📕 Part 1: Evenings

This episode's vocabulary

Routine (noun) - a usual or fixed way of doing things.

Riveting (adj.) - extremely interesting.

Jammies (noun) - pajamas.

By virtue of something - as a result of something.

Proximity (noun) - the state of being near in space or time.

Set aside something (phrasal verb) - to save for a particular purpose.

Hub (noun) - the central or main part of something where there is most activity.

Escalating (adj.) - increasing in price, amount, rate, etc.

Due to -  because of.

Solo (adj.) - alone; without other people.

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Questions and Answers

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

R: 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.

M: Do you do the same thing every evening?

R: 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.

M: Boring.

R: 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.

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

R: 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.

M: Do you ever work or study in the evenings?

R: 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.

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

R: 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.

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

R: 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.

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Discussion

M: 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.

R: It's because we are exhausted.

M: 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.

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

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

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

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

routine.

R: 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.

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

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

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

R: 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.  So it's usually with negative connotations, which is why I say it's not terribly riveting.

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

R: Terribly.

M: Terribly beautiful. awfully nice of you. Yeah.

R: No one says that.

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

R: That's such a cliché.

M: Yeah, it is a cliché. 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.

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

M: Or PJs.

R: PJs? Is that a thing?

M: Yeah, PJs. Jammies, so pajamas, right?

R: Yeah.

M: Jammies. Nice. And he applies moisturizer.

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

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

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

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

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

M: Yeah, you set aside some time to do certain things in the evening, for example, and then your

habit of doing something can escalate.

R: 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.

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

R: It always escalates.

M: 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.

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

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

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

M: 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.

R: Yeah, like writing for example.

M: It's a solitary activity.

R: 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.

M: 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.

M: 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.

R: But no solo activity.

M: No. Group.

R: Group activities.

M: Group activities. Group listen.

R: Group fun.

M: Group listen to our podcast. Yep.

R: Group fun.

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

R: Bye!

M: Bye!

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