Cooking, Dating, and Corruption

One of my major language/culture learning activities at this stage is interviewing local friends about cultural topics. I've asked about male/female roles in the family, qualities that make "a good person," dating habits, sins which are considered worse than others, adoption, purchasing land, supernatural beings, good/bad luck, and education, among other topics. As you can imagine, this has led to some interesting revelations, a few of which I'd like to share with you:

• It's usually the boy that starts a dating relationship, and usually the girl who ends it (even if the boy is ready to move on, he'll wait for the girl to do the breaking up).
• In this part of the country, it's important that boys (as well as girls) learn to cook; in fact, men have a reputation as better cooks than women.
• A big part of being considered "a good person" is being friendly, and a big part of being friendly is greeting people. 
• The majority of the population in this area believe in and are afraid of supernatural beings, including ghosts.
• The Bible is not yet available in the local language (which the internet tells me is spoken by over 1 million people).
• According to public opinion, lifting a girl's skirt on the side of the street is an offence worthy of death (true story: her brother killed the offender and served a few years in prison for it, but most people apparently supported his action).
• Stealing and corruption are usually regarded as sins...but not if the stolen money is given to the church. In fact, in this situation, there is an expectation that the giver will receive blessings in heaven.

Sometimes humorous, sometimes confusing, sometimes sobering, sometimes astonishing...but I have yet to hear a boring cultural interview.