16 People On Things They Couldn’t Believe About America Until They Moved Here

[FreeJoe]

38. Sporting Events

I had a contractor from Algeria here on an assignment. He said that the thing that most shocked him in America was sporting events. When he went to his first game, he was walking in with his group when he saw people with jersey's for the other team walking alongside them. Thinking that they were on the wrong side of the stadium, he started to panic. It took a while for him to accept the fact that fans for different teams freely mingle at events. Where he was from, they had completely different parking areas and sections of the stadiums and that there was no simple way to get from one to the other. He was also amazed that there wasn't a huge barrier between the fans and the field.

I have a Norwegian living next door to me. The thing that amazed him the most was the ready availability of low cost personal services. Here he has people mow his lawn, take care of his pool, and clean his house. He said that in Norway such things were almost unheard of because no one takes jobs that pay so little. All but the wealthiest take care of their own chores, so to speak.


Even within North America, I've had some culture shocks. I was almost stuck in Calgary in the +15 (above ground walkways between buildings) holding open a door. People kept coming but no one would take the door from me. I couldn't just let it go because where I live you have to hold the door open for the people behind you until they take it. When I told my hosts about my experience, they laughed and struggled to understand why I would feel compelled to hold the door open for someone easily capable of opening it.

I also had my breakfast server almost in tears when I responded to a question with "yes, ma'am." Where I come from, that's the standard affirmative response to any adult female. She took it to mean that I thought she was an old lady.

I still struggle with some of the local customs and I've been living here for decades. Why do women have to get off of elevators first, regardless of how inconvenient that is? Am I no longer supposed to give up my seat to a woman on a bus? Failure to do so would have been unheard of when I was younger, but when I gave up my seat to a woman last year, people looked at my like I was a freak.