What was your biggest culture shock when you started living in us

This is universal wherever we may settle!

 

my 50+ year old lady manager,doing workout every morning and bringing her gym bag to work place.

old people handling all their groceries and shopping by themselves

 

When my sis got married she moved to Bombay and all she talked was about the matchbox she lived. When I moved to the US right after marriage I was expecting tall buildings and tiny matchbox but saw a 700+ sqft apartment which was on the second floor all to ourselves.
I came in summer and it was confusing to see the sun was up even close to 8 30 to 9. PM

 

Yes, eerie silence, not a human being in sight during extreme winters, looking from the window to empty roads, not much interaction with people (except smiling), public display of physical intimacy, hugging each other in public.
Syamala

 

Very true,every one smiles expect indians. It's been 2 weeks now since we moved to the US and I am not able find an Indian friend. Everyone minds their own business !!

 

Very true,every one smiles expect indians. It's been 2 weeks now since we moved to the US and I am not able find an Indian friend. Everyone minds their own business !!

 

On the culture side, what was shocking to me is that a lot of women wore dresses with deep V neck and visible cleavage. I remember the day we landed, we had gone to Pizza hut and the girl behind the counter had worn a spaghetti top with a deep V neck. Also, saw girls sunbathing near the apartment pool in two piece bikinis.

Other than that I liked how people greeted while walking or in stores.

The freeways built running over one another was awesome and also frightening.

 

I was only 18 when I moved for further studies. In my first month after my classes as I was walking back home I saw some party posters, I looked closely to see the details of when and where this party was.. at the bottom after the details it said ' Entry gift - Free condoms at the door'.

 

Aah, the small talk!!

I used to get completely nervous and flustered if someone asked "how's it going" or "What's up". It's going to be almost 10 yrs now, and I do not know how exactly to respond to that even now!

Another thing that I found pretty amusing was when co-workers said they did not cook and would every evening order take out! Right before they were leaving, they would be perusing yelp or calling their SOs asking what they would like picked up for dinner. That was so strange to me, because in my Indian mind - cooking was an essential job function of a wife/mom!!!

 

Yes....that Silence....whoa....I can hear birds chirping, wind blowing, trees swaying....enjoying it. I moved here last week.
The weirdest thing I feel is NO HONKING...even when there is traffic rush....people are so considerate. I was remembering how the autowaalas and scooters will be yelling and honking if I took even a sec longer to start when the signal gets green back in India.
My kid will be starting school here next week....I am preparing her....lets see....keeping fingers crossed.
You know the first thing I thought of telling her is to be POLITE and responsive....yes...after coming here I really understood the meaning of being polite. Hope my kid handles it well.