a thong (the real sexy kind) in a grocery store becomes a norm in your part of planet, I’m moving there permanently.
I want you to pause for a second and think what the average person looks like.
Yep, though self selection plays a role here. If you feel like you look bad you will probably be less likely to go out in swim gear. The average you will see in swimmers is well above the actual population average.
I am average!
Large-scale evacuations because of unexploded WW2 ordinance.
That’s every country in central Europe I think
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.
Not much point in running from it, you’re already getting wet if you’re caught out in it 🤷♀️. I’ll run if I hear thunder though, don’t want to get electrocuted.
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.
When I visited London (around the year 2000), I noticed that every man walking in the streets either wore a hat or carried an umbrella.
I actively go out when it’s raining. Refreshing af
that’s a new level of crazy!!!
just kidding, I remember doing that as a kid… fond memories
Two front doors for a single terraced 2 bedroom house.
OK, that’s a new one. Pics?
Removed by mod
Seconded. Not just Tokyo, either, but even up in sendai
Queuing apparently. Which I really don’t understand wtf everyone else is doing to wait their turn. Well I guess except Japan.
Bagged milk
Bonjour, mon aime.
the upper-midwestern u.s. lost their bagged milk when kwiktrip quit selling it that way a few years back.
Lots of countries have bagged milk
TIL
East Germany used to have them but they disappeared during the nineties and good riddance as well!
Also calling soda “pop”, although I think parts of the US do this too
Civilians openly carrying handguns
I’m with the other commenter below. I’m not sure this is terribly usual, even where legal.
I keep an eye out for this sort of thing just sort of out a professional interest, and in terms of openly carrying firearms (not knives), I’ve only spotted two people doing it this year. And one of them was a guy who I think was intending to carry concealed, but was not doing a very good job due to an ill-fitting shirt.
Still haven’t seen this, even in open-carry states.
Ireland: chicken fillet rolls, spice bags
Scotland: deep fried pizzas, macaroni pies
Germany: public benches are specifically placed to be full view of the sun for as long as possible, a wild proportion of people have bread slicing machines, and you’re not allowed to prevent someone from using even a private toilet if they really need it.
It’s so pleasant that DM has clean toilets for when I’ve poorly planned my liquid intake, shops in France don’t generally have toilets for the public and the malls that do don’t really care if they’re clean it seems.
In Germany people seem to like opening windows when entering a room, even in the middle of the winter. Or maybe I only know weird Germans.
A few central/northern European countries also don’t believe in curtains.
This is why they make better engineers. More neurons that haven’t died of carbon dioxide poisoning.
German here. The Germans you describe seem fairly normal. Air quality > temperature
I understand, it’s just a weird behavior from a southern Europe point of view: when it’s cold outside we close the windows to keep it out.
Also weird from my UK point of view: it’s fucking freezing out them I’m not opening the windows. I do get that it’s nice to have fresh air and you can always put the window in the vent position, but even when it’s really cold you can feel it.
To be fair: Every single appartment/house stayed in in the UK was so poorly isolated that it felt fresh and cold already when entering a room with outside walls/windows. In Germany/Switzerland many modern houses are basically pretty much airtightly sealed and well isolated
Some people open the windows for they cool fresh air and turn on the heat or set the fire place.
I’ve read some time ago that in some region of the world it is normal to leave a baby outside in a crib (bundled up, of course) in freezing temperatures or around freezing temps. Seems to provide some health benefit. I imagine the temp is not too far below freezing.
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.Several of the large cities like New York or Chicago genuinely don’t use yellow school buses because the city DOES provide public transport.
Where you see schools having their own buses are the rest of the nation. Cousinfuck, West Virginia, population 182 has at least one school bus, because THAT town certainly doesn’t have a subway.
Apparently Germany is one of the few (the only? Who knows) country to prefer carbonated water.
Ugh i hated that about Germany. When you ask for a water they bring you a seltzer. If you want water you have to specifically ask for “still water”. Like what?! That’s crazy nonsense. Water is one of the most basic elements of life as we know it, you can’t make the word for water mean anything other than what it’s always meant. I mean obviously you can, but it seems insanely dumb
You have 2 neighbors where it’s basically a public good.
I saw a guy in a park in Milan at almost midnight filling up a few 5 liter bottles from the carbonated water station. He clearly lived across the street and just…needed to bathe in fizzy water right then? No idea. But it’s not just you all.
Austrian here, and it’s the default at restaurants etc. as well. I hate it, it hurts my throat. Leitungswasser bitte, danke :)
When visiting France the carbonated water was ubiquitous. The company I work for have water fountains with the option of carbonated water in all of their French offices.
Ich fucking liebe Sprudel ich trinke den ganzen Tag nichts anderes Sprudel ist so gut ihr habt alle keine Ahnung HAHAHA
“klassik oder ohne?”
“mit scharf bitte, danke”Is it normal to feel dehydrated after drinking carbonated water? That’s why I avoid it, personally, but I wonder if I’m just fucked up.
I definitely feel less hydrated. A lot of carbonated waters haver a higher sodium level, so that might be part of it. Or it’s just the bitter taste of carbon dioxide.
No, it isn’t. At least not for anyone I know.
Ah, so I’m fucked up 🫠
Is it just carbonated water (preferably naturally carbonated mineral water) or is it some kind of soda, with added sugars and whatnot?
Because the first one shouldn’t make you feel dehydrated, no. Just burpy, and soothed if you had a stomach ache.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had naturally carbonated mineral water before, but yeah, the stuff I’m talking about has no sugar or anything, it’s just water. I’m not sure why it does that to me!
It is everywhere. I prefer water straight from the tap, which is usually better quality anyway (say the labs, not me).
It’s literally called “Danish water” here in Denmark, though I don’t like it
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.
Dutch isn’t a country, therefore the utopia you describe doesn’t exist and is impossible to create.
We came from far but we’re working on it. Flanders is steadily moving to that utopia.
