Toilets, hygiene, culture and travel: did you know that even the way we go to the toilet can be cultural?

In this new episode of Intercultural Surprises, I take you to Brittany, where 21 Tunisian children discovered, during a school trip to France, a cultural difference that nobody had really thought about… toilets!

For many of them, it was their first time using toilets without a handheld bidet spray and having to rely on toilet paper. A situation that may seem completely ordinary, but that made me realise how many habits we learn as children and eventually come to see as universal: how we wash ourselves, how we eat, how we queue, how we show respect… and even how we go to the toilet!

From Tunisia to India, via Greece, Colombia, Japan and a rather memorable experience in Cambodia, I talk about cleanliness, hygiene, comfort and those small everyday habits that can suddenly take us out of our comfort zone when we travel.

But I also look at what lies behind cultural practices: access to water, infrastructure, economic realities… Because not everything can be explained by culture!

And when we welcome someone from another culture into our home, why not think about the small things that could help them feel more comfortable?

In this episode: 🚽 toilets and cultural differences, 💧 hygiene and our relationship with water, 🌍 travel and decentring, 🏠 hospitality and welcoming others, and 👀 those everyday habits that we forget are cultural.

A slightly silly, toilet-humour kind of episode (thank you to my six-year-old nephew for the idea!), but above all, an invitation to look differently at those everyday gestures that seem so obvious to us… that we sometimes forget they are not obvious to everyone.

Whether you like travelling comfortably, or as a backpacker, are an expat/immigrant, an HR professional or simply passionate about international mobility, this podcast is for you and anyone who is curious about the world and its people!

Enjoy!

To find out more about my background and my other activities, visit:

👉 My website: charlotte-courtois.com/en/
👉 My NGO, Konstelacio: konstelacio.org
👉 My LinkedIn profile: LinkedIn

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