Intro

I am an expat twice over. I moved from England to Australia in 87 and then in 2008 I changed continents again and moved to the US. As a result I am an now expat Brit/Aussie living in America.

I remember when I first moved to the land down under I was struck at the way things were the same, but different. Sadly at the time I did not document my observations, mistakes and sheer bewilderment at what I encountered. I have decided that this time I will share my experiences as I struggle to overcome the culture shock once again. Having said that, it is not as if I have not been here before. I have visited the US on many occasions, but this time it is different. As I am now living here (albeit for only a few days at this point), I am looking at things with a different perspective. It is a case of deja vu as I am finding things are the same, but different but even more so than last time. I am finding myself comparing thins not just to Australia, but also to England. Still trying to get my head around it all.

Heres an example. Shopping hours. Aussie has pretty liberal shopping hours with most shops open seven days a week and late, until 9/9.30 on Thursdays (at least in NSW). The UK has something similar. Like Oz, i imagine it varies from state to state here. However, in PA, many places, including shopping malls seem to be open until 10 pm every day. Whats more, they open at 8 am. Not only that, 24 hour shops are not uncommon. I recently visited a pharmacist, when I say pharmacist yes it sold drugs, but also so much more I am not sure what it didn't sell. Anyway this place was huge and was open 24 hours a day. Next door was a large supermarket and it was also open 24 hours a day.

One more, Supermarkets. Now what could be so different about supermarkets you may ask? You think that supermarkets in the UK and Australia, especially the larger ones, provide a pretty good choice of items. I have discovered a whole new meaning to the word choice. I am stunned at how many varieties of just about everything there seems to be, and I don't think I have yet visited a really big supermarket. Not only that I discovered that some not only have a delicatessen, but you can also get hot food. When I say hot food I mean the mix and match type of situation you often see in food courts.