Different countries have different sets of customs, norms and general ways of doing things. What is considered normal in your country but weird to others?
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Something normal in Azerbaijan where I live as an ex-pat is driving. Yes, they drive, just not the normal way. The lines on the road mean nothing. They can turn a 2 lane road into a 4 lane road. Did the light just turn green 0.0000001 seconds ago? Get prepared for the honks. Preparing to turn? Forget about your blinker. That's just a sign for people to cut you off. Oh, and if you are an ex-pat in a Pajero with a yellow license plate...don't look at the police. They will chase after you.
You're not allowed to make loud noises on sundays. Sundays is for resting, which means no party, no loud music, no lawn mowing, no chainsaws. However, if you do it anyways and you are reported by a neighbour, you must pay a fine for disturbing the peace.
No postcodes/zip codes (except in the capital).
People always ask 'so how do they know where to send the letter?'
'I mean, it's written on the f'in envelope where to send it! To Alice in [name of nearest town]'
Apparantly, being bilingual is rare in other countries. 90% of the Dutch population is bilingual so it really surprised me when I heard people couldn’t speak more than one language
I consider it one of my greatest weakness, only being fluent in one language. I can't even speak my own native language, only enough to know if I'm being insulted.
Owning lots and lots of guns.
In my country (Mexico), it's normal for a good majority of people to make fun of you and you're supposed to take it all the time, not matter how you feel. The more you resist, the worse it gets, sometime to the point of bullying. When I was little, I was made fun of for being too skinny, for having short hair, for not having teeth, for being shy, etc. You're supposed to learn to take it and be self-deprecating, but also to grow up making fun of others. Not cool and I'm glad my family, for the most part, isn't like that. Whenever I go back (I live in the US now), it takes me a day or two to get used to the fact that some people are like that there. Not everyone, of course, but you just have to be ready to take it and indulge them, or else they make you feel like a snob.
