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Seperating Litter, I guess. Many dont do it correctly anyways, but its worse in other countries.
Speaking English I guess. Not the best, but better than in former eastern countries. But yeah, fuck colonialism, so not really a great thing.
Riding the bike. Everyone should do it, and shocking to see many other countries struggle with that even more.
How to dress for -30C weather. How to get out if you fall through ice into water.
Skiing is pretty much a must where I live
Paying attention to the weather to know if rain or severe winds are coming. I know people have access to hourly forecasts but locals can just tell when the weather will be bad.
Clapping. Spaniards can clap, other people can't. I took me years to figure out what they mean when they say that foreigners can't clap and learn to do it properly.
Wut? Please explain.
I just did in another comment. Basically, if put enough Spaniards in one place they start doing stuff like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW6L_lTrIFg
As in, being able to make a strong sound while clapping? Or being able to keep rhythm? I know for sure from concerts in America, England, Germany, etc. that people cannot keep a rhythm to save their lives...
Both, actually. They are good and keeping complex rhythms and can make it sound strong.
Canoeing. I'm not an outdoorsy guy at all but everytime I see US tourists in a canoe they just spin in circles. It feels like Canadians are just born knowing.
Parallel parking. And overall parking in anything else than a US parking lot. People have no idea how to move their car around if it doesnβt go straight forward or backwards. Iβve even seen people failing simple K-Turns. I have both a French and US drivers license. Also manual transmission, but thatβs less surprising.
Swimming. It's sometimes dangerous for foreign children to see Dutch kids swim and try to join them.
Don't walk on dark places at night.
Do you mean going outside, even if it's dark is the skill?
Or do you mean not going to dangerous places is the skill?
Because those are two very different things, if you're in a peaceful region.
Being able to recognize poison ivy. Growing up in a forest, it was one of many basic automatic skills learned in childhood, and I see and avoid it without much thought. I've had to prevent many friends from other regions or countries from causing themselves serious harm by ignorance of poison ivy, though.
Swimming. Here, kids have to take mandatory swimming courses at school. I have quite a few eastern european friends, and they all tell me, that swimming is something that people learn if they want to and if they can afford it, but it's not learly an universal skill in their countries.
Most people who drown here are actually immigrants, who see everyone swimming and think that it can't be that hard...
I feel like Latin Americans in general take for granted that you're supposed to pull and push everything to make it work. Sometimes with clever but shitty and overspecific solutions for the problem, or shifting the goals to something more achievable. Some examples:
Three examples:
home oven
The top of the inner part of your oven is partially corroded, so the top heating element does not stay in place. If you leave it as is, it'll get in the way, burn you, and burn your food. And you don't have money for a new oven. You're reasonably sure that the heating element is coated with some elec-proof stuff.
So what do you do? You put a big nail across the hole caused by the corrosion, and hold the element to that nail with some wire. "Just temporarily". (Nothing is more permanent than temporary hacks.)
Linguistics, field work
Linguistics. You're making field work on phonetics. You need clear records of speakers speaking their variety, that means good mic + noiseless environment. And yet you're studying a variety mostly spoken by farmers, and the ones willing to help you out can't travel, so you'll need to record them from a cellphone in their farm, and your record will be filled with pigs oinking, birds chirping, and a rooster going "CRAAAA" nonstop.
The solution? ...screw phonology, your paper is now about syntax. It's far easier to detect by ear if the speaker used pronoun reduplication than if he used [ΙΎ], [ΙΉ] or [Ι»].
Chemistry, organic synthesis
You got a synthesis route demanding glacial acetic acid (HAc). Except that the HAc bottle is empty, requesting another will take a week because bureaucracy, and oxidising ethanol to HAc through permanganate is bound to get someone screeching at you "YOU'RE WASTING OUR REAGENTS!!!".
Your solution? Run some quick maths on what's cheaper: 1) to distil supermarket vinegar, or 2) to use bleach to oxidise ethanol at some loss. Then you do it.