Differences

So,

I figured i'd write a little bit about the differences between Lithuania and North America. Although the difference are not big, some of them are quite funny.  One of the ones I have been meaning to write about is the fact that when you walk into a mall or a grocery store here, it is not so easy as you'd think!
Two situations occur... One you either have to enter on the left through automated doors, and then instead of walking straight through the next set of doors, you have to walk to the right and enter where you in North America would be exiting... weird! Of course there are obstacles in your way.. like 5 atm's so it just doesn't make any sense! The second thing that could occur, would be the sliding doors open up as you approach, but only open a bit making it hard for two people to fit through at the same time. Again it just doesn't make any sense.

Another difference is the way that sex appeal is displayed. We were at a team dinner at our trainers house, and we got a gift for her husband who was cooking for us. We gave him a set of shot glasses... normal enough, except they were shaped like nude women. I was shocked that we were giving a married man something like that. I would expect that at a college party, or a bachelor party. He loved the shot glasses, and explained to me that this was totally normal.

Also there are many what I would call racy photos around the city, even in our weight room we have pictures of girls or guys that you would NEVER see in North America unless your reading a magazine from the top shelf! Also I have seen multiple shirts that have naked women on them in clothing stores. I do not think that would be okay in North America.

Another difference, is the fact that when driving you have to stop ANYTIME for pedestrians, whether there is a crosswalk or not. As your driving you have to slam on the breaks as someone comes sauntering across 4 lanes of traffic. Now yielding to pedestrians is not something we don't do in North America, but we also do not take it to this level. We have been warned many times from the girls, that the cops in Kaunas will pull you over and ticket you for not doing it.

That brings me to my next point. With this warning about being pulled over for not stopping for pedestrians, we were also warned about the police. We were told that if we ever got pulled over to call our team manager, because all they want is a bribe. So if we ever get pulled over, I will be sure to pull some money out to give to the cop, so no trouble occurs. Could you imagine handing over money to a police man in North America??!?!!

One difference, which really isn't that big of a deal, but for some reason bothers me every time is the amount of receipts you get after a purchase!! I literally get 3 or 4 receipts every time I go to any type of store... Again not that big of a deal, but has become one of my pet peeves. Also when you get change back from the cashier, they do not hand it to you.. they religiously put it on a plastic table thing for you to take along with your pile of receipts.