Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

You go into another country expecting the obvious differences: language, accent, currency, some food, electricity and here, driving on the wrong side of the road. But it’s really the small things that make you realize you’re pretty far from home. Here’s a small list of the quirks of Wales.

• I have not yet encountered a sink that does not have separate faucets for hot and cold. Makes it almost impossible to not scald or freeze your hands unless you employ weird scooping methods.
  
• They don’t have the same public buildings door laws, some of them open in, it can get confusing.
  
• Most people don’t refrigerate things like open juice or eggs.
  
• Saying What? to someone is usually considered impolite, this was probably the case in the States at one point, but you don’t hear the youth of the America walking around saying Pardon?
  
• The American fast food places here are usually much better (though more expensive) than the States. And of course offer different items.
  
• People seem to drop or loose their change a lot less (though John would disagree) I haven’t seen more than a few pennies on the ground yet.
  
• The keyboards are all funny. The $ sign is still on the 4 key, but it shares it with the euro sign, the pound symbol is on the three key, and the @ hides in a silly place and avoids Americans trying to send their first emails home. On some computers “ “ are up in the numbers as well, and the left hand shift key is tiny.
  
• Their mice are also weird, there are buttons to make the internet go backwards or forwards, in the exact place where small hands rest. I lose a lot of what I’m working on that way.
  
• They think the weather is gross and cold here. It’s not.
  
• Their safety standards are very over the top here. Think OSHA on steroids. On my class trip I had to wear a hard had to walk on the beach. Sometimes they add a high vis vest for such activities.
  
• The country is a little behind on technology, and stuff always comes out first in the States, like movies.
  
• People go home A TON on the weekend, but it’s not a big deal since they’re so close to home, so they still maintain a really strong home/local life.
  
• People think that driving more than an hour is a really long way. Whereas we think of 4 or so hours as a day trip.

This is just a start. More later.