シャドーイング練習: What Makes a Place Feel Like Home | Easy English Podcast - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ

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Wait, wait, wait.
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Say that again.
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I said there's nothing on my walls.
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Nothing?
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Mike, you moved in three years ago.
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I know.
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I have pictures.
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They're in a box under the bed.
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Under the bed?
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So you basically live in a hotel.
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It's not a hotel.
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Hotels have art.
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Okay, hold on.
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to Everyday English Academy, where we make English simple and enjoyable.
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I'm Sarah.
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And I'm Mike, the man with the empty walls.
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Hi everyone, wherever you're listening from right now.
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So why is that box still under your bed?
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I don't know.
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I think I always feel like I'm moving soon, so why bother, right?
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Ah, so you never really settled in.
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Hmm.
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Settled in.
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For our listeners, that means you start to feel relaxed and comfortable in a new place, right?
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Exactly.
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You unpack your things, you find your favorite coffee shop, you learn which neighbor is loud.
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Oh, I know which neighbor is loud.
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The guy upstairs plays the drums at 10 p .m.
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Every night?
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Only on Tuesdays, which is somehow worse.
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And you can use settle in for other new things, too.
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A new job, a new school.
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I'm still settling in at work.
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Or it took my son a few weeks to settle in at his new school.
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Wait, you don't have a son.
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It's an example, Sarah.
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Okay, okay.
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But honestly, I'd say you're about 40 % settled in.
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Forty?
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That's harsh.
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You have a box under your bed, Mike.
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Okay, fair.
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But it makes me think, what actually makes a place feel like home?
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Because it's not the walls, right?
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Well, walls help.
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Okay, walls help a little.
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But I can't judge you too much.
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When I moved into my first apartment, I lived out of boxes for four months.
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Four months?
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And you're laughing at my one box?
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Hey, I said I can't judge you too much.
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Okay, for everyone listening, live out of boxes means you move to a new place, but you don't unpack.
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So every day you open a box to find your clothes, your shoes, your toothbrush.
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Yes, and unpack means you take everything out of the boxes and put it where it belongs, which I did not do.
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What was that like?
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Every morning was a little treasure hunt.
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Where's my hairbrush?
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Box number six.
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Where's my phone charger?
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Nobody knows.
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Did you at least label the boxes?
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You know, write on each box what's inside?
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I did, but I labeled them at two in the morning, so the box that said kitchen had my winter boots.
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Winter boots in the kitchen box.
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And I couldn't find my plates anywhere, so for two weeks I ate cereal out of a coffee mug.
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Okay.
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Honestly, that's a little bit smart.
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Thank you.
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Survival skills.
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So when did it change?
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When did it start to feel like your place?
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Hmm.
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I remember the exact day.
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It was a rainy Sunday.
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I was bored.
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So I finally opened every single box.
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Books on the shelf, plates in the kitchen.
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Where plates should be.
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What a crazy idea.
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And then I sat on the sofa, I looked around, and I just felt at ease. At ease.
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Oh, I like that one.
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At ease means you feel relaxed and calm.
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No stress, no worry.
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Your shoulders just drop.
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Like, ha.
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Ha.
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I can feel my shoulders dropping just listening to you.
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And you can use it with people, too.
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Like, my new boss is really friendly.
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I feel at ease with her.
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Or the opposite.
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I never feel at ease at the dentist.
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Nobody feels at ease at the dentist, Mike.
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True.
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But okay, I want to defend myself a little bit here.
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Go ahead.
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Defend your empty walls.
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My apartment does feel like home, even without pictures.
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Because I know it so well.
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What do you mean?
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Okay, so in my kitchen, there's this one spot on the floor, right in front of the fridge.
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And when you step on it, it goes eek.
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Oh, a creaky floor.
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Yes, creaky.
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That means something makes a long, high noise when you step on it or move it, like an old door or old wooden stairs.
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Old houses are full of creaky things.
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Creaky doors, creaky beds.
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Exactly.
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And I know exactly where that spot is.
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At night, when I get a glass of water in the dark, I step over it like a ninja.
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A ninja in pajamas.
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A very quiet ninja in pajamas.
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And I don't even think about it.
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My feet just know.
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Okay, I actually love that, because a visitor would never know that.
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Right.
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When my brother stayed with me, he went to the kitchen at midnight, stepped right on it, and the next morning he said,
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your apartment is haunted.
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Haunted?
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Like with ghosts? With ghosts.
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I said, no, it's just the floor.
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Relax.
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See, that's interesting.
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The creaky floor is annoying, but it's your annoying floor.
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Yes, it's familiar.
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Familiar.
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Good word.
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Something is familiar when you know it really well because you've seen it or heard it many, many times.
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Like my creaky floor.
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I've heard it about 10 ,000 times.
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Or a familiar face in a crowd.
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Or a familiar song on the radio.
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Or a familiar sound.
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Like my fridge.
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It makes this soft humming noise.
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All day long.
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Humming.
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So a low, soft sound that doesn't stop.
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Right.
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And last month, I stayed in a hotel.
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And the room was too quiet.
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No humming.
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I couldn't sleep.
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Ah, you missed your fridge?
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I missed my fridge.
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I'm not proud of it.
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Okay, but I get it.
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For me, it's not sounds, though.
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It's smells.
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Ooh, like what?
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My grandma's house.
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Every time I walked in, there was this scent of oranges and old books.
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Oranges and old books?
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That's a strange mix.
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It's a wonderful mix.
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She always had a bowl of oranges on the table, and she had about a thousand books.
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And scent is a lovely word.
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It's basically a smell, but usually a nice one, right?
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Right.
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You wouldn't say the scent of old socks.
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No, that's just a smell.
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A bad smell.
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Exactly.
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But the scent of fresh bread, the scent of flowers, a candle with a lovely scent.
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All nice things.
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And a scent can take you back in time, right?
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You're walking down the street, you smell something, and suddenly you're eight years old again.
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Yes.
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Last week, I walked past a fruit shop, smelled oranges, and I almost called my grandma.
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Oh, that's sweet.
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And now I'm curious.
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Everyone listening, what does home smell like for you?
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Your mom's cooking?
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Coffee?
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The sea?
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Tell us in the comments.
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Just one sentence.
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Like, my home smells like… and finish it.
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I'll go first.
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My home smells like coffee and slightly burnt toast.
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Every morning?
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Every morning.
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My toaster and I have a difficult relationship.
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But seriously, smells are powerful, especially when you're far from home.
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Oh, don't remind me.
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Why?
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What happened?
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Okay, this is a bit embarrassing.
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When I was 22, I moved to another city for work for a whole year.
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New job, new apartment, and I didn't know anyone.
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That sounds hard.
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It was.
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The first few weeks, everything felt strange.
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And one night, I was doing my laundry, you know, washing my clothes, and I thought, why do my towels smell wrong?
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Wrong?
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They didn't smell like home.
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So I called my mom and asked, Mom, what soap do you use in the washing machine?
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No way!
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Yes.
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And the next day, I went to the supermarket and bought the exact same one.
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Mike, that's so cute.
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It's not cute.
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It's embarrassing.
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It's both.
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Did it work?
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Honestly, yes.
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The first night, I put my face in the towel and I thought, But, okay, I can do this.
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Aww, the power of scent.
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But the soap wasn't enough.
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What really helped was a little restaurant near my office.
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Ooh, what kind of place?
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A tiny family place, six tables.
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And after a few weeks, the owner knew my name.
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She knew my order.
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If I didn't come for a few days, she said, where were you?
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Are you okay?
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Oh, I love that.
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So that restaurant was your home away from home.
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Yes, that's the perfect phrase.
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For everyone listening, a home away from home is a place that isn't your home,
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but you feel just as comfortable there as you do at home.
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And it doesn't have to be a restaurant.
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No, it can be a cafe, a friend's house, a library, even a gym.
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A gym?
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Who feels at home at the gym?
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Some people live at the gym, Mike.
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Not me.
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But yes, people also say it about hotels.
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This hotel is my home away from home.
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So what made that restaurant so special?
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The food?
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The food was good, but mostly it was her.
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She was so kind.
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She always gave me extra bread.
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She asked about my family.
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It felt like she was taking care of me.
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That's hospitality.
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Hospitality, yes.
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Great word.
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It's a long word, but the meaning is simple.
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Hospitality is when you're friendly and generous to guests.
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You make them feel welcome.
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And generous means you give a lot.
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Your food, your time, your attention.
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Right.
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And here's a really useful sentence.
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When you leave someone's home, maybe you stayed with a family or you had dinner at their house, You can say, thank you so much for your hospitality.
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Oh, that's a good one.
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It sounds polite, but also warm.
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Everyone will love you.
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But honestly, the best hospitality I've ever seen was not at that restaurant.
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Let me guess.
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Your grandma.
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My grandma.
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You've met her.
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I have.
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I visited her one time for one hour, and I ate three meals. That sounds right.
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I kept saying, no, thank you, I'm full.
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And she heard, please give me more potatoes.
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She doesn't understand the word full.
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It's not in her dictionary.
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In her house, nobody leaves hungry.
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That's the rule.
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And honestly, I think that's part of what makes a place feel like home too.
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Not just the building, the people and the traditions inside it.
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Definitely.
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And a lot of traditions come from the past, from our family.
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Like your grandma's potatoes.
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The famous potatoes.
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That recipe's maybe a hundred years old.
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It came from her mother and her mother before that.
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Wow.
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So that recipe is part of your family's heritage.
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Heritage.
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Okay, that one sounds a bit serious.
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Can you explain it simply?
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Sure.
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Your heritage is everything that comes from your family's past.
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The traditions, the food, the language, the music.
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Things that are old and really important to a family or a country.
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So like the songs your grandparents sang or the holidays your family celebrates.
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Exactly.
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You might hear, I'm proud of my heritage.
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Or food is a big part of our heritage.
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And that recipe was passed down, right?
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Yes.
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To pass down something means you give it to the younger people in your family.
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Grandparents to parents, parents to children.
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So my great -grandmother passed down the potato recipe to my grandma.
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And one day, my grandma will pass it down to me.
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Will she, though?
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She says I'm not ready.
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Not ready for the potatoes.
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Apparently, there are levels.
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I'm still in training.
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But it's not just recipes.
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You can pass down things, too.
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Jewelry, a watch, furniture.
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Oh, I actually have something like that.
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My grandpa's old armchair.
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Wait, you have your grandpa's armchair?
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Okay, I take back the hotel comment.
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Thank you.
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But I have to be honest, it's a very ugly armchair.
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How ugly are we talking?
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It's brown and orange with little flowers on it.
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And it's a bit creaky.
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When you sit down, it goes Kirk.
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Another creaky thing.
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Your whole apartment is creaky, Mike.
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I know, but I love that chair.
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My grandpa read the newspaper in it every single morning for 40 years.
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Oh, okay.
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Now it's not ugly anymore.
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Now it's beautiful.
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It's still ugly, but it's my ugly chair.
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When I sit in it, I feel close to him.
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That's really lovely.
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And actually, I have something too.
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My mom passed down this little wooden spoon to me.
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A spoon?
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Don't laugh.
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It's a very special spoon.
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It's old, it's a little burnt on one side, and my mom used it for every birthday cake when I was a kid.
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So every time you use it...
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I think of birthday cake, and my mom singing happy birthday very, very badly.
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That's the best kind of heritage.
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Cake and bad singing.
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And I'd really love to hear from you here, everyone.
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Do you have something that was passed down in your family?
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A recipe?
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A ring?
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A chair?
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A spoon?
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Even an ugly one.
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Ugly ones are very welcome.
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Tell us in the comments.
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You can write, My grandmother passed down her.. and tell us what it is.
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Please, I need to know I'm not the only person with an ugly armchair.
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Okay, so you have a creaky floor, a humming fridge, and ugly armchair full of memories.
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Mike, your apartment is starting to sound like a real home.
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Finally.
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Thank you.
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Except for the box under the bed.
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Except for the box, yes.
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Wait a second.
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Mike, did you ever have a housewarming party?
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Um...
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You didn't.
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I was going to.
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I was just waiting for the right time.
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For three years?
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The right time is still coming.
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Okay.
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For everyone listening, a housewarming, or just a housewarming, is a party you have when you move into a new home.
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You invite friends and family to come and see your new place.
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And guests usually bring a small gift, like a plant or something nice for the kitchen.
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The idea is that you warm the house with people.
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It's a new, empty place, and your friends fill it with life.
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Huh.
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I never thought about it like that.
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That's actually really nice.
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It is.
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And I had the funniest housewarming ever.
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Was this the four months of boxes apartment?
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Yes.
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My friends kept saying, Sarah, where's the party?
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And I said, I'm not ready.
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I still have boxes everywhere.
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And they said, we don't care.
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And they just came.
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They invited themselves to your housewarming?
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They invited themselves.
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Eight people.
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I had two chairs.
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Oh, no. Where did everyone sit?
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On the boxes.
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We used boxes as chairs and tables.
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We ate pizza on the box that said kitchen.
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With your winter boots inside.
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With my winter boots inside.
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But honestly, it was one of my favorite nights ever.
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After that, the apartment felt different.
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It had memories now.
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i love that and it sounds like it wasn't a big fancy party more like a small get -together
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exactly a get -together another great word a get -together is a small relaxed meeting with friends
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or family not a big party with loud music
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and dancing just people food
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and talking like we're having a little get -together on saturday do you want to come
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or it's not a party it's just to get together people say
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that when they don't want you to expect too much right it means please don't dress up
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and don't expect a dj noted
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so you know what this means right oh no you're having a housewarming next month i'm inviting myself okay okay
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but if people come they'll see my kitchen What's wrong with your kitchen?
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The layout.
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The layout is crazy.
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Okay, explain.
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And explain layout for our listeners, too.
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Sure.
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The layout is how a place is organized.
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Where the rooms are, where the furniture is, where the doors and windows are.
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When you look at an apartment online, you often see a little drawing from above.
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That drawing shows you the layout.
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Exactly.
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So you can say, I love the layout of this apartment.
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It's so open.
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Or the layout is strange.
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You walk through the bedroom to get to the kitchen.
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So what's wrong with your layout?
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My fridge is in a corner, and the fridge door opens into the wall.
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Into the wall?
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It only opens halfway.
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So every time I want milk, I have to push my arm in like this and twist.
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Every time?
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Every time.
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For three years.
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My left arm is very strong now.
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Mike, why don't you just move the fridge? Where?
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The oven is on one side, the washing machine is on the other side.
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All my appliances are fighting for space.
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Appliances.
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Okay, that's a really practical word.
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Appliances are the machines in your home that do jabs for you.
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The fridge, the oven, the washing machine, the dishwasher.
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The microwave, the toaster, my enemy.
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Your burnt toast friend.
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And you'll often hear kitchen appliances or home appliances, like the apartment comes with all the appliances.
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That means the fridge, the oven, everything is already there.
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You don't need to buy them.
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That's so important to ask when you rent a place.
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It can save you a lot of money.
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Very true.
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And your landlord never wanted to fix the kitchen?
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The landlord is the person who owns your apartment, the person you pay rent to.
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Actually, she did.
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Last year, she said, Mike, I want to renovate the kitchen.
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Renovate.
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So, repair it and make it new and better.
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Right.
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When you renovate a room or a building, you make big changes to improve it.
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New floor, new walls, new lights.
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Sometimes even a new layout.
443
That's great news.
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So why is your arm still doing the twist?
445
Because I said no. You said no?
446
She said it would take six weeks.
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Six weeks with no kitchen.
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Workers in my apartment every day.
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Noise from morning to evening.
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Okay, that is a lot.
451
And they'd probably take out the old floor.
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Wait, the creaky floor?
453
The creaky floor.
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Mike, you said no to a new kitchen because you'd miss your creaky floor?
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It's not the only reason, but it's one of the reasons.
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You're very loyal to your floor.
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But actually, I kind of understand.
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When I was 16, my parents renovated our whole house.
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The whole house?
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The whole house.
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They changed the layout completely.
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The kitchen went where the living room was.
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The living room went upstairs.
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Very modern, very bright, very beautiful.
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That sounds great.
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It was great.
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But the first night, I went downstairs to get some water, and I walked straight into a wall.
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Oh, no. Because in my head, the kitchen was still there.
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My body remembered the old layout.
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That's like my creaky floor, but the opposite.
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Your feet knew the old house.
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Exactly.
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It took me months to feel at ease again.
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Same address, same family, but it didn't feel familiar anymore.
475
Huh.
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So a new layout can make your own home feel like someone else's house.
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For Lyle, yes.
478
But then we made new memories there, and slowly, it became home again.
479
Okay.
480
That makes me feel much better about saying no to my landlord.
481
Don't use my story as an excuse.
482
Too late.
483
But, you know, this brings me back to my box under the bed.
484
Ah, the box.
485
I think the real reason I never opened it is… I always tell myself, this apartment is just for now.
486
Hmm.
487
So you don't want to put down roots.
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Put down roots, yeah.
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That's it exactly.
490
Think about a tree, everyone.
491
A tree has roots under the ground.
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The roots keep it in one place so it can grow big and strong.
493
So when a person puts down roots, they decide to stay in one place for a long time.
494
They build a life there.
495
Friends, a job, a home.
496
Like, after moving five times, they finally put down roots in a small town.
497
Or, I'm not ready to put down routes yet.
498
I want to travel first.
499
And that's totally fine, too.
500
Some people love moving around.
501
True. But me?
502
I've been moving soon for three years.
503
I think my apartment knows I'm not going anywhere.
504
The creaky floor definitely knows.
505
And maybe it's not about staying forever.
506
Maybe it's just about deciding.
507
Right now, this is my place, even if I move one day.
508
I really like that.
509
You don't need a forever home to feel at home.
510
So, okay, I'm doing it.
511
This weekend, I'm opening the box.
512
Really?
513
Really.
514
And I'm hanging one picture.
515
Just one.
516
Let's not go crazy.
517
One picture!
518
Mike, I'm so proud of you.
519
Please don't make it a big thing.
520
It's a very big thing, and I think it deserves a little practice moment.
521
Everyone, listen to each sentence and say it out loud after us.
522
I'm still settling in here.
523
This feels like a home away from home.
524
We're having a housewarming on Saturday.
525
I love the layout of this place.
526
I finally feel at ease here.
527
Nice work.
528
Try them again while you're cooking or cleaning today.
529
Your kitchen won't mind.
530
Unless it has a creaky floor then it might answer you.
531
Eek.
532
Okay, Mike, tell me the full plan, out loud, so everyone hears it and you can't change your mind.
533
Fine.
534
The plan.
535
This weekend, I open the box.
536
No more living out of boxes.
537
Well, out of one box.
538
Good start.
539
I hang one picture, maybe two, and then I'm officially settled in.
540
After only three years.
541
After only three years.
542
Then next month I have a small get together, a housewarming.
543
And you're invited, obviously.
544
You already invited yourself.
545
I did.
546
I'll show everyone my crazy kitchen layout, my appliances fighting for space, and my creaky floor.
547
And the ugly armchair your grandpa passed down to you.
548
The beautiful ugly armchair.
549
And maybe I'll ask my grandma to help with the food.
550
The heritage potatoes.
551
If she thinks I'm ready.
552
And I'll try to show some real hospitality, like the lady at the restaurant.
553
So nobody leaves hungry.
554
Nobody leaves hungry.
555
And I'll light a candle with a nice scent so the apartment smells like something better than burnt toast.
556
Big dreams.
557
And no renovating.
558
No renovating.
559
The floor stays.
560
I'm putting down roots right next to my creaky floor.
561
Honestly, Mike, your place already feels like home.
562
It's all familiar to you.
563
It just needs to look a little more like you.
564
Thanks, Sarah.
565
That's actually really nice.
566
And to everyone listening, Thank you so much for spending this time with us.
567
If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a like and subscribe to Everyday English Academy.
568
It really helps us make more episodes for you.
569
And we can't wait to read about your family treasures.
570
The recipes, the spoons, the rings.
571
And especially the ugly armchairs.
572
Wherever you are right now, a big house, a tiny room, a place you just moved into,
573
We hope it feels a little more like home today.
574
And if it doesn't yet, maybe just open one box.
575
Great advice from the man with the empty walls.
576
Soon to be the man with one picture on the wall.
577
Take care, everyone.
578
See you in the next episode.
579
Bye, everyone.
580
Bye.

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「What Makes a Place Feel Like Home | Easy English Podcast」を使って、シャドーイングで英語を練習しましょう。

毎日15〜30分の練習で、IELTSスピーキングへの自信と実践的な英会話力が身につきます。

シャドーイングとは?英語上達に効果的な理由

シャドーイング(Shadowing)は、もともとプロの通訳者養成プログラムで開発された言語学習法で、多言語習得者として知られるDr. Alexander Arguelles によって広く普及されました。方法はシンプルですが非常に効果的:ネイティブスピーカーの英語を聞きながら、1〜2秒の遅延で声に出してすぐに繰り返す——まるで「影(shadow)」のように話者を追いかけます。文法ドリルや受動的なリスニングと異なり、シャドーイングは脳と口の筋肉が同時にリアルタイムで英語を処理・再現することを強制します。研究により、発音精度、抑揚、リズム、連音、リスニング力、そして会話の流暢さが大幅に向上することが確認されています。IELTSスピーキング対策や自然な英語コミュニケーションを目指す方に特におすすめです。

シャドーイングのやり方: ステップ別の完全ガイドを読む →