CULTURE SHOCK! (of my Polish finance who visited the US)

Hmmm....*scratches head*...I would say you like it! :)


Seems like it... They really have problems!

They didn't let Catholics for instance get top positions in governmental jobs and teaching positions, the non WASP whites, Catholic Irish, Italians, Poles, Germans, Greeks were the majority after WWII and slowly as you say did start to take over. I don't understand people like Ted Turner who's fanatically anti-Catholic he's living in the 19th century, there are bigger problems that America has these days than that.

I think that has/had to do with the deference of the Catholics to the Pope and the Vatican.
Hart do stomach for a country who just fighted for it's independence to listen and bow again to another far away country and it's boss.

So it's not like he hate Poles? Is it that he hate Catholics? What if a Pole is not a Catholic?

He’s still a Pole, isn’t he?

Has he adjusted to indoor toilet?...Or does he pee in the sink?

I live in the States and I would be shocked at your town as well. Yes, we have the 4 way stops. But if you didn’t lock your door in any place I’ve ever visited or lived in the States, you would get robbed. And if your horses sleep outside, in many places they would disappear or someone would really hurt them. We fence our yards in my town, it just makes sense to. And carpet in a church is strange to me as well… J

not true... my horse never got stolen, i chain it to a pole when i'm at work... random people feed him-not hurt him...

I think the main thing that struck me when I first arrived was what I may describe as The Cattle Syndrome. They were pushing and shoving like there's no tomorrow at the airport. Getting used to that after having lived in Japan was not necessary as I'm not a frequent flier.

Yes we like to punch others with elwobs. It's our national sport ;)

Is there one in a trailer?


Ah to be one with nature in the great open spaces of Wisconsin.

Huh? What's this about? Don't tell me that Europe is so backwards that they put the hot water faucet on the right! That's uncivilized!

no it's on the left. I've just checked to be sure...

Phew. But they still drive on the wrong side of the road!


Lol. Had to walk into the kitchen, did you Z? :p

tv = fantasyland


Non-sense. Catholic, Protestant, doesn't matter. American society is still culturally Protestant.


Pope and the Vatican are highly political. Read the book, "Hitler's Pope". Anything by Avro (sp?) Manhattan.


Where I live, house unlocked. What in the world do they do with horses after they steal 'em? Kind of a big thing to hide, no?

Yes, it all depends upon the neighborhood. Lots of folks near me leave their doors unlocked. They all know each other. I've done it too, and knock on wood, so far so good. I have seen reports of neighbors who have been robbed. Maybe it was my pit bull that kept us safe. I dunno.

He passed away last year so we shall see.....

dog food

Or sell them as car parts.

You all are funny, I have to ask where in the US is safe to live w doors unlocked? I've been to MD, VA, PA, DE, NY, IL, WI, IN, OH, KA, to name a few, and while in KA, OH, and WI some people foolishly leave their doors unlocked, you end up at some point hearing news of some heinous crime that occured BC of the doors being unlocked. Why would you trust your children's safety to an unlocked door? And horses I have heard of getting stolen just to get stolen, or worse, savagely killed just for sport. This is after all the day and age of world wide meth use, gangs situated quite comfortably in rural communities, etc. I mean, to each their own, but not locking your doors at night and leaving livestocks outside bc you don't feel like bringing them in is looked at as being rather behind-the-times by some. My point to my statement is that it has nothing to do with living in the US bc many Americans DON"T do that, nor does it have anything to do with coming over from Poland.

And what if he runs off with it? ;-D

Depends where you live. I never lock my doors, neither does my mom.
People leave horses out on pasture all the time and it's not because they don't feel like bringing them in, it's just the way everybody does it. Nobody steals horses around here, you would have to come with a trailer at night, catch the horse and pray it will load and not kill you. A horse in a barn is easier to catch. Horses are so cheap now it's hard to give them away. Boarding stables have inside and outside stables. Some get locked in, some don't. It's not behind the times, just the way it's done. Many horses in MT, WY, SD and ND are kept outside all year, with only trees for shelter. Many are wild horses which were broken in and are used to this and go crazy when locked up. So it's not behind the times, it's just the way it is done. Horses are tough, just like cattle is outside in the winter. They are fed extra ration of grains to keep them fat, they grow fur and they survive.


Many Americans do that. You must not know many equestrians or cowboys.

I had very similar feeling when first came to the US back in 2006 from Russia. Give him a couple months to moderate his views. Are you going to live in the US? The US is great but there should be an appropriate turn of mind to live there and feel well. There's yet a chance your Polish fiancé wouldn't like it as a place to live.

P.S. Ooops... just figured out the thread is almost 4 years old :)

Here's a true story of culture shock. A cousin of mine came to us to UK in PRL times, in 1985, not so much to visit us but to make some $$$ of course. He came from a small village where, even today, older people genuinely believe that Jesus Christ spoke only Polish (the last person there to believe the world is flat passed away in 1995). The day after my cousin's arrival, I noticed he was in a state of semi-shock when he saw a Superdrug store (it's like Rossman in Poland) with shelves full of soap and stuff. He just couldn't believe that a shop could be so well stocked up! So guess what I did? Hee hee! I took him to Harrods! He so nearly crapped himself. Walking through the perfume department he was in genuine shock and couldn't walk another step for some minutes; gaping silently at diamond-studded perfume bottles. It was better than "Flip i Flap (that's Laurel and Hardy)", and live, too. LOL x 10.

THIS thread is 3 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But she's still soo shocked! :D

i live in the us in michigan , there they bag your food, so on...i freaked out when i moved to minnesota, at the store i paid for my food, turned to tell my son lets go and my food was GONE. the casher lady gave me a card with a number i looked stupidly at her, telling someone stolen my food, she laughed no , here in minnesota you pay, they give you a number, you pull your vehicle up to the door and they load your food. needless to say i didnt like it at first but when the snow came i was happy i didnt need to fight the weather to load my food.

Yea very looong history like 234 years or something.
You Yanks just love to exaggerate things don't you?.I Remember some little mine in NH not really worth a visit but the road sign was saying WORLDS FAMOUS.Or what about WORLD Series?Only Yanks (and Canadians?) play yet you call it WORLD Series.So let me tell you 90% of the ACCTUAL WORLD have no idea that there is something called World Series in the US.

You Yanks have a serious problem with Megalomania.

resident grubas wrote:


yeah....ain't it great?

I noticed that american toilets are huge.

So which sport are you talking about? Only football and baseball isn't played in Poland because they would never understand or follow the rules. Golf is becoming popular there. They only play soccer, which is a game for children and little girls and never taken seriously.