Amurrrrrica the Byerrrrrrtifuuuul

I'm in America right now, have been for a while, will be for a little while longer yet.

I have learned that people here are much like people at home, except for a few things:

1. They don't know where Canada is. I mean, most of them are vaguely aware that Canada is North, and that we have snow, but that's as far as it goes.
2. They are not aware that they don't actually have a left-leaning political party. That Obama's administration is actually right of centre has earned me some weird looks of disbelief.
3. Everyone has opinions about Mexicans, and most of them are scary. Bigger walls! Drones! They took our jobs! Border Wars!
4. No one talks about religion, ever, except that them Islams is bad. People just assume you're Christian, and you hear a lot about how things are "blessings" or "gifts".
5. People think that Fox News is actually news.
6. Lots of people are anti-universal health care until they hear how much my medical treatments are not costing me.
7. People actually believe that crap about higher taxes on the wealthy killing small businesses. 
8. They don't teach you how your naughty bits work at school, apparently because if you don't tell kids about reproductive biology, they won't figure out where to stick things.

America itself is also just a little different, and I notice it primarily in the following ways:

1. There is high-fructose corn syrup in everything, and foods intended to be sweet are about six times sweeter than they are in Canada.
2. The news here has about five minutes of actual information per hour, and the rest of the time is filled with fluff pieces, "won't somebody please think of the children", "those crazy Muslims", and, "WHY YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID OF Q-TIPS!!"
3. Advertising is much more pervasive, and it sort of assumes that you're an idiot.
4. Time Magazine is not a news magazine.
5. There are a disturbing number of very large people on mobility scooters. I don't know their stories, but statistically, they are anomalous. 
6. Iced tea and sweet tea are different. Iced tea and sweet tea are different. Iced tea and sweet tea are different. Iced tea and sweet tea are different.

It all sort of keeps you on your toes.