This episode’s vocabulary
To accomplish
verb — to finish something successfully or to achieve something.
To sandwich someone/something between someone/something
phrasal verb — if you are sandwiched between two people or things, you are in a small space between them.
Ultimately
adverb — finally, after a series of things have happened.
To give up
phrasal verb — to stop doing something before you have finished it, usually because it is too difficult.
Slog
noun — a period of difficult or tiring effort.
To get on with something
phrasal verb — to start or continue doing something, especially work.
Companion
noun — a person you spend a lot of time with often because you are friends or because you are travelling together.
Summit
noun — the highest point of a mountain.
To rest up
phrasal verb — to relax in order to have strength for something.
Leg
noun — a particular stage of a journey, competition, or activity.
Immense
adj. — extremely large in size or degree.
Questions and answers
Rory, are you ready, Rory, ready?
I am ready to succeed.
Hey!
I suppose there have been many difficult tasks I've had to accomplish. But one of the hardest that definitely sticks out in my mind was climbing over a mountain in East Timor. That's a small country sandwiched between Indonesia and Australia. While I ultimately succeeded in the end, there were certainly moments when I could definitely have given up. It was a very long slog through the jungle and rough terrain, and I wasn't terribly happy about the whole experience, to be honest with you. However, there wasn't much choice but to do it and reach our destination since we'd been dropped at the foot of the site by a bus. And that bus was not coming back that way for hours and hours. So I thought I might as well just get on with it. In addition to not having any choice about it, or at least not any meaningful choice. I also had two travelling companions who wouldn't let me give up and they kept me motivated. I was also able to stop for regular cigarette breaks, which definitely helped as well since I smoked quite a lot back then. And I didn't afterwards. So probably having done this, I've now decided that I didn't need to smoke, or I decided at that time anyway. It took ages but we finally crossed the summit and made our way down to a place called Tutuala, which, well, it used to host a rebel stronghold during the Indonesian occupation. But at that time, or at least at the time that we were there, it had a hotel. And I think it probably still does, we needed to get there to rest up and then move on to the next leg of our journey, which was a trip to a place called Jaco Island. That's a marine reserve, which is located in the far east of the country. And that's the whole reason that we were there. Despite all that I had to go through to get there, I still felt an immense sense of accomplishment that I actually did it. And I did it in my lucky trainers, which while they weren't exactly designed for this adventure, they still lasted for years, or they had lasted for years, and they still lasted for years after that. I was really sad when they finally fell apart because it always reminded me of what I went through in them, even though it should be a difficult experience to forget. If I hadn't done it, God knows what would have happened instead. But I know I'd have felt a little disappointed in myself that I hadn't made the effort. That's for sure.
And what about your friends? Did they enjoy climbing this mountain?
I think they definitely enjoyed it a lot more than I did! -