I went backpacking through Europe and I met so many Australians and learned so much about Australian culture.

– Anonymous –

This is so true. In my personal experience, it was not meeting Australians in Europe, but meeting Britons while living in Japan. While living there, I encountered many other English teachers and got to learn so much about their culture.

While teaching Japanese students not to ask Westerners whether they are from America (this used to annoy non-Americans tremendously at times), I fell into the same trap. I asked a person with a British accent whether she was from England. “No, I am from Wales!”, she hissed at me. It was time to get smarter about Great Britain’s history and geography by visiting the international library in Kitakyushu. Fortunately, I was not alone in my blissful ignorance 🙂

While the above travel quotation might sound humorous to some, it entails a lot of truth.