A Day in America – REAL English Conversation

Want to know how to improve your English conversation? Spend the day with me in New York City and I’ll teach you all about it.

Tagged With: Real English Conversation   YouTube blocked? Click here to see the video.

Video Text:

I’m at a hotel in New York City today, let’s hang out, just you and me. Let’s make a video, let’s learn some English and just have a good time! 

Hey New York City, looking good! 

I got in kind of late last night and I got myself checked in. 

Um, is there a menu for room service in the room? 

It should be. 

Great.   

And what floor is the gym? 

8th floor. 

Great. 

Gym. This is short for gymnasium which is a word we almost never use at all in American English anymore. But we do use gym. Some people have a gym membership for a facility in their neighborhood, and some people put together a home gym. And this word is pronounced just like the name Jim. This is the most famous Jim I can think of right now. The Jim from the 

Office. Gym, Jim.  

Thank you so much.   

And today, the city is so sunny and I’m really liking looking out on all the rooftops. 

I do have a pretty nice long view from here and I do have some iconic New York City buildings like the Empire State Building. I actually used to live right next to the Empire State building. 

I’ve also got a view of the Brooklyn Bridge, also iconic and of course down on the streets the ubiquitous, the iconic New York City Yellow Taxi. 

The Empire State Building, iconic. That’s an adjective. It’s an icon, that’s a noun. Let’s read the definition of Icon. 

A person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration. 

Veneration means praise like you love something. Wow, that is amazing, veneration. So an icon, a symbol of something. The Empire State Building is a symbol of New York. The Brooklyn Bridge, that’s iconic. The New York City Cab, that’s iconic. Also a person can be an icon. 

When I think of YouTube vloggers, I think of Casey Neistat. He’s my favorite, he is a icon. You can think right now about your field of study or your field that you work in, who is an icon in your field? in the month that I’m filming this it’s Black History Month in the US and I saw a video where someone was saying who are your black icons and I immediately thought Leontyne Price. She’s an opera singer, she is so commanding, so powerful I love her voice that woman is an icon. I use the word ubiquitous with NYC cabs, NYC taxis, cab and taxi, those mean the same thing. Ubiquitous means everywhere. Ubiquitous cabs in New York City. Water towers in the New York skyline, ubiquitous. Simply everywhere. 

It’s also really fun to spy on people’s rooftops. These people have a bunch of Adirondack chairs, this one has a cute little outdoor table with a single chair, I wouldn’t mind having my morning coffee there. 

Now over here, they’ve just got a pile of debris a pile of junk. 

These poor people over here they will never see light. The sunlight will never get to them. Their building blocks it from the south and the building I’m in blocks it from the west, maybe they get a little bit from the east in the morning. 

An adirondack chair is made of wood or plastic and it takes this shape. In America you’ll see them on something like a back porch or somewhere where you just kind of want to relax and enjoy the view. 

Junk. Debris. Notice that silent s in debris. 

Debris is leftover pieces, sometimes scattered about. Here, the debris was in a pile and usually debris junk is something we think we’re going to throw away, we’re going to get rid of it. However, that debris looks heavy and I’m guessing it’s going to stay on that roof for decades. 

This morning I woke up and I walked to this cute little coffee shop and I got a latte and I didn’t know it but I ordered an extra special latte and it was $9. I was like, Oh my God, $9 for a Latte. 

So I’m here by myself, this is a solo trip. What? A treat. Unfortunately I do mostly have to work this weekend but I don’t even care. Just being on my own with my own schedule is such a luxury. You know as a parent I always say if I had to define parenting in one sentence, it would be never getting to do what you want to do. I’m always doing what my kids need me to do. So to have a weekend here by myself to just let the weekend flow, figure out what I need to do and just kind of let it happen, that’s a real treat. That is luxury. 

Luxury is an interesting word because the letter X usually is pronounced two different ways. KS like in box or GZ like in exam. But in luxury, lug it’s not GZ but it’s G-zh, a slightly different sound. Definitely I feel like you will also hear people say luxury with a sh, SH sound but right now I can’t think of any other words where the X makes this sound combination. Luxury. 

Anyway, since I mostly have to work this weekend I’m going to go out right now grab some food, probably get some lunch and something to eat for dinner so I don’t have to go out again, so I can just focus on work and work with no breaks. So let’s go get something to eat. 

Hi, um what’s the one that’s, yeah kimbap.   

Um, I want vegetarian. So what are my options? 

We have egg or mushroom. 

Let’s go mushroom. 

Is that mine? Thank you so much! 

Have a good one! 

The last time I made a vlog in NYC I also said ‘Have a good one!’ So I guess that’s how I wrap up this kind of conversation. Try it out. Leaving a restaurant you could say ‘Have a good one!’ as you walk past the receptionist. Then I decided to get a few more snacks so I went to Trader Joe’s. 

  

Hi how are you? 

Good how you doing? 

Good, thanks! Just four things. 

Feel like a bag today? 

I’m going to just stuff everything in my purse. 

Okay. 

All right let’s take a bite. 

The day passed, I spent it at my computer getting stuff done. And then I needed some dinner. I really need to work on my camera angles here don’t I? 

Hey, can I get the Lil’ BETr with all the toppings? 

MM-hmm. 

And that’s it. 

I ate my burger went to the gym and when I walked back in, the view of the city just got me. 

Okay, it’s night time, I just came back from the gym and I saw what I think is an amazing full moon. Alright, the camera does it absolutely no justice whatsoever and I can see the bridges from here with their beautiful lights. That’s the Brooklyn Bridge, that’s the Manhattan Bridge, and of course we’ve got Midtown here. It’s so fun to see all those red brake lights. It’s like a stream going north. That is 6th Avenue. 

I had not sleep well, and I don’t know why. 

I went to this lecture at a conference several years ago about how important sleep is, and how even if you get like 2 hours less of sleep it does all these things to your body. So that’s how I’m starting my day I do have one idea though of something I want to do and that is I want to try to find the best croissant in this neighborhood and then go get it. Do you want to come with me? 

Was that weird to have my face covered up that whole time? 

This is why I don’t make YouTube videos first thing in the morning. I was watching this productivity guy and he was talking about how he makes videos in the morning and I was like, I could never make videos in the morning because my face kind of looks like I got hit by a bus until like 1 PM. 

There is one cool thing that this hotel room does that’s going to really help me wake up, let me show you. 

It has this thing right next to my bed and if I press this button it opens my curtains. 

Oh yeah. 

Good morning New York. 

That bright sun will get you up. 

Um, I was wondering if I could get a late checkout today? 

Okay I’ll take that 1 o’clock, thank you so much. 

Uh that’s it, thank you. 

A late checkout is my favorite thing. Because I have small kids I don’t ever get to wake up and just lay in bed anymore. I need it as soon as I wake up. So to be able to read in bed in the morning is an absolute luxury. 

To use the phrase “I was wondering if I could get” is more polite than “I want”. Um, I was wondering if I could get a late checkout? 

After securing my late checkout I went out to get that croissant. I used to not be a coffee drinker but now every morning it’s my favorite thing. A latte and a pastry or some of my homemade bread. 

So how does this croissant stack up? It was only okay. 

The phrasal verb “stack up” means to compare one thing against other things. So the answer could be “Hey, how does that croissant stack up? It’s the best croissant I’ve ever had.” or in this case, it’s only okay, it’s average, it’s kind of meh. But that’s better than terrible. 

Can I leave my luggage with you? 

After an extremely relaxing morning, I got checked out and asked if I could store my luggage because I was meeting a friend for lunch. 

Hi! 

Yes, and I just thought of one last thing I wanted to pull out. 

Pull out is a phrasal verb that means to remove. They were about to take my luggage when I remembered there was one more thing I needed. 

This was one of the most relaxing weekends I’ve had in a long time. Thank you so much for spending it with me. 

Where should I travel to next for a relaxing weekend? Let me know in the comments below. 

Keep your learning going now with this video and don’t forget to subscribe with notifications on, I just love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 

 I’m the only person on this subway car, that has never happened to me before. 

 Video: