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Hello everyone and welcome to Ecom Monthly Intro to American Culture.
I'm Heather.
And I'm Marcellus.
Marcellus, it is hot outside. It is August and all the kids are out of school.
That's right and I'm sure they're happy to be out of school.
Yeah, enjoying their summer vacation.
That's right.
All right, so let's talk a bit about summer vacation and what do we do? What do students do?
Well, like everything else, it depends on the person,
but I think some of the most popular things to do during summer vacation are: go on a holiday.
Yeah, take a trip.
That's right.
Or go to camp, summer camp.
Or get a summer job...
Yeah.
...which is very popular to do in the States.
Now, typically summer vacation lasts about three months, doesn't it?
Oh...
Two months?
Maybe 8 or 10 weeks?
8 or 10 weeks?
Maybe 10 weeks about. I don't know.
I'm not sure.
Yeah, but the regional differences: I think in the North-East, typically from June to September,
and in the South-East, was earlier, May to August.
That's right and also differences between private school and public school.
Yeah.
In high school, I remember being upset, because public school kids got vacation until September,
but we had to go back to school in August.
You're private school?
Yeah.
Yeah, so there are some differences with the time and that helps a little bit.
So, if you take a vacation at the time when other schools are back in school,
you can save some money or have less crowded (places).
That's right.
Yeah.
Now, one of the things I remember the most about summer vacation is summer romance.
Oh, a summer fling.
That's right. Oh my god, the stories I could tell, but won't.
Anyway...
That's right.
Anyway, are you ready?
Let's begin.
Welcome back.
This month, our topic is body language and communication.
And to talk about those, we have three key words as usual.
The first key word is: kiss.
The second one is: hug.
And the third one on my list here is... What's the third key word?
Personal space.
That's right, personal space.
Okay, let's talk about the first one: kiss.
In America, kissing is not such a common way to greet people
unless you are boyfriend and girlfriend or unless you're a parent or husband and wife.
Typically, we don't kiss between friends and I know that in Europe, in many countries, you do kiss someone.
You kiss them on one cheek or you kiss them on both cheeks.
Yeah.
But, in the States, we do not do that.
Yeah, but it's a very popular stereotype and conception that we have of Europeans,
that all Europeans kiss each other on the cheeks,
and I think most Americans like the idea and if we meet a European, I think we're open to doing that.
That's right.
But, just in our culture, between Americans generally we're not kissing each other on the cheeks.
That's right.
Now, when you do meet an American and you try to kiss them,
one of the things you're gonna find out is they're gonna be a little akward at first,
because they won't know, should I kiss that guy on both cheeks?
Should I kiss him only on one cheek?
Should I just receive the kiss? Should I give it back?
So, be patient with Americans and it'd be nice to explain, "I'm gonna kiss you now."
It might help them get ready for the kiss.
And that brings us to our next key word, which is:
Hug.
All right, so we may be not used to kissing each other on the cheeks to greet each other,
but hugging is very big in America.
That's right.
And hugging is maybe not in the business world, but with family and friends.
In my group, I know we hug every time we meet each other and every time we say good-bye.
That's right.
Right and it's just a lot of hugging.
And I know that I saw on the news recently, there was a school that kind of outlawed hugging.
So, it can be a bit of a controversial thing.
I think the principal thought that the children were getting a little too close and personal...
Yeah.
when they're hugging.
Now, Heather's right, though. That is a controversial thing.
I think typically though, as Heather just described, Americans usually do hug each other to say hello and to say good-bye.
Yeah.
And you'd be surprised, even men hug each other.
I mean, it's more of a manly hug where you give a nice bom, bom, bom on the back,
but still even between men and between friends, not necessarily boyfriend and girlfriend, but just regular friends,
people often hug.
What you don't want to do though, is we usually don't hug people who we meet for the first time, I think.
Not usually. Sometimes, but not usually.
Yeah, sometimes, but not usually.
And there are fun variations, I think, especially with the men.
Maybe giving like a high-five, a shake and a half-hug.
That's right. That's right, a handshake hug.
It's, yeah, really fun.
Yeah, all right, how about our third... The handshake hug brings us to our third key word.
That's right and the third key word is personal space.
Personal space is very important to Americans.
While hugging someone is okay and kissing them is okay, when you speak to someone,
you don't really want to be right up in their face like this talking to them.
That's a taboo in America.
Usually we like to have personal space.
Also, while hugging and kissing is okay, it's not really okay to be touching someone while you are talking to them.
If you do that, you could send the wrong signal.
You could possibly make someone believe that you're romantically interested in them
and that person may not be romantically interested in you and that may cause all kinds of problems with your relationship.
Or, just in general, people don't like to be touched when you're talking to them.
So, personal space is very, very, very important in America.
Keep that in mind too, when you're riding the trains, when you're waiting in line for something.
You don't want to be standing too close to someone.
Sometimes the trains are crowded, so you can't avoid personal space issues,
but in general try and leave enough space between you and the person,
but not so much space that you seem distant or that you're alienating that person.
Yeah, if you're unsure, just kind of look at their body language and just do the same.
That's right.
All right, thanks for listening.
Take care.
All right, that's all we have time for today.
We'd like to thank everyone for listening and hope that you're having a great summer vacation
and keep studying while you're on that beach or on the plane, going to a new country.
I guess that's all. We'll see you next time.
That's right. Bye bye!