Things that surprised an Irishman about America

So, someone posted this on facebook:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/michael-koh/2013/11/16-people-on-things-they-couldnt-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/

For those of you who don't click links, it's a list of things people found mind blowing about america once they moved here.

I decided to ask my resident foreigner about what he found fascinating about America.

• Cracker Barrel (Stephen has an overwhelming love of Cracker Barrel. If given the choice between going there and going just about anywhere else, he will ALWAYS pick Cracker Barrel). I ordered pancakes, and they brought me like fourteen plates of food. There was sausage and bacon and eggs and so much deliciousness. It was awesome. 
• Free refills were pretty awesome, too. You can ask someone, "Can I have another Coke?" and they'll pour it. And you ask "How much will that be?" and it's FREE. 
• Planes are like taxis. One time, I missed a plane. They were just like, "Oh, that's okay. Just catch the next one".  If you did that in the UK it'd be another $400 and a long wait. 
• There's free booze in casinos. FREE booze. 
• Deep fried turkeys. The idea of frying a whole turkey in Ireland is ridiculous. Or, how in the south you can see people barbecuing a whole pig on the back of their car. 
• People are so friendly in the south. You can walk down a street and say hi to someone and they'll say hi back. People wave at you from their cars as they drive by. In Ireland, if you wave at someone, you're going to get something shouted at and something thrown at you. 
• America is huge. It's just... it's massive. And there's so much variety. Mountains, beaches, deserts, forests..... 
• This is the only place I've ever seen dirt poor people. I mean, seriously dirt poor. People wearing hand me downs held together with rags. People talk about Ireland being poor, and it is, but it's nothing like the dirt poor people you can see in the south here. 
• Aside from that, quality of life is generally better here. Things are huge. Everything's cheap. Food is awesome. 
• That people have this weird romantic view of Ireland. St. Patricks day, Irish pubs everywhere. On several occasions I've had Americans argue that they were 'more Irish than me'. 
• Americans seem to hate their own country. living there, you don't see how huge and gorgeous your own country is. You haven't lived in just one small country all your life. So many Americans think america sucks. It really doesn't. It's pretty bad-ass. 

Then I asked him what people in America are most surprised to learn about Ireland.

• That we have cars and electricity. And tvs. And trains. People think Ireland is a little back water. We have modern amenities.
• How heavily influenced we are by American culture. (I, personally, was really surprised to hear that he had played cowboys and indians growing up. Those only existed in America, so I assumed it was an american game). 
• I have never ever eaten corned beef and cabbage. That is an american dish. Not what we eat.