Homesick

Hello everyone! And welcome back to EnglishPod! 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 gonna preview today, the word ishomesick.

Alright, so let’s take a look at that in today’s language preview. Voice: Vocabulary preview.

Alright, so homesick. If you feel homesick or you are homesick.

Well, yeah, you… you could say: I’m homesick right now.

Uhu.

Or, are you feeling homesick?

Uhu.

Um, so it’s a word that means, I miss my home, I miss my family, I’m far away or I haven’t seen my family a long time. And for some reason you just feel sad.

Uhu, okay, so it’s a… it’s a feeling. You feel a little bit depressed, you feel sad, because you’re homesick.

Right.

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

Alright, we’re back, so, yeah, I guess he’s very homesick.

Very homesick.

And…

And his friend is really worried.

Yeah, uh, but actually I think this is common, right, to be homesick during the holidays like Christmas, for example.

Oh, man, it’s the worst during the holidays, because you think of all the traditions and all the things that you normally do at home and you’re not doing them.

Mm, so this is something we’re gonna talk more about a little bit later on. But, uh, let’s take a look at some of the language that was used in “language takeaway”. Voice: Language takeaway.

This first one is key, right? So when you move away from home or when you n… 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, uhu.

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

Or you new environment. So many times people say: wow, moving to China must be a big adjustment!

Uhu, uhu.

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

Mm, okay. Alright, so that’s adjustment. Uh, 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 comfort’s pretty easy, right? Feeling comfortable.

Right.

So you have comfort, but the comforts of home are things that are different with every person.

Uhu.

But those are things that you have at your home, at your childhood home, at your parents’ home, that make you feel good and feel happy.

So they’re not only physical things or objects, right?

Right.

They can be like your mom’s cooking or maybe even just spending time with your family.

Right, or reading a newspaper with your dad or things that you’re… you used to that you don’t have anymore.

Uhu.

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…

Oh, yeah… Of course, of course, I think, uh, one of the main things is actually not living in the city, cause I used to live in a valley, a little bit further away, in kind of almost countryside, so…

Mm.

That’s one of the comforts of home that I miss.

Oh.

Hehe.

You’re making me nostalgic and I’ve never even been. Alright, well, this is our next word, actually.

Right, nostalgic.

Nostalgic, it’s a feeling. I’m feeling nostalgic or he is just really nostalgic.

Uhu.

And so, to be nostalgic is to kind of think about the time before or, you know, think positively about something that you experienced before. So it’s not usually a bad thing.

Uhu.

It’s never bad thing, it’s…

Right.

Nostalgia is a good warm, fond memory of something.

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 I have nostalgia for my childhood. I loved, you know, summers in Chicago when it was hot and the kids were playing withsprinkler. And I have my dog and, you know, it’s ??? it’s a happy feeling.

Right, so nostalgia would be the noun and nostalgic would be the adjective.

Exactly.

Alright, and our last word for today on language takeaway isbummed out.

Bummed out, okay.

I’m bummed out.

We’ve got another feeling here, so we’re all full of feelings today.

Hehe.

Bummed out is a sad feeling, so to be bummed…

Uhu.

Is kind of slang and it means to be sad, uhu.

Okay, or disappointed.

Disappointed. So you… you come into the office Marco and you look a little tired and ???: are you okay? Are you bummed out about something?

Mm, uh, I can say: yeah, I lost my wallet last night, so I’m really bummed out.

Ouh.

Or something like that.

So yeah, you feel bummed out when something bad or sad happens to you.

Right, uhu.

Uhu.

Alright, so why don’t we move on now to a couple of different phrases on “fluency builder”? Voice: Fluency builder.

Alright, this first one is something that you s… often say to old fiends or family. You know, when your friends or someone, they go through periods of happiness and sadness and so, when someone’s going though a down period again, you say: ugh, 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.

Uhu, so this has happened before.

Uhu.

Or we have experienced this before. We already solved this problem or situation.

Right.

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!

Alright.

You should know the plan by now.

Exactly. Alright, so we’ve been through this already. Um, they were talking about the adjustments and everything and then what other phrase did they use?

Well, the next couple of phrases have to do with the friend’s suggestions, because she has a lot of ideas to cheer her friend up, the…

Okay.

The depressed one. And the first she says is: hey, let’s hit the dance club.

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

Alright, so hit in this case doesn’t mean like… [knock] hit.

Right.

Doesn’t mean you’re punching someone.

Aha.

It means “to go to” or “to do”, uhu.

Alright, so we can say: let’s go to the dance club tonight. Let’s hit the dance club.

Exactly, it doesn’t have to be a dance club. Well, let’s hit that concert tonight.

Uhu, or…

??? don’t wanna go there.

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

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

Alright, and our next, uh, word, actually, is kind of interesting, because it’s very colloquial and it’s, uh, a wingman.

Uh, okay

I can be your wingman tonight.

So wingman, you have to think about wing meaning side.

Uhu.

Not like a bird’s wing.

Uhu.

So, a wing means side and a wingman is a guy who will go with you…

Uhu.

To a bar or a club to kind of help you find, uh, a date or a girl or someone to talk to.

Okay, so this person, this wingman, usually keeps you companyand 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 a bar or whatever.

And, you know, the key is that people don’t like to go alone to bars, right?

Uhu.

Because you feel sad and then you’re… you look weird, cause you’re all alone.

Hehe.

And…

Right.

The same is true for girls.

Aha.

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

Right, right.

So wingman also helps in that sense, he helps balance things.

Alright, so there’s a whole since behind the wingman.

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

Alright, so, uh, since they’re 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 nigh out.

Uhu.

And so, you know sometimes you spend a lot of time with your husband or your wife or your boyfriend or your girlfriend.

Uhu.

And you just wanna have some time with your friends.

Right.

And so, you call this girls night… for me, girls night out. You just go out, you do girl things.

Okay.

Guys night out, you do other things.

Okay.

And so, in this case…

So it’s girls only or guys only. Boys night out is only guys.

Exactly, and that’s why this is funny, because it’s the girl who says: hey, let’s have boys night out.

Right.

And she’s not really a boy.

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

Okay, and this is important. A lot of people who are… who are depressed or sad, when they drink, they drink a lot and so, bingemeans to do something in excess, to do it too much, uhu.

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

Too much, so getting drunk right away.

Okay.

And, uh, it’s not healthy and we do not condone it, not…

Right, exactly. 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.

Alright, we’re back, so, uh, speaking of homesick, uh, 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.

Uhu.

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.

Uhu.

And China, it was just not the same…

Right.

No oven, so no Christmas cookies.

Hehe.

And no granny who, you know, ??? eats meat balls.

Hehe.

And like my mom not running around the kitchen and you just… you feel lonely and then all of a sudden you get a phone call.

Uhu.

And it’s the entire family and they’re all together eating…

Right.

Having an amazing Christmas and you… they think it’s gonna help you feel less home sick, but it makes you feel more homesick, so…

Hehe.

You definitely have… have nostalgia for those days during the holidays, but what about you?

Um, I rarely get homesick, but, yeah, sometimes during Christmas or New Year’s. Um, New Year’s we usually have more unique traditions in Ecuador.

Uhu.

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 visits to Ecuador then I might get homesick for a little while.

Uh.

But then it goes away.

Then it passes.

Yeah. Hehe.

Well, you guys should tell: do you ever feel homesick? And if you do, what do you feel home sick about? What do you miss?

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

Uhu, yeah, so we’re curious to hear your answers. We have websiteenglishpod.com. You can of course also leave us questions. We’re happy to answer those and until next time, everyone…

Bye-bye! ***