Cultural differences

One of the things I really love about being an expat, is that we get exposed to different cultures. Going on holidays to a far away country is not the same as living there, trying to learn the language, finding your way in the local supermarket and learning to cook with different ingredients. We have lived in 5 different countries on 4 different continents so far and every one of those countries had their unique culture and religion(s). With exception of The Netherlands and Australia, we have always stuck out in a crowd and have been the obvious foreigners. The only 'discrimination' we have encountered so far is that prices tend to be higher for us than for locals (especially in Nigeria).
I have high hopes that my boys grow up as world citizens with open minds and without prejudice, but maybe I am a bit naive. Time will tell.

Every Tuesday morning I go to the ANU project to teach English to a group of women. They make bags out of tetra packs and cement bags to earn some money. One of the volunteers bought some bags last week to give as presents to friends in The Netherlands. When she got home she had a good look at the bags and felt she couldn't take them to Europe.... Too much of a difference in cultures I'd say.  See if you agree:

The two bags she bought with the design that might not be taken lightly in Europe....

The swastika is a very old and very common sign in India, symbolising 'auspiciousness' or good luck. Thanks to Hitler most Europeans won't be able to look at it in that way anymore. You might even get molested walking around with one of those bags.

Still, whatever the design and however you feel about it, I think it is an art to make this out of used tetra packs!