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Your InterCom editor’s family had a teenage guest from Kazakhstan several decades ago who noted, “At home, I would get a cold and then possibly die if I walked around outside barefoot, but here I can walk barefoot with you all in your backyard because it works differently here in America.” I’ve always admired her approach to examining her culturally-ingrained beliefs while maintaining her respect for her parents’ and grandparents’ wisdom.

In this recent blog post, an American expat living in Germany describes similar contrasts between German and American beliefs: whether it’s safe to leave food at room temperature overnight, for example, or to open all the windows in your home to let a good breeze circulate on a stuffy day: http://bhejl.blogspot.com/2017/03/things-that-kill-americans-but-not.html