Hello and welcome back to “Stories from the West” series. I’m doing this project with Dixie and every month we are sharing 1 post about lives in our respective new countries; me in the US, Dixie in Sweden. This month’s topic is about the quirks we found about the adopted country. Enjoy and don’t forget to read Dixie’s post too! 🙂
Festive Season all Year Long
Back in Indonesia, festive season happened twice a year; on Christmas and Idul Fitri. That’s when I would see decorations everywhere, in houses and public spaces; Green/Gold for Idul Fitri and Red/Green for Christmas. Here in The US, it seems like there are reasons to decorate/celebrate all year long, with different ones each month… like how we are decorating for Halloween in October, Thanksgiving in November, and of course Christmas in December. Well, they say the more the merrier!
The Measurement System
This is one of the hardest things that I need to adapt, seriously. I don’t understand why the US use miles instead of kilometers when it comes to measuring speed / distance, pounds instead of kilograms when measuring weight… and so on. Why can’t this country be “normal” like the rest of the world?! :)))))
We Talk Loud… Oops!
I don’t know why, but Americans tend to talk loud especially in public, for example when they are on the phone. I could easily hear whatever they are talking just because they talk so loud! I’m sure you know what I mean if you have met American tourists or if you have seen American movies… trust me it is what it is in real life, and sometimes I found myself starting to do the same thing especially when I’m talking with my classmates! O-ow!
A Different Approach on Advertising
In Indonesia and the UK, Advertising are primarily used for commercial goods, sometimes business goods. Here in The US, it’s common to see ads for lawyers, doctors, and the thing that I still find funny… prescription drugs. I’m not sure how it is in the East Coast but try to drive the freeway in California and you would see a ton of billboard ads for lawyers and doctors. Try to watch American TV network and you would see at least one ad for a prescription drug, followed by long disclaimer, of course.
Humongous Food Portion
I remember the first time I was here on vacation; I was shocked to see how big the food portion in the US is! This makes eating out relatively cheap because you can buy a portion and get enough to last you 2-3x meals. After almost 2 years in the US, I can say that I’m getting used to the food portion and just take home whatever I have left. As soon as I reach home, I would reportion the leftovers into smaller containers and store it in the fridge. At first I was not comfortable in saving food in the fridge because in Indonesia food can get bad easily due to its humidity… but it’s not the case here, your leftovers can still be good for the next 3-4 days or so, as long as it’s kept in the fridge. I still found it weird, but I guess I’m starting to get used to it now.
So those are the 5 things that I found quirky here in the US. It was hard for me to adapt to those quirks but as time goes by, it has became the new normal for me hahaha… anyway, let me know if there’s some quirks in your country, I’d love to hear it too! 🙂
Christa Bercerita 
Sebagai turis yang baru ke Amerika kemarin – sepakat banget mereka itu loud and suka banget ngobrol dimana-mana. Hahaha.
Iya kaaan… dan gawatnya aku ternyata mulai kebawa ngomong kenceng apalagi kalau sama orang sini… hahaha duh
Duh Amerika. Walopun sangat diverse, west coast people ga sama dengan midwest people dan east coast dst, tapi teteup ya klo iklan itu dimana2.
Kmaren pas kita road trip di midwest baliho iklan di sepanjang jalan tol ajaib2 banget, mulai dari yang ga percaya teori evolusi sampe iklan pengacara buat klo kamu pengen nuntut ini itu, Amerika banget 🙂
Hahaha iklan pengacara tuh banyak banget dimana2… lucunya pengacara juga ada spesialisasi nya misalnya iklan pengacara khusus kecelakaan motor lah, pengacara khusus ini itu, jadi kalau lagi nyetir di freeway tuh bisa liat berbagai macem jenisnya 😛
Aku juga bingung banget sama soal ukuran di sini. Jarak diukur dalam miles trus, karena sekarang aku lagi cari-cari perabot, ukurannya dalam inci eh tapi karpet diukur dalam feet. Aku jadi ngegoogling terus, convert semuanya ke metric system.
Ah aku juga sampe sekarang masih harus convert soal ukuran2 ini kokkk
Udah gitu feet ke inch kan ga pas 100 gitu ya, dibagi 8 apa 12 gitu, pussiiingg 😀
Imperial system-nya memang ngeselin banget ya Chris. Kalau kesana selalu buka hape buat convert ke satuan metric! Hahaha 😆 . Warisan dari Inggris nih, walaupun Inggris sendiri officially sudah mulai beralih ke metric, tapi in practice kan masih banyak yang pakai sistem imperial ya, hahaha 😛 .
Maksudnya paling terasa pas di hotel mau nyetel temperatur ruangan. Keluarlah itu satuan Fahrenheit, yang mana gak langsung terbayang angka yang muncul di layarnya itu dingin atau panas, hahaha 😆
Aku blm pernah ke US, tp dr media & baca pengalaman org, rata2 begini ya. Yg ngomong suara kenceng itu bener bgt, pengalaman ketemu mereka di mana2 pas liburan 😄