"Have you eaten?"

"When I first moved to Singapore I met a woman in the lobby of my apartment block who was naturally curious about a foreigner living near her so she genuinely tried to be friendly to me. Part way through the conversation she asked me if I'd eaten yet and I got scared that she was going to invite me over for lunch and start introducing me to her family etc. So I made up all sorts of excuses that I'd eaten, what I'd eaten and where. For the next few weeks I tried my best to avoid her every time I saw her.

Only later, I realised that the question "have you eaten?" is just the Singapore way of asking "how are you?" just like the British talk about the weather as a conversation starter. It turns out to be a completely harmless question."

Mark (male), United Kingdom

"Hi, nice to meet you. Do you believe in God?"

"When I visited Tallinn, Estonia, some years back my boyfriend and I stayed with a local host family: an Estonian man, his Russian wife and their son. The first time I met my host "mother", she seemed friendly, but we had barely said 'hello' and 'nice to meet you' when she asked: 'Do you believe in God?' I was taken aback by her questioning. I don't believe in God, but because I didn't know why she was asking, I didn't dare to say so and just muttered something vague, feeling very uncomfortable. Questions were racing through my head: Why did she want to know? Was she deeply religious and only wanted equally religious guests in her house? Was she worried about what was going to happen under her roof if she let my boyfriend and me share a room?

Years later I read online that asking about one's beliefs or religion is very common in Russia when meeting new people. It's considered a bit like small talk: a topic to get the conversation going so you can get to know someone better. In Sweden, we're the opposite: we tend to avoid topics like religion or politics with people unless we know them well."

A.L. (female), Sweden