Coming to a new country is not easy. There are different cultures, norms and values to adapt to which an outsider may not completely understand. As a foreigner in USA, there are certain ‘normal’ things said, done or practiced in USA that I find quite unorthodox. So far, I’ve been in USA for about 5 months and I have compiled a short list of the strangest things I’ve noticed. Hopefully, any fellow foreigners will understand my confusion.
1. Vegan food is shaped like meat.
I don’t know why but this bugs me completely. If you do not believe in eating meat then why eat food that is shaped to look exactly like meat? Why pretend? I don’t truly understand the reasoning behind using meat shaped vegan products. The first time is noticed it, I had to backtrack and stare at the vegan hot dogs. It made zero sense and honestly, it still doesn’t.
2. Attaching ‘the’ in front of diseases.
This is a very shocking one for me. The first time I heard someone say: “I hope I don’t get THE mumps”, I was surprised but assumed it was a mistake. Then everyone else was saying it too. Not only saying it, they were also writing it, in official school emails and even newspapers. What is the purpose of the extra ‘the’? This is so foreign to me, I can’t even deal with it.
3. The first name comes before surname (Last Name).
I find this strange because, in Nigeria, surname (last name) is written first. This follows the British system of naming and frankly, I feel like, in this area, USA got it right. Kudos!
4. Month comes before day in abbreviated dates (MM/DD/YYYY)
Of all the strangest things, this is one of the most maddening ones. Why put the month before the day? For example, the 7th Nov. 2017 will be written as 11-07-2017 instead of 07-11-2017. It is annoying and extremely confusing especially when filling out forms and checking dates for events. Major thumbs down.
5. Cash is a rarity.
Coming from a country where cash is used more often than cards, the sheer absence of cash in the USA was a shock. Everyone has credit or debit cards and carrying too much cash around is apparently strange.
The funniest thing ever was when I went into an Apple store with my dad and he pulled out cash to pay for an iPhone 7 and MacBook Air. The attendant was shocked, the other customers who caught a glimpse of the bundle were shocked and my American cousin who drove us there was shocked. The number of bulging eyes was so hilarious!
6. People still buy bottled water.
In a country where there is clean drinkable water running from taps, I find it highly disturbing that people still spend hundreds of dollars on getting bottled water. I feel like it is a waste of privilege. In Nigeria, the tap water is undrinkable and so we have to buy bottled or sachet water to drink. Here, there is clean water everywhere and people hardly drink it. It is frustrating and wasteful. Whatever happened to global warming?
7. Hardly any seasoning in food.
Coming from a place where food is flavored intensely with spices and seasoning, eating the food served in the USA was a major let down. First few months here, I kept on being surprised by the delicious looking food that ended up being totally bland. Of course, there are few exceptions to this observation but the point is that bland food is commonplace.Of course, every country has its cultures, norms and behaviors. There is nothing completely wrong with any of the things I observed: they are just strange to me. Just like how a lot of things would be strange to you if you suddenly decided to move to Nigeria.
If there are any other strange things you’ve noticed about USA or any other country, feel free to share!