Hello everyone! Welcome to E-com Monthly Intro to American culture.
I'm Heather.
And I'm Marcellus.
And, wha, Marcellus?! What is on your head?
What are you talking about? These are my ears. You don't, you don't like my ears.
Ha! Oh, it's for Easter.
That's right. In case you haven't guessed, I am the Easter Bunny.
Oh, that's cute. Well, Marcellus, do you celebrate Easter now?
Uh, yes. That's right, Easter's celebrated in April and usually to celebrate Easter, what do we do?
Well, as a child, we always had an Easter egg hunt.
Where we had plastic Easter eggs with candy or chocolate inside.
And my parents used to hide the Easter eggs all over the house and in the front yard.
And my sister and I would hunt for the Easter eggs and collect the candy.
You know, we did that as well and what we also did when I was a kid, was we colored Easter eggs.
We would get food coloring and vinegar and then we would make a whole, big, kind of, ritual out of coloring Easter eggs.
It was quite fun, actually.
Did you hard-boil the eggs?
Absolutely, yeah.
Okay and did you eat them afterwards?
Well, you know, sometimes yes and sometimes the Easter eggs would sit in the refrigerator until they smelt very bad.
Ah, you don't want to, you don't want to eat those eggs.
That's right and then do you know what else?
I'm wearing these ears and these ears represent the Easter Bunny.
Oh...
That's right.
He's the mascot. That's right.
That's right. Easter Bunny is the kind of official character for Easter and before we started this,
you mentioned something about what you used to do when you were a kid, right?
With carrots.
Oh yes. So, for Christmas, we leave cookies and milk for Santa Claus, but in my house,
we left a carrot for the Easter Bunny and when we woke up in the morning, the carrot was maybe half-eaten and we thought,
oh, the Easter Bunny came and ate the carrot I left for him.
Yeah, but maybe it was my dad. I'm not sure.
Anyway, that's Easter.
Yeah, Easter Bunny, are you ready?
Yes, I am.
Let's begin.
Alright, this month's American culture topic is weather.
The three key words you need to listen for are: forecast.
Wind chill factor.
And various climates.
Okay, now, let's begin with the first key word.
The first key word is forecast.
That's a very important word to know, because when you watch the news, when you read a newspaper,
you will always see that it says, "This week's weather forecast is..." whatever.
Now, forecast means what the weather will be like in the future.
What is it gonna be like tomorrow.
What is it gonna be like the day after tomorrow.
What it's gonna be like next week.
Okay, now what about wind chill factor?
Wind chill factor can be part of the forecast and it's the temperature,
not the actual temperature, but how you feel because of the wind.
So, for example, if you go to New York City and the thermometer reads 40 degrees Fahrenheit, okay?
But, it's very windy, so the wind chill factor may be 30 degrees Fahrenheit, right?
It's much colder-feeling because of the wind.
So, when you're thinking about what clothes to wear,
you should really be careful and listen for the wind chill factor,
because that's how you will feel.
And usually it's very cold in the winter.
That's right. Now, in America, there are many different areas or there are various climates.
Now, let's take a look at this map we have here.
And we just mentioned wind chill factor.
Now, wind chill factor become very important when you're around the Great Lakes.
Lake Erie, Lake Michigan.
This is my hometown, Cleveland, Ohio.
In the wintertime, there's a big wind that comes across the lake,
so even though the thermometer says 10 degrees, it feels like -10 degrees.
That's the wind chill factor.
Now, again in America, there are various climates.
In this area, we have a tropical climate.
In this area, we have a very rainy climate.
And around this area, things tend to be very, very dry.
In the wintertime, around here, tends to be very, very cold.
Now, this is American culture topic, right?
So, depending on the weather, there are certain things that we have to look out for in American culture.
For example, around this area in the tornado section,
it's typical for American school children to have what's called a tor-, a tornado drill.
So, everyday at school, they practice what to do in case there's a tornado.
In this area, the temperature again, is tropical, so culturally,
people tend to spend time on the beach, suntanning, suntan lotion, bikinis,
while in this area, in the wintertime, things tend to be a little bit more snowy,
so skiing becomes a big part of life and culture for people who live around this area.
Yeah, so, America's a very big country with various climates,
so you have to be careful about where you're going and do some research to find out the weather forecast
or how you should be dressing and what kind of clothes you should pack, right?
If it's January and you're going to Miami,
maybe a light jacket and a t-shirt is fine, maybe even a bathing suit.
That's right.
But-
And if you go to, oh, I'm sorry.
If you go to the Washington, Oregon area, make sure you carry an umbrella with you.
Because you never know when it will rain.
That's right.
Uh-huh. Thank you.
Thank you everyone for watching our videocast.
It's April and that means it's a new school year,
which means it's a great time to start studying English again or maybe increase your level and work a little bit harder.
So, we hope you enjoyed our videocast
and hope maybe you could get some tips on the weather in America and what to expect.
That's all for today. We'll see you next time.
Bye-bye!