I moved from Taiwan, a densely populated eastern Asian country, to Phoenix, Arizona, at the start of the year. Here are some of my observations.

The Goods

Turning right on red

Being able to legally turn right on a red light is the greatest invention from Murica of all time. Every other country prohibits it probably because they think it’s dangerous, but it’s really not. I’d say that it’s just as dangerous as changing lanes in a multi-lane road. I could even argue that the latter is more dangerous since there would be a huge blind spot when you do that, while when turning right on a red there’s none.

It would lead to a very funny situation on a wide road tho. On a red light, if the car occupying the rightmost lane isn’t turning right and that there’s a (barely) wide enough space on its right, cars would just squeeze into that space and turn right like a fucking scooter in Taiwan. Very hilarious. I’ve done it multiple times as well. It’s the problem that Taiwanese car drivers hate the most about scooters, but somehow in Murica, it’s the other cars that are doing it.

Can do everything in a car

Murica in general is so car-dependent that you can do everything in a car. My mind was blown when I discovered a drive-thru ATM. I’ve tried and it’s actually a pretty smooth process.

Aside from ATMs and your regular drive-thrus at fast food restaurants, you can also do a thing called curbside pickup in a lot of stores or supermarkets. Basically you just order stuff online, drive to the assigned parking spaces, and then wait for the staff to transport the goods to you and load them into your trunk. IKEA, Walmart, Target, PetSmart, and even ALDI all have it.

Personally I don’t really use it except that one time in IKEA, where I ordered all the bedding and stuff and picked them up on my first day in Phoenix, but I could imagine it being useful for a family of 4 buying weekly groceries.

Friendly Staffs

Staffs in stores are generally much friendlier compared to every other country I’ve been to (Taiwan, Japan, UK, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, etc.), maybe a bit too friendly even. When you’re just wandering around in the store a random staff walking by would often just check on you for no reason. The regular “How are you?” “Have a good day” greetings also make you feel more valued. They’re also almost always smiling.

This applies to restaurant servers as well but staff in stores being friendly is much more impressive as they don’t get tips from you.

Parking space everywhere (suburb)

It doesn’t apply to downtowns, but in the suburbs, there are parking spaces everywhere. Every store comes with a HUGE parking lot. And for malls, their parking lots are GIGANTIC. They’re so huge that I even teach my gf drive in one of them.

Abundance of huge stores (suburb)

Only for suburbs as well, but the suburbs in Murica are crazily liveable with the abundance of superstores. I live in North Phoenix, and within 15-min of driving, I get 2 Walmart, 3 Target, 2 Costco, 5 PetSmart, all at the size of a superstore.

Close to zero speed traps (Phoenix)

May be Phoenix only but there are virtually no speed traps in the Phoenix area. Meaning, everyone drives 15mph above the speed limit, which makes perfect sense because in the suburbs the roads are so wide and big. Even 80mph feels like a safe speed on a lot of the 55mph roads. And on 65mph highways 100mph is a perfectly normal speed. It’s very unfortunate that my car’s cruise control only supports up to 89mph.

The Bads

Huge toilet door gap

Every public toilet has a huge gap in the door, offering minimal privacy. I’ve seen a lot of people claiming that it’s for preventing people from doing drugs and sleeping inside, but bro even the toilets in my office are like that. Surely they can make a more privacy-aware version for toilets in corporate offices?

It’s not US-specific, but I also hate the fact that there are no lids for public toilets. The argument for this is the same as the previous one, s.t. people won’t sit and sleep on them, but my counterarguments stand. I hate flushing the toilet without a lid.

No pedestrians

Doesn’t apply to downtowns outside of the south in summer but I get how Murican are so obese now. It’s because they drive everywhere. The only time they walk is when they’re in between their car and the destination.

In Phoenix there are virtually no pedestrians at all, due to it being car dependent and the heat in the summer months. It’s good for me tho because pedestrians are the main pain in the ass when driving.

Add-on fees

The labeled fee is always pre-tax, and in restaurants you also have to add tips, so you always pay much more than what you appear to have to do. Just label with the post-tax price like everywhere else and add the service fee inside the food price like in Taiwan.

Stupid presidential debates

The presidential debates in Murica are incredibly r-slurred. Not the contents (it’s stupid but not more than everywhere else) but how they’re hosted. First of all, I’m not a MAGA supporter, but how is every debate being hosted by left-wing media fair? In the 2024 election cycle, the 3 debates are hosted by CNN, ABC News, and CBS News, all strongly leaning left. How does that make sense?

Secondly, there’s virtually no structure in the debates. Murica is the land of the free 🦅🦅🦅, doesn’t mean you should have debates with zero organization.

In Taiwan, our presidential debates are very organized. We have 3 sections, opening statement, media questions, and cross-examination, all time limited. And the moderators have a very simple job: enforcing sections and muting the mics after the time’s up.

I thought that was just the standard process for a presidential debate, until I saw the Murican version. In Murica, the candidates are actually debating against the moderators. The moderator would ask a question, sometimes standard, sometimes spicy, sometimes mild, depending on their political stance, and then expect the candidates to answer. When time’s up but the candidate’s still talking, they’ll mute the mic 1 in 10 times. That’s the debate for the candidates of the “Leader of the Free World”.

The Crazy

No recycling

Murica encourages waste, and on an individual level it’s great. In grocery stores, you can often take as many plastic bags as you want. You can even use a plastic bag for each item when checking out if you’re feeling Murican.

The best part about it is that there’s no recycling. In Taiwan, we have a specific bin for each trash type: regular waste, plastic bottles, glass containers, paper, plastic containers, metal cans, “raw” food waste, and “cooked” food waste. But in Murica, no, everything goes into the same huge green trash can. It may be bad for the environment but who cares? We’re in the land of the free.

In Murica, you can drive legally as long as your BAC is below 0.08%, which is crazily high. It means that for an average Murican adult male with an incredible weight of 200lbs, you can drink 3 shots of whiskey and then drive legally immediately after … crazy shit.

For context, the legal limit is 0.03% in Taiwan & Japan, and 0.02% in Northern Europe.

Phoenix is not a city

It’s a giant suburb. I’ve been to the so-called “downtown” area and it’s incredibly tiny, pretty much just a few blocks of high rise. Everywhere else is just composed of single-story buildings.

It’s not a bad thing, but it’s just funny to call it a city.