Hello and welcome to bonus episode number 51 of the Culips English Podcast. My name's Andrew and I'm going to be your host and your English study buddy for today.

Thank you for joining me, I hope you're doing well. So, in this episode, I'm going to share a few little stories from my life about what I got up to over the last week. And to be perfectly honest with you, I had a pretty regular week last week.

Nothing too out of the blue happened. Oh, that's a good expression right there. Nothing too out of the blue happened. When something happens out of the blue, it means that it's unexpected or a surprise.

So, when I said nothing too out of the blue happened last week, it means that I had a pretty normal, regular week. But that doesn't mean that I didn't do anything at all, and I do have a few little stories to share with you.

So, I'll tell you those stories, and then towards the end of the episode, I'm going to focus in and teach you about a useful idiomatic expression that you'll hear me use. There's a 100% free transcript for this episode, and you can download it as a PDF or use it on our website in an interactive version.

The PDF is the best option if you plan to print the transcript, and the interactive version is best if you like to study with your computer, tablet, or phone. To get the free transcript, just follow the link in the description for this episode or visit our website, Culips.com.

The transcript is a great study tool, and I hope you'll find it helpful. Culips.com is also the place where you can find hundreds of our other English audio lessons, and if you're a Culips member, then you'll be able to get the helpful study guides and transcripts for them all, along with a ton of other great extras.

Support the work we do here at Culips and take your English to the next level at the same time by becoming a Culips member. To learn more and to sign up, just visit Culips.com. And with that being said, let's get started with this week's bonus episode. Here we go!

Not too long ago, a new colleague joined my team where I work. And one day when I was in the staff room getting a coffee, I ran into him, and we started talking. As we got to know each other, I found out that he's a huge music nerd, kind of like myself, and we have a lot in common.

He's played in a bunch of bands over the years and been into music his whole life, and so have I. It didn't take us long to bond over our mutual love of music. About a week later, that coworker messaged me and asked me if I'd be up for a jam session.

Now I have to say it had been quite some time since I'd played music with someone else, so I was a little bit on the fence about jamming. And to be on the fence just means that you're unsure. So, I didn't know, should I jam? Should I not jam?

I explained to him that even though I'm a big music fan, I actually don't play too much anymore and that I'm pretty rusty. But I told him as long as his expectations are low, then I'd be down for a jam. And he said that was fine and that we could just play around for fun. So, I was in.

The first thing that we needed to do was find a studio or practice room where we could jam. Since we both live in apartments here in Seoul, it's impossible for us to jam at home. So, a practice room is really a must. And finding a practice room was actually a cinch. It was so easy.

One of the things that I absolutely love about Korea, and to be fair, I think many places around the world are like this as well, but it's especially true in Korea, is that there is an app for everything.

So, I found this app that you can use for renting music rehearsal spaces, and I was able to find a studio that was pretty close to where we both live, and we were able to reserve the practice room space right in the app.

So, I made the appointment, and then last week when we went to the practice room to jam, we just walked right into the practice room and got playing. There weren't even any staff members present. And I was just blown away that I didn't even have to talk to another human being throughout the whole process.

It was so, so easy. And another cool thing about the jam space that we used was that there were these little QR codes that were printed on all of the equipment, like the PA system.

By the way, the PA system is what we call the mixer and the speakers that you can plug microphones into so that you can amplify your voice and make your voice loud.

There were guitar amps that had a QR code on them, the bass amp, the keyboard, all of these pieces of equipment had these QR codes printed on them.

And then if you had a problem, like you didn't know how to use the equipment or had a question about it, you could just scan the QR code and get some help right directly on your phone. So, it was a pretty cool high-tech solution to not having to staff the practice room, I thought.

Luckily for us though, we didn't have to use that system because we know our way around that kind of audio equipment. Anyway, so there we were. We were in the jam space. I found my way to the drum kit while my coworker grabbed his guitar.

And when it comes to music, I usually describe myself as a jack of all trades, but a master at none. A jack of all trades, but a master at none. So that means that I know how to play many musical instruments a little bit, but I'm not really able to play one instrument very well.

The instrument that I feel most comfortable playing is the drums, and so that's why I played drums in that jam. I jumped behind the drum kit, and we just started playing together. So, we booked the practice space for two hours and we rocked out for the whole time.

We rocked out for two hours and it was really fun. Honestly, it must've been at least a year and a half or two years since I last played the drums. But even with that long break, it felt absolutely amazing to be back behind the drum kit, making music again.

Over the years as life's become busier, I've come to accept that I might not have the time to play in a band regularly. It's one of those things that I've had to give up in my life. But you know what? It's still a blast to jam every now and then.

It's interesting how my relationship with music has really changed over the years. I used to be all in on playing music, and that's all I wanted to do.

But nowadays I find that I just enjoy listening to it more than playing, and maybe that's because listening lets me truly appreciate the skills and the artistry of other musicians in a way that playing doesn't really allow me to do, mostly due to the fact that I'm not too skilled myself.

I'm not exactly sure, but one thing that I know that is for certain is that playing the drums is one of the best stress busters that I've ever come across. And if you're ever looking for an awesome form of stress relief, then I definitely recommend drumming.

When I'm drumming, my mind is completely focused on the beat. So, I'm not thinking about the stresses or the worries in my life at all. I'm just trying to keep up the beat and follow the rhythm of the music. It's almost like a form of meditation in that way.

On top of that, there's the extra perk of being able to hit something really hard without any consequences, and there aren't that many other activities in life that provide that kind of release.

So, as we finished our jam session and we took the subway home, my coworker and I talked music and reflected on our jam session. We were both stoked on the chance to play music together and I found that it was a nice break from my usual routine.

We agreed that in the future it would be fun to do it again as well when our schedules allow, of course. So that was one of the highlights from my week last week was being able to bang on the drums.

One thing that I was very thankful for was that I brought earplugs with me, which I never used to do when I played music before. And in fact, now I kind of regret that because I think my hearing is not as good as it could be if I had used ear protection all along.

But the way that the jam room was set up was that the drums were right by the PA system and the guitar amp. So, I think without those earplugs, I probably would be deaf right now so that was a very good call to bring the earplugs. But one thing that's not totally fine are my arms and wrists.

They seem to feel a little sluggish and heavy after getting that intense drumming workout. We have this saying in English, "use it or lose it.'' Use it or lose it. Have you heard that expression before?

And I think that's definitely true for the muscles in my arms that I use while I drum because after not playing drums for so long those muscles have really grown soft. And, so much so, that when I was jamming I felt really sluggish playing the drums especially up-tempo, faster songs.

I actually told my co-worker that my brain knows how to play these fast songs, but my arms can't keep up. That's the way I felt. Like I felt like mentally I could play, but physically I couldn't play.

So I think if I want to get back up to the level of drumming that I used to be able to do, then I'm going to need a little bit more practice time. We'll see if I do that or not, I'm not sure, but all in all, I had a nice little break from my regular routine last week with that jam session.

The house renovation project my wife and I have been working on for the last six months or so is finally almost finished and the house will be ready for us to move into in just under a month. And while we're really looking forward to moving into our new place, at the same time, I'm kind of dreading the move.

Because moving is one of my least favorite things to do in life and the reason that I'm not looking forward to this move in particular is that instead of moving a lot of our furniture we're actually going to be getting rid of it.

Our new house is really small, it's tiny, and because of that a lot of the furniture that we're currently using is either too big or it's the wrong size and dimensions for the new house.

So, there's many, many things we need to get rid of including our kitchen table and chairs, my desk, the one that I'm using right now actually to hold my microphone and my computer. There's my wife's desk, some cabinets, a bookshelf, and this big wardrobe-closet thing that we use to store all of our clothes.

And there's probably even some more furniture that I can't even really remember right now off the top of my head. My wife and I actually hate that we have to get rid of this stuff because it's essentially brand new and in really good condition.

We only bought it two years ago when we moved into the apartment that we're currently living in right now and since the furniture is less than two years old, it's still in fantastic condition like I said, and we actually enjoy this furniture. The only problem is is that it's just too big to go into the new house.

So, we have a few options for getting rid of the furniture. The first option that we'll try, and probably the best option, is selling the furniture. So, as I mentioned earlier in this episode there's an app for everything in Korea and there's a great app that you can use for selling used things and that's our go-to first option.

So, we're gonna try putting our furniture on that app and selling it that way. We still have around six weeks before we're planning to move out, but I want to make sure that we sell the furniture early so that we're not stressed out at the very last minute trying to do that.

I don't know if you've ever tried to sell something online before, but it can be pretty annoying.

Sellers often change plans or back out at the last moment and so I don't want to be in that situation where we're stuck with the furniture in our house because someone promised to buy it but then at the last minute that buyer backs out.

That could just be a really stressful situation and I want to avoid it, so we're gonna try and sell everything early. But at the same time, we still need the furniture. We can't sell it too early because, for example, if we sell our kitchen table like tomorrow then where are we gonna eat for the next six weeks?

We'll have to sit on the floor? I guess we could do that but it's not the best option. And I guess I could technically sell my desk tomorrow, for example, but then yeah it would just be an uncomfortable work situation for the next little while.

So, what I'm in the process of doing right now is cataloging and organizing all of the things that we want to sell and then about three weeks before we're set to move, I'm going to post it online in this app and try to sell it.

So, I've been taking a bunch of pictures of all the furniture that we're going to sell, and I've been writing up the descriptions for them too. So, I think everything is almost ready to go. I just actually have to make the postings and then cross my fingers and hope for a quick and easy sale.

We'll be selling the furniture for a good price. We're not really doing this to make money. Although to be honest, it would be nice to have a little bit of money that we could use to put towards replacing the furniture because we're going to need to buy new desks, new kitchen table, new chairs, etc., etc.

The thing that I don't really want to part with is my desk. Have I talked about my desk on Culips before? I don't think I have, but maybe I have. If you've heard me talk about my desk before, excuse me for repeating myself, but I really love my desk.

It's this awesome motion desk and a motion desk is one of those desks where you can adjust the height of the desk. So, you can raise it up or you can lower it with just the touch of a button. And I love this desk because I can work while standing or while sitting. I have those two options.

In fact, a lot of the time when I'm recording for Culips, I use the desk while I'm standing and I'm actually in standing mode right now. I don't know if you can hear that in my voice or not, but yeah, I'm standing at my desk right now.

I don't know if this is just mental or not, but I feel like I can articulate and speak better while I'm standing up.

I also like to work in standing mode if I've been working while sitting down for a long time, because after a few hours of sitting, probably everybody is like this, probably you feel the same way too, if you're sitting down for a long time, then eventually your shoulders or your back starts to get sore.

And in those situations, what I do is I just raise the desk up, I go into standing mode, and boom, it almost always seems to solve the problem. The desk is also really big and wide, so I can spread out all of my stuff on it.

I have plenty of room for my audio equipment, my microphone, plus extra workspace for writing and taking notes because I like to do that while I work. And I also have my keyboard and mouse, and everything is spacious and it's just wonderful. It's an awesome desk all around, but unfortunately it has to go.

It's just too big for the new house so I have to downsize to a desk that's much smaller than this one. I'm hoping I can find something that still has a standing option because after using this style of desk for the last few years, I think going back to a regular desk is going to be really tough. 

So I do want to replace it with another motion desk if possible. Anyway, the plan is to try and sell our furniture. And if for some reason the furniture doesn't sell, well, then we're gonna have to move to plan B. And plan B would be to give the furniture away.

And really, if we have to do this, if it comes to plan B, I don't really care. I don't mind, especially if the furniture goes to a good home. Of course, I think I'd give priority to family and friends. can have first dibs. "First dibs" is a slang expression which means first choice.

So, they could have first dibs, first choice, but after that giving it away is the go-to move. And if plan A and plan B both fail for some reason, well then next up is plan C. Plan C is obviously the least desirable option and it involves just throwing the furniture away.

And here in Seoul where I live, it's actually very easy to get rid of old furniture and can you guess how it's done? Yes, that's right, there's an app for that too.

So actually, all you have to do is go to the website for your neighborhood's local government office and there you can arrange for a truck to come by and take away your old unwanted furniture. You do have to pay for it. There's a small fee for each item, but in the past when I've done this it's been really affordable.

I can't remember exactly but I think even getting rid of large items is under ten dollars per piece of furniture.

So, the way it works is that you pay the fee online and you arrange for a pickup time, and they give you a number and so you take that number, and you write it on a piece of paper or print it out, and then you attach that to the piece of furniture.

And then you put your piece of furniture outside on the scheduled day, and the truck comes by and takes it away for you.

I'm not exactly sure what they do with the furniture next, if they recycle some of it or resell it, or just take it to the dump, but either way, if you have some old furniture that you need to get rid of and there's no other options, well, then doing it this way is the easiest and best way to do it.

These days, my wife is very, very busy handling a lot of the finishing touches and the details with the renovation project.

And unfortunately, as much as I would love to help her out with that side of things, and I am trying to do the best that I can, due to language barriers and knowledge gaps, it's just much easier and more straightforward if she handles those things directly. So, she's in charge of that part of the project.

And for me, it's my task, my job, to sell all of the furniture. So, I've been assigned this task. It's my responsibility, it's my job. And if you're in the market for a used desk, please let me know.

On Tuesday, we hosted our monthly Culips members live stream, and it was a fantastic event. I wanna say thanks one more time to all of the members who joined us and especially a big shout out to all of you who called in to chat with me.

And I have to also apologize to all of the members who called in but didn't get a chance to speak with me because we ran out of time. I'm really sorry about that. We had more callers than I could accommodate, but I hope you'll all be able to participate next month.  

The topic we discussed centered around our English language learning wins and failure.

And it was super interesting to listen to your stories, sharing the ups and downs of your English journey, and the conversations that we had during the stream really highlighted, in my opinion at least, the common experiences that we all share as language learners.

And that is that there's going to be good times and bad times in our language learning journey, but what matters the most is being consistent and not quitting, persevering towards our goals. So, I appreciate everyone who joined us on Tuesday.

And if you're a Culips member who missed the live stream, then you can catch the replay on the Culips dashboard. We'll be hosting our May livestream towards the end of the month, and I'll announce details about that soon, so please stay tuned for that update.

And now it's time for this week's vocabulary lesson.

Before I let you go, I'd like to teach you a useful English expression that you actually heard me use in this very episode. The expression is to be in the market for something. To be in the market for something.

Did you hear it when I used this expression a little bit earlier? In fact, I used it when I was telling you the story about how I'll be selling some of my furniture before I move into my new house.

Why don't we go back and listen to that part of the story a couple more times just so we can hear how I used it in that natural context.

So, let's do that now. Here we go.

Now that we've heard it again, let's talk about what to be in the market for something means. Actually, I think you might be able to guess this one. What do you think? What do you think it means to be in the market for something? Well, let me explain.

To be in the market for something is an idiomatic expression that means that you're interested in buying or acquiring something. And we use this when we're talking about people who are actively looking or considering purchasing an item or a service.

So, for example, if you're in the market for a desk, then it means you're interested in buying a desk. OK, easy, right? And in that something part of the expression, that's where you insert the item that you're interested in buying or acquiring. So, this expression is really common. It's an important one to know.

And I think we mostly use this expression when we're talking about making a big purchase. I don't think we'd say like, I'm in the market for a new t-shirt, OK?

Something basic and small like that, we probably wouldn't say, but if you're making a big, important, expensive purchase, especially one that you need to consider carefully before making, well, then this is the perfect situation for using this expression.

So, things like cars, computers, expensive home appliances, those kinds of things are the things we mention when we use this expression. So now we've got it, right? We know that to be in the market for something means to be interested in buying or acquiring a service or an item or a product.

So, let's hear how we can use this expression in a natural way in our own English speaking by listening to some example sentences. I've prepared three for you. Let's take a listen to the first one now. Here we go.

Let's break that example sentence down. In that example sentence, we hear the speaker say that his parents are in the market for a new car because their old car has many problems. So, they're in the market for a new car. It means that they're considering and thinking deeply about buying a new car soon.

Let's break this example sentence down. In this example sentence, the speaker says that after he saves up some money, he's going to be in the market for a new smartphone. So, he's got an old smartphone, it's kind of outdated and not so good anymore. He wants to upgrade to a new phone.

So, to communicate that idea, he says, "I'll be in the market for a new smartphone," meaning that he will want to buy a new smartphone in about a month's time.

In this example sentence, we hear about a couple who had been in the market for a new house for months until finally they found the perfect home for them, and they bought that home.

So, you know, usually when you are in the market for a new house, it's not something that is instant, right? You usually don't wake up one day, decide to buy a house, and then buy a house the same day. It's a process. It takes time.

So, when you're in the market for buying a house, it means that you're shopping around, looking at many different options, considering which option is the best before you finally make a decision and make a purchase.

So that kind of shopping around time, we can express with this idiom to be in the market for a new house. All right we did it! We made it to the end. That is it for this week. Congratulations on completing this lesson and thanks for joining me for this study session today.

If you're looking for even more content to study with, if you want to keep going and ride this high throughout the week, then don't forget that we have hundreds of lessons on our website. And if you're a Culips member, you'll get a helpful study guide and a full transcript for each one.

One more time, our website is Culips.com. So have a great week, take care, and I’ll be back soon with another brand-new Culips episode, and we'll talk to you then, goodbye!