Top 10 Things You CAN DO in Other Countries You CAN'T DO in the USA

10 Things You Can Do in Other Countries You Can’t Do in the USA
10.
In The Czech Republic You Can Use Magic Mushrooms
Magic mushrooms are the common given nickname for a class of mushroom that has an active
compound called psilocybin that can have very strong psychedelic effects when ingested.
Of course, most people who find this mushroom intriguing will need to accept that it is
beyond their reach, as it remains in the realm of the black market of illegal drugs.
That is, unless they are willing to live in the right, very specific country.
In the European country of the Czech Republic, mushrooms are actually mostly decriminalized,
making it fairly easy to use them or get your hands on them.
While it is not legal to sell mushrooms, import them into the country, or buy them, it is
perfectly okay to own small amounts and grow them yourself.
The law was likely set up this way so that their citizens could have their own freedom,
without too strongly encouraging tourists to come to their country just to get a chance
to go on a drug trip.
Also, in the country of Brazil psilocybin is mostly legal, but only because of a technicality
and the fact that no law has yet been written to correct it – this is mainly because it
isn’t really a problem there in the first place.
9.
In Mainland China People Often Allow Their Young Children To Pee In Public
China is known for being overpopulated despite having had a one child policy for a long time.
Their major cities are also especially known for being overcrowded, and as such they have
to deal with certain cultural situations in different ways.
Not long ago, a Chinese couple from the mainland caused a stir because they were visiting Hong
Kong, and allowed their small boy to pee into a diaper in a public space.
This was quite controversial to do in Hong Kong, but in mainland China, their actions
would have been perfectly normal.
Parents in mainland China often allow their children to pee in public if they are having
trouble finding anywhere else for them to go in time – this has likely cropped up
over time as a solution to the overcrowding issue.
Of course some people may find the very idea repulsive, but those parents who do so claim
that their child would have had to go anyway, and they usually find a corner as out of the
way as possible.
8.
In North Korea It Is Both Legal And Commonplace To Smoke Weed
North Korea is known for being a strict, fascist dictatorship that rules everyone inside with
an iron fist.
Most areas of the country are extremely poor and hardly anyone enjoys anything that can
be called a quality of life.
Even those who tow the party line and get to live in the major cities don’t exactly
live in the lap of luxury.
However, on one particular front, the North Koreans tend to be incredibly lax.
They are totally okay with the growing, and smoking of marijuana and make regular use
of the drug.
Those who have managed to sneak around enough in North Korea to find out have discovered
that it can even be found on the roadsides, that people grow it for personal use and that
it enjoys incredible popularity.
Weed can grow fairly easily in North Korea, and cigarettes and alcohol can be expensive
to import in, so weed is usually the major drug of choice for most North Koreans.
Tour guides discourage visitors from looking for weed, mainly because they don’t want
to be known only for drugs.
For those stoners who are interested in visiting North Korea and trying some of their weed,
it likely isn’t worth the effort.
Those who have tried it claim it is fairly poor quality as far as the drug goes.
7.
In Japan It Is Considered Strange If You Don’t Slurp Your Noodles Loudly And Proudly
There are some particular cultural traditions out there that happen to be completely the
opposite in another part of the world, and this is one of them.
In the United States, and most Western countries, making a lot of noise while eating is generally
frowned upon.
Even while eating foods like noodles, we have come up with many different techniques to
eat our food as noiselessly as possible.
However, in Japan, eating noodles is a completely different experience.
In Japan, they believe that noodles should be eaten when they are still piping hot in
order to fully enjoy them.
And to eat them piping hot essentially requires the mouth movements that create that distinctive
slurping sound.
No one in Japan minds because it is simply considered a sound that is necessary in order
to properly eat noodles – in fact, if a Japanese person does not hear you slurping,
they may make the mistake of thinking that you do not like your food.
6.
In The UK And Much Of Europe It Is Legal To Jaywalk As Much As You Wish
In the United States, nearly everyone has a car, and roads have become very serious
business indeed.
Places like New York are the exception instead of the rule, and even in places with a decent
public transportation infrastructure, most people still find it more convenient to have
their own method of transportation.
This means we often have very congested roads full of very peeved drivers, and have thus
made very rigid rules on where and when pedestrians should cross the street in order to ensure
public safety.
There is also a legal element involved, as it helps deal with liability in a country
with a lot of lawsuits, if there are well laid out places and ways that people are supposed
to safely cross the street.
However, in the United Kingdom, where they are a little less sue happy and have a lot
less cars on the road, the rules are much different.
Some visitors from across the pond have even found themselves arrested in the United States
because they crossed the road randomly in a very busy place without using a proper crosswalk.
While it is not always enforced, jaywalking is against the law in the United States, but
there is no law against it at all in the United Kingdom.
Instead, in most European countries, people are simply expected to cross responsibly,
wherever and whenever it is safest.
5.
In New Zealand Prostitution Is Fully Legal And Regulated
In many countries in Europe sex trafficking is a problem, and some countries believe the
solution to this is to clamp down hard on the legality of prostitution.
Most of them are targeting those who buy the services of the prostitutes instead of the
prostitute themselves – as they may be a victim of trafficking – but New Zealand
has long felt that this is the wrong approach to dealing with the situation.
They feel that in order to deal with sex trafficking, you need to remove the veil of secrecy from
the business and regulate and keep an eye on it like any business.
To this end, in New Zealand a law was passed in 2003 that decriminalized prostitution and
set up a framework that would allow for brothels to be inspected just like any other business
for health and safety standards.
This ensures that women in the business will go to the police when needed, and give them
information, instead of living in fear.
It ensures that they won’t fear their clients will dry up for fear of police prosecution,
and helps avoid exploitation because they know workers’ rights laws and the officers
of the law are all on their side.
Some countries in Europe argue that New Zealand’s system only works well because they are so
isolated, and that as countries with bigger trafficking problems, they need more restrictive
laws – not less.
4.
In Spain People Take A Several Hour Nap In The Middle Of The Workday
Many people may have already heard of the Spanish Siesta — the habit of Spaniards
knocking off for three hours during the hottest part of the afternoon and enjoying a nice,
relaxing snooze.
The habit developed over time because the area was mostly used for farming, and it made
a lot of sense to take a break when the sun was highest in the sky.
Today, it is more of an inconvenience for the people of Spain, what with the fast paced
industrialized world that most people now live in.
Shops will close at 2:00 p.m. and people will often come back and reopen their shops around
5:00 or 6:00 p.m. and stay open until late at night.
While it may sound relaxing to knock off for three hours in the middle of the day, it is
hardly good for you to segment your work day up that way, and end up constantly working
late into the night – and the people of Spain are well aware of this.
It is hardly realistic in the modern age to use the time for a nap, and most people actually
take the time to get things done instead.
Unfortunately, they still have to report for work at the same time every morning.
This has led to a culture where most people in Spain stay up late, get up early, rarely
nap and don’t get much sleep overall.
While the siesta has given them a reputation of laziness, they are actually a hardworking,
sleep deprived country that is increasingly considering removing the siesta completely
and just shortening the workday to a reasonable amount of time to begin with.
3.
In Japan You Can Buy Poisonous Fugu Fish
Most people have heard of the poisonous puffer fish known as Fugu, which is a delicacy in
the country of Japan.
In the United States and other countries around the world, if you want to taste Fugu, you
will have to pay large amounts of money to eat fish that was specially prepared by Japanese
chefs and imported frozen to your part of the globe.
This is because Japan is the only country in the world that legally allows people to
prepare the fresh Fugu for serving, and they have extremely stringent requirements in order
to earn that legal right.
The fish has a poison known as tetradoxin that is extremely poisonous, causing paralysis
and asphyxiation in a very short time in humans, with only a small amount required to be deadly.
Certain parts of the fish are not poisonous, and are actually quite delicious, and it is
these that the highly trained chefs carefully separate from the inedible or dangerous parts
of the fish.
It takes three years of training and only about a third of those who take the licensing
exam even pass the test.
These standards ensure that those who buy Fugu in a restaurant will not truly be gambling
with their lives – although it is said that a truly skilled chef leaves just enough poison
to make your lips tingle and remind you of the danger, without actually putting you in
harm’s way.
2.
In Russia It Is Perfectly Acceptable To Leave Young Children Home Alone
In the United States there are laws about how young a child can be and still be legally
left home completely alone by their parents, and in today’s United States, most parents
couldn’t imagine their child walking to or from school alone.
If a child too young were too be left home alone in the United States, and the authorities
found out, it could lead to a visit by child protective services.
However, in the federation of Russia, they do not look at the issue in the same way at
all.
In Russia it is far more commonplace for children to leave the house on their own at a young
age, either to go to school or simply go to the store, and it is not illegal to leave
young children home alone.
Some parents in certain parts of Russia have lobbied in the past to make stricter laws
regarding the matter, especially due to cases where children have been left home alone and
got hurt, but ministers in charge of law making seem reluctant to push the issue.
They feel that punishing parents for leaving young children home alone is more of a Western
thing, and aren’t sure if that is the route they want to go.
While it could someday change, it seems for the moment, Russians aren’t interested in
worrying too much about the matter.
1.
In Estonia They Vote For Public Officeholders Online
The United States like to consider themselves one of the most technology advanced nations
in the world, but despite our many advances, voting online and doing many other government
related actions online is still a thing of fantasy.
In that particular regard, we are being beaten rather badly by a small country in Europe
called Estonia.
They are known for being incredibly digitally connected, possibly the most connected in
the entire world.
They have made training in the understanding of computers and the internet a core part
of all school curriculums, and almost all important business can be done online.
Estonians all get their own unique government ID that also comes with its own special PIN.
This special ID allows Estonians to have their own online fingerprint and use that identity
to do pretty much everything government related that they could possibly need to do.
With this ID, Estonians do business with the library, pay taxes, vote for political candidates
and many other things as well.
While some Americans fear the possibility of massive voter fraud or cheating, the Estonians
have not yet had any reason to believe that their system has been tampered with.
They also believe their proportional voting system helps discourage those who would consider
attempting to cheat in
the first place.

Top 10 Things You CAN DO in Other Countries You CAN'T DO in the USA

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