Yogurt: It ranges from really runny, has so much air it almost has bubbles, to heavy like sour cream with a really rich flavor.
Drivers: World’s WORST.
Seriously. It is bad. If the person in front of you is taking too
long to make that turn in front of you, well, let’s just go around them and cut
them off.
Parking: It is hard
to come by, and in most places, it is not uncommon to find people parked on the
sidewalk, parked 3 deep where people have blocked one another in, on either
side of the street, facing either direction, doesn’t matter. If the spot is open, they take it.
Babies: It is not
uncommon to see a stroller parked outside of a shop. Now that’s not so strange. What is strange, is that 9 out of 10 times,
there’ll be a sleeping baby in it. The
parents just leave their kids outside the shops while they run in to handle
their business. I can’t say I would ever
do that, but it is VERY common here.
Shopping Carts: When
you enter most grocery stores, the carts are all locked together. You have to put a coin in them to get the
cart free. If you return the cart to the
inside of the store, you can get your coin back by inserting a little
tool. This discourages people from
leaving their carts outside.
Shopping Bags: If you
don’t bring your own, most places will charge you about 15 cents for a
bag. Just think if your grocery store at
home charged you for every plastic bag they gave you! They’d make a fortune!
Tipping: The norm
here is about 5-10%. They are very lax
in service here. If you want something,
you wave them down. If you want your
bill, you wave them down.
Ice: If you order a drink at a restaurant, it rarely will have ice in it. Almost always, they give you the can or bottle. The only thing I’ve actually gotten ice in, was a cocktail.
Water: They will
almost always ask “Sparkling or Flat?”.
Of course, this is bottled water, so costs extra. The water here is good, so I’ve gotten to
asking for “tap”, but don’t expect it to come with ice… you got it. Room temperature.
Purple Lighting: One
of the malls we went too had this strange blue/purple lighting in the bathrooms. Call me crazy, but I couldn’t help but think
how bad this lighting was. You can’t see
very well, and try cleaning a poopy diaper when you can’t see the poop! Well… I got enlightened. Apparently this color of lighting was chosen
to discourage drug users. In that color
light, they can’t see the veins. Now,
why didn’t I think of that?
Changing Rooms: There
are a lot of babies here. I mean, a lot,
so you would think that there would also be changing tables all over the place. Nope.
Not so. Other than the major
malls, that might have 2 or 3 special rooms for nursing/changing, it is
incredibly rare to find a changing table in a restaurant. It is a total pain in the a$$.
Smile: Or… don’t. I smile at everyone. In my first 3 weeks, I had TWO people smile
back at me, and I’ve seen a lot of people.
They must’ve been from America.
LOL! It’s not that they are
unfriendly, it’s just that they don’t smile to passersby. Whatever.
I’ll break them in eventually.
Boots: These people
love their boots. Doesn’t matter what
the weather, these women are rockin’ the boots.
Flat boots, knee high boots, boots with high heels, boots with fur,
boots with tassles, well… you get the picture.
As you can imagine… there are a lot of boot stores. If you like boots, get your boot-y over
here. J
Banking: So, once a
month, I head over to the bank to make a deposit of our rent. The kicker… they charge 5 Litas to make a
deposit. There are so many cheap things
here, I can’t really complain, but you are charging me money to make a
deposit? Really??
Tennis Shoes: You can’t
help but notice that people don’t wear tennis shoes (aka walking shoes/running
shoes) anywhere. I’ve seen one other
person wear them (again, they were probably American). They sell them, people must wear them, but
you just don’t see people walking around town in them. Strange, but true.
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