FirstHousePooka: Excellent post. This shows that people from all countries are ignorant, to some extent, about other countries and cultures not just Americans, Australians, or Japanese, to name a few. My wife's best friend, who is married to a British gentlemen, came across the same absurd questions from some of her inlaws and her husbands friends. I don't care where one goes in the world, someone intelligent will ask an absurd question about a foreigners country, neh?