More differences

1) Going to the movies is a special way to spend the evening.  The women are dressed up, the cinema is very clean, and there's a pauze half way through the movie, for a 15 minute coffee break!  I'm guessing that the average adult would go to the movies an average of 2 or 3 times a year.

2) All public bathroom stalls are fully enclosed.  The doors reach the floor.  It would take some quantum physics for a child to play the "crawl out from underneath the locked door" trick.

3) Digit groupings are different.  There are a lot more "two digit" groupings here.  In Canada, we would give our phone numbers like this : 1-234-567-8901.  Over here, I give my number like this: 12-34-56-78-90.

4)  At the store, change is rounded to the nearest 5 cents.  If your bill comes to 1.97, you pay 2.00, and get 0.05 back.  0.01 coins are hardly used.   AND tax is included in posted prices... no surprises at check-out.

5)  Stop signs are scarce.  I apologize if I've written about this before, but it still shocks me a bit.  I think I know where one stop sign is in Barneveld.  But as I'm sitting here, I'm not 100% sure if it's a stop sign.   Instead of stop signs, you always know who has the right of way, slow down as you approach an intersection, be very alert to possible traffic (four-wheeled and two-wheeled traffic), and continue if it's clear.  No need to stop if there's no traffic.  This is actually quite nice, especially on a bicycle (stopping and starting on a bike just breaks the flow of the ride.)  However, it's actually dangerous if you stop  when you shouldn't, and I found it intimidating when I first started riding around town.

6)  Squeeges are probably the cleaning item of choice.

7) You only pay for phone calls that you initiate (no fees for "airtime" for an incoming call.)

8)  There are no fans in the bathrooms.

9)  Most "powder rooms" (1/2 bathrooms) have only a single cold water tap.  Every time I wash my hands, I think "wash with soap and warm water..."

10)  There are more doors inside the house, containing each living space.  This makes it easy to heat only rooms that are used during the day, and keep the entrances as buffer zones.