Strange things you're not used to

[Jeraly 4]

Never tried El Pollo Loco actually Kinda like Church's But right now I am a Wendy's person cause I love their salads

[Marilyn. 340]

Never tried El Pollo Loco actually Kinda like Church's But right now I am a Wendy's person cause I love their salads

El Polo Loco is great.. every time we go the chicken is soo good.. and I love their mac and cheese...

although El Polo Loco is not really fried chicken it is marinated and then grilled... mmm yum..

Edited August 17, 2008 by *Marilyn*

[trinket 30]

I am not yet in US but there are a few things which I observe talking to my husband and I find it weird.

You can get apartments which includes all utility paid! some even give free cable and internet! I was actually shocked knowing it, because out here in India when we rent out our apartments, the tenants have to pay their water and electricity and all the bills. I guess water and electricity charges are way low in US.

Another thing I find weird, may be its just my husband and not everyone, he buys all his week's groceries at one go, even the vegetables. I don't really enjoy to thaw veggies before making it(took him 2 hours once to thaw a cauliflower), and out here in India, we do every day shopping at evening, go to veggie market and buy next day's vegetables. So that freshness is a factor I will have to encounter.

[TBoneTX 48,090]

You can get apartments which includes all utility paid! some even give free cable and internet! I was actually shocked knowing it, because out here in India when we rent out our apartments, the tenants have to pay their water and electricity and all the bills. I guess water and electricity charges are way low in US.

In my experience (lifelong American), apartments that offered "all utilities paid" were more common perhaps 15 years ago than they are now. In Houston, where I live, there are very few such now. This is likely a function of supply and demand -- if vacancy rates are high, apartments will offer incentives to attract potential renters; if occupancy rates are high, there is no need for special incentives. Water charges (at least in my area) are reasonable, but electricity is terribly high. My electric bill this month for my 3-bedroom house was $224 -- oof! It was over $300 each of the last two months. Of course, the summer temperatures here have been rather steady at 95+ F. (35+ C.).

Another thing I find weird, may be its just my husband and not everyone, he buys all his week's groceries at one go, even the vegetables. I don't really enjoy to thaw veggies before making it(took him 2 hours once to thaw a cauliflower), and out here in India, we do every day shopping at evening, go to veggie market and buy next day's vegetables. So that freshness is a factor I will have to encounter.

It is quite reasonable that you would notice these differences. In my experiences outside the U.S. -- mostly in Mexico and Ecuador -- I have observed many more "specialty" stores (selling a particular, finite range of products) and fewer "hypermarkets" (large stores where you can buy everything from groceries to appliances to clothing to whatever). Examples of such large retailers in the U.S. are Wal-Mart, Super Target, and Super KMart.

I consider it a shame that there are so few "family" stores remaining in the U.S., in comparison with the rest of the world. There were more in past years (the 1960s and earlier). The concept of "mass retailing" -- offering many consumer items in one store, and in a chain of such stores around a city or the country -- combined with the economic principle of "economies of scale" -- meaning the more items that a store can buy from its suppliers, the cheaper the cost -- probably led to the slow demise of family-owned stores. When there is a story in our local newspaper about another family store going out of business, it is not uncommon to read this quote: "Wal-Mart (or Home Depot, or other big business) can sell products at retail for lower cost than we can purchase those products from our suppliers." It is sad, but true. I have NO training in economics, so others here can comment more meaningfully.

This is a roundabout explanation for why your husband (in typical American fashion) likely buys everything on one trip: because he can, because it's convenient, and because it's cheaper than shopping at several stores more often, unless there's good reason otherwise. Add to this the reality that Americans are always in a hurry, and the high gas (petrol) prices that discourage stopping at one store for one thing and another store for other things, and we can see the reasoning.

Regarding the vegetables, I can only conjecture that due to storage and preservation standards in U.S. stores, vegetables stay fresher longer than they might in other countries. I have never frozen fresh vegetables or even heard of that practice (I am a guy who has been single for a LONG time), so again, others can comment more meaningfully. I do know that proper refrigeration (versus freezing) will maintain the freshness of vegetables for a reasonable time.

You have asked some very good questions, and I hope that the above answers help a little. Please be encouraged to ask anything else.

[Krikit 1,166]

This isn't really "strange" but more of a "Hey, that's awesome." The grocery stores provide sanitary wipes at the entrance so you can wipe your cart of any germs on the handle. Now I get perturbed when the container is empty.

They also provide umbrella bags so you don't have your wet umbrella dripping all over the place.

[Reba 2]

Americans mostly do all their shopping in one huge go, because the markets aren't on every corner like they seem to be in most other countries. Its not as convenient to do shopping every evening on the way home from work. In the town where I live, everything is soooooooooo spread out its just crazy. The bank is on one side of town, the drug-store over there, and the grocery over there and so on and so on. Any neighbourhood I've lived in in Ontario, everything is all pretty much in one spot, grocery, drug-store, bank (at least a machine), and other shops. The way the town is set up here, is incredibly in-convenient, we have to drive all over the place just to get our weekly errands done. Its one of the major things that bugs me here.

Older, larger cities in the US are different of course, and set up with more of everything all together and within convenient reach of each other. But it seems newer towns and cities just kinda plop #### down wherever it lands and don't think about it, so that everyone is entirely dependent on their cars.

[Jeraly 4]

This isn't really "strange" but more of a "Hey, that's awesome." The grocery stores provide sanitary wipes at the entrance so you can wipe your cart of any germs on the handle. Now I get perturbed when the container is empty.

They also provide umbrella bags so you don't have your wet umbrella dripping all over the place.

Well I have never seen the umbrella bags but then I am in Palm Springs so very rarely see umbrellas either!!

The wipes are awesome though - I don't care about wiping the cart cause Jeremy pushes it but it is nice to clean your hands and cool them off from the 110+ heat

[TBoneTX 48,090]

The grocery stores provide sanitary wipes at the entrance so you can wipe your cart of any germs on the handle. They also provide umbrella bags so you don't have your wet umbrella dripping all over the place.

But, U.S. grocery stores don't sell moose brisket or deep-sea elk, proving yet again why Canadia (or whatever your country is called -- I draw a blank except for a dim recollection that it's like an Arctic western Kansas) is superio(u)r to the U.S., si man, eh. :lol:

P.S. Years ago, I had a Canadian girlfriend, so I have a lot of good-natured cheap shots to share, si man, eh.

Edited August 18, 2008 by TBoneTX

[Reba 2]

mmmmmmmmmm....moose meat

[TBoneTX 48,090]

mmmmmmmmmm....moose meat

Moose brisket is good, but I prefer pollo (whether feliz or loco, eh, si man).

[Reba 2]

we're moving back north so we'll be closer to the moose. My husband has never seen one, let alone tasted one. Of course, I don't know if there are any in New York state, but we could maybe go hunting up in Vermont or Maine.

But even the deer are bigger up there than here in NC. They're just puny little things here. Hardly worth the effort really. We keep feeding them, hoping they'll fatten up, but they still don't get as big as the ones up home.

[StillThePrettiest 4]

there might be some diversity in Texas, but there's nowhere near the diversity there is in England, and I've lived in both places now, so will brook no argument

don't eat fried chicken, so can't answer that question... we've found a few non-chains, including the place we got tonight's FAAAAABulous Vietnamese sandwiches (3 for $8! $4 for each person! can't get much better than that ) but it's a bit of a struggle...

I also hate the way tax isn't included in the ticket prices! just stupid

and yeah, I can't get used to the non-metric system... I'm constantly asking Dave how many cups in a quart, or how many pints in two gallons, or some such... sort of used to temperatures, but under protest... writing the date backwards is just DUMB, and the paper sizes annoy me too! nothing's logical... and I can't get any of my pictures framed because they're 'non-standard sizes'... (I wanted to tell the girl in the shop they were standard for every country in the world bar the US, Myanmar and Libya, or whichever are the only other two remaining countries which haven't gone metric, but thought it would sound sour and mean when it wasn't HER fault )

we tend to buy veges and fruit once a week, and I find it almost all lasts... I'm not sure why it lasts so well; I get a bit suspicious, but it IS all fresh (I dislike most canned or frozen veg) so I just have to accept it

I've started growing some of my own in little pots on the window sill... I've got rocket and some other lettuces going well, and have just planted some extra herbs, and some roma tomatoes

and we paid $109 for our electricity (3 bedroom house in Houston) in June B)

I was aiming for under $100 in July, but it ended up being $133... I was all disappointed, until I looked at the fine print, and realised the price for kilowatt hour had gone up by almost 40%... so we actually used less, but still paid more

oh well, it's 100% green power, so I'm not THAT annoyed... just a little

no progress on the recycling thing

but we DO have funky in-ceiling speakers, which are playing my fave Australian radio station as I type (ah, the wonders of the modern world!) so SOME things are moving forward

oh, and I'm working (strictly voluntarily) three days a week, so that's good

(and explains my absence from here recently )

[TBoneTX 48,090]

there might be some diversity in Texas, but there's nowhere near the diversity there is in England, and I've lived in both places now, so will brook no argument

It's so cool to hear from StP, si man! However, we must agree that Texas has more Mexicans than England does, so Texas is therefore more diverse, si man.

and the paper sizes annoy me too! nothing's logical...

It's quite logical, actually: Our paper is called "letter-sized" because it's, well, letter-sized, si man. "Yours" is so wacky that it's not called "letter-sized," but rather A4, like something that some worker-bee scientist cooked up in a Petri dish, si man.

(and explains my absence from here recently

But, then, who would be The Prettiest in your stead? Someone could certainly be The Loveliest, but not The Prettiest. Ergothuswithforthly, you should be un-absent from here recently, si man.

One thing that I consider eminently charming about Brits is their use of the term "whilst" instead of "while." It's almost as endearing as saying "si, man" instead of "eh," si man, eh.

I hunger for a mooseburger, yet none is forthcoming. Whilst waiting, I may have to settle for pollo, si man, eh, verily, wot.

[Gemmie 142]

It's so cool to hear from StP, si man! However, we must agree that Texas has more Mexicans than England does, so Texas is therefore more diverse, si man.

You think having Mexicans makes Texas more diverse than England??

Seeing as you live so close to Mexico, that's not too surprising, even expected.. you should see the amount of foreigners we have all over England. Mostly Asians, but of course many Europeans.

Not to mention that I live in Bath, which is a major tourist spot. You literally have to dodge your way around all the foreigners just walking through the centre! So I'm pretty used to seeing all different kinds of people and am surprised when I go to the US.

[StillThePrettiest 4]

what TBone THINKS and what TBone SAYS do not always have to agree