Culture Swap

As mentioned previously, we are taking part in a worldwide culture swap, where we swap parcels with other families from around the world that have items and info in them about our country, area where we live, customs, traditions, way of life etc etc...

I thought it would be a fun way to learn a little more about the world, from some real families who have children of similar ages to our family.  The families in our group represent India, Switzerland, Quebec and St Thomas

It has also been really interesting trying to think what it is about us that people might like to know and we have found it surprisingly hard to think about things that were specifically English or British to put in our parcel.  We are used to England being a multi cultural place and being able to get all sorts of delicacies in the 'World Food Isle' at the supermarket as well as having many specialist supermarkets for different nationalities, as well as restaurants offering just about any cuisine one could imagine albeit often anglecised versions.  In the same way, we presume that our British brands are available pretty much anywhere these days.

We found that the tourist information didn't give a very realistic idea of what our town is like and while we love living where we do, the tourist video did not represent how we live, but rather how someone stopping over for a few days might enjoy spending their time, which I suppose is the whole point.  We do not spend all of our time eating, drinking, climbing and playing golf!  Though do use the lovely park that is shown.  Its worth a watch and will make you want to come for a holiday, if only to see those seals!  

So in our parcel we included:

• Some introductory notes about our family, about our typical day, the sorts of things that we like to do, the area where we live and the house we live in.  The children really enjoyed doing this and helped a lot with the typing and selecting photos to go in
• Some info about our coins and notes, a laminated sheet showing our coins and some of our lower denomination coins attached
• Some info about our flag, about how the UK is made up of its component countries and about how we have a different flag for England and also the Union Jack to represent the United Kingdom
• A union flag
• A cupcake set with some stereotypically British decorations - although cupcakes are a recent (American?) thing and our fairy cakes, which are generally smaller and decorated in a far more amateur and kamikazee way with icing and sugar strands are more traditional. 
• Some tea - and I'm sure that british tea is available anywhere these days and 'proper tea' usually comes in great big boxes rather than individually wrapped sachets.  But we liberated this tea from a local restaurant and so thought we'd include it.
• Some cadbury's chocolate, which is now owned according to a quick check on Wikipedia by large worldwide company Kraft, but never the less originated in Birmingham, UK.
• A Team GB lego character to commemorate our recent involvement in the hosting of the Olympic Games
• Some leaflets about all of the wonderful places that we can visit in our local area, hopefully giving a good flavour of our history and what the terrain of the area around us is like.  
• A postcard with a map of our area.
• A pencil from our town's museum
• A book (not shown) by a British author.  This was a late addition after one of our recipients asked for a book by Enid Blyton.  Each package has a book in, there is an Enid Blyton adventure book.  A Flower fairies book by Cicely Mary Barker, who I have just discovered from reading her short autobiography in the back was educated at home. It has the most beautiful, magical illustrations in that I have loved since I was child and they are so representitive of our countryside.  A book by Michael Bond about  that famous marmalade loving bear, Paddington who was found at Paddington station.
  The final book is a Brambley Hedge book by Jill Barklem, who I have a feeling I may have met on more than one occassion as i attened craft fairs as a teenager in the 80s.  I remember her sitting at the stall engrossed in her illustration work and I bought postcards which I framed and put on my bedroom wall.   These books about families of mice show the most beautiful attention to detail in their illustrations and reflect wonderfully the changing english countryside through the seasons.  

All will be on their way to their different parts of the world tomorrow and we hope that they will be enjoyed as much as we have enjoyed assembling them.