Bonus episode #164 – Stopped by a stranger

Hello and welcome to bonus episode number 164 of the QLIPS English Podcast. How is it going? I hope you're doing okay. My name's Andrew. I'll be your host and your English study buddy. For today and in our bonus episode series here at Clips, what I do is I tell you some stories from my everyday life. I'm a Canadian, but I live abroad in Seoul, South Korea, and I hope that by listening to these stories,

you will be able to grow your vocabulary and build your English communication skills and ultimately become a clearer and more confident communicator when you're speaking in English. So if those are some of your goals, then you're in the right place. And to accompany this episode, there is a 100% free for everybody interactive transcript and vocabulary glossary. Plus, if you're a QLULIPS member, then we'll also throw in a comprehension quiz.

So you can get all of those goodies just by following the link that's in the description. Okay, so everyone, for this week's story, there are gonna be two parts. The first part is desk. trail. Part one is called desk trail and part two is called sick. Okay, not very creative chapter names, but chapter one, desk trail, and chapter two, sick. Okay, so let's start with chapter one, desk.

Trail. And the reason that chapter one of this story is called Desk Trail is because that's been my life here for the first. Well, I guess now we are more almost two weeks into the new year, right? So for the first couple of weeks here of the new year. I haven't really been doing much. It's winter, it's cold, it's not too exciting outside. And so pretty much I have just been going from my desk.

and working and I've been doing a lot of cool projects for Clips. I don't have anything I can share with you yet. But I've been working quite hard and I think you're gonna be excited and and really into some announcements that we can make soon here on Qlips. So I've been doing a lot of desk work, doing stuff for Qlips.

preparing episodes, preparing lessons, and just doing a lot of cool things for QUIPs, like I said, that I can't talk about quite yet, but that's been a lot of my time consumed with just desk work. And then I figure that I need to go outside and get some fresh air. So usually in the evening around seven PM then I finally get up from my desk and I go outside and go for a run or a bike ride.

Nothing too crazy because it's winter and colds and dark. But then uh that's my daily exercise. Then I go to sleep and then I repeat. So I don't really have too many interesting updates for you.

However, when I was out for a recent bike ride, I guess this happened just before Christmas. something cool happened. I was riding my bike, along the Han River we have this great pathway uh of trails by the Han River where I like to ride. and it was a cold day, but it was a very beautiful sunny day with a nice blue sky and because it was so cold, there weren't too many people out on the bike trails, so it was kind of nice, actually. I'm kind of lucky because when I was dating my wife.

Before we got married, actually, we were just we were just dating. She gave me this incredible Christmas present at the time of some really, really high quality bike clothes. However, those bike clothes are winter bike clothes. So it's like these insulated warm bike tights and an insulated jacket to match and a nice hat.

And yeah, it's awesome. When I ride my bike in the winter, I love it because I look really pro and I've got this like really high-end gear for riding my bike in the winter. She was really, really generous. to give me that awesome gift. So I love riding my bike in the winter and it was cold, but I felt so warm and just perfect wearing those nice bike clothes that she gave me.

However, when I ride in the summer, I don't have that high-end gear and those high-end clothes in the summer. So I always prefer to ride in the winter. I can really like flex my sweet. outfit that I have. So I was out for uh a winter bike ride. It was a cold day, sunny day, beautiful day, but not too many people out there on the trails. And I was just riding my bike, minding my own business. I actually had my AirPods in and I had some music going, and it's just

fantastic. I was just really, really enjoying the day and really really enjoying the ride. Every time I get on my bike and I go for a ride, uh, I always think like There's never a bad time when you're on a bike. Like I don't think I've ever had a bad time on a bicycle. It's just something that I always really enjoy. So I was out there riding my bike. And I passed somebody who is wearing a Santa costume.

And they were riding their bike with a Santa costume. And I thought, oh, that's kind of cute. And just kept going, right? You just like, oh, okay. It's a couple of days before Christmas. Somebody is riding with a Santa costume. Cool. Didn't think much of it. kept going. And then a couple of moments later, I got flagged down by the Santa. I could hear them say, excuse me, excuse me, hello, hello. And I I kind of looked over and I saw out of the side of my eye, oh, it's the Santa. And

I was like, Yeah, how uh can I help you? Is I don't know, maybe I have like a flat tire or something that I didn't notice, maybe there's a bike problem that I didn't notice, but The Santa flagged me down and I stopped my bike and she stopped her bike. And we spoke, had a little conversation with each other. And it turns out that she's a YouTuber and she was handing out like Christmas presents to other cyclists. I guess just for fun content for her YouTube channel, I would imagine.

So she gave me a cookie and she asked me a couple of questions and I asked her a couple of questions, you know, what are you doing? Why are you dressed like Santa? What's your channel name? This kind of thing. And yeah, it was just a fun little conversation. Made my day. It was really nice. I I don't know, it was just kind of this random thing to happen to you while you're riding your bike. Never expected that that would happen. And then I was back on my bike and back on my ride.

So when I got home, I didn't eat the cookie at that time. I just sort of put it in my pocket and kept riding. When I got home, I took it out and looked at it, and the Santa had prepared a handwritten note saying like Merry Christmas and plugged her YouTube channel and stuff. And so Guys, this is my dilemma. I I'm curious about the interview, obviously. However, I'm so embarrassed. I don't think that I can go and actually watch the interview. Like it feels so cringy. And I think.

Maybe for you you think that's weird. Like here I am on a podcast and this episode will also be played on YouTube. So I'm in front of the camera right now. I'm talking on YouTube and this is fine for whatever this is fine. But when I think about appearing on somebody else's content and like, you know, it was a cold winter day. I have probably a little bit of a runny nose and, you know, I'm flushed from exercising and

probably not looking my best. And then yeah, kind of surprise interview in Korean, of course, as well. And so afterwards you always a at least me, I'm always like, ah, did I say the right thing? Did I did I say this word correctly? I don't know. It's kind of this surprise interview situation. So yeah, although I have her YouTube channel and if anybody wants to know, just let me know and I'll definitely pass it on to you and maybe you could look for me, but

Ha! I can't do it. I can't watch myself. I think I die of embarrassment. So it was it was cool. It was a nice gesture, but I don't want to see it. So that was a kind of cool thing that happened to me out on a bike ride recently. But other than that, like I said, it's just been riding my bike, going for runs and coming back and sitting at my desk and working.

Super boring stuff, unfortunately. So let's go to part two of this episode chapter two, which I called sick. And maybe this is another reason why I've been a homebody for the start of 2026. And that is my wife got the flu. My wife got the flu. In fact, just after Christmas, she wasn't feeling so good and she thought, um, this is another kind of funny story that just popped into my mind, but We have been doing some exercise together.

There is uh a YouTube channel. Another you today is we're talking a lot about YouTube. Uh a YouTube channel. that there's this couple in Korea and this is a Korean YouTube channel and they do like they're a married couple and they do exercise videos together, like stretching videos and different aerobic videos. And so my wife and I sometimes uh we did it a lot last year and then we kind of stopped and now that we're starting again.

Uh we like to follow this video and just do some of the exercise. It is really fun. The couple are funny and they play some funny music in the background and it's just good to like move around and stretch and so we follow this couple's exercise videos and yeah I'll put a link to their channel in the description so if you want to follow along and try some of these aerobic videos then you can go ahead and do it.

However, last year when my wife and I were really religiously following these exercise videos every day, We were doing kind of an easy like beginner level video, but now we thought, okay, you know, my wife swims a lot, I run a lot, so we can graduate into the intermediate level, right? We don't need to do the beginner one anymore. So we went to the intermediate level upper body exercise and you're doing just a lot of simple movements in these exercise videos.

just kind of moving your arms up and down and back and forth. No weights or anything like this, just movement with your arms. However, the video is about eight minutes long and guys I kid you not, it feels like your arms are gonna fall off when you get to the end of the video. It is almost like torture. It's really, really difficult to do this intermediate level video. And yeah, I found it really tough and challenging.

And so we did the video, did the routine, I think two days in a row, and then the next day my wife was complaining that she had a lot of muscle soreness and She was really, yeah, had like a body ache. And I thought, oh, of course, it's because of the exercise video that we followed. Like we followed these videos for a while last year, and then we took a break, and now we're starting again, so your muscles are not used to them.

And probably that's why you have the muscle soreness. So I said, let's just take a break from the videos. We'll recover and then maybe we'll go back to the beginner level and work our way up again. So we just figured, yeah, it's probably because of the exercise video that she had the muscle soreness. However, she was also really tired and just kind of. Yeah, lethargic. No energy. And

I thought, oh, maybe she overdid it or maybe she's getting a cold. I'm not so sure. Just rest. So I told her to rest. Next day she still felt the same, but then now she had a headache as well. So she decided to go to the clinic. Went to the clinic and came back and the doctor said she just had a cold. She said the doctor talked to her for maybe fifteen seconds and diagnosed her as having a cold gave her some medicine and sent her home.

And so, okay. Uh I told her just to relax and and rest, right? I I firmly believe that some of the best medicine out there is just rest and relaxation and sleep. The restorative power of sleep. So I told her to sleep as much as possible. However, later that afternoon she's like, I don't think this is a cold. So she went to a different clinic and at that clinic, I guess she did a test for the flu and it came back as positive for the flu. And yeah, she was in

pretty rough shape and just very, very lethargic, low energy, couldn't really do much. So it was my turn to step up as nurse and caretaker of the home. So yeah, I don't know if I'm a great nurse. Of course I really try to to do anything. Like if my wife would ask for something, of course I would get it for her. I would do all of the dog walking, all of the home responsibilities. But yeah, I don't I would I wouldn't say I'm the greatest nurse. I I I don't know.

You know, if she wanted a specific food or something, I would prepare that for her. But she said she just wanted this rice porridge that that a lot of Korean people eat when they're sick. It's just kind of like rice and chicken together. It's called juke. And yeah, so I prepared some of that for her. But I mean she actually ordered it for herself online and it was delivered. And when I say prepare it, I mean heat it up on the stovetop and then give it to her.

Not really the hardest work, but yeah, she was at least able to get some rest and relaxation. I took care of all of the household duties for a few days, and thankfully now she is much, much better and pretty much back to normal now.

Thankfully, I've avoided getting sick and So far, knock on wood. I haven't been sick uh this winter season at all. Usually at least once every winter around Christmas, New Year's time. I get sick, but it hasn't happened this year, so I'm super excited about that. And it seems like I haven't caught the flu from my wife either. Now the other member of our family is our dog, Oa, and

She's also been a little bit lethargic, actually only today. And the reason why she's a little bit lethargic is because she'll be staying at a hotel soon. A dog hotel, believe it or not, there is a thing called a dog hotel. When I was growing up, we used to call it a kennel. But now it's called a dog hotel. And the reason why Oa will be going to a dog hotel is my wife and I are going to take a short little trip together in February. And while we're gone just for a few days.

she'll be staying at a hotel just because it's really, really difficult to get somebody to it's not really difficult. It's like we feel burdened to ask our friends to take care of the dog or family members to take care of O It's just a a big hassle and there are these great pet hotels here in Seoul and not too far from our home. So we're gonna take a wall to the pet hotel for a couple of nights. while we are away on our trip.

And so before Owal can actually stay in the pet hotel, she needs to have a certain vaccination done. I'm not exactly sure what kind of the vaccination is, but it's to prevent, you know, illness s from spreading. uh in a place where there are several dogs being kept at one time. And so we got the notification that before Owal can go to the hotel, she does need to have this certain vaccination. So we took her to the vat. yesterday and she got the vaccination.

And it's always heartbreaking. I know it's like something that you need to do for for pets is get them vaccinated so they can stay safe and healthy, but it's heartbreaking because, you know, they don't know what's going on and it's painful for them and yeah. It's unpleasant for everybody involved, I think. So oh well got the vaccination and the vet said, yeah, maybe later today or tomorrow she could be a little bit lethargic.

And yesterday, the day she got the vaccination, she seemed totally fine, but today she's a little bit lethargic in the morning, wasn't too interested in her food and wasn't Sh she did get excited when we went out for her mor morning walk, but usually she's super excited to go out for the morning walk. And today she wasn't as excited. So I think she's maybe feeling a little bit of like The vaccine hangover.

So that was what she was like in the morning, but actually now that I'm recording here in the evening, she's almost bounced back. To her usual self, her normal self. So I anticipate a full and speedy recovery. Probably by tomorrow she'll be back to a hundred percent. So Yeah, a little bit of sickness going on in our house with my wife and my dog being a little bit lethargic and low energy recently, but everybody's on the mend and I anticipate Full health in my home soon.

Okay everyone, that's gonna bring us to the end of this week's story. Thank you so much for listening all the way to the end. I hope you found it helpful for building your English fluency. Don't forget about the free interactive transcript. and vocabulary glossary that's available for this episode.

And also don't forget to check us out on Discord. You can join our Discord by just following the link that's in the description for this episode. And that's the place where our community gathers and hangs out. We communicate and practice English every day together. We're talking about so many different topics, uh every topic under the sun over on our Discord.

So if you would like to connect with other CLUPs listeners like yourself, enjoy some fun and helpful English conversation and maybe even make some new friends, then just join us by following that link and it's free for everyone to join, of course. So, guys, please take care. Don't get sick this next week. And I'll catch you in the next QLIPS episode. Until then, bye-bye.