« Seeing through Google's nontributions | Main | The Weather Makers »
January 10, 2006
Culture Shock: An Australian living in the US
In 2005 I went to the US with my family on an exchange program. We lived in Chicago, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Provo and San Diego; and visited many more places.
The experience was much different to what I expected, not withstanding some 6 previous short visits to the US. Most Australians think that our culture is about half way between Britain and the US. I thought that too. Now, however I believe Australia is mostly European in its culture.
Following is a table of comparisons, of large and small things.
| Australia | USA | |
| Bacon | Pork Loin (20% fat) | Speck, or sliced Belly Fat (80% fat) |
| Sugar | Cane Sugar | High Fructose Corn Syrup |
| Common oil | Canola (Rapeseed) | Palm Oil |
| Best Selling Car | Toyota Corolla 4 cylinder | Ford F150 V8 |
| Driving Side | Left | Right |
| Voltage | 240 | 120 |
| Language | Commonwealth English | American English, Spanish, AAVE |
| Basis of most visits to other countries | Tourists | Military |
| Religious Observance | Low | High |
| Universal Health Insurance | Yes | No |
| Average Waiting Time to See a Doctor | 4 hours | 4 weeks |
| Coffee Cups in Coffee Shops, when eating in | China, Porcelain | Always styrofoam or paper (except two places) |
| Indicate to change lanes | Always | Rarely, even for the police |
| Approach to Illegal Immigration | The Pacific Solution | Government - blind eye, Minutemen - vigilantism |
| Number of Illegal Immigrants | thousands | tens of millions |
| Refugees admitted | 42 per 100,000 | 29 per 100,000 |
| Murders per year | 150 | 15000 |
| Obesity | 25% | 39% |
| Standard Dinner Plate | 10 inches | 12 inches |
| Measures | Metric | Imperial |
| Common Soft Drink Size | 375ml | 600ml |
| Bread | Wheat, Yeast, Water, Salt | Anything but |
| Number of Biscuit Types | hundreds | Four - all cookies |
| Dream | The European Dream | The American Dream |
| Percent of time I spend speeding | 5%, and only to 10% over the limit | 90%, often by more than 25% |
| Number of times booked for road infractions | 8 | 0 |
| Meat Pies | Beef, Chicken, Vegetable | Chicken only |
| Sausages | Plain beef, pork and chicken. Many types of continental and Asian sausages | Hot Dogs, Bratwurst or Polish |
| Social Safety Net | Comprehensive | Minimal |
| Average Mileage for Cars | 20.5MPG | 24.7 MPG |
The result of these differences was a discomfort that grew through the year as our knowledge of the differences deepened. We gave up eating bread and bacon, and started shopping at organic and foreign food stores. We found that most restaurants were chains, and most chains were supplied by just one supplier, Sysco. So, we could either choose to go out and eat at Sysco, or source our own much wider array of groceries and cook at home, which we mostly did. The result was a 2kg net weight loss for the year.
We lived well in the United States but were constantly worried about what could go wrong. Two movies which illustrate the very fears we had are Fun with Dick and Jane, and Crash.
Toward the end of my stay I read a book by Jeremy Rifkin, the famous American social commentator, called 'The European Dream'. He argues the American Dream is about "rags to riches", self reliance, risk taking and exploitation of resources. The aim is material wealth. The European Dream is about quality of life, diversity, community and sustainability. The aim is quality of life, which is partly attained through sacrificing some income for more leisure time and a caring community. It seemed to me that this book explained much of what I experienced. Australia is mostly European Dream, except that we share with the US pioneering ideas about exploitation of natural resources, which for both countries at one time appeared unlimited.
It feels good to be home again. It seems others share my view. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked all five major Australian cities in the top 11. The first US city is at 26. The Pew Global Attitudes Project for 2005 listed Australia and Canada in first place for most desired country to emigrate to, with the US in tenth place.
Posted by gluck at January 10, 2006 06:30 PM
Comments
Your experiences mirror my family's in very similar ways (we spent a year in Northern VA), I'm glad you took the time to comment on them, I always told myself I would and then forgot the more time I spent there. One thing sums up my view of the US: excess. Everything is exessive; cars, wealth, poverty, celebrations, consumerism, etc. While I enjoyed it (and would happily do it again), they have a warped culture that made me glad a had AU to come home to.
Posted by: Tom Adams at January 11, 2006 04:31 PM
Your comments are interesting, and consistent with others who have lived and worked in foreign countries. We all have assumptions about other countries, and even after multiple short visits we may not really understand the cultural differences. Many Western cultures are broadly similar, but when you get down to everyday life in another society, the multitude of small differences can pile up on you.
I hope your experiences living in the US were positive, on the whole.
Posted by: Dave Nicolette at January 12, 2006 04:53 AM