Franziska Weidknecht – San Francisco, CA
I, for sure, didn’t know that Americans have dinner so early! Also, the orange traffic light is on for a while, so everyone is still going. You can make a right turn even if your traffic light is red (and there’s no sign that prohibits you from doing so). I also didn’t expect the kids to have so many appointments after school.
They don’t know „St. Nikolaus,“ so I started a new tradition, and the kids loved it!
Marvin Theel – Boston, MA
When my brother visited me, we went to a Patriots game. I didn’t know a lot about football, and neither did he, so it was always a guessing game as to why certain things happened, but it was a lot of fun!
During my first few weeks in the US, I was always confused why people would greet each other with „Hi, how are you?“ but then wouldn’t wait till I answered the question and instead just walked away. Until I figured out that this is just the way of greeting someone.
Sara Mueller – Novato, CA
Here are two idioms and expressions that crossed my path since I moved to the US: „Let’s play it by ear“ … doesn’t mean you actually need to play something, and my host-grandmother „runs her errands“ (always imagining her running to the store :)).
