What is the hardest things to adjust to in the US?

[jess100 53]

On 8/29/2019 at 3:44 AM, swedey2k said:

Honestly that would be the thing I'd never be able to get used to in another country!

 

On 8/29/2019 at 7:44 PM, Boiler said:

Driving on the wrong side of the road.

 

[jess100 53]

On 8/29/2019 at 8:46 PM, GyC said:

My wife which is from mexico says...

1 learning to speak english somewhat fluently has been her biggest hurdle. Some of my friends dont speak english.

 

2 The fact that nobody walks anywhere around here to do anything just blows her mind. Lol

 

3 At first relying on me "husband" for almost everything. In regards to transportation, money, work was hard. Soon she assumed more responsibility and felt like she was doing her part to help and felt more independent.

 

4 Central A/C & Heat. Believe it or not she prefers the nice and comfy concrete houses of home state of Guanajuato. They have beautiful climate as well.

 

5 Being home a lot... that was really tough the first 6ish months. But now she has a lot to do during the days and also walks to the supermarket almost daily that is 3 blocks away.

 

6 Houses are constructed of wood. She couldn't understand how houses around here, like ours, are made of wood and have siding Haha... She now understands that. She thought they would just blow over. 😅

 

7 Learning to drive... she is still learning to drive. But has gotten much better.

 

Things she loves

 

1 Not having to work or stress about money and food.

 

2 Being able to completely take care and be in charge of the house and everything that goes with it. Making dinner for us, she loves that... taking care of our garden and flowers!!! She likes to help me with mowing and taking care of the yard. She has put a beautiful womans touch to our home. I love it.

 

3 Having 2 reliable cars, that takes us anywhere.

 

4 Being able to travel a lot.

 

5 Meeting new people, making friends and my family and friends.

 

6 Wi-Fi she talks to her family and friends on the daily.

 

7 She is now responsible for paying some of the bills for the house and making financial decisions with me about purchaces for the home. She likes that she can be responsible and independent about those things. I love not having to come home and have to worry about those things anymore.

 

Of course everyone is going to have a different experience and opinions about life here. But those are just a few off the top of my head that i can think of for my wife. Her 1 year mark will be October 17th!

 

Yep My husband has the same issues....not walking everywhere is such a change, and we haven't a good bus system. So had to buy a second car!

[jess100 53]

On 8/30/2019 at 5:35 PM, little immigrant said:

The food

Different measurements for clothing (Still haven't figured those out) 

No one here understands it either!! 

 

[jess100 53]

On 8/29/2019 at 10:14 PM, TBoneTX said:

Mrs.-T-B.-to-be/Mrs. T-B. noted/had trouble with these issues:

 

-- When she arrived, I had a "Cat Fancy" magazine lying around.  She said, "You have magazines about CATS?!"

 

-- Jealousy of the cat.  In Ecu, cats weren't members of the family; they were merely animals.

 

-- Dentistry.  In Ecu, you'd walk into a dentist's office, tell them what you wanted done, they'd do it as soon as they could fit you in, you'd pay, and you'd leave.*  Here, one needs an initial consultation, x-rays, insurance confirmations, etc., and a second appointment or two to get done what you need done.

          *This, in fact, of course along with lower prices, is why I travel to a Mexican border town twice yearly.

 

-- The need to drive to most or all places to shop, etc.

 

-- Laundromats.  She asked, "What's a 'WashateREEa'?"

 

-- Unlike other immigrants, she didn't have trouble with sales tax on purchases, because Ecu has it, too.

 

-- "Gringo 'stuff.'"  She noted that gringos' houses & garages are packed with stuff that she didn't see much need for.  On the other hand, she was amazed and then thrilled by garage/estate sales and resale stores.  In fact, we centered several day & weekend trips around visiting resale stores.*  Very soon, her closet was very full with exceptionally nice items, many of which were designer brands.

          *I recommend such excursions as a way for the newcomer to see your area and areas surrounding, with the benefit of stocking his/her closet at great prices.

 

-- Prices, high & low.  In Ecu, food, hair care, and many basics are cheap, whereas electronics and paper goods and clothing and appliances are extremely expensive.  When I first showed her a budget breakdown of totals spent in various "life" categories over (I think it was) a 6-month period, she murmured, "I've never seen numbers like this."

 

-- Coupons.  The concept of cents-off/dollars-off coupons is alien in Ecu.  Even today, she doesn't think to use them, and I still have a hard time convincing her to look for things on sale in weekly supermarket flyers.

 

-- HOAs.  In Ecu, one can have roosters in the back (or front) yard.  Here, you get a compliance letter if the fourth brick on your outside wall (3 feet up and 2 feet in) has a speck of fungus on it.

 

-- Medical results.  In Ecu, you could get bloodwork results within a couple of hours, or at least on the same day of your tests.  Here, one must wait at least for days and then expend considerable effort getting the results -- even having to set a follow-up medical appointment to get them.  (For this reason, I go to a Mexican border town for my laboratory tests.)

 

-- She saw a sign advertising a pedodontist and gigglingly asked me, "What's that?"  (In Spanish, "pedo" means "fart.")

 

If I remember other things, I'll add them.

I agree with you on so many of these....there is such a difference btw Latin Am and the US.  And yes, we don't pronounce things very well-it's kind of a joke in our house about having a humsanwich-a blur of words.

[jess100 53]

On 8/31/2019 at 9:58 PM, acidrain said:

Yes! I moved to Vegas and the people down here drive like maniacs but will wait over an hour for a Popeye's sandwich 😝

Oh that's funny!!

 

[jess100 53]

On 8/31/2019 at 10:21 PM, acidrain said:

I didn't realize when I told people I get "fingered" three times a day by other drivers that it meant something a lot more sinister than it did in Canada 😝

 

I drive slowwwwwwwww

Oh yes, you'd want to avoid saying that!!  But mostly I see Canadians driving at breakneck speed on the interstates!

[jess100 53]

On 8/31/2019 at 10:49 PM, TBoneTX said:

Rule #1 for immigrant drivers to learn and adhere to:  If you don't intend to exceed the posted speed by at least 15 miles per hour, stay OUT of the left lane.

Ok these are pretty interesting.  I'd say our biggest hurdle is the complication and amount of paperwork for everything (taxes, opening a business, etc)  Income taxes have been especially hard for both of us.

The other big thing is the bad weather-and we have months of it-so needing to understand thermostats, frozen pipes, furnaces, CO, snow load, driving conditions, snow tires, storm windows, frozen hoses, snow blowersn and all the things I don't even think about until I have to explain it.  And now that I am thinking about it, I need to question why I'm living like this.!!

[GyC 78]

2 hours ago, jess100 said:

No one here understands it either!! 

 

You are right, we are currently visiting Mexico, my wifes home country and omg the food is so damn good. She really missed Mexico and everything that comes with it.

[Lucky_Mimi 87]

My biggest hurdles are:

 

1. Homesick. There's no place like home

2. Fitting In. Looking for new friends, trying some things to do and driving a car.

3. FOOD. Back to #1. There's no place like home

[TrickorTea 59]

On 9/4/2019 at 12:55 PM, jess100 said:

That's so interesting.  I never would have thought of these differences in countries so similar, except of course the horrendous medical system we have here.  It's so bad that it's usually the thing that gets between you and your health!

 

I was surprised to see this as well! I thought that it wouldn't be too different considering how Canada is right next to the US, but I can definitely see some differences.

 

Also, considering that we have very few months of summer, we tend to make the most out of it, so there's always festivals and events all the time during summer! I definitely miss being able to walk in the city and stumble upon an event almost everywhere I go.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

On 8/31/2019 at 8:49 PM, TBoneTX said:

Rule #1 for immigrant drivers to learn and adhere to:  If you don't intend to exceed the posted speed by at least 15 miles per hour, stay OUT of the left lane.

 

     Not just immigrants! Most Americans need to learn this too, and also what the turn signal is used for.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

On 9/4/2019 at 2:08 PM, jess100 said:

Oh yes, you'd want to avoid saying that!!  But mostly I see Canadians driving at breakneck speed on the interstates!

 

   Driving was so much easier in Canada. I really got used to everything up there. When I came back to the US, I found it a bit challenging converting from syrup/moose back to miles/hour.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

 

   I have some family down visiting from Canada ATM so I raised this topic with them. My dad immediately pointed out that in Canada large dept stores often have one large central cart return and yet all the carts are immaculately returned when shoppers are done and it's rare to see shopping carts left in parking stalls or blocking vehicles. Here in the US he noted we often see multiple areas for shopping cart returns, sometimes several returns for every row of cars and yet the shopping carts tend to be left all over the parking lot. 

 

   I do recall in Canada there were several places where you had to insert a dollar to get the cart, and then get the coin back when you return it so perhaps that is part of the reason for the difference. Probably laziness is big a factor too.

[WaterLeaf 199]

On 9/7/2019 at 12:26 PM, Steeleballz said:

 

   I have some family down visiting from Canada ATM so I raised this topic with them. My dad immediately pointed out that in Canada large dept stores often have one large central cart return and yet all the carts are immaculately returned when shoppers are done and it's rare to see shopping carts left in parking stalls or blocking vehicles. Here in the US he noted we often see multiple areas for shopping cart returns, sometimes several returns for every row of cars and yet the shopping carts tend to be left all over the parking lot. 

 

   I do recall in Canada there were several places where you had to insert a dollar to get the cart, and then get the coin back when you return it so perhaps that is part of the reason for the difference. Probably laziness is big a factor too.

Laziness is a big factor. Some other times I've seen paid shopping carts did not get put back properly, so it go into the free loop. Well, until someone start charging the card (no cash for exploiters) for each time it get used, it'll keep charging until it's put back!

I remember a strong wind blew a shopping cart as it was going to hit the car, I ran out to stop it. Peoples are so irresponsible here at times it's not even correct to have a self serving food place without finding the place not so messy but that's likely everywhere.

The extreme dependent of transportation is very sore here for me, even I'm a USC. I lived in the mountain area too long where everything is more than 30 mins away from where I live, it sucks. Even with the rise of delivery and increasing costs, being in a city or closer is in my deep favor. I miss walking around in Uruguay.

I'm assuming work/life balance is different in other places too. There are more to say, but I'll get back to it later.