Having moved from New Zealand to England a couple of years ago, I've found that the English are less direct and more polite than people in NZ. I initially found

Having moved from New Zealand to England a couple of years ago, I've found that the English are less direct and more polite than people in NZ. I initially found it more difficult judging whether someone liked me because of the additional layer of politeness. I found it somewhat disingenuous, but I've become accustomed to it. Similarly, I spent a few hundred hours in a social context with some people from North America recently and initially found it quite hard to judge whether they were being sincere or not. It's interesting that we perceive other (even relatively similar, as UK/NZ/USA are) cultures to be difficult to understand but can become quite used to them. I wonder if I might find New Zealanders to be quite direct now.