My Lebanese boyfriend is consistently surprised by the amount of wildlife within major Swedish cities and finds it strange that we don't at least spray our public parks to get rid of the bugs, which is apparently the norm where he grew up.
Do you have any examples of your own?
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The different use of food and alcohol. She came to visit Spain and we spent a great amount of time just eating with friends or family, we went to a party and in every event there was a lot of food and alcohol but nobody got wasted. Just a drink or two but not “to be able to socialise”.
Also I was fascinated by some of the Lithuanian snacks and traditions cooking
My wife was shocked when she saw people bumping their car into a parking spot. She was even more shocked when I said “that’s what bumpers are for”.
I have foreign exes, one of them expressed mild surprise at how green and quiet England can be outside of the cities. He said that didn’t fit his idea of the country in his head.
Another one was surprised at how emotionally restrained and reserved we can be, compared to his Latino culture. He didn’t quite understand how friendships and relationships could form in such an environment.
It’s a fair question tbh lol.
He was also surprised at the countryside, as it was more varied and extensive than he had imagined.
That surprise at wildlife being present in cities is so sad. I can’t imagine living somewhere where animals are excluded to the point of killing them. It’s their world too.
Norwegian partner was extremely shocked by the alcohol section in UK supermarkets. It blew his mind that you can buy spirits in the supermarket but also the price of it.
My German husband was very surprised by how different Turkish people in Turkey are to those he knew in Germany, how delicious summer fruits fresh from the tree are, various Turkish driving habits which are too numerous to list here, my male friends and relatives kissing him to greet and our neighbor aunts and uncles telling him how handsome he is and trying to give him stuff to eat whenever they saw him.
My ex-girlfriend was from BiH. When I took her to the Netherlands, where I lived for 5 years and my parents still live, she was shocked that the sky was all one shade of grey in the winter. I had the same shock when I saw the stars for the first time clearly in my life in BiH. Netherlands has so much cloud and Hong Kong has so much light pollution that I had never seen a full constellation without a telescope before
My wife grew up in a tropical climate, so she was surprised that babies nap outside all year in Denmark, even in winter with temperatures below freezing.
Also peoples temperature tolerance: Many danes think it’s warm/hot outside once the sun is out and the temperature is reaching somewhere between 15-20°C. Where she is from people tend to think that 15°C is “freezing cold”.
My French girlfriend is surprised that in Italy we keep a bowl of already grated Parmigiano ready to use, while for her it’s butter
My GF is from Moldova, one of her biggest shocks still kinda is how pettable cats are here. See a cat on the street? 90% chance it will come to you to get some pets if you make cat sounds.
My Dutch partner was extremely shocked by the way we graduate upper secondary school in Sweden (the ”studenten” tradition). I took him with me to my brother’s graduation, so he got to experience the chaos firsthand. Guy had a permanent expression of confusion stuck on his face throughout.
Our countries are often regarded as somewhat similar, but he said that it was during the graduation that he realised we’re not that culturally alike at all. He also described us Swedes as a bunch of hillbillies in disguise. Which is funny, since you wouldn’t be able to find anything similar to the Dutch King’s Day in Sweden.
In some countries/geographies, given their rich biodiversity, there are so many venomous insects (incl. arachnids and such) and the possibility and severity of tick-borne and mosquito-borne diseases typically increases in climatically accommodating warm regions. So, it’s a common practice to use insecticides on regular basis in larger towns and cities around those parts.
English ex girlfriend was constantly frustrated by how late everyone was all the time / how long things take to get done in general, and by the comparative lack of variety in supermarkets. She was positively surprised by the ease of access to politicians here, the lack of water bill, and how humane the social welfare system is in comparison to the English one.
So far, the biggest shock has always been how late we live our lives in Portuguese culture. We have dinner mostly after 20h and clubbing only really starts at 2h.
My Brazilian girlfriend is always surprised at how kind and accommodating people are in the UK. And also how we can deal with such cold weather.
My American husband is still shocked about how good the food is, and especially the quality of produce in the supermarkets. He loves to buy a different bread every week.
And he had to get used to all the children on the streets going to school alone or in small groups.
My husband doesn’t understand paella. I took him to eat arròs del senyoret in Alicante and he wanted to send it back because it was burnt. I have explained the Mallard effect but he still thinks I’m pranking him when I tell him the “burnt” part is the best part.
My Spanish wife was amazed at the size of spiders in Ireland. I thought they were just normal but now we live in Spain and I can confirm that the spiders here are teeny tiny compared to Irish ones.
I’m the foreign partner, but I’ve also been here so long now I have to struggle a bit to remember what my initial shocks were.
I think it was that people came off as brusque, a bit pushy, slightly rude and inconsiderate. It all depends what you’re used to, and I know of course it’s not personal (at home, these would all be ways to signal your passive annoyance or fed-upness with someone). People aren’t chatty or social, they stick to their own little worlds, outsiders stay out. Little pleasantries of social lubrication, just acknowledging another human, are just not part of the culture. Honestly I do find it a bit sad at times, even after a long time here.
I also remember being surprised at how easy and cheap it was to buy beer anywhere and also be able to drink it just about anywhere, anytime. The laws back home (Canada) have loosened up a bit now in some regards. But for example, you could not just buy a beer at a corner store, sit on a bench and drink it (even if doing so here, by yourself anyway, might be seen as a bit low-class). Drinking in public is not allowed (though an amount of blind-eye is given sometimes), and before you could only buy alcohol from government stores (this varies by province, I know). It’s also expensive.
Also, the frequency of smokers and their ‘freedom’ to smoke anywhere with no seeming social stigma was surprising (it still is, frankly). Cigarette machines, too. Tobacco products are highly taxed, thus expensive, and only ‘low class’ people tend to smoke. The areas you can smoke are also highly restricted. You *could* smoke just walking down a street for example, but this is barely done and would be seen as kinda brash and rude (blowing smoke around random people, kids, etc.).
Also, even if DB sucks in some ways, there are trains that go almost everywhere.
We’ve been together for a long time, so many of these have faded now. But I remember her (British) consternation at the Dutch habit of having windows open all year round. Oh and the lack of curtains so you can see in every single house (very North Netherlands thing!)