GMT-5: Lessons From America

Today we have been in the New World for exactly one year. In that time we've experienced a lot and found out a lot more about the locals and their culture.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of the things that we have learnt so far on our American adventure:

Contrary to popular European belief, Americans are not universally stupid, un- or under-educated, little travelled, self-centred and unilateralist in spite of the impressions conveyed by some of the people they elect to high office.
American cheese is made from pasteurised milk and is inevitably a variant of cheddar. Sometimes it comes in aerosol cans. As with all other food, it is indestructible.
In baseball, the standard greeting for players of the opposing team as they are preparing to bat is "You suck".
American cars are bigger, heavier and consume far more than their European counterparts. The same goes for many of the people.
Every action undertaken in America is awesome, no matter how well it is performed.
Americans put ice in everything - especially chilled drinks.
When someone says, "How you doing?" they don't expect to hear an answer. They want an echo.
All American vehicles have at least one cupholder between the front seats. If there are two, one is can-sized, the other coffee-cup size.
There are neither pavements nor street lights in suburbia. After all, people drive everywhere. So far, we've some across drive-through and drive-past banks and ATMs, restaurants, libraries, car washes, pharmacies (i.e. chemist's), post offices, Fed-Ex drop-off stations and coffee shops. Apparently there are drive-through marriage chapels and funeral homes*.
Everyone is on first-name terms. If you've never met someone before, they make a point of telling you their first name and asking yours. I've been addressed by my first name by car repair men, my bank manager, an optician, call centre agents, sales assistants and many other people I have encountered once in my life and am unlikely to come across ever again.