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๐Ÿ“• Part 1: Evenings

Rory reveals his surprisingly simple evening routine, from the gym to his special jammies. But is it really that boring? Maria dives into the vocabulary of daily life and why moisturizer is so important.

Maria & Rory

ยท 7 min read

This episodeโ€™s vocabulary

Routine

noun โ€” a usual or fixed way of doing things.

Riveting

adj. โ€” extremely interesting.

Jammies

noun โ€” pajamas.

Proximity

noun โ€” the state of being near in space or time.

Set aside something

phrasal verb โ€” to save for a particular purpose.

Hub

noun โ€” the central or main part of something where there is most activity.

Escalating

adj. โ€” increasing in price, amount, rate, etc.

Solo

adj. โ€” alone; without other people.

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๐Ÿ“• Part 1: Evenings
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Questions and answers

Maria

Let's talk about evenings. What do you often do in the evening?

Rory

It's a pretty set routine to be honest. On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, I'll go to the gym after school and then hit home, have dinner and go to bed. And Tuesday and Friday are a bit more open, and sometimes I go out or have people around. But more often I'll do work like writing, so, well, either way, it's not terribly riveting, sadly.

Maria

Do you do the same thing every evening?

Rory

Well, not exactly the same thing, except just before bed. I'll always brush my teeth, get changed into my jammies and apply moisturizer and then it's lights out.

Maria

Boring.

Rory

Listen, son, when you get to my age, you will appreciate the value of moisturizer. Or you will be like typical Russian "muzhik" and you will age.

Maria

Do you prefer to spend your evening with family or friends?

Rory

I actually prefer to spend it by myself. So I spend the whole day around people, but if I have to spend it with people, I don't mind which group to be honest. I suppose my friends are more accessible at the moment. So I'd spend it with them. But that's more by virtue of proximity than preference.

Maria

Do you ever work or study in the evenings?

Rory

Well, I try not to these days, but it happens sometimes when there's a lot to do. So usually I'll set aside an hour or so for it and no more but it has a hub of escalating still sometimes.

Maria

What's a popular activity for people in your country in the evenings?

Rory

I'm not sure. Everything is a bit radically different these days. I say a bit radically different. It is radically different. Due to the crisis. Though I imagine some people still eat together and evenings watch the local news and have some kind of fun like playing games or going out.

Maria

Do you do the same thing in the evenings as you did when you were a child?

Rory

Not quite. There's a lot less homework and walking for starters, I think there's more alone time too, so solo activities are more of a thing. -

Discussion

Maria

Rory, thank you much for your evening answers this evening. I don't know, for some reason like it's an evening episode, but we're singing.

Rory

It's because we are exhausted.

Maria

Yeah, we are kind og, we are just a little bit tired. Oh yes. Let's moan about how tired we are. I want to sleep, I want to go home.

Rory

I didn't moan but then you started...

Maria

What was that then? It wasn't morning? I've just barked at him. Haven't I?

Rory

You didn't bark. You're just like, you sassing me.

Maria

So evenings. You can have that you have a pretty set routine for your evenings, to have a set routine.

Rory

And if you have a set routine all the time it won't be terribly riveting, which means it's not very interesting. But instead of saying it's not very interesting you say it's not very riveting.

Maria

Yeah, riveting. What else can be riveting? People. He's riveting.

Rory

Some people. You can have a riveting conversation. So it's like an interesting conversation. Or a movie can be riveting.

Maria

Riveting. Wow. That's a nice word. Because usually, usually people say interesting, fascinating.

Rory

But then you say, um, it's not terribly riveting. Like it's not interesting. Well, you can use it to mean it's often used to like in a sarcastic way, or a self deprecating way.ย  So it's usually with negative connotations, which is why I say it's not terribly riveting.

Maria

Terribly riveting. It's like, oh, you're terribly beautiful. You're terrible and beautiful at the same time.

Rory

Terribly.

Maria

Terribly beautiful. awfully nice of you. Yeah.

Rory

No one says that.

Maria

Yeah. But in Russian, for example, we can say that. Yeah, but in English, no, it's so awfully nice of you.

Rory

That's such a clichรฉ.

Maria

Yeah, it is a clichรฉ. Yeah, don't say that. Back to Rory's evening routine. What Rory does before he goes to bed is he brushes his teeth. So brush my teeth. Get changed into his jammies.

Rory

Yeah, like a say jammies. Most people say pajamas.

Maria

Or PJs.

Rory

PJs? Is that a thing?

Maria

Yeah, PJs. Jammies, so pajamas, right?

Rory

Yeah.

Maria

Jammies. Nice. And he applies moisturizer.

Rory

And it's always apply moisturizer or put moisturizer on.

Maria

Yeah, apply moisturizer. Can I apply? An evening mask?

Rory

Yes, you can apply makeup although I wouldn't recommend doing that before you go to bed.

Maria

No makeup. So Rory sets aside an hour to do what in the evening?

Rory

To do any work that comes up. And it's important to point out, it is like set aside.

Maria

Yeah, you set aside some time to do certain things in the evening, for example, and then your habit of doing something can escalate.

Rory

Yes. So if something escalates, it's like it becomes more than you wanted it to. So an argument can escalate into a fight, work for an hour can escalate into work for three hours.

Maria

Hmm, yeah. And the question was about like, do you ever work or study in the evenings? Yeah.ย  And like, I set aside some hours before I go to bed, right? But it could escalate.

Rory

It always escalates.

Maria

There are different activities that you can engage in, in the evening. For example, you can watch the news, you can watch the local news. You can eat together in the evenings and play games, go out. Have fun. What else can you do in the evening, listen to our podcast in the evening. It could be your routine, before you go to bed, you listen to our voices loving you into sleep.

Rory

But if you have to make some significant changes, which you've never made before, it will become radically different.

Maria

Again it's music, we have music on this podcast.

Rory

On a vocabulary related note, it can instead of saying because I said due to crisis.

Maria

Yes, this is really cool. Yeah. So it's a bit radically different these days due to, okay, lockdown, due to the crisis. Or because, yeah, but due to is nice. Also, it's good for your essays, hmm. Solo activities. Some activities are solo.

Rory

Yeah, like writing for example.

Maria

It's a solitary activity.

Rory

Could say that actually, solo and solitary activity. But what's not solo is our work together. But it's coming to a close for this episode. We hope you enjoyed it. We hope you spend your evening listening to it. Maybe in the evening before your test.

Maria

Oh, yeah, it's a good idea to listen to us one day before the test in the evening, at night, in the morning before your test. Just before... V: Binge listen.

Maria

Binge listen. Yeah, you should binge listen to our podcast. And you can have some friends around. So invite some friends around for this lovely evening. With some water.

Rory

But no solo activity.

Maria

No. Group.

Rory

Group activities.

Maria

Group activities. Group listen.

Rory

Group fun.

Maria

Group listen to our podcast. Yep.

Rory

Group fun.

Maria

Anyway, that's all about evenings. So yeah. That's all from us for now. We'll see you in the next episode.

Rory

Bye!

Maria

Bye! - Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the โ€œbehind the scenesโ€ stuff: Our Instagram:ย bit.ly/instagramswi Our Telegram:ย bit.ly/telegramswi