Monday, July 6, 2015

Surviving a heatwave German style #MicroblogMonday

We are currently in the middle of an extreme heatwave in Germany. Even Ireland is experiencing one at the moment, though a heatwave there is just like a lovely summer with weather around 26 degrees Celsius, and a nice breeze whereas here it is more like 35-40 degrees and unbearable!


Thankfully my office has air conditioning! It's interesting seeing how the Germans dress in this extreme weather. One guy at work wears socks with his sandals - keeping that particular stereotype alive and well! Others wear shorts and even flip flops. The girls at work mainly don summer dresses. Pretty much anything goes I've noticed!

In general German women don't tend to dress up much or wear feminine outfits. For instance, when they attend birthday parties or events they normally go casual in trousers and a nice top so it's been unusual seeing them all wearing pretty dresses now! It's a good way to keep cool in this weather.


At weekends the best option is to go to the local pool or lake for a swim, or hang out in one of the many beer gardens. We also recently bought a new fan for our apartment, which helps.

I'm hoping this Summer I might manage to get a nice tan. Right now I'm as pale as ever. That's the problem with having Irish skin! We go from white to pink. I have to always make sure to apply lots of sun cream and then maybe I'll get a light tan after a few weeks.


How do you manage to keep cool in a heatwave?

11 comments:

  1. i'm used to hot weather (up to 46c was not unusual in Melbourne) but the lack of air con is a challenge-ever the shopping centres are warm here in Berlin. We're trying to organise curtains to keep some of the heat out...

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    1. yes definitely, if there was air con in more places here then the heatwave would be more bearable!

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  2. I'm not great at Celsius conversions, but that sounds sweltering! I loved the picture of what I think is a beer garden. Beautiful, if scorching... Interesting observation over the women wearing trousers more than dresses...I have a friend who is from Germany and she almost NEVER wears a dress. I'm not sure I've ever seen her in one. LOVE that picture of the Irish girl sunbathing! Hilarious (and true). I can get glare off my shins, myself. I hope the heat breaks soon!

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    1. 35 degrees celsius is 95 degrees Fahrenheit apparently! There are some really nice beer gardens here with fairy lights in the trees, great beer garden culture. I don't know why more German women don't wear dresses, strange!

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  3. Yeah... 25 degrees in Ireland and everybody says it's too hot, and they can't cope!! Having said that, I noticed the sun is lot more aggressive here, and it's easier to get sunburnt, so I do have to protect my pale skin as well ( hey, I'm from the north west of France!)

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    1. Yeah I used to hate that in Ireland once we finally got some nice sunny weather and people would complain it's too hot! Yeah I also get sunburnt surprisingly easy there.

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  4. Is it humid in Germany? I've never been there? How to stay cool in a heat-wave. Hang out in air-conditioned buildings. I so appreciate this invention so much. Where I live it's turbo humid - like living in someone's mouth as my cousin says. In the American West, where it can get that hot, there's no humidity and the sweat just rolls off, it doesn't linger like on the east coast. Right now it's chilly and I'm so digging this weather. I dread summers here because they are sweltering. Plenty of bad hair days, too.

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