People of today are exposed to an array of foods, languages and cultures that their grandfathers had not even heard of. Thanks to migration, there are few places, if any, in the world today where you only find the indigenous people.

Most larger cities have a fantastic brew of people from every corner of the earth. This sometimes leads to problems, but also to the opportunity to taste different food and learn about others. Who has not tried samosa or chicken curry in the local Indian restaurant? Names like fortune cookies and stir-fried rice are household names, even the kids know what to order from the Chinese take-away. Lately, Ethiopian food has gained in popularity, as well as other less known cuisines.

One less fun consequence of this mixture of people is often a lowering of the standard of the local language in the schools. Many of the immigrants do not have a deep knowledge of the language, and this affects the lessons in school. In some countries, the children who have the local language as their mother tongue, have been given extra lessons. With most of their classmates not knowing the language well, the teacher cannot follow a normal program of teaching.

Rubbing shoulder with people from other countries can be both interesting and rewarding. We can all learn something from eachother, and do well in showing an interest in others. After all- we are humans. More alike than different. Many people are married to a partner from a completely different part of the world. This brings about a completely new culture, with a bit added from each person. Life becomes really interesting in this way- you can choose the best from both worlds.