 Hey, welcome back to my YouTube channel guys. Today we're going to talk about what do New Zealanders really think about Americans? Now we are a family of six who have lived here for about five years so I am just going to share my experience in the stereotypes that people have of Americans here in New Zealand and talk a little bit about whether I think that those are true or not. So stay tuned, subscribe below. This video is going to be good. This video is sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace is a great all-in-one platform to get your business online quickly. When I head back to the States I always get the question, what do New Zealanders think of Americans? Do they like us? Are you accepted over there? What are the stereotypes? And so today I'm going to talk about 10 of those stereotypes that I hear quite often from New Zealanders as an American living here in New Zealand. Now the first reaction that I generally get from New Zealanders about Americans is number one, that they're friendly. Yeah, they actually think that Americans are friendly but we kind of know otherwise, right? I'm just kidding. Depending on where you live in America I would say certain areas of the US are much more friendly than others but in general the Kiwis perspective is that Americans are friendly and so if they've traveled to the US or they've met Americans here, their experience is that they're very welcoming and that they're very nice people and they like them a lot. The second stereotype that I hear quite often is that they really have no problem speaking their mind and I would say that that is definitely true compared to the Kiwi way. Now Kiwis, New Zealanders, and this is a general stereotype, tend to be passive-aggressive. They don't just come out and tell you what they really think about you. Whereas Americans would be like, I don't really like that you did that. And not all Americans but in general that would happen more there than it would ever hear and so you have to kind of adjust how you talk about things. I've noticed that I've had to adjust quite a bit at work where if I have a thought about something or an opinion like I can't just be like I don't think that's a good idea. Don't say that. Don't say that. So they think that the Americans speak their mind and we definitely do compared to them and so in some ways they are off put by our confrontational nature but at the same time they also it's frustrating for an American to be here for not really knowing what people think of you. They're all acting so nice to you but then you find out later after you've been here for a while they're a little passive-aggressive and maybe what they've portrayed isn't actually true. So it's very interesting but yes the stereotype is that Americans speak their mind and I would agree compared to Kiwis we definitely do. And number three another stereotype is that Americans are loud. Very loud and enthusiastic as you can see with my videos which is why I think a lot of New Zealanders like my videos but that's just a guess comment below if you agree. But yeah so they were loud and enthusiastic and I would agree. I have noticed now that I've been here for multiple years I have noticed when we come into a room my husband my kids that we are quite loud compared to everybody else and I've become much more aware of it. And so I'm not saying that they that New Zealanders don't like that. I'm saying that they just went up and Americans here are they're very loud. They're just very you know because Kiwis are very like they don't you know want to elevate themselves. They have the tall poppy syndrome and so they don't like to be like loud and like you know expressive and enthusiastic. And this is general. I have met plenty of very enthusiastic Kiwis. So this is just general and it's just I think it's just the enthusiasm is portrayed differently than an American would. And so we would just be like oh go on in your face all these hands talking as I know you've meant many of you have commented on how much I move my hands. So I would say I am a generally a very enthusiastic person but yes that is another stereotype of Americans loud and enthusiastic. And number four Americans do everything bigger. They just do everything bigger. Whether it's their drinks the amount of food you get at a restaurant. They're big buildings. They're big cities. They do everything bigger. And my experience with New Zealanders is they love that. They're from a very small country with and then when you have a small country in a small population your ability to build big things is very limited. And so when you come to a country that is much bigger with a much larger population and you can build big things it's very interesting. And so yeah we just do things bigger and we think bigger and it's just different to then kind of more of a small country feel. And number five New Zealanders think that Americans are quite wasteful. Yeah they think that they always need something to throw away. That they have no problem using paper and plastic and throwing it away and they just have a very much a convenient culture where everything's pre-packaged and so there's something to throw away. They're not too focused on environmental issues, sustainability whereas New Zealander will jump on to those issues much quicker and be more willing to adapt to that. So since I've been here for example like grocery stores have eliminated plastic bags completely like completely to the point where you there are bags that you can buy there but you generally have to bring all your own stuff to put stuff in and people in New Zealand just adapted very quickly. I don't think that that would have happened as easily in the US but yeah so there is a feeling that they think that Americans are quite wasteful. I don't know about you but I have been putting off creating my website until I found my solution with Squarespace. You guys are going to love this product. They have so many beautiful templates to choose from. You just pick your template and then you go in and just add the details of your business and literally within one day I was able to get my website up and running. Another feature that I love on Squarespace is that they have this social sharing where my community can just go right out into my YouTube channel, my TikTok channel, which is where most of my content exists and so it's really nice that I can connect directly from Squarespace. Other features that Squarespace offers that are really great is their the fact that you can collect donations, you can do email campaigns from it. It's just overall really great. I personally also love the analytics. I always like to know what's going on behind the scenes. Who's really reaching me on my webpage and that's just such a nice feature as well. I highly recommend that you check out Squarespace. Take some time today to go to Squarespace.com and check out your free trial and then when you're ready to purchase your website or your domain you get 10% off with the link below. And number six New Zealanders think that Americans are quite patriotic. Americans talk about how great their country is and how much they love their country and so their feeling is that Americans are very patriotic, which I think is true. What they don't understand is they don't understand our gun laws, they don't understand Americans voting for Trump, you know these are some of like the big ones that in general they're like we don't understand this. And anytime I want to have a conversation about that I would get the attention of the whole room when I try to explain the differences between the two political parties in the US and how big the divide is and that it's hard to understand from somebody here living in New Zealand. It's just a different culture, a different value system and different things going on. And so yeah and so they appreciate that a little bit but I have to be honest during the last election, the US election, I wanted to create, I actually did, I created a teacher that said I don't want to talk politics because anytime something was on the news everybody asks the local American what they thought about it and you know quite frankly I don't live in the US and so I certainly don't want to deal with politics in the US if I'm not there. So yeah so they think that Americans are very patriotic, you know. Americans talk about the freedoms and the fact that they're in the greatest country on earth and so that's how they see us. They don't necessarily agree because quite frankly a lot of Americans haven't seen the rest of the world but you know they just know that Americans tend to be very patriotic. And number seven a question I get all the time is is America like the movies? Is it really like that? Is high schools really like that? Are universities and fraternities and sororities really like that? Do people really have those big mansions in all these TV shows? Are their kitchens really that nice? And you know I just tell them don't believe everything that you see on TV okay? It's not a good reference point but if they've never been somewhere and they see it all over the movies and TV well you tend to think that that's what it's like and so I get lots of detail questions about how things are run and different because it is quite different in terms of a lot of different issues but yeah they're always wondering if I if it's just like in the movies or TV and if I've met a famous person they think that they're just all over the place and that you can just meet them you know anywhere but quite frankly being in the Wellington region I think that there's a lot more famous people actually right here right now than that I would run into in Wisconsin in the US. And number eight Kiwis think that Americans are naive to the rest of the world and I would say that I agree with that. I think that the reason why they feel that they're naive is because they don't travel much outside of the US as a general rule of thumb. They just don't seem to know about the rest of the world not not only like where things are located but just about other ways of doing things like they don't seem to understand universal health care and that so many countries function perfectly fine even with large populations with that they don't understand how you can't back up the environmental issues as a general rule of thumb and they don't you know they just think that you they think that Americans think that their way of life is the only way of life because I haven't seen other places and I think I would tend to agree with that I mean you know you are kind of brought up in the US with this is the greatest place on earth why would you want to go anywhere else and so until you go and see that other places are perfectly happy running things a totally different way not one is necessarily better or worse than the other but that they're different and they function and they're good and they both have their pros and cons and I feel like Americans would be more open to talking about a lot of these issues if they were more open to experience these kinds of things the differences in different cultures and how it could work you know in American culture and number nine Americans how do I say it they have a need to be the best in the world okay so I get comments all the time here about you know the world series of baseball when it's really just played in the US there's no other countries involved or there's lots of comments of we have the best in the world we have you know and but there's nobody else that's competing for that so they just like to they have this need to feel that they're the best and so that is a New Zealanders stereotype that we just need to be the best and they think that we are the best at a lot of things like I mean music entertainment there's so many amazing things that America shares with the world like that is not that is undeniable okay but it's so funny that they label like the world's best this and that and it's it's not the world that's even doing it it's just you guys so it's kind of funny and number 10 last but not least they think that they're driven by money right that they are overworked and driven by money that money is the reason that they just overvalue it is basically what I think a New Zealander would think whereas New Zealanders they they very much value family time they very very much value rest enjoyment enjoying life over overworking to make more money to expand your business like I don't see a lot of businesses like scaling you know getting bigger you know if they have a business and it gives them a nice living they have no desire to change that we're not trying to be bigger and better I'm I'm happy to have the lifestyle that I have and satisfied with that and I can go home and have dinner with my wife and they're happy with that and so it's just very different where they they just think that we're very driven by money and I think that's true compared just for me living in both cultures and seeing the drive and the ambition definitely different now America has great drive and ambition and they actually get a lot of things done here I've noticed you know we're definitely valuing our morning and afternoon tea and being okay with a lot more inefficiencies than I've experienced in the U.S. but you know you can't have everything you can't like create the most amazing things but only work 30 hours a week that's just not how it is so yeah they just think that they are a little overworked and they should take a little break and take some time off well I hope you enjoyed the video today guys and I hope you got some insight on what Kiwis actually think of Americans and I want to thank Squarespace for sponsoring this video and make sure that you click the link below to get 10 off a website or domain through Squarespace and make sure you check out my new American recipe book it is a little up with the link below and it's only eight dollars it's an e-book and it's a really great resource if you want to try some American recipes but comment below let me know your thoughts like what are your thoughts what is your stereotypes of Americans or if you are American living in New Zealand what other things have you heard that maybe I would have missed so comment those below make sure you subscribe below we have great videos coming out every week have a great week