📙 Part 2: Describe your favorite place in your house where you can relax

This episode's vocabulary

To stretch out (phrasal verb) – to extend your body to its full length. → After a long day at my desk, it feels great to stretch out on the sofa.

To unwind (verb) – to relax and allow your mind to be free from worry after a period of work or tension. → Listening to calm music is a great way to unwind in the evening.

To drift off (phrasal verb) – to gradually fall asleep. → The gentle sound of the rain helped me drift off to sleep.

Safe space (collocation) – a place or environment in which a person can feel confident and comfortable. → My journal is a safe space for my thoughts and feelings.

To chill out (phrasal verb) – to relax completely, or not allow things to upset you. → Let's just stay in and chill out with a movie tonight.

To plow through (phrasal verb) – to finish something that takes a long time and is difficult or boring. → I have to plow through this stack of paperwork before I can go home.

Delineation (noun) – the action of describing or marking the border or limits of something. → There should be a clear delineation between your professional and private life.

Workspace (noun) – the area where someone works. → It's important to keep your workspace clean and organized to improve focus.

Rest area (noun) – a place designated for resting. → My bedroom is strictly a rest area; I never do work in there.

Overwhelmed (adjective) – feeling that something is too much to deal with. → New parents often feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities.

Minimalist design (collocation) – a style characterized by extreme simplicity and spareness. → The apartment had a minimalist design, which made it feel very spacious and calm.

Spacious (adjective) – having a lot of space. → Their new house has a spacious living room, perfect for entertaining guests.

Cozy (adjective) – giving a feeling of comfort, warmth, and relaxation. → On a cold winter's night, there's nothing better than a cozy blanket and a hot drink.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe your favorite place in your house where you can relax. You should say where it is, what it's like, what you enjoy doing there, and explain why you feel relaxed at this place. Rory, give us your story.

Rory: Well, my whole house is a pretty calm place, but the room I like to go the most to relax is definitely my bedroom. In terms of where it is, I think it's on the west side of my house, or the end furthest away from the front door. That's why it's easy to relax there because it's quiet. Not only that, but it's the second largest room in the house too, I think. So, it's away from the noise on the stairs and it's got a lot of space as well to stretch out in. When it comes to what it's like, it's a pretty key part of my home. It's right down the main corridor, so I don't have to go too far if I ever need to be there and the walls are dark blue, which I think is quite a relaxing color to help me unwind and even drift off to sleep in the evenings. And all the things I like are there, like my books and clothes and things I've collected over the years. So, it feels like a very safe space to be in. To tell you a bit more about what I like doing there, it's just nice to chill out on the bed sometimes. It's quite a large one, so that's fairly easy to do. And I have all my unread books that I'm plowing my way through next to my bed or on shelves so I can get to those easily enough. Sometimes during the day, I'll go there and sit on my bed to work or read, though, I'm trying to do that less these days since I like a clear delineation between my workspaces and my rest areas. But it's still nice to know that I can go there if I ever needed to. And as for why I feel so relaxed there, well, apart from the things I mentioned, it's also because I like having a place to go if I feel overwhelmed that's away from people and work. If I didn't have it, I think life might be a lot more stressful and no one wants that, do they?

Discussion

Maria: So, dear listener, we had a topic, describe a quiet place you like to go to. And this topic is describe your favorite place in your house where you can relax. Your strategy could be to talk about the same place. So, the same place for two topics. So here, describe a quiet place, not noisy, you like to go to. Rory talked about his bedroom. And also here, describe your favorite place in your house where you can relax, it's also my bedroom. So that's absolutely fine. Okay? And this is how you choose one topic, and then you use it for three or two different questions.

Rory: Yes. So, before I had my bedroom, and now here it is again.

Maria: But I did change some things. So a place in my house where I can relax. Okay. My bathroom, my kitchen, my bedroom. So, dear listener, you can talk about your bedroom, all right? Even if it's your bathroom or toilet, just okay, just talk about your bedroom. That's the easiest thing to do. If you don't have a bedroom in your house, you just lie. Tell lies.

Rory: I hope you have a bedroom in your house though.

Maria: No, but maybe it's one room, it's a studio. It's a bedroom, it's a kitchen, everything.

Rory: Well, then it would be the main room.

Maria: Yeah, the main room. But again, feel free to steal Rory's story. And a place where I can relax is my bedroom. Or my whole house is a pretty calm place. So relaxing place. And my bedroom is where I feel most relaxed in. Then Rory told us where the bedroom is. And when he changes the topic, you can say like, when it comes to what it's like. So what it is like means tell me about the place. Appearance, the atmosphere, not what do you like about the place, no, but what's it like? It's big, it's small, it's cozy, it's comfortable, it's bright, it's dark. It's quiet. The walls are dark blue, right? Or the walls are red. The walls are yellow.

Rory: My god, if they were red, then it would not be a very pleasant place to relax.

Maria: Yeah, that's true. The walls are blue. Again, you can lie. And, it's a relaxing color to help me unwind. To help me relax. Unwind means relax. And even drift off in the evenings. So, to drift off means to fall asleep. And the colors of the room help me to drift off. C2, dear listener, gradually fall to sleep. I usually drift off at 11:00 p.m., for example.

Rory: Nice.

Maria: And I have the things I like there, my books, my clothes. Yeah. I've collected different things over the years, like furniture, books, I don't know, candles, whatever. So yeah, it's a safe place and I feel relaxed there. It helps me to unwind after work. Then we change the subject to tell you more about what I like doing there, I just chill out on my bed. Yeah, I relax on my bed. Yeah, because it's large, it's soft. And during the day, I usually go there to sit on my bed, to work or read. I usually sit on my bed to read. And then Rory knows about the difference between workspaces and rest areas.

Rory: I delineate between them.

Maria: Ooh, what does it mean?

Rory: It just means I make a difference, I make a clear difference between them.

Maria: Yeah. So Rory only relaxes in his bedroom, but works in his workspace. So Rory doesn't work in his bedroom. So he likes a clear distinction, a clear difference between workspaces and rest areas. And my bedroom is my rest area where I relax, not work. So it's nice to go there to relax. I feel relaxed, I feel calm. And if I feel overwhelmed, so too many things going on, if I feel overwhelmed, I usually go there to unwind. I usually go there to relax. And Rory, where else do people relax in their house? If not bedroom.

Rory: Where, indeed? Maybe they have a games room, if they're very lucky. Most people I think it will be the bedroom, but maybe the living room or I don't know if you can relax in the kitchen. Usually people are preparing things there.

Maria: Yeah, maybe a garden. A garden, you can talk about a garden you relax in the garden. Or your living room. So you relax on your couch, sofa, watching TV. Cozy garden. So living room, bedroom. Don't talk about the bathroom and toilet.

Rory: Unless you're Maria.

Maria: Yeah, relaxation zone, my bathroom. Yeah. A relaxing space at my home with soft furniture and cushions, blankets, candles, fireplace, you know? Yeah. A relaxing home environment. And you can say that it's the most relaxing room in my flat with a minimalist design, for example, with open spaces, it's spacious and cozy. Yeah, with relaxing colors. And relaxing colors are sky blue, green, lavender.

Rory: Anything to help you chill out.

Maria: Right, dear listener, thank you very much for listening. And we'll get back to you in our next episode, okay?

Rory: Bye.

Maria: Bye.