biocow:
The equivalent for "fuse box" now would be a "circuit breaker" or "breaker box". Of the 7 or 8 places i've lived they were all very similar and looked like this. http://www.dannychesnut.com/Electronics/Wiring/220/105_0582.jpg Usually they are located in the garage. If there is none you would probably find it in a closet somewhere in the house.
Or outside on the wall, or in the basement (if your house has a basement). BTW - I've never seen an install that looked that "neat"; not saying they don't exist, but in some cases it is never that neat...
Sometimes the green ground wire will be green with a yellow stripe (I've seen that before). Just the other day, I was removing a couple of ceiling fans, and I noticed that their internal "hot" wires (leading to the motor and light) were red (though most of the time they are black). There's been a few cases where I have seen blue wires, but what they were used for I don't remember.
The standard is black=hot, white=neutral, green/bare copper=ground; this is the current standard for wiring colors from the breaker/fuse box to the outlets (and junction boxes, for mounted things like ceiling fans, light fixtures, etc). I would say that any other color you might see was either an addition by an installer who did it to differentiate something special (perhaps switching hots or grounds?), or he only had that on-hand and used it (and to hell with "code").
AC frequency here is 60 Hz, as has been mentioned - but voltage can vary quite a lot, depending on where you are at; in really crappy areas it can get as low as 90 VAC, in other areas you can see a swing up to 130 VAC. Double those for large appliances - which is something else: Here in the US we have two voltage levels in our houses, the larger level is reserved for specially plugs (or directly wired) for things like air-conditioners, hot water heaters, range/stove/oven, and similar. Also, these plugs for large household appliances are usually different than what you would find on say, a large 220 VAC welder (you either have to have a separate circuit installed with the special plug - which I think is an industrial plug - or build a custom inline "pigtail" - which I don't think it technically legal, but people do it).
If your house has breakers, about the only place you'll see a fuse(s) is on the outside of an air conditioning unit (behind a panel); they're inline with the circuit breaker for the unit (likely as an extra precaution; if I need to work on my AC I always pull them after turning the breaker off).
Some sockets (typically found in offices and hospitals) may be orange, designating them as operating off of a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) - not typically found in a home (but you never know - maybe if the house has a custom generator installation or other backup system?).
Finally - circuit wire comes in two flavors: Alluminum and copper. Connections are usually done to brass, alluminum or steel terminals (at the socket, or breaker, etc). Connections between alluminum and brass typically have a higher resistance than those connected from copper to brass. There have been instances of fires being started because of this (due to socket overload - as in when someone plugs in more than the circuit can handle - the junction can overheat and cause a fire before the breaker/fuse trips). However, alluminum is much cheaper than copper, so you see it used everywhere (if you have a house built or are house shopping - make sure your wiring and plumbing is all copper if you can).