Things you can't get used to in your new country

I was thinking recently about my time in UK. While I really dislike immigrants complaining how stupid things are in the new country I must admit there are few things that annoy/ baffle me.

So I thought with the number of migrants here we could have quite a nice moan about different countries.

For me in UK:

Windows that open out not in. Just so frustrating îf you are used to clean windows.

No sockets in most bathrooms, not even one for toothbrush. My toothbrush is in the bedroom and I dry my hair in various places depending on the rest of the household sleeping needs. I even dried it in the hallway on the floor.

Who's next?

In Germany it's annoying that you can't buy regular aspirin or ibuprofen at drugstores or supermarkets. You can only get them at the pharmacy.

Other immigrants.

I don't like immigrants. I should have been the last one admitted and all the illegals deported the day after.

Oh yes, would annoy the hell out of me. Here you can buy 2 boxes only at any one time. During little epidemic in my family I needed to buy kids paracetamol and ibuprofen and adult paracetamol and ibuprofen. Thankfully the shop assistant at the self service looked at me and said:

Just pay for your shipping with two and then a second 'shop' for the others. I will authorise.


We know. No-one spending 5 minutes on this forum could avoid this knowledge. I, however, meant more thing that are differentin your new country.

Spending 900 billion bucks a year to be the global 911 and the world's dumbest cop. No other country can match this level of stupidity.

1) Air travel - American air travel definitely the worst in the developed world. Nowhere else have I seen this amount of delays, cancelled flights, ****** airports, idiotic staff, and anti-human interior design.

2) Police - I don't feel that they "protect" me here, instead I feel a compulsion to cross to the other side of the street when seeing one. No objective reason to feel this way, just feel cops are a lot more approachable in Russia. Maybe it's the fact that I'm here on a visa, and don't feel nearly as free as I feel back home. I could conk a cop on the head in Russia, and nobody would deport me anywhere.

3) As mentioned in the "Turning 60 years old" thread - the absolutely atrocious attitudes towards seniors and family in general. This constantly shocks me, and not in a good way.

4) Anywhere outside the big cities the food seems to be absolutely terrible (and even in the big cities, food that is good is very expensive). The people eat sh!t. Like literal sh!t. Then they look correspondingly.

5) The goddamn air conditioning. It's everywhere and all the fu*king time. Americans live like astronauts preparing for cryosleep. I'm a big guy, that doesn't often feel cold, so then I feel like a woman when sitting in an American movie theater or subway car.

6) I don't know what this thing is called in English, but it's the thing you put your blanket inside of before you use it to cover yourself in bed. At least in civilized countries. In America, a minimum of homes seem to use this thing, instead employing a stupid system where you cover yourself with a sheet and then the "uncovered" blanket on top. This seems to me very uncomfortable, and rather unhygienic. In general, the way Americans do up their beds is weird. At home, and in hotels.

7) Tons of houses with no light fixtures in the ceiling. What the hell is up with this? Why does everybody use goddamn lamps?

8) No bidets to wash your ass.

9) The tea is never actually hot. Sometimes they warm it up in a microwave. Savages.

10) The coffee is sh!t, except in big cities.

11) Did I mention the food is terrible?

12) Rich people behave towards poor people in disgusting ways. Everyone thinks this is normal.

13) The roads on the East Coast.

14) People from New Jersey. No such thing in Russia, thank heavens.

15) Americans are unable to speak without waving their hands.

16) Women are way too loud.

17) "I could care less"

18) "Like" in every sentence. If it's a woman under 25, every other word.

In general Americans are obnoxiously loud. In Russia, in a restaurant there is basically silence compared to an American restaurant. In an American restaurant I feel I have to yell at my companion to be heard.

Nobody is as loud as the mainland Chinese however. I never know if they are arguing, or discussing the weather. Even black people in America appear as English aristocrats, when compared to the Chinese.

On the other hand, in Kyrgyzstan and in Bhutan - it was pointed out to me that I was speaking very loudly. Everything comes in gradations

Never heard that. Do you have example of the anti-human interior design?


What does that mean? And I'm not a big fan of Airton myself.

6 (bedding) - I saw it on videos and such. Doesn't make much sense to me but apparently it's supposed to be easier to adjust how worm you get as you can kick off the blanket and cover just with the sheet.

Here I must say I'm not a fan of British size pillows.

7 (light) - really? I like bright spaces and mood lighting works for me in pubs and such but not at home.

8 (bidets) - I can't say they are that common in Poland. Are they in Russia?

And I find Polish pillows entirely unsatisfactory - I order my pillows from Ireland! Pillows must be a proper rectangle. Hate squarish pillows.


Me neither. I like windows open all year round and wake up with a headache if I don't have some fresh air in the room. Don't know why Bobko thinks women don't like fresh air. But I've certainly heard that Americans don't open their windows. They also don't seem to hang their laundry out on a washing line but dry it indoors. Very strange behaviour.

I don't because then we have the question of the bed linen...Just learned to live with it.


Truly weird. Indoors in winter but not when it's warm.

You can get shaver sockets (which will take foreign plugs) however in countries with ring main systems, it's rare to find sockets in bathrooms.

Mind you, one thing that I've never got used to in PL is the number of sockets that are hanging off the wall, not safely attached.


Me too, which has caused conflict in PL.


A vile idea. Apparently they don't have kettles (not proper electric ones that switch off when they're ready) due to having insufficient voltage in their home supply.

I haven't seen such in decades but when they are there it's due to poor maintenance not a plan so it's no cultural difference.


Well, you don't need electric kettle. It is quicker but over the hob one works just fine.

One explanation for the low amount of electric kettles was that they simply don't drink that much tea and for coffee use coffee machines.

I'd heard that one and it's probably part of the truth. It was only this month that I read online somewhere that their 110 volt electricity would mean that an electric one would take them more than twice as long as in Europe.


It tends to be in older flats. I once unscrewed a socket that didn't work, intending to fix it. Sadly, it was just an ornamental socket, no cables anywhere near it.

Tea gives you British teeth.

After coffee, you just rinse the cup. After tea, you need a power tool to get that cup white again.

Actually, some say internationally that tea is healthier in the long run than coffee. Of course, nobody's exactly been able to prove it.

Just like sulphuric acid is healthier than arsenic?

Some also say Vodka is healthier,or even a chilled glass of beer on a sunny 90 degree day:))

It is,without question,Rich is just being his argumentative self.


:Poles are drinking much less wodka and spririts than a few years ago....going more for beer and even wine now.

That's mostly to do with the water quality, not the tanin in the tea. I lived in a house with well water for five years and the cups were pristine. In the city with hard water the cups needed a lot more cleaning. If you have a lot of limescale in your kettle, forming round your taps, in the toilet pan, then your tea cups will be brown.

No prob., Milo!
Long used to it by now. I've developed a thick skin.

Paying everything by direct debit. Makes me have less control over my money.

Connected to that but possibly just my account set up- having to set up a receipient before transferring money.

Of course.
It is the New World Order's goal to make us a cashless society in order to control us.
They new generation has been dumbed down to think digital money is the only way to go.
They can't wait to get their chip under their skin so they can just get scanned and go.

For the record- I didn't mean cashless transactions, just setting up direct debit for bills etc. I would much ratherpay them by transfer on my own.

Most places still accept Standing Orders (which they don't publicise). That does give you more control and I use them for that reason.

We have well water in PL and it's probably the hardest water I've ever seen. Far harder than the limestone borehole water back in Yorkshire.

It's ok for drinking however the amount of limescale is huge.

It sure wrecks perk coffee pots.

Yes. I used to have one of those in the U.K. and it made good coffee. You don't really see them at all in Poland and they've not been popular in the U.K. since the 70s or earlier. They're still good though.

The limescale where we are is the worst I've seen. It must be an issue in other places round Warsaw due to the amount and variety of cleaning products in the shops that are aimed at tackling it.

Something I find missing in my 'new' country (not so new and given the average age in Poland I'll soon have been there longer than most Poles) is that Bathroom Mousse is rare. The foamy stuff in aerosol cans that you spray on tiles and bathroom fittings, leave for a few seconds then wipe off. I've seen it on sale a few times in bigger supermarkets however it's just not popular in PL.

Just seeing a percolator mentioned here brings back happy memories.

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@jon357
You still have those weird power plugs.

The safe ones?

Yes. No 'still' about it.

There are quite a few standard types in the world and these are probably the safest.

In Poland, even after so many years, I always look for the safety switch to find it's not there.