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

[adularia.livejournal.com]

I've heard of a similar book (series, really) called Culture Shock. There are editions for many countries. dymaxion was very excited about her copy when she went to Germany for a month.

[ivy]

Yeah, there's "Culture Smart" (the short versions, which basically are 100 pages of history 101 and things that will offend people) and "Culture Shock" (the medium sized versions, which get into more depth about values that guide behaviour). I get whichever ones are available before heading off to a new country, and they do save me from doing things I would not have realized were dumb. No one book is going to cover everything, but they definitely help.

[qaexl.livejournal.com]

That's neat. I'll have to check them out sometime.

-Q

[arethinn]

Seconded. "Culture Smart" was what I was going to recommend.