What's a.....?

As I've gone through a few months of homeschooling, I've come across many cultural things that I am having to explain to my kids.  Things that most American kids would be familiar with by this stage in the game.  This list could go one forever, but here are a few:

1.  What's Valentine's Day?

2.  Why do people do parades?

3.  What are pickles, lemons, and milkshakes?

4.  What's a post office? And why do you like the stamps instead of putting glue on the back?

5.  What's a firestation?

6.  What's a seat belt?  

7.  A red light normally means STOP.

8.  Fireworks happen at night in America-not the day as we have here. 

Then there are the culturally American inappropriate things that we have to tell our kids are OK here, but not in our home or in America.

1.  Grandmother's shouldn't hack lougeys.  Especially indoors.

2.  You need to have a shirt on when you eat at a restaurant.

3.  You can't just drop trow and urinate anywhere you'd like.

4.  To cross the street you must look for donkeys, taxis, bicycles, cars, buses and walkers.  And it will never truly be clear.  Just look and run!

5.  Most grandparents don't live "in the computer."  Even though that's when we get to talk with them.  

6.  You don't eat rice by putting the bowl up to your mouth and shoveling. 

Like I said, these are just a few.  We hope our kids are good athletes or musicians or something, because man they are going to be awkward Americans.