Vegimite or Butter?

This week in sociology, we discussed how people from other countries view us and our lifestyle. At my overnight camp, I have been fortunate enough to work with people from England, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and more. This past summer, I was co-counselors with a girl Claire from Australia. She could not understand at all why we have bagels with butter or cream cheese. In Australia, they eat everything with Vegemite. It was so weird to her that in our culture, we would eat peanut butter and jelly as often as she would eat Vegemite. I learned that it is hard to look at other countries or cultures without judgment. Also, Claire told me that in Australia, water is so low that they can only shower for a certain amount of time and they actually get fined if someone sees them leave on the water while they are brushing their teeth. I found this out one time when she caught me leaving the water running as I was brushing my teeth. I found that this was so weird, because most people I know leave on the water and think this is normal. It was interesting to find out what things were different where she lived. Each culture is so different, that we wonder how those people could possibly be doing what they are doing, like eating toast with butter and not Vegemite. Also, I taught sailing with a girl from New Zealand. She told me, that they grow up mostly learning that when you finish school, you travel and explore the world first and then find a job. I found this very interesting, because we are so programed to graduate high school and then go straight to college. If a person were to tell you that they are traveling after college, that person will probably think that you will never go back to school. Camp allows me to meet all these new people and learn about their way of living.