Some small things I noticed during my stay

• Goods trains have usually 100-110 compartments
• People follow rules strictly on road - lanes etc. If you are not in proper lane, you don't turn
• Unless you make a major mistake, nobody will blow their horn
• Outside your house, you'll wonder whether anybody else lives here? Usually you'll find people only in Malls, On-Road or in offices.
• Rates vary even between adjacent shops. Deals are the way to go.
• People work from 8 to 5. After 5, it's hard to find somebody in office.
• Cell phone is quite costly. Usually plans are around US$40-50/ 700 mins. Even incoming is counting in those minutes.
• People don't use cell phones/ phones much unlike India.
• People are quite straight forward.
• Directions are told like North, South, East, West. You won't hear things like take right, take left usually.
• Greenry is in abundance. Everything is clean.
• People use wipes - tissue papers etc. like anything and they are quite effective.
• For most of the tasks - tools are quite effective. People can put up wall paper, seat covers, sofa covers etc. all on their own. Just take a visit to Home Depot and you'll wonder.
• Concrete use in housing units is quite minimal. Mostly people use wood and other light weight material.
• Almost every building/ house is centrally air-conditioned.
• Some of the discount stores like Fred and Walmart help a lot in saving.
• Free offers are too many - for example - through Snapfish, order prints for free. Free shipping on many things...
• Labor is too costly. For example, purchasing a mattress might be US$200 but shipping might be US$50 if you don't get a good deal. I got 6MP Sony camera for US$169 and quote for repair of my friend's 5MP camera repair is US$180
• Many a times, going and purchasing in shop might prove costlier. For example, I needed a USB cable. In Walmart, Best Buy etc. Belkin cable was for US$14. I got the same delivered at home by CompUsa for just US$2.99. Similarly, iPod silicon case was US$8 at walmart and through another site, i got it delivered at home for US$2.99.
• You will hardly find anybody walking on the streets
• All the parking lots are huge. Stores are also huge in size
• Roads are quite wide and clean
• If you miss one turn/ exit on a road, you might have to take a trip of 20-30 miles
• Getting the right cut is difficult! And it costs around US$10-12 for a hair cut. Look for coupons for hair-cut too. We get US$2 discount from the coupon that we get with our grocery bill
• Since manual labor is costly - getting your clothes altered is costly too. For example, for a trouser alteration, it's usually US$10-12. So you should be careful about the size you choose. On trousers both length and waist are written so you can avoid the hassle of getting these altered.
• Almost everything can be returned for a full refund. Many a times, even if you have used - and most of the times - no questions asked. This includes food, electronics, clothes! So if you don't like it - return it.
• Since most of the apartments have electric gas, for cooking chapatis you must get a grill that is available on Indian stores. That'll save lots of effort and chapatis will be much better.
• Many magazines can be subscribed for free including Khabar, Little India. Subscribe these to get info about happenings in Indian community. Also subscribe to free material because it might have coupons/ offers etc.
• Vegetables and Fruits are available in lots of varieties. For example, usually in my area, apples are available in 6-7 varieties. So be careful while choosing. Usually you don't want to get organic stuff.
• People use Tofu as an alternative to Paneer.
• Cheese is usually processed with items from Animal origin.
• Even bread is available in many varieties. In my area it's available from US$0.88 to US$3 per pack (usually same weight/ size/ number of slices).
• Our friend brought "Jaman" for curd from India because the curd over here tastes a lot different. We usually use 2% fat milk.

Looking forward to your comments and experiences...