Culture shock when moving from a 1st world nation to another 1st world nation? (employment, public school)

[kevxu]

Originally Posted by OZpharmer

Are most Americans not aware of the types of paper sizes? (e.g. A4, B4, etc.)

No, I don't think so.

I kept cutting the bottom off of A4 photocopies for awhile. Dumb.

[Ameriscot]

Originally Posted by OZpharmer

Are most Americans not aware of the types of paper sizes? (e.g. A4, B4, etc.)

No. Paper is 8 1/2 x 11" in the US. A4 is a metric size.

[Ameriscot]

Originally Posted by Geography Freak

What are the differences you found regarding the humour?

Much of the pis* taking seems to an American to be cruel, at least until used to it. On my first jobs I complained to my husband that people kept making fun of me. He said that meant they liked me.

To make it worse they had a lot of fuel as I came just before Bush became prez.

[Ameriscot]

My (Scottish) husband didn't know all the differences in the languages either and we had quite a few misunderstandings at first. For example: I didn't know 'mean' meant tightwad.

Even after 13 years I'm still occasionally hearing more differences. But I'm very well acclimated now. This is home.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by OZpharmer

Are most Americans not aware of the types of paper sizes? (e.g. A4, B4, etc.)

Those are metric paper sizes. We use U.S. Customary (aka American Imperial) sizes here and it's measured in inches and have nicknames instead (letter size, legal size, etc.). What you call A4 we call eight and a half by eleven (inches) or letter.

[Perfect Stranger]

Originally Posted by Ameriscot

Much of the pis* taking seems to an American to be cruel, at least until used to it. On my first jobs I complained to my husband that people kept making fun of me. He said that meant they liked me.

To make it worse they had a lot of fuel as I came just before Bush became prez.

Funny you should mention that. I remember years ago at work (in Scotland) this American woman broke down crying after what everyone but her thought was a casual comment. It suppose it adds up. I hope it wasn't you!

[Ameriscot]

Originally Posted by Geography Freak

Funny you should mention that. I remember years ago at work (in Scotland) this American woman broke down crying after what everyone but her thought was a casual comment. It suppose it adds up. I hope it wasn't you!

Nope. Not me.

[Ameriscot]

Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed

Those are metric paper sizes. We use U.S. Customary (aka American Imperial) sizes here and it's measured in inches and have nicknames instead (letter size, legal size, etc.). What you call A4 we call eight and a half by eleven (inches) or letter.

No, A4 is not 8 1/2 by 11. If measured in inches it is 8.27 x 11.69.

[Alex =]]

Originally Posted by iNviNciBL3

Is it common for people who live in a 1st world nation to experience culture shock when moving to another 1st world nation?

To me the lifestyles are very similar that making it easy to adjust to the minor differences.

The U.S. is not first world.

Canada, Australia, Japan, and some European countries are first world.

The Gini Index is horrible in the U.S.A. (Gap between rich and poor), public schools are being replaced by under-performing charter schools (for profit), SOCIAL security is not social (even though the goverment collects social security from you) and it does not include social healthcare, and the cities are not walk-able so people get very heavy.

The U.S. is second world.

Some U.S. cities are first world but that does not mean the entire country is first world.

[sentry12]

When i went to germany, i didn't get a culture shock, but being driven on the wrong side of the road just blew my mind for a little while. Other than that, it wasn't too different from the UK. The infrastructure was similar, high streets were pretty similar too. people looked the same.