Episode 0153

Hello everyone and welcome back to English pod. We have an upper intermediate lesson for you today. My name is Marco.

And my name is Catherine. So today we're talking about something that everyone who's ever lived away from home has felt before.

Right, and that's the word we're going to preview today. The word is homesick.

All right, so let's take a look at that in today's language preview.

Vocabulary preview.

All right, so homesick, if you feel homesick, or you are homesick.

Mm-hm. Okay, so it's a it's a feeling. You feel a little bit depressed. You feel sad because you're homesick.

Okay, so this is what's happening today in our dialogue. So let's listen to it for the first time.

Tom, how are you? Hey, we missed you at the party last night. Are you okay?

Come on. We've been through this already. Look, I know the adjustment was hard when you first got here, but we agree that you're going to try and deal with it.

Yeah, it can get pretty lonely over the holidays. When I first got here, I'd get depressed and nostalgic for anything that reminded me of home. I almost let it get to me, but then I started going out, keeping myself busy and before I knew it, I was used to it.

Great. I must warn you though, whatever happens, don't let me go on a drinking binge. Trust me, it's not a pretty picture.

All right, we're back. So, yeah, I guess he's very homesick.

Very homesick. And his friend is really worried.

Yeah. But actually I think this is common, right? To be homesick during the holidays, like Christmas for example.

So this is something we're going to talk more about a little bit later on, but let's take a look at some of the language that was used in language takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

This first one is key, right? So when you move away from home or when you move to a new place, you have a period of adjustment. So adjustment is kind of finding the right balance or doing something so that you can kind of feel comfortable.

Okay, so you have to adjust to your new life. Life away from home.

Or your new environment. So many times people say, 'Wow, moving to China must be a big adjustment.'

Mm-hm.

So that means there's so many differences that it must take a long time to feel comfortable again.

Okay. All right, so that's adjustment. What else do we have?

Well, we've got this next phrase that's uh that's really important I think but often gets overlooked. We say the comforts of home, right?

Comforts of home.

So they're not only physical things or or objects, right? They can be like your mom's cooking or maybe even just spending time with your family.

Right, or reading the newspaper with your dad or things that you're you're used to that you don't have anymore. And so those are the comforts of home. I could say Marco, do you miss the comforts of home in Ecuador? I mean, do you have anything that's really

Of course, of course. I think uh one of the main things is actually not living in the city because I used to live in the valley a little bit further away and kind of almost country sides, so that's one of the comforts of home that I miss.

Oh, you're making me nostalgic and I never even been. All right, well, this is our next word actually.

Right? Nostalgic.

Of something from your past. So you start thinking of something from your past that maybe brings uh nice warm feelings. Maybe a little bit sad because you miss those times, but it's usually thinking about the past.

Right. So nostalgia would be the noun and nostalgic would be the adjective.

Exactly.

All right. And uh our last word for today on language takeaway is bummed out.

Bummed out. Okay. I'm bummed out. We've got another feeling here. So we're all full of feelings today. Bummed out is a sad feeling. So to be bummed is kind of slang and it means to be sad.

Okay. Or disappointed.

Disappointed. So you you come into the office, Marco, and you look a little tired and I say, 'Are you okay? Are you bummed out about something?'

Oh. Or something like that. So yeah, you feel bummed out when something bad or sad happens to you.

All right, so why don't we move on now to a couple of different phrases on fluency builder.

Fluency Builder.

All right, this first one is something that you often say to old friends or family. You know, when you're friends with someone, they go through periods of happiness and sadness and so when someone's going through a down period again, you say, 'Oh, we've been through this already.'

We've been through this already.

Or, you know, when you're giving someone advice and they never take your advice, you say, 'Listen, we've been through this already. You should know by now that I and then, you know, whatever the advice is.'

So this has happened before or we have experienced this before or we already solved this problem or situation.

Right. You could imagine two bank robbers who are going over their plan for the tenth time and then the one says to the other, 'Hey, we've been through this already. You should know the plan by now.'

Exactly. All right, so we've been through this already. Um they were talking about the adjustment and everything. And then what other phrase did they use?

Okay, let's hit the dance club or let's hit the dance floor tonight.

All right, so hit in this case doesn't mean like hit, doesn't mean you're punching someone. It means to go to or to do.

All right. So we can say let's go to the dance club tonight. Let's hit the dance club.

Exactly. And it doesn't have to be a dance club, but let's hit that concert tonight.

You really want to go there.

Okay, so you can hit pretty much any place, right?

Exactly.

And then this is a very kind of spoken language, so you wouldn't say this in your essays, but it's a good way to to talk about plans with friends.

All right. And our next uh word actually is kind of interesting because it's very colloquial and it's uh a wingman. I can be your wingman tonight.

So wingman, you have to think about wing meaning side, not like a bird's wing. So a wing means side and a wingman is a guy who will go with you to a bar or a club to kind of help you find a a date or a girl or someone to talk to.

Okay. So this person, this wingman, usually keeps you company and helps you decide maybe what girl to talk to or maybe even introduces you to someone.

Right.

At a club or at a restaurant or bar or whatever.

And, you know, the key is that people don't like to go alone to bars, right? Because you feel sad and then you're you look weird because you're all alone. And the same is true for girls.

Uh-huh.

And so if a guy wants to go to a bar and he sees two girls, well, he has to have a friend to talk to the other girl.

Right, right.

So a wingman also helps in that sense. He helps balance things.

All right, so there's a whole science behind the wingman.

Oh yeah, I'm sure if you look it up on Wikipedia, you'll find ten pages of information.

All right, so um since they are going out tonight, they said it could be boys' night out.

Okay, so this is another phrase you hear all the time, especially among young people, boys' night out and girls' night out. And so, you know, sometimes you spend a lot of time with your husband or your wife or your boyfriend or your girlfriend and you just want to have some time with your friends.

Right.

And so you call this girls' night for me, girls' night out. You just go out and you do girl things. Guys' night out, you do other things.

Okay. And so in this case, girls only or guys only. Boys' night out is only guys.

All right, great. And uh well, he agreed to go out and everything, but he warned her about him going on a drinking binge.

Okay, now this is important. A lot of people who are who are depressed or sad, when they drink, they drink a lot. And so binge means to do something in excess, to do it too much.

Okay. So a drinking binge would be drinking alcohol in excess, too much.

Too much, so getting drunk right away. And uh it's not healthy and we do not don't it.

Right.

Very good. So some very interesting phrases in this dialogue today. Uh I think we should listen to it one more time and we'll be right back.

All right, we're back. So uh speaking of homesick and holidays, do you actually get very depressed or homesick during Christmas?

I do. Um, well, my family has a lot of Christmas traditions that are just really kind of wonderful and we do them every single year. And so the first time I spent Christmas away, I was, I was living in Italy and it was kind of similar, but then the second time was when I was living in China.

Um, I rarely get homesick, but yeah, sometimes during Christmas or New Year's, um New Year's we usually have more uh unique traditions in Ecuador. So it's very fun, the family gets together, we dance, we we eat. So um, but yeah, I've been away from home so long that I rarely get homesick anymore. But it's great to go back and spend time with the family. So after my visit to Ecuador then I might get homesick for a little while, but then it goes away. Yeah.

Well, you guys should tell us, do you ever feel homesick and if you do, what do you feel homesick about? What do you miss?

Maybe mom's cooking, maybe family, maybe the comforts of home.

The English part audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Sad because you are away from home.

Homesick.

Bear the cost of.

Afford.

Showing a strong desire for something.

Longing for.

Homesick.

Nostalgic.

Let's try that faster.

Homesick.

Nostalgic.

Sad because you are away from home.

Homesick.

Bear the cost of.

Afford.

Showing a strong desire for something.

Longing for.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Homesick.

Homesick.

The best cure for homesickness is a phone call home.

Homesick.

Afford.

Afford.

You can't afford to miss this opportunity.

Afford.

Longing for.

We are all longing for a peaceful world.

Longing for.

Longing for.

I'm longing for the summer to end.

Nostalgic.

Nostalgic.

A wave of nostalgia swept over me after seeing my childhood home again.

Nostalgic.

She spoke nostalgically about her school days.

Don't be bummed out about the bad weather. There's nothing you can do about it.