Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 347, Writing a Postcard.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 347.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in the beautiful city of Los Angeles California, the home of Hollywood, the home of Dr Lucy Say.
On this episode we're going to listen to someone writing a postcard to a friend and receiving a postcard.
We'll discuss some typical vocabulary you might use when you are sending someone a postcard.
Let's get started.
I was on vacation in Yosemite and I decided to send a postcard to my friend Elaine, who was on her own vacation in Europe.
Dear Elaine, I arrived safely two days ago and I'm having the time of my life.
I met some nice people here and we've been keeping each other company.
The weather has been ideal and we're off on another hike tomorrow.
This is the life.
Wish you were here.
I hope you're having as good a time as I am.
See you soon, Vivian.
On the day I sent my postcard to Elaine, I got one from her.
She wrote, Dear Vivian, I've had a nightmare of a trip.
Our flight was delayed and we missed our connection to Oslo.
I've been here three days and it has poured the entire time.
There's nothing to do but sit in the hotel What a dump!
It looks nothing like the pictures and it's not at all what I expected.
I even got food poisoning the first day I was here.
I hope your trip wasn't a washout like mine.
I can't wait to get home Elaine, Our story begins with Vivian saying I was on vacation in Yosemite.
Yosemite is a large national park here in California, very famous in the United States.
I was on vacation in Yosemite when I decided to send a postcard to my friend Elaine, who was on her own vacation in Europe.
A postcard is something that you mail at the post office.
It's a small rectangular piece of thick paper, usually with a photograph on one side and room on the back side to write a short message and the address of the person you are sending it to.
Normally with a postcard, you don't put it in an envelope.
So Vivian is sending a postcard from her vacation to Elaine and she writes on the back of the card Dear Elaine, I arrived safely two days ago.
To arrive safely means that you take a plane, a bus, a train, a ship or a car to get to another place and you don't have any problems getting there.
I arrived safely.
It's a common expression people use when describing the part of their trip related to their arrival.
I arrived safely two days ago, and I'm having the time of my life.
The expression to have the time of your life means to greatly enjoy something that you have done, something that is very fun or enjoyable, or memorable.
I'm having the time of my life.
It's a wonderful time.
To keep someone company means to spend time with another person so that that person doesn't feel alone, doesn't feel lonely.
Perfect.
Ideal is perfect.
And we're off on another hike tomorrow.
To be off means that we are ready to start to do something or to go somewhere.
So we're off.
We will be leaving on another hike, another walk through the mountains or through a certain outdoor area tomorrow.
This is the life, she says.
That is a common expression.
This is the life.
To describe a situation where someone is very happy, very relaxed, believes this is one of the best experiences of your life.
You win the lottery and you go on a cruise and you say, this is the life.
This is a happy situation for me.
Unless the cruise is in Antarctica and it hits some ice and the ship sinks, that's not so happy.
But that's not happening to Vivian because she's in Yosemite where there are no oceans.
Wish you were here, she says.
This is a common expression.
You would say to someone on a postcard specifically when you are on vacation.
Wish you were here.
Notice we don't even say I wish you were here.
It's just typically wish you were here.
It's to tell someone that you are having a good experience traveling and that you think it would be nice if that person could also have that same experience, could share that experience with you.
There was also a song in the 1970s by the British rock band Pink Floyd called Wish You Were Here.
Vivian continues, I hope you're having as good a time as I am.
She then ends her postcard by saying, See you soon!
And then puts her name at the bottom.
Vivian.
On the day I sent my postcard to Elaine, she says, I got one from her.
She wrote, Dear Vivian, I've had a nightmare of a trip.
A nightmare, you may know, is a bad dream.
The expression a nightmare of is used when you have a very bad experience where everything has gone wrong.
It's been a disaster.
It was terrible.
I had a nightmare of a trip.
It was a bad trip.
Well, poor Elaine had a nightmare of a trip.
She says, And we missed our connection to Oslo.
Your connection when you are flying is another plane that you have to get on in order to get to the place where you want to go, what we would call your final destination.
If I want to fly to Paris, I may take a plane to New York and then, in New York, make a connection, that is, get on a different plane that flies to Paris.
Well, here...
Poor Elaine missed her connection to Oslo.
The plane got in too late and the other plane left without her.
She says, I've been here, we're not sure where she is, three days and it has poured the entire time.
To pour means, in this case, to rain very heavily, to rain a lot.
Both connection and to pour have different definitions in English as well.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Elaine says, there's nothing to do but sit in the hotel.
The use of but here means except.
Save for would be another way of saying that.
There's nothing to do here save for sitting in the hotel.
If you use save for, the verb is in an ing form.
But in this case, she's saying there's nothing to do here but sit in the hotel.
Except sit in the hotel.
This is an expression you use when you go to a hotel that's old, it's dirty, it's in bad condition.
You say, what a dump.
The word dump, D-U-M-P, describes the place where you take your trash, where you take your garbage.
If you live in a city, the city may come by and take the garbage and they put it in a dump, in a place with trash and garbage.
So to say some place is a dump means it's a very bad place.
The hotel looks nothing like the pictures shown.
When you say something is not at all what you expected, you mean it's the opposite of what you thought it would be.
It's not what anyone would think of or expect.
She says, I even got food poisoning the first day I was here.
Food poisoning is when you eat something bad that either causes you to go to the bathroom a lot or to vomit when the food comes out of your stomach and out through your mouth.
Not a good thing.
Elaine ends her postcard by saying I hope your trip wasn't a washout like mine.
If you say something is a washout, one word, you mean it's a disaster.
It's a waste of time.
It wasn't worth doing.
Finally, she says, I can't wait to get home.
When you say, I can't wait to do something, you mean you are very eager to do something.
You want to do something as soon as possible.
Well, poor Elaine can't wait to get home, and I understand why.
Now let's listen to the story this time at a normal speed.
I was on vacation in Yosemite and I decided to send a postcard to my friend Elaine, who was on her own vacation in Europe.
Dear Elaine, I arrived safely two days ago and I'm having the time of my life.
I met some nice people here and we've been keeping each other company.
The weather has been ideal and we're off on another hike tomorrow.
This is the life.
Wish you were here.
I hope you're having as good a time as I am.
See you soon.
Vivian On the day I sent my postcard to Elaine, I got one from her.
She wrote Dear Vivian, I've had a nightmare of a trip.
Our flight was delayed and we missed our connection to Oslo.
I've been here three days and it has poured the entire time.
There's nothing to do but sit in the hotel.
What a dump.
It looks nothing like the pictures and it's not at all what I expected.
I even got food poisoning the first day I was here.
I hope your trip wasn't a washout like mine.
I can't wait to get home.
Elaine.
The script for this episode was written by our ideal script writer, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
