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 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.
Well, yeah, you could say I'm homesick right now.
Or are you feeling homesick?
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 in a long time.
And for some reason you just feel sad.
Okay.
So 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.
Tom, how are you?
Hey, we missed you at the party last night.
Are you okay?
I don't know.
I didn't really feel like going out.
I guess I'm feeling a little homesick.
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.
I was.
It's just that the holidays are coming up and I won't be able to go home because I can't
afford the airfare.
I'm just longing for some of the comforts of home, like my mom's cooking and being around
my family.
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.
I see what you mean, but I'm still bummed out.
Okay, how does this sound?
Let's get you suited up and hit the dance club tonight.
I hear that an awesome DJ is playing and there will be a lot of pretty single girls there.
You know, I could really go for that.
You don't mind being my wingman for tonight?
Not at all.
It'll be fun.
It will be like a boys' night out.
Well, kind of.
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 righty, 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.
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.
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.
OK, 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.
So it means there's so many differences that it must take a long time to feel comfortable
again.
OK.
All right.
So that's adjustment.
What else do we have?
Well, we've got this next phrase 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.
So you have comfort.
But the comforts of home are things that are different with every person.
But those are things that you have at your home or your childhood home or your parents'
home that make you feel good and feel happy.
So they're not only physical things 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 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 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 countryside.
So that's one of the comforts of home that I miss.
Oh, you're making me nostalgic and I've never even been.
All right.
Well, this is our next word, actually.
Right, nostalgic.
Nostalgic.
It's a feeling.
I'm feeling nostalgic or he's just really nostalgic.
And so to be nostalgic is to kind of think about a time before or think positively about
something that you experienced before.
So it's not usually a bad thing.
It's never a bad thing.
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 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 and it was hot and the kids would play in the
sprinkler and I had my dog and you know, it's a happy feeling.
Right.
So nostalgia would be the noun and nostalgic would be the adjective.
Exactly.
All right.
And our last word for today on Language Takeaway is bummed out.
Bummed out.
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 come into the office, Marco, and you look a little tired.
I said, are you okay?
Are you bummed out about something?
I can say, yeah, I lost my wallet last night so I'm really bummed out.
Or something like that.
So yeah, you feel bummed out when something bad or sad happens.
Right.
All right.
So let's 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 10th time and
then 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.
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 depressed one.
And the first thing 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.
Right.
So hit in this case doesn't mean like hit.
It 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.
It doesn't have to be a dance club.
But let's hit that concert tonight.
I really want to go there.
Okay.
So you can hit pretty much any place, right?
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.
All right.
And our next word actually is kind of interesting because it's very colloquial and it's 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 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 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 look weird because you're all alone.
And the same is true for girls.
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.
So wingman also helps in that sense.
He helps balance things.
All right.
So there's a whole science behind the wingman.
I'm sure if you look it up on Wikipedia, you'll find 10 pages of information.
All right.
So since they are going out tonight, they said it could be boys night out.
Okay.
And 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 girlfriend and you just want to have some time with your friends.
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.
And so in this case, 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.
And she's not really a boy.
All right.
Great.
And 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 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 it's not healthy and we do not condone it.
Right.
Exactly.
Very good.
So we're going to stop with the phrases in this dialogue today.
I think we should listen to it one more time and we'll be right back.
Tom, how are you?
Hey, we missed you at the party last night.
Are you okay?
I don't know.
I didn't really feel like going out.
I guess I'm feeling a little homesick.
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.
I was.
It's just that the holidays are coming up and I won't be able to go home because I can't
afford the airfare.
I'm just longing for some of the comforts of home, like my mom's cooking and being around
my family.
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.
I see what you mean.
But I'm still bummed out.
Okay, how does this sound?
Let's get you suited up and hit the dance club tonight.
I hear that an awesome DJ is playing and there will be a lot of pretty single girls there.
You know, I could really go for that.
You don't mind being my wingman for tonight?
Not at all.
It'll be fun.
It will be like a boys' night out.
Well, kind of.
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 speaking of homesick and holidays, do you actually get very depressed or homesick during
Christmas?
I do.
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 living in Italy and it was kind of similar.
But then the second time was when I was living in China.
And China was just not the same.
No oven, so no Christmas cookies.
And no granny who, you know, pours vodka and eats meatballs.
And like my mom not running around the kitchen.
You feel lonely and then all of a sudden you get a phone call.
And it's the entire family and they're all together eating, having an amazing Christmas
and they think it's going to help you feel less homesick, but it makes you feel more
homesick.
So you definitely have nostalgia for those days during the holidays.
But what about you?
I rarely get homesick, but yeah, sometimes during Christmas or New Year's, New Year's
we usually have more unique traditions in Ecuador.
So it's very fun.
The family gets together, we dance, we eat.
So 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.
Yeah, so we're curious to hear your answers.
We have a website, EnglishPod.com.
You can of course also leave us questions.
We're happy to answer those.
And until next time, everyone.
Bye bye.