Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another edition of the Q-Lips Community Update.
It's been a little while, but we're back, and we're happy to be here with you.
We, of course, is me, but it's also my co-host, Alina.
Hey there, Alina.
How's it going?
Hi, Andrew.
Hello, everybody.
I'm doing good.
How are you?
I'm very good, Alina.
And yeah, we're back here this month to share with everybody about our final challenge for 2025.
And that's freaky.
I can't believe that we're already at the end of the year.
It seems like the older I get, the faster the time flies by, and years are just.
They're just flying by.
They're just going by like it's nothing.
So it's actually a little scary for me, but we're already at the end of 2025.
And guys here, what we're going to do in this episode is tell you all about the last challenge, the December 2025 challenge.
But Alina, maybe before we do that, I just want to ask you a question and ask you about your 2025.
I know you did so much stuff.
You had a really busy year this year, traveling here, there and everywhere and working on some personal projects, doing a lot of work for q loops as well.
So yeah, i'm curious what was your highlights of 2025?
All right, so thank you for asking.
Um actually, as you were, as you were saying, all of that, a lot of things just kind of you know like ran through my head uh, But I would say the biggest thing that happened to me this year for sure was passing my driving test on the first attempt.
You know, I'm very proud.
I was, you know, obviously terrified, stressed out, anxious, all of these things.
And it took me a very long time to learn.
I got to say definitely more than, you know, an average person usually needs.
But I did it and it was definitely one of the biggest things you know amongst, like you said, you know a lot of traveling, of course.
Oh, that was great.
Meeting.
You know some Q-Lips members at the Q-Lips meetup.
I would say would be maybe second place in all the big events of this year.
But yeah, what about you?
Well, Alina, just before we go on to me, I have to say congratulations for passing the driving test.
That's amazing.
And I know you were pretty stressed out about it, so I'm sure you feel really relieved.
And I have to ask, have you purchased your dream car?
Are you out there bombing around the hills of Ireland in a nice little sports car or something?
Sports car.
I'm not really quite there yet.
I mean, I feel like it's a huge.
It's another huge step that you know, hopefully in the next, I would say like three years, you know, just let's be realistic here.
But thankfully, you know, my husband has a car.
So when I need it, you know, I do get a chance to use it, which doesn't happen often.
So it's, you know, as long as I have my license, so whenever I need it.
But yeah, no, not yet, unfortunately.
Yeah.
Right.
Awesome.
Well, as for me, let me think my 2025.
I won't go into too many details because I don't want to steal content away from my bonus episode series.
And I'm sure I'll tell a story looking back. at my life over the last year in the bonus episodes.
But in a nutshell, I think it was marathoning.
I had an awesome year of running this year and I set several personal records that I was really proud of.
So probably marathoning would be up there running and also traveling.
I did some amazing trips at the start of the year.
I went to Hawaii and then I went to Japan and had a so-so time.
In Japan, if listeners remember the bonus episodes about my time in Japan.
And then also visiting Canada and doing some other trips around South Korea here as well.
So yeah, for me, those are the things that stand out immediately.
Adopting my dog.
We adopted a new dog this year, my wife and I. So all of those things pop to mind.
And yeah, overall, it was a really great year. here in my personal life, but also at QLips as well.
But Alina, maybe I'll save the details of my whole year in review for the bonus episodes.
Like I said,
So guys, look forward to that.
For now, we're gonna talk about the December 2025 challenge.
Of course, guys, it will be available to everyone on our Discord server.
And to join the Discord server, just follow the link that's in the description for this episode.
Once you join the server, then you just need to find the monthly challenge channel.
And if you have a problem or an issue, you can DM me or DM Alina and we'll be happy to help you and guide you about how to participate in the challenge.
When you respond and do participate in the challenge.
We have different tasks for you to do every second day throughout the month.
And you can just type a response.
If you were really brave, you could record an audio response and do some speaking or maybe even video.
Alina, has anybody recorded a video yet for the monthly challenge?
I don't remember seeing any, but I may have missed one.
I think it was just you.
Just me.
I think it's a pretty big thing to do.
You know, for most people like a bit of a step outside of their comfort zone.
So like, it would be great for sure, but... Sure, it's the end of the year.
Why not push yourself a little bit?
But I mean, it's up to you guys, right?
So if you want to just... write a message.
If you want to record an audio message, if you even want to try a video, it's all cool.
And yeah, we'd love for you to participate in whichever way you would like to.
So there are those tasks that you have to do every second day.
And Alina, I'll throw things over to you.
Why don't you tell us a little bit about what kinds of tasks you have to do for December?
Okay, sure.
So, since it's the end of the year you know it's December we're all kind of maybe reflecting a little bit on the year, just you and I.
You know, we just did it here.
So the challenge is also going to be focused around that as well.
You know it'd be nice if we all got to share.
You know about all the highlights of the year, all the wins.
You know all the I don't know whatever you want to share really, to be honest.
So a lot of these questions are going to be sort of centered around you know how you spent 2025.
What happened if you achieved any goals?
Some of this is a Also something to do, you know have something to do with your English learning journey as well, of course, maybe to do with Q-Lips a little bit.
Like, what's your favorite episode in 2025?
What have you learned?
One of them actually is kind of one of my favorite is, you know, like tag, mention a person on the server because I
I know, you know, every now and again I get these like little messages that like hey, by the way, I've been like talking to this person for a year.
You know behind the scenes.
And I'm like, what?
I know nothing about these things.
So people do, you know, meet and find each other and like end up practicing every day.
And thankfully, every time I get a message about this, my heart just soars honestly because it's like it's the main thing you know.
It's the best.
And especially, we had this little encounter.
You know, two of our members also met in person just, i think, last month, which was absolutely amazing, like it's.
It's the best thing honestly, i feel like you know that our server can bring people together.
So if there's anything like this, you know this is the time to share.
If you guys met somebody on the server and want to, you know, just thank somebody for their support yeah, that's another thing you could do as well.
Yeah alina, why don't you tell us the details of that meeting?
Because uh, I was like you.
I was super happy to read that story.
I thought it was so cute.
And I think you're referencing I think it's the Hungarian member and the Japanese member that met up.
Is that correct?
Is that the story you're talking about?
Yes.
Yes, that's exactly what I was.
I think, you know, so far we've only had that happen once.
It's a pretty big deal.
That we know about.
That we know about.
At least, yes.
I'm also...
Yeah, I'm also surprised.
I was talking to some of our Q-Lips members in one of the small group classes and they were telling me that they meet up each week on their own.
They've organized their own study groups and are meeting up, and have been doing this for a long time as well.
And so they're not just participating in our classes, but also doing some extra study on the side.
So yeah, I love hearing these kinds of stories because it's like different people, different learners from all over the world, but coming together through Q-Lips and not just practicing English but also making friends and being a part of a bigger community.
So yeah, this is really cool.
And in that story Alina, maybe just to share, and sorry guys, off the top of my head I can't remember the usernames, but we have two Q-Lips listeners, one from Hungary and one from Japan.
And the Japanese listener is a member of an orchestra and she was on tour through Europe and she was able to meet up with a Q-Lips listener in Hungary and And they had been communicating on the Discord server.
And when the Japanese orchestra visited Hungary, then the two met up and they took some photos and shared the story on the server.
So I'd encourage everyone to go and check out that story.
You can read all the details better than I can just recall it off the top of my head.
But I also was so touched and I thought that was such a cute story and great photos as well to accompany it.
So yeah, awesome stuff happening on the server.
I just found the names here.
It's Flora and Yuko.
Just so that we give them a bit of a shout out.
So yeah, if you guys have stories like that, we definitely encourage you to share them.
And I mean, look, it's amazing that people kind of got to organize all of that.
And we, you know, didn't even know.
It's a nice surprise.
Good.
Okay, so...
What else do we have for December?
I know there are some questions about Christmas, right?
Because that is obviously, at least in most English speaking places around the world.
A really big part of the end of year celebrations is Christmas.
And so.
Yeah, a lot of people do enjoy celebrating this holiday, whether it's decorating their homes or exchanging gifts, or maybe listening to Christmas music or watching Christmas movies all of these things.
So there are some questions about that as well and some prompts that you can respond to, some tasks that you can do about Christmas.
And...
Maybe, Alina, is there one about New Year's resolutions?
That could be a good task as well, a New Year's resolution.
Yeah, yeah.
Definitely a good idea to include one of those for sure.
Because, you know, we all like setting goals and making promises to ourselves.
Yeah, yeah.
Promises that are easy to make and difficult to keep.
Yeah.
Yeah, to do with English.
Maybe we could, since we are in an English learning community, we could maybe just focus on that.
Think of some realistic, you know, goals that we could achieve the next year.
For sure.
All right, guys.
So, yeah, we'll be looking forward to... the December challenge here and having you participate.
And we hope that a lot of people will participate.
I know the end of the year, it's kind of a weird time.
It can be super, super busy and also kind of slow and boring.
I find like that time between Christmas and New Year's is like kind of uneventful and not so busy for me usually.
Yeah.
Drags.
It feels like a long time.
So Um, that's kind of a downtime, but the time before Christmas is always insane and really busy.
So yeah, we know that you guys are probably busy as well, but hopefully you can find some time to work on your English and to practice with our community, and Alina and I will be there to help you on and to encourage you.
And, of course Alina, what is the special reward that people will get when they successfully complete all of the tasks in the challenge?
Yes, I was just thinking my favorite part is the certificate.
So if you complete all of the tasks and assignments, you guys get a certificate, and I'm going to make it nice and Christmassy.
It's going to look very festive for the next month.
So yeah, that's the prize.
Okay, the festive certificate from Alina herself.
If you successfully complete the challenge for December.
So guys, yeah, we'll see you over there on our Discord server.
And good luck with the December challenge.
And of course, Alina, thank you for all your hard work putting this together for us.
Not just for December, but throughout the year.
I know I really enjoyed doing the challenges this year.
And I'm sure most of our community members have as well.
So thank you so much for all of your hard work.
And...
Yeah.
Awesome job.
Thank you.
I'm happy to.
I enjoy that too.
Awesome.
Okay.
Well, Alina, we'll talk to you in 2026.
Happy holidays.
Thank you.
Happy holidays to you and to everyone listening as well.
Yes.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
