People often say that different countries have different cultures, and these different cultures are reflected in the daily lives of ordinary people, which will form very different lifestyles and habits. Here, through the collection of survey results, I can read carefully from the strange lifestyles and habits of ordinary Americans. You can have a rough understanding of the lifestyles and culture of the United States without leaving home.
1: According to statistics from National Public Radio Station and CNN, over the past half a century, the area of American single-family new houses has increased by almost 1.5 times, from an average of 90 square meters in the 1950s to 230 square meters in 2013. Pursuing large living space has become a trend
2: Despite the increase in housing area, Americans still feel that the place is not enough, so they pile up extra items in the garage, use the garage as a storage room, or as a tool room. According to Ministry of Energy , among two-car garage households, about 25% of households are filled with objects and have no place to park; another 32% of households can only park one car in them. I don’t like to park my car in a garage, but I like to have a garage when I buy a house. This is one of the living habits of Americans.
3: Over the past 40 years, the number of people renting self-storage storage rooms (self-storage) has increased rapidly. According to the " New York Times ", about one-tenth of Americans renting self-managed storage rooms for various reasons, and the length of time varies. For example, temporarily putting items in the storage room during moving or home renovation, or insufficient space in the home, and putting furniture, clothes, etc. that are not used but cannot be left behind in the rental storage room. Due to the huge demand, self-managed storage rooms have developed rapidly in the past 20 years. There are more than 50,000 self-managed storage warehouses in the United States, five times the number of Starbucks coffee shops; each warehouse is divided into storage rooms of different sizes, and each American has an average area of 7.3 square feet, becoming a strange flower in the real estate industry.
4: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual cost of clothing for American families is $1,700. According to the report of " Huffington Post ", the per capita clothes lost per capita every year are about 30 kilograms of
5: "Business Insider" reported that in 2013, about 47% of the families were "moonlights" who used up all their income and had no deposits.
6: USA Today reported that there are more TVs in American families than people, and the average time for each TV to be on is 8 hours and 14 minutes a day, more than 8 hours working days.
7: According to statistics from "Psychology Today", there are many large shopping malls in the United States, and more than 90% of teenage girls will go shopping in shopping malls as their favorite pastime.
8: According to the " Wall Street Journal ", Americans spend $1.2 trillion a year to buy non-essential products. They feel good or necessary when buying, but it is useless after buying.
9: According to statistics from "Giving USA", the total charitable donations of Americans in 2014 were US$358.3 billion, of which individual donations accounted for 72%, and the average donation of each family was US$2,030 (about RMB 12,800), accounting for about 1.9% of their income.
Details of life for Americans:
1. Drink ice water all year round, and the same is true after giving birth to a child
drink ice water all year round; there are only two stalls on their water dispenser: hot water (only for instant coffee and tea bags) and ice water (drink directly). What is warm water? Americans don't understand. After coming to the United States, you can often see that even in winter when the temperature is sub-zero, there are many people who order iced coffee in Starbucks.What Americans don’t understand the most is why you Chinese need to order a cup of hot water when you enter a hotel? There is only coffee and a small amount of tea in the drink, which should be hot! The strong American people do not have the concept of "not drinking ice water in XXX situations"; American girls even immediately take a big gulp of ice water after giving birth to a child! This may be because Americans mainly use red meat, are naturally hot and can resist cold things; so ice water has no health problems for them;
2. Wear UGG wool boots in summer
In the first episode of the first season of "The Big Bang Theory", some Chinese people wondered: Why is the actress Penny wearing short T-T and hot pants, but wearing a pair of UGG under her feet? Isn't she hot? At that time, I only thought Penny was a strange flower. After arriving in the United States, I found that it is a traditional habit for Americans to wear UGG in summer! Isn’t UGG snow boots? How can I wear them in summer? Get 2 answers from Americans: "UGG uses high-quality integrated sheepskin fur, which can absorb the moisture in the boots, automatically adjust and optimize the wear environment inside the boots like human skin. Therefore, whether in the cold winter or the hot summer, the feet can be kept dry and comfortable." ──This advertisement is like a scientific explanation; The indoor air conditioner in the United States is very cold in summer! You may feel frozen without wearing snow boots!
3. Diet Coke with zero calories while eating hamburgers
The most American food is hamburgers with coke. Coke was invented by Americans. It was green at first and was a Western medicine used to treat headaches. Later, it was found that it tasted very good after adding sugar, so it was sold as a drink, and later became popular in the United States and even the whole world. Hamburgers and fries were also invented by Americans; , McDonald's, has been opened all over the world, and has even entered the hearts of every American. For Americans, hamburgers with coke are just as natural as paying off debts, soy milk with fried dough sticks. But Americans are not stupid either. Gradually, they found that although this combination is delicious and convenient, the nutritional ratio is not very good and the calories are overwhelming! There are more and more fat people on the street, and smart Americans invented a Diet Coke, which has a 99% reduction in calories than ordinary Coke. So they happily continued to eat hamburgers with coke; they waited for the day when their calorie intake was reduced and they "slowly lost weight"... But to be honest, the calories of hamburgers and fries were there, what is the use of drinking a Diet Coke?
4. Wear short-sleeved sleeves in winter.
When watching " Sex and the City ", some Chinese were very surprised that Carrie could wear a halter skirt with an mink coat... Is this cold or not? After arriving in the United States, I found that it is the most cost-effective for girls to buy summer clothes because they can wear them all over the season! Americans are healthy and dress casually. In the middle of winter, many young people still have short-sleeved T-shirts. When the cooling down, they can get through the winter by wrapping a coat and jeans. Of course, this is mainly because there is heating indoors; but they wear quite a bit outdoors! On the streets of New York in early winter, you can often see many professional women wearing professional skirts, thick coats and high heels with exposed feet. The temperature difference between the upper and lower bodies is about 20 degrees Celsius! In addition to their eating a lot of meat, high heat energy, and keeping cold, the editor once thought that if they drink ice water every day, UGG in summer, short T-shirts in winter, and skirts, are they different from those in Chinese? But no, because as soon as the weather heats up slightly, short-sleeved and T-shirts will float all over the streets. However, the editor later found that every American family has a blanket on the sofa. In winter, they will wear blankets to watch TV on the sofa, like wrapping rice dumplings. Where can there be temperature perception problems?
5. You can drink tap water, but you can't drink tap hot water.
In the United States, tap water in most states can be directly consumed. At first you may feel very different because tap water has a special smell. But this is indeed drinkable. An institution once conducted a test and found that the sanitation level of tap water is higher than that of some mineral water sold in supermarkets. And drinking tap water instead of bottled water is beneficial to protecting the environment.But don’t drink tap water from the hot water outlet, because the water sources on both sides are different, and the quality of tap water used for hot water is low. Why not just improve the water quality of the water from the hot water outlet?
6. Pet culture
Americans love to keep pets seems to be "famous and well-known all over the world." There are special programs on how to raise animals every day on TV to guide people how to raise these small animals; many Americans have dogs and cats at home, and they will let cats and dogs go into the bedroom, go to bed and sleep together, and serve them three meals a day. Raising a dog is sometimes very expensive, and the daily expenses of eating, drinking, beauty and medical treatment are quite considerable, but Americans are willing to spend this money. Many cities hold "dog show" every year, and puppies can walk on catwalk fashion shows. Cats and dog toys, cats and dog clothing, cats and dog foods, and supplies in Walmart supermarkets are all one of the important products. The economic growth points triggered by pets account for a certain proportion in daily consumption. In short, in the United States, there is a high possibility that your quality of life is not as good as your neighbor's dog...
7. Take a bath in the morning
Americans are different from Chinese people. We take a bath in the evening and they take a bath in the morning. In the United States, if a girl is wearing makeup, she usually washes her face and goes to bed at night. The editor is uncomfortable no matter how you think about it, but the Americans explain that as long as you work in a place with air conditioning, you can take a shower in the morning. If you are outdoors, you have to take a shower at night. It is said that they chose to take a shower in the morning to prevent heavy body odors and remove perfume odors. American girls who go to work in the morning also have fluffy hair and perfect hairstyles! Chinese people always feel that they are dirty at night and don’t take a shower without taking a shower.
