Cultural Guide For Americans Moving to Belgium

[foxgrrl]

Does anyone know of a book or website which tells you about all of the little cultural differences you never notice while you're immersed in your own culture. I mean, like a guide for: If you travel to <foo>, these are the tiny differences you'll encounter in your daily life. (Most guides just have the big things).

Like for example, in Belgium, in the supermarket, you're expected to bag your own groceries. And (sometimes) the bags cost 0.10€ each. For context, if you're unfamiliar with the US system: In the US, employees of the grocery store bag your items for you. So if you don't know this when you visit Belgium, you stand around in the check out line, while everyone looks at you funny.

Comments

[qaexl.livejournal.com]

That is starting to happen in the US too. IKEA is importing some of their culture in. Kroger's and Walmart have resusable bags on for sale, and self-checkout is becoming the norm, rather than the exception.

-Q