Perspectives - Differences between USA & Serbia

This post is part of the Perspectives series. Find other posts in this series here

There aren't so many Americans who have moved to Serbia (relative to the population of the country), but enough have made the move to provide some insights into the differences between the cultures.

Serbians are very direct compared to Americans. There's no filtering of opinions. Thin skinned expats beware.
In Belgrade, most people speak great English. For westerners who haven't visited this region before, it's unexpected and very impressive.
Serbians are very warm, friendly people. They welcome outsiders, perhaps partially because they were a rarity until very recent years.
Locals have an uncanny ability to maintain a neutral face just like a Russian in normal life situations, but then when they sit down at a cafe, they suddenly transform into loud, laughing, vibrant Italians, with hand gestures and everything!
Serbians have another similarity with Italians: a very small "bubble of personal space". When people get into animated discussion, there are often taps on the arm or shoulder of listeners, which from a USA perspective is intruding on a person's "elbow room".
Serbians are generally loud. I thought Americans can be loud, but Serbia might take the gold medal. At least, when rakija is involved.
In big cities, there might be more fast food availability than in American cities. And the late night options are definitely more impressive than most western cities.
If you lived in the USA or Canada for most of your life, the public transportation in Belgrade is great. And the locals very much underappreciate the public transit because they are usually comparing it to Berlin or Vienna, which are larger cities in wealthier European countries, and not comparing it to countries outside of Europe.
It's still a mystery to me how the "polako" lifestyle of chilling in cafes is so prevalent in the region but at the same time loads of drivers are very impatient. The best explanation I've heard is that the impatient drivers really want to be relaxing with a coffee so they drive fast to get there.
For whatever reason, men don't wear open-toed shoes (sandals, etc.). Additionally, shorts are worn much less than expected in 40 C weather.
Many locals in ex-Yugo countries don't explore new places in the region. They prefer to visit places that are recommended to them by friends or family, and often these are the same places that many other locals visit. If you want to explore Serbia and don't visit Zlatibor, Tara, or Kapaonik, you might be the only person visiting the place. This can be nice if you like visiting new places or new cafes, because they will be less busy.
It's very common for people in Belgrade to complain about the city. In large cities in the USA, local people are usually boastful about the city and sometimes aren't so happy when other people complain about its faults.
Belgrade locals have some weird priority for keeping shoes clean. Many people prefer wearing white shoes, which makes the task even more difficult. Maybe this is an example of Europe focusing more on fashion than the USA, but Belgrade is the first place where I've regularly started cleaning my shoes. To check if I was crazy, I asked my USA friends if they regularly clean their shoes, but they laughed as though no one would ever focus on that.
There is no way of expressing certainty related to an opinion, the opinion is simply stated as fact and it is the listener's job to determine whether this "fact" is actually correct. In the USA, if someone is asked what tomorrow's weather will be and they are not sure, they might say "I think it might rain", but in Serbia, you will instead hear something like "It will rain tomorrow".
Similar to the above, the usage of "I don't know", "I think..." or "maybe" is practically illegal. These expressions are common when talking in English to Americans, but the equivalent is not used in Serbian.
It's amazing that fresh squeezed lemonade is available at nearly every cafe and restaurant. Getting fresh squeezed juice in most parts of the USA is a luxury, usually only found at special juice shops. Cafes or restaurants will only served bottled juices filled with added sugar.
The green markets (AKA farmer's markets, in USA lingo) are amazing. The fact that they are many throughout large cities that are open every day of the week is an extreme luxury. The USA doesn't have the concept of a "central market", so you're lucky if you can find a small selection of overpriced vegetables and cheese being sold once per week at a "farmer's market" in place in your city. And of course you normally drive there, rather than walking 10 mins to the nearest green market to find a much larger selection at good prices.
Popcorn is a very common street food. It's nice because it's not that heavy and it's borderline healthy. Popcorn is usually only found in cinemas in the USA. There is no culture of tiny street stalls selling food (like kiosks or popcorn vendors), except for food trucks that sell meals and not snacks.
I can almost understand why drivers cover parts of their license plate in Belgrade when they are parking illegally. But there are a surprising number of cars with foreign license plates (USA and Canada) in Serbia and many of these plates in Belgrade are obvious fakes (not even made of metal, incorrect design, etc.). Supposedly putting these plates on a car allows the driver to avoid paying registration tax and insurance on the vehicle?
There's inconsistency in gas stations offering self-service and full-service filling. And apparently there is no expectation of a tip at full-service stations. Why would any gas station employee put in the extra effort for full service if they're not getting paid extra or receiving tips? Is this an artifact from the socialist era?
In Europe, a 3 or 4-hour drive is considered a long drive. In the USA, this could almost be how much time some people drive during their commute to and from work. In the USA, a long drive should be 6 hours or more, minimum.
The lack of cancel culture is refreshing for anyone tired of the extra overhead involved with considering the political correctness of words before saying anything.
It's strange to see paper posted on buildings or trees showing pictures of local neighborhood residents who recently died. This seems to be a local Orthodox tradition.
By default, there aren't clothes dryers in apartments or Airbnbs. Instead, air drying clothes is the default. This is pretty standard in Europe but clothes dryers are standard in the USA.

Additional insights are shared in the interview below by one of the OG expat bloggers in Serbia, Charles Cather

This American discusses raising children, living in NYC, and the American dream compared to his life in Serbia.

And another video from a Canadian explaining why someone from Canada moved to Serbia.