U S of A

Things that are different in America from New Zealand in a good way! 
And some things that are just... different. :) We'll continue to update this as time progresses and we learn more about this massive grand old country.

Banks

These are quite different over here. They look like restaurants with drive-throughs. Which they do have - a drive-through that is, but for banking! If I get the chance to take some pictures of some of them I will pop them up. I think in comparison our banks in NZ try to look all 'modern' (I guess) with lots of glass windows etc, whereas here the buildings just look more, hmmm domestic? It sounds silly, but it took me a while to recognise that the buildings were banks.

Light switches

These flip the opposite way to NZ. So if the light switch is flipped up - that's on, and you flip it down to turn it off. 

Plugs 

The plugs over here are quite cute (and I don't mean that in a condescending way). They look like little upside down shocked people. Haha see picture below for an example...

and you may notice that there are no switches alongside them - they are all just automatically on.

Road Rules

Now there are some fabulous road rules over here. Well, I like 'em anyway. For one, at most traffic lights over here, you can turn right on a red light as long as the coast is clear (obviously). So instead of having to wait for the light to change you can just head on round the corner, even if the light is red. Cool huh?

Also, if a fire engine or cop car comes along, everyone on both sides of the road have to pull to the side and stop, which leaves a nice big wide clear street for the emergency people to get through. 

In a similar way - if there is a school bus stopped on the side of the road letting kids off, and they have their lights flashing and stop sign popped out on the side of the bus - then the cars on both sides of the street need to stop and wait for the bus to finish letting the kids off. 

Neighbours (or should I say, neighbors)

I go on quite a few walks or bike rides around the neighbourhood in the early evenings at the moment - and one thing that I have noticed that is really nice is people will sit just outside of their garages, on their driveways, in chairs and just chat and watch the world pass by. What is particularly nice about this is that they are often chatting with their neighbours. It seems to me that they are kind of making themselves available for people. Pretty cool. :) Plus people in general seem to be pretty friendly over here. If you are walking down the street, or even biking they will wave and call out hello. 

Stores

• As I have already mentioned in some blog posts, the stores over here generally are massive. And a lot of them sell everything - from outdoor plants to clothing to groceries (and one store even sells a range of fish - as in goldfish). 
• They are usually open super late every night, if not 24 hours. 
• If you go to a grocery store/supermarket they will usually ask you 'Paper or Plastic?' - referring to the type of bags you would like them to pack your items into.

A few words that are different...

• What we call a holiday in NZ is called a vacation over here. A holiday over here is a specific day off (like Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter).
• What we call rubbish is trash or garbage over here. 
• The boot of the car is the trunk, and the bonnet is the hood.
• A rock melon is called a cantaloupe over here (pronounced 'can-ta-loop'). 

That's all for now! But will update again soon. :)