Let’s talk about the weather!
My American viewers, wait, please, don’t go! Come back! Come back!
Although, I guess if you've already gone, you won't hear me saying come back.
But anyway, come back!
Hey everyone! I’m Dana and you’re watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad.
For me as an American, talking about the weather is a solid go-to small-talk topic.
But, from my experience, in the U.S. talking about the weather is usually used in situations
where just you need a little something to help break the ice and assist in eventually
hopefully segueing on to more interesting conversation topics.
Topics you actually want to talk about.
Besides when, of course, there’s a hurricane or a drought or some other kind of extreme
weather situation, or maybe if the weather is doing something particularly weird or impressive,
usually on a day to day basis, if I bring up the weather, it’s not because I actually
am hoping to chat about the weather for any length of time.
It is either a bridge to hopefully lead to other things to talk about, or I have run
out of anything else to talk about and I am feeling that awkward, awkward silence, and
I want to please just make it go away.
So I bring up the weather as a last resort.
From my experience, that is not always the case in Germany.
In fact, many Germans actually seem to really love talking about the weather.
And not the weather as just a transitional conversation topic but the weather as actually
the topic of conversation.
I’ve seen people at a party here in Germany talk at length about the weather and then
once they have exhausted that conversation topic, they have talked about the weather
as much as they can, when I would finally be oh-so ready to move onto the heart of the
conversation, another topic, that’s actually when they have considered the conversation
over and have then headed into the kitchen for something to eat
or another drink or something like that.
They're like: oh okay, that was a lovely chat about the weather.
Catch ya later, Bob.
Which I find super, super fascinating, given that in the U.S. we have hurricanes, blizzards,
droughts, tornadoes, and more, and yet for the most part we basically dismiss conversations
about the weather as rather mundane. They're filler conversation topics.
Whereas in Germany, there’s not usually anything too extreme going on weather-wise here.
It’s warm in the summer, then there’s fall, which feels like fall, then cold in
the winter, then spring, then back to summer.
This happens every year with small variations from year to year, of course, but basically
the same cycle over and over again.
And yet, the topic of the weather seems to be quite a beloved one here in Germany.
Whenever I get back from a vacation and I start to tell my German friends about it, one of
the very first questions that I so often get is “And how was the weather?”
Which, I totally get that the weather could definitely influence a vacation for sure,
but for some reason it’s just not a question that I would usually think to ask.
I would probably ask about what they did on vacation and then from their answer, yeah,
I would incidentally probably end up finding out how the weather was, but it just probably
wouldn’t be my main point of questioning.
Like, for example, if a friend of mine went to Florida in late March, I might ask them if they
went swimming in the ocean.
And then they would either tell me: "yes the water was lovely" or "no, it was still too cold."
And from that I would invariably know something about the weather in Florida.
But like I said, it probably wouldn't be the main thing that I was interested it.
I find it so, so, so funny, I will call my parents and chat on the phone with them for
like an hour and never, never once even think about asking them about the weather.
It just doesn’t cross my mind.
But then I will get off the phone with my parents, and if I then end up chatting with
my German mother-in-law afterwards, and I mention that I just finished chatting with
my parents, nine times out of ten she will ask me: "Oh, and how’s the weather there?"
What? Why in the world would I know the weather there?
I said that I talked to them, not that I went there.
She just assumed that if I chatted with my parents, I would of course definitely at some
point in the conversation ask about the weather.
No, really usually not.
I have no idea what the weather is like in Colorado now. No idea.
And also another super interesting thing that I’ve noticed is that both my mother-in-law
and Mr. German Man regularly check on the weather of where their friends are living
in the world.
It would never cross my mind to wake up and be like: hmmm I wonder how the weather is
where my parents are.
Unless, like I said, there was a hurricane or some other kind of extreme weather situation
going on; no, I don’t think to check it.
And then I’ll talk to my mother-in-law and she’ll actually tell me: ahh I saw that
it was sunny at your parents.
All week long they’ve got lovely weather there.
And I’m like: oh nice! Thank you! Good to know.
I would have never thought to check.
So my question for you is: Do you love talking about the weather?
Please let me know in the comments below.
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Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
To ask them about the weather.
We're just...
It is either to bridge...
And also a really big. Oh, I missed the other part. Alright, forget it.