hey guys what's up Stefanie the English coach here from EnglishFullTime.com
in this video we are going to talk about 10 things that will shock you about the
USA now some of you have never been to the USA before but others of you live
here and I am from the USA so all of this stuff is completely normal to me
but when I talk with my friends and people that I know that traveled and
visited the USA for the first time they go oh my gosh Stephanie I experienced so
much culture shock there were so many things that were different from where
I'm from so that's what I want to talk to you guys about in this video today
now a lot of this stuff is actually going to be about observations that my
husband made because he is from Argentina originally and when he came to
the USA for the first time four years ago he made some really interesting and
funny observations so I want to share that with you guys and in another video
I'll tell you about some of the observations I made in Argentina about
how that country and culture was different from what I knew in the USA
okay now before we get started I just want to let you guys know that you can
also find me on Instagram Facebook and on my website of course so I will
include the links in the description and I hope you join me there as well okay
let's get into it number one of 10 things that will shock you in the USA
toilet paper I know this sounds really silly and crazy but when my husband came
here one of the first places we went was to my sister's house and I remember he
came out of the bathroom and he was like oh my gosh the toilet paper was so soft
it was like a blanket and I was just looking at him like okay like to me that
was just normal and then I thought about it and I was like yeah you know when we
were in Argentina the toilet paper wasn't as thick I guess okay but in the
u.s. we actually have a couple words for the kind of toilet paper that we use
because a lot of it is really soft I mean depending on how much money you
spend on your toilet paper or what brand you get or what quality you want you can
get like really cheap thin toilet paper or you can get the other kind that's so
thick and it's like a blanket okay so the kind that's like a blanket
we call it quilted okay a quilt is a type of blanket you can google a
picture of that if you want to see what quilts look like but basically they call
it quilted toilet paper or they might call it something like two-ply two-ply
just means that there are actually two pieces of paper that are put together to
make that toilet paper extra soft okay all right the next thing
that will probably shock you about the USA is that the food here is extremely
sweet now this is not a good thing in my opinion because it just means that
there's a ton of sugar and unnatural products used in our food to sweeten the
food but again my husband made this observation when he came here he made a
sandwich he bit into his sandwich and he was just like whoa why is this bread
sweet like it almost tasted like dessert to him or something but it was actually
marketed as regular sandwich bread right and you'd you don't really normally
think of bread that you use for sandwiches as being sweet but anyhow
that's one of the problems he has with the bread here is that it's completely
sweet and you'll just notice that in all kinds of food too it's not just bread
it's also meat it's also the sauce we put on our food dishes there just there
is just so much sugar in the food and also there's a lot of obesity in the USA
so that's not even on the list but that's another thing that might shock
you when you come here and you see the size of people okay the next thing that
will probably shocked you about the USA is that the cars here there's such a
variety okay you can go down the street and see a Corvette here a really unique
car there okay I just full disclaimer I'm not a car person I don't know the
name of names of cars I'm like a Corvette a Mustang but the way I talk
about cars I'm like oh that's a cute blue car that's a really awesome red car
the way I distinguish cars is if it's a van or a pickup or a like four-door car
a sports car that's kind of like my terminology for cars is limited but if
you're a person that's really into cars you're gonna love driving down the
freeway and seeing all the different cars that are here okay cuz there's just
such a huge variety and I remember when I went to Argentina and I was like okay
so there's like five kinds of cars here I mean there's more
than that but because I was so used to seeing such a wide variety here in the
USA when I went to Argentina it just seemed like everything was all the same
okay so I don't mean any offense by that obviously these are just observation
next number five in the USA you can do almost anything over the phone you can
make an appointment book an appointment you know call a store and make a request
put an order in ask about something or send an email but it's more common to
just book things online like you can get a pizza delivered to your door just by
requesting one online you don't even have to call anymore but the reason why
I'm saying this is because in so many countries that I've traveled to if you
want to talk with a banker or something like that you actually have to go to the
bank stand in line wait your turn ask your
question talk to the person about it get the information that you need and then
you go home in the u.s. we just don't want to waste any time going anywhere
and asking questions when we can just you know use the technology that we have
to get the information that we need okay number six the next thing that might
shock you about the USA is that a lot of the bathrooms here are automated I mean
everything is automated the toilet flushes on its own you have to put your
hand under the soap dispenser and it will pop out a little bit of soap for
you then you wash your hands and then you put your hands under the faucet and
then the water comes on automatically and then you can either put your hands
in a drying machine what are these called hand dryers okay you can put your
hands in one of those or under one and it's all automated it's like you don't
have to touch anything and maybe that just represents that in
our culture were germaphobes I don't know or maybe people are just you know
trying to be more hygienic but this is really interesting although it can be
frustrating when something's not working because you're like what's wrong with
the Machine you're putting your hand in you're putting it out you're putting it
in you're putting it out and then as soon as you take it out then the soap
Falls but it doesn't fall on your hand so it can be really frustrating and I
guess I'm gonna have to talk a lot about ren in this video
my husband because he's just the one that you know shared all these
observations with me and gave me these funny stories but the first time he used
a bathroom like that and realized that he could just wave his hand in front of
one of the machines that would roll out the paper towel for him to dry his hands
he was just like whoa it's so cool now I know there are plenty of countries
around the world that are also you know advanced in this department but plenty
of them aren't okay so some of you guys might find this very interesting and if
you visit the USA and it's not like this in your country then you'll probably
find it shocking okay number seven something else that will shock you about
the USA is our measuring system our system frustrates so many people around
the world because we measure length in stuff like feet and inches and then we
use Fahrenheit and it's just so confusing because the rest of the world
is using the metric system which it's a great system you know you base it on the
number ten everything's really easy to understand and in the u.s. we're still
stuck on this other system if you grow up with our system it's perfect it makes
sense it's great and for us when we travel to your country and you're on the
metric system we're like no I don't understand but the same thing happens to
you when you come over here and you're just like okay it's gonna be 80 degrees
today what was that hot is that cold what does 80 degrees even feel like
right because you're used to maybe 40 degrees Celsius being really hot anyways
number eight another thing that will probably shock you about the USA is just
the sheer amount of multicultural people that we have living here there are just
so many people living here from all over the world and in fact this is one of the
reasons why you can live in the USA and almost never have to speak English
because there are subcultures that have formed within the community
for Russian speakers for Spanish speakers for Chinese speakers and there
are stores that are owned by people of these nationalities and you can go to
these stores and you can buy you know the Russian food that you're used to
buying where you live or the Mexican food or whatever it is and you can talk
with them in your language and you can do so many things
without needing English also if you ever make calls on an automated phone system
they might ask you oh do you want this call in a different language if you want
it in Spanish press 2 if you want it in this language press this or whatever so
we have just a lot of people here living from so many different cultures and some
of my students they say hey Stephanie I'm going to the USA but I'm gonna try
my best to avoid Brazilians because I'm with it I'm going there to practice
English or I'm gonna try to avoid Spanish speakers French speakers
whatever it is because I don't want to speak my language I'm going to the USA
to practice English since there are so many people here from different cultures
if someone sees that you're here trying to speak English and practice but they
can hear your accent and they're like oh they speak Spanish so do I
they might just speak to you in Spanish because it's easier and you might get
frustrated and go no I don't want to speak Spanish I'm here to practice my
English so anyhow if that happens just you know stick with English and say no
it's okay I'm here to practice my English and they'll change back for you
okay number 9 traffic laws in the USA are very strict when I say very strict I
mean you better know what the laws are before you start driving on the streets
so you don't get a ticket okay you have to stop fully at the stop sign wait
three seconds before you start going you can't tailgate people you can't drive
too closely you can't roll up slowly to a stoplight just because it's red and
you're trying to save momentum in your car I mean that's what my husband does
and I'm like no just drive up to the stoplight stop okay wait and then when
it's green then you can go he's like but if that's not fuel efficient I'm like
hey you know what we can't we can you just have to follow the rules you just
have to drive how people drive here and I know in other countries because I've
been to plenty of them that people drive differently all over the world some of
you guys drive really crazy okay but in the u.s. just take it slowly
be calm there will be that crazy guy every now and then that'll cut you off
or whatever but don't give him the middle finger unless you want to
practice your curse words in English you know but just take it slowly know that
the traffic laws here are really strict and just read up on what they are before
you come okay the last thing that will probably shock you in the USA
is that everything is big things are just big here I mean the country itself
is pretty big right it's pretty enormous the people we already talked about it
we've got our obesity problem so some of us are big also cars are bigger the
lanes that the cars drive in the roads are bigger food portions are enormous
they're like offensive practically you go out somewhere for lunch and they give
you enough food for like three people everything is just really big in the USA
from the cars the lanes the houses the people the the land itself you'll just
notice that quantities and portions are large so anyhow what I want to know from
you guys now is have you ever been to the USA and if you have how was it
different from your country how are things done differently how are the
people different what did you like what did you not like okay feel free to share
your experiences also if you've been living here for a while then think back
to when you first came what did you find shocking because by now you're probably
used to everything all right so let's have an awesome discussion about this in
the comments I look forward to reading what you guys have to say and if you
aren't already a subscriber on my channel don't forget to hit that
subscribe button so you can get more of my videos also if you are interested in
practicing your English with native English speakers and meeting us online
on social media Facebook Instagram etc go ahead and download the guide that I
have linked in the description ok it's a simple guide on how to practice your
English with native speakers and I'm sure you're gonna find it really helpful
that's it you guys and I'll see you soon bye