Small Talk
Small talk is something I am terrible at in English, so in German it is ten times as awkward and difficult for me.
Germans also seem to be pretty terrible at small talk. The concept of small talk is to talk about light subjects that aren't really important. Well, Germans don't appreciate superficiality, and don't like to waste time for nothing, so small talk is a relatively novel idea here.
In my German class we discussed possible topics for small talk, and where you might have to engage in such conversations. I also read a really good blog about the difficulties of making small talk in a non-native language, on the blog Life in Germany. You should check it out.
Anytime I meet new people, or visit Mike's family, I am stuck with the dilemma of trying to think of things to say in a language I am very bad at. This makes it incredibly hard to make friends, and also very hard to form relationships with his family. I mostly try to use the universal language of smiling, and make the occasional silly, one-word remarks to make people laugh. Nothing too different from what I do in English, I guess.
Hopefully as I get better at the language, I will think of more things to say, but small talk is a skill I need to work on in English as well.