People who have left third-world countries for first-world countries, what surprised you the most about life in first-world countries?

My dad grew up in South Korea when it was one of the world’s most oppressive dictatorships (Chun Doo-Hwan gave Kim Il-Sung a run for his money when it came to human rights violations).

Many decades later here in America, he’s still somewhat afraid to speak poorly of either the South Korean or American governments out of fear that they’ve installed listening devices on his cable box and leaves all of his electronics far away in another part of the house before he sleeps. He also still believes that nighttime military curfews are a thing and never drives on public roads after 10:00 PM.

He’s never been back to Korea since he left and never wants to step foot there again. I visited in 2006 and it felt more or less as safe as America… I can’t imagine what it was like in 1981.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent