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Worldwide Cultural Swap from Norway and South Africa

In the first Worldwide Culture Swap that we participated in we were paired with 4 more families. Two from the USA:  Florida and Hawaii (you can read more about the contents of these two states here), and two other countries:  Norway and South Africa.  We were assigned to Group 66!

We were very excited to receive swap packages from South Africa and Norway.



South Africa

In our package we received the following items: Rhino (little one loved this, since he doesn't have one), cherry lip balm (handy for winter months), Inverdoorn Game Reserve & Iziba Safari Lodge brochure, Cape Town Diamond Museum brochure, map, fun animal stickers (my son's favorite), lovely handmade flag of South Africa, bag of beautiful beads with their significance, and coins that are called Rand which is the South African currency (my favorite!), and of course a beautiful letter from the family.  The stamps on the envelope are beautiful, and the family also included a stamp in their package.

We enjoyed reading the letter, and had a good laugh too. They don't have the elephants and lions roaming their streets (contrary to popular belief) I admit, I thought they'd have elephants roaming in their backyards. :) Shame on me! The elephants, lions and other wildlife are in fact confined to nature reserves and wildlife parks. Little one has enjoyed playing with the rhinoceros (just what he needed to complete his wildlife animal collection), and of course, the stickers were a big hit!

Another interesting note is that they have eleven, yes eleven official languages! The family speaks three of them English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa (a local black language), how interesting!


Norway 


In our Norway package we received a Trondheim postcard which is the town the family that sent us the swap package lives in. A bookmark that has a beautiful midnight sun which is one of the things Norway is famously known for. They also included Norway flags that strung on a string, pressed flowers, and sand and sea shells that are from their local pebbly beach, and our favorite item in the package the Norwegian chocolate bars. I say favorite because all of us at home love chocolate! The pressed flowers are picked from their garden, and they are lovely! The picture doesn't do them justice. 

Thank you so much for the families that participated in this culture swap package. It has been fun and educational for our family.  

Until our next swap package!  If you'd like to know more information on the Worldwide Culture Swap click here.