How Boston differs to South Africa...part 4

Cars and Transport
- Cars are somewhat familiar, they have car makes similiar to SA like Toyota, Saburu, BMW, etc. however the model names are different to those in SA. There are a couple American brand cars. Cars are not as big in size as I expected
- Cars and gas (we call it petrol!) are fairly cheap. Parking can be expensive. Steering wheels are on the left side of the car (on the right side in SA!)
- Most cars are parked in the street, since they don't have a garage (in Cambridge)
- Apparently there is a lot of bicycle theft, the thiefs know which are the expensive bikes and steal the whole bike or the tyres
- Apparently there is also a lot of petty theft on the subway, thiefs will snatch a cellphone/MP3 player/camera from a person just before the doors close and run off

Shops (in Cambridge)
- They have CVS which is their big pharmacy type shop like SA's Clicks. I've even seen a drive-thru in one suburb
- The big grocery shops are (like SA's PnP) is Stop n Shop. Whole Foods although has more organic food is similar to SA's Woolworth foods
- The big appliance shops are (like SA's Game) is Best Buys
- The big mega store who sell almost anything from furniture to bedding (like SA's Macro) is Target and IKEA
- The big departmental shops (like SA's Edgars) is Sears and Macy's
- The big computer shop (like SA's Incredible Connection) is Micro Center
- The big stationery shop (like SA's CNA) is Staples
- Most cashiers ask you whether you want an email receipt, email and print receipt or print only receipt (email receipts, what a great way to save paper!)

Some obvious differences:
- Their metric system is different:
 they use Farenheit for temperature (1 degree celcius = 33.8 degrees farenheit)
 they use Miles for distance (1 km = 0.62 miles)
 they use fluid Ounces (oz) for liquids (1 oz. = 28 grams)
 they use Pounds for weight  (1 kg = 2.2 pounds/lb)
- US Clothing and shoe sizes are different! I need to figure out what my US size is :)
- I've mentioned this before but their plugs are different, see pic below. I brought my travel hairdryer from SA due because the voltage is different, the power of the hairdryer is so weak! landed up buying a new one else it will take hours to dry my hair in winter :)

Stationery
- They call files, 'binders' and use 3 holed punches (in SA, our files have two holes)
- Their paper size is slightly different (shorter than our A4 size) and come in white or yellow
- They call prestik, 'sticky tack' and it comes in orange!