Hong Kong Immigrant Living In The U.S. Reveals The 7 Everyday Things She Appreciates About America That We Often Take For Granted
The grass isn't always greener outside of America.
Prostock-studio | Shutterstock These are tough times for many in America, and it's easy to feel like the grass is greener on the other side. But people who've immigrated to our country often have a very different perspective on this.
Case in point, a woman from Hong Kong who has lived in the U.S. for 11 years and has a list of things she loves about America and would never want to part with.
A woman shared 7 everyday things she appreciates about America as an immigrant from Hong Kong:
As someone who's lived abroad, albeit briefly, I can confirm that there really are a lot of ways in which things are just better in a lot of other places.
Like for instance, when I had to go to the doctor in London, and the nurses at the front desk openly mocked me when I asked how much I owed. "Basic healthcare IS free here in the United Kingdom, sir," the nurse jabbed. No need to rub it in, madam!
But according to April, a woman from Hong Kong who now lives in Portland Oregon, there are some things that America gets right.
"The internet makes it seem like everything about America is bad," she said in a video on the subject, "which is not true." Here are seven things she says we Americans take for granted.
1. The huge washers, and especially dryers, in our houses
I lived in the U.K. for a while and have spent a lot of time in France. For the most part, even urban apartments in Europe come with a washer far more often than you'd ever see in the U.S. Dryers, on the other hand? Think again, and get used to a drying rack.
"In Hong Kong, we hung-dry our clothes because we didn't have a dryer," she said, "but because our climate is hot and humid, sometimes our clothes will never dry." This made them stink, "and then you would need to wash your clothes again."
Same deal in damp old England, which is why one of my American friends there made it one single month in the country before ceding half her kitchen to a dryer. As she put it, "I don't care if it takes up the whole house; I can't live like this!"
2. Garbage disposals
If you travel abroad enough to make friends, they'll probably ask you about these devices — it's one of the many things they've seen in American movies and TV shows that seem kind of mythical.
"I think the whole world needs it," April said, describing how, in Hong Kong, all they had was the little strainer thing in the bottom of the sink full of slimy garbage you have to fling into the trashcan.
"Food scraps will fly everywhere; it is disgusting," she said. "I love my American garbage disposal." As someone who had to learn the hard way you can't just throw eggshells in a French sink, I agree.
3. Ice in drinks
OK, this is where I become a flag-waving patriot with a bald eagle as my social media profile photo. What is with the rest of the world's aversion to ice?! (Yes, I get that it's related to our profligate water use here in the U.S., but still. Come ON.)
"I absolutely love how generous restaurants are serving ice-cold water for free," April said. She explained that in Hong Kong, there's a cultural belief that cold drinks weaken the body, and she missed all that cool, icy freshness from America when she went back.
4. Fresh air and space
Sure we have pollution here in America just like everywhere else (and often much worse than in other parts of the world). But April noted that the fact that the U.S., generally speaking, was built outward rather than upward means the air circulates far better than a lot of places.
"In Hong Kong, the tall buildings trap the car exhaust and the smell from the sewer because Hong Kong has many old buildings," she explained. Mix that with the hot and humid climate — well… you can just imagine.
5. The lack of cigarette smoke
"Not many people smoke cigarettes in the U.S.," she said. "When I was in Europe, I smelled cigarettes everywhere, and it was gross." Yeah, those beloved Parisian cafes and all that al fresco dining in Italy? Hope you like your dinner with a side of cigarettes!
6. Rule following
April noted that things like restaurants and grocery stores having napkins and utensils on display for people to take as needed would never, ever fly in Hong Kong. "Everything will be gone in a second because some people would take everything if it is free," she said.
The ease of returning purchases to a store is another thing they don't have in Hong Kong because people would take advantage of it.
7. Generosity
April's final all-American benefit is one a lot of people from other countries point out — our generosity. Her primary example was a thing we all hate: our tipping culture. But it is a testament to our generosity that most of us follow it anyway, even if begrudgingly.
"I was brought up by the culture of being extremely calculated on money, especially my parents' generation," April explained. "They came from very little, so they try to be resourceful to the point of being greedy and stingy."
Sure, a functioning healthcare system and a modicum of political stability would be nice, but we Americans really do have a lot to appreciate. It's a good lesson for us all that people from other countries notice things like our generosity and openness because that's all too often the opposite of what we're told about our own country.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.