listeners, you're listening to the Fluent Mind English podcast.
We are a content-based learning English podcast and I am your host Hochul, and I'm here with my co-host, Jack.
Jack, today we're going to be talking about whether or not we feel like fall is coming earlier in terms of global warming and maybe in terms of commercially.
What is your opinion?
Yeah, I live in South Korea, so I think it kind of depends on where you are.
Like, But the climate in South Korea, I think it's changed in like the 20 years that I've lived here.
It's always been like kind of subtropical, like on the edge of being subtropical, meaning like it's not like a Thailand or Hong Kong or Taiwan, where it's like in a tropical kind of region.
But it's also not like it doesn't have like, you know, four equal seasons you know what i mean like it's got more like it's it's like winter and in summer summer is like six months which is like six months and fall is feels like a week there is a fall in spring but it's like five minutes long you know okay that's fair so short um so right now it's nice you know like late october the weather has turned in korea to It goes down to like in the tens, you know, like if we're doing Celsius.
But you know, I think that in like two weeks, in the middle of November, it's just going to turn to like winter, you know, or three weeks.
It'll just be cold.
And there wasn't like a gradual, you know, kind of slide into like the fall.
It just kind of suddenly or into the fall.
It just kind of suddenly comes and it's gone suddenly and then winter's here and I feel like spring is the same way.
It's like it's not like a month where we just get to like, you know, slowly kind of come out of winter and into like spring and summer.
It's just like spring is, you know, like a week and a half long and then all of a sudden it's hot.
You know, it just goes from freezing cold to hot and I think that's just the climate here and I think it's like it's not because of climate change, but it's exacerbated by climate change, and exacerbated just means like sped up, you know, more quickly.
Yeah, and intensified me.
I've been in Mexico and the US.
I'd say I it's hard to compare it in Mexico because it's just we don't we have two seasons hot dry season and hot humid, rainy season.
That is like that is a little colder and that is that is in Oaxaca.
So it really depends what, like Mexico is a huge, very diverse country.
So it really depends what part of Mexico you're in.
But in Oaxaca in the South, we have like monsoon season and dry season.
Um.
So it's kind of hard to compare like there.
But uh, I'll get to other things in a second.
But in the U?
S I would say I felt like it kind of came earlier this year in a way like um, we started, I started seeing like leaves turn like a little red or orange, like as early as like maybe early September.
And it's, it's still summer technically until September 20th.
Um, so that's weird.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was like, what the heck?
And it was hot too, but like we would just get these.
Like You know, the leaves were changing colors.
It was weird.
And the surprise lilies, which are supposed to come at a certain time.
My aunt knows exactly when they're supposed to bloom because she used to do a lot of gardening.
They were out there early this year, like months before they were supposed to be.
So I did notice a lot of that.
And then a big thing both for Mexico and the US, is that I feel like commercially, there's like commercial incentives for fall to be earlier.
So the vibes and the theming and different places and the decor and like what's for sale and fall flavors, like everything down from, like the flavors you can buy in store and the type of foods that you can buy that are like seasonal for fall, and the decor and colors and, like you know, the items that you would get for like Halloween and all that.
It seems to come earlier and earlier every year.
Yeah.
Like I was, the stuff out in July.
Like ghosts and pumpkins and stuff out in July.
That's still summer.
We don't need ghosts and pumpkins and stuff out in July.
Oh, what you're describing is season creep.
Yes.
Scientists have observed a phenomenon called season creep, where certain seasonal events are happening earlier over time.
Yeah, I think it's just like everybody wants to be the first right to you know the sale or whatever.
You know spring sale or fall sale or something like that, like shops I mean.
And so, yeah, it all keeps creeping up earlier and earlier.
It just really irritates me, because it's very obvious that It's like they're not really letting us live or like have our lives because
Everyone's so focused on, you know, this capitalistic churning.
The same thing is happening in Mexico.
Day of the Dead, like Oaxaca has made it super, super commercial and it's super capitalistic.
And that really depresses me.
I understand everyone needs to make a buck.
And I can't really judge like families who live off of tourism, because now Day of the Dead has become a huge tourism season and they need like to get that sale, you know, because that's what they live off of the whole year.
So I'm not gonna sit here and be holier than thou um at them, but it is kind of it's weird because it's like a it's a holiday about celebrating family and appreciating those who have passed on and remembering those who have passed on and, like you know um, I don't know like relating to them, telling stories about them, spending time like with them, kind of.
In a way, it like it merges, like our beliefs about like the dead and the living are sharing the same space, Yeah.
In that moment.
And so to see, like all these parades and things that like did not exist before, by the way, that are just coming to be because people realize they can make a buck at it.
And so then you see season creep where it's like all the way up in September we're starting to celebrate things about Day of the Dead.
Yeah.
And it's not about our ancestors or anything.
It's all about dressing up in Day of the Dead face paint and doing photoshoots.
And skeletons costumes skeletons snacks, you know, sugar skeletons yeah, not even like the like.
Those like, because a lot of people use those to like decorate the ofrenda, which is like the altar, but it's more like people just doing like these, like graveyard photo shoots and like all this stuff that it's so white.
Second, which is just like people like upper class mexicans that are very out of touch or that you know.
So for their instagram page, they wanted yes, for their instagram page, like sexy goth uh, day of the dead pictures and stuff like that yeah, and it's like, oh my god yeah, you nailed it it's.
It's just not about our tradition anymore.
So yeah, I don't know.
I'm very curious to our listeners do you feel like there are like, do you guys have you experienced season creep, like um Jack mentioned, where you notice that things like, maybe the mid-autumn festival in China or other cultures um, or things like that have you noticed that they're coming up earlier in the year?
Um, what are your thoughts on it?
Do you notice like climate change affecting things?
Do you not notice affecting it?
Um, let us know.
Yeah, definitely.
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Uh, see you guys next time.
Okay.
Bye.
Bye.
