We Do Adventure

Living in another country does make you aware of how easy it is to fall into culturally imperialistic attitudes. By that I mean the assumption that your norm is better that the new norm you’re encountering. With this can unwittingly come the urge to convert all around to your way of thinking. I could quite easily become a crusader for the supremacy of the three-pin plug! I’ve long held that the UK as the best system of delivering electricity to devices I’ve ever encountered. Or I could campaign against the common practice here of attempting to overtake four cars at once into a blind corner. Such behaviour is not normal in the UK as we generally relieve such drivers of the undue pressure of holding a driving licence. However, these and similar desires have to be curbed because different is so often just different; not better or worse. The danger is every new experience is greeted with a value judgement rather than being embraced for what it is. While I don’t underestimate the power of l...

The taste buds are wonderful things. Unless they’ve been seared by extra hot pizza, or ceased to function out of sympathy with a blocked nose, they are a surprisingly accurate at detecting even the slightest changes in familiar food or drink. Which is why the familiar is sometimes not so familiar. Ever had the privilege of eating a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk from South Africa? It got a gritty, floury texture not found in its UK counterpart! My taste buds are telling me the Pepsi here is not the same as it is in England. Without the ability to conductive a side-by-side text I’ve taken their word for it. To my rescue rides Cockta ! Now Cockta’s not a brand I was familiar with. The Wikipedia entry starts helpfully: ‘Cockta is a soft drink from Slovenia. Its main ingredient comes from the dog rose berry’ Sounds appetizing, doesn’t it? But, honestly, it is! I’ve drunk litres of the stuff and haven’t got sick of it yet. Translating the prominent sticker on the label today I discovered it doesn’t c...