Hello everyone and welcome to Simplified Speech, the QLIPP series, which features clear, natural and easy-to-understand conversations between native speakers.
And today I am joined by my co-host Cassie.
Cassie, hey, what's up?
It's been a while.
How are you doing?
Hey, Andrew, I'm doing great and it feels so good to be back.
Yeah, it's great to have you back.
And Cassie.
Over the last week or two I've been getting a lot of emails and messages from QLips listeners asking me where's Cassie?
Where's Cassie?
And so I'm so happy to have you back.
And I think our listeners are happy to have you back as well.
And the reason why you took a little bit of a long break.
Well, there are several reasons and we'll get into those in this episode today.
We're gonna catch up with Cassie and see what she's been up to over the last little while, and we'll get to that conversation in just a moment everyone.
But before we do, I want to let you know that there is a helpful study guide and an interactive transcript to accompany this episode for all Q-Lips members.
So if you visit our website qlipscom, you can see the full details about what you get as a member, and you'll get access to so many good things the benefits and the bonuses, the learning materials, the study tools and even the speaking classes that we offer our members.
And yeah, you can see all of the details.
You can sign up and become a member today by visiting our website, QLips.com.
So guys, check that out.
Okay.
So Cassie, with that announcement out of the way, let's get started with our conversation.
And...
I don't have a great memory, but I think, if I can recall correctly, the last time we talked with you you were living in a city called Gwangju, near the southern part of South Korea, but you were getting ready to move.
You were preparing for a move.
You were also preparing for a trip to the USA to visit your friends and family back home.
You were also on your maternity leave and you were also studying for a master's degree.
So you are pretty busy.
I was busy, wasn't i?
You were pretty busy, yeah.
So why don't we tie up a few of those loose ends?
Why don't you give us some updates about those things?
You can choose which one you would like to start with.
So, yeah, way back in the spring, I was just finishing up my master's and I did finish it.
That was such a relief to be done with.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
And as soon as I finished that, I had to immediately start planning for our trip, because we were planning a two month trip to the States and we were planning a cross country trip.
So we started our trip in oregon, where my sister and my aunt live on the west coast of the us, and we stayed there for about a week and then we traveled to arizona to meet my best friend from high school and her husband.
They moved to arizona How many.
Two years ago, I think.
And I've always wanted to go visit them.
And then we went all the way to the East Coast to where my parents live and we stayed with them.
And then together we traveled to the beach in North Carolina that I've definitely talked about on Q-Lips episodes before.
My family goes every year.
And this was our first year that my husband and I made the pilgrimage down to the beach.
North Carolina, for listeners that don't know, is about an eight-hour drive from my parents' house.
So it's a real trek.
And this was our first time driving ourselves with our son.
And it was pretty epic.
That is an epic trip.
Holy moly.
Now, when you went from place to place to place, from Oregon to Arizona, to Pennsylvania and then to North Carolina, all of these different states, were you driving or did you take different flights?
Yeah, we took flights for everything except for the travel to the beach.
And that was also really scary for me because parents will know we had a how old was he then?
Nine months old.
We had a nine month old at the time.
And babies are notorious for screaming and being a real ruckus on airplanes.
And I was like, oh no, I'm going to have that baby.
But he was a real champ.
And we were so lucky.
We got some really nice Korean grandmas sitting behind us on two of our longest flights and they entertained him for a very long time.
And we were oh so grateful.
Wow.
Okay, that's awesome.
So he was a good flyer for you.
Yes, he was.
All right, cool.
So actually Cassie, we're planning maybe to talk about this trip in more details in a future episode because guys, as you can imagine, Cassie probably saw a lot of amazing things and experienced a a lot of cool things during that trip.
So we'll talk about that in more detail, maybe in the next episode, Cassie.
But for today, why don't we get back to a few of those other loose ends?
So what about the move?
How did the move go?
As soon as we got back from the US, we had to start to get ready for a big move, because I applied for a new job all the way back last fall.
So almost a year ago.
And that job was starting in August.
So I had to... immediately get back from Korea, pack up all of our stuff and prepare this big move.
And that was also a stressful time.
But luckily, my in-laws were there to help watch everything. the baby.
And we were able to pack all of our stuff.
And we actually were still in Korea, but we're in a different place area of Korea and we had to caravan.
So my husband and I in two cars and then our in-laws in a truck that we borrowed from my uncle-in-law, who is a farmer we took those three cars and we packed all of our belongings in there and we moved to a new home in the last two months.
Wow.
When you were in the States during your trip, were you stressed about having to pack up and get ready for this big move to a different city?
It must have been kind of daunting and maybe you didn't feel like going back to Korea.
You're like, oh, I'm on vacation here in the States.
Oh, when I go back home I'm going to have to pack up and move which honestly, is one of the most difficult things to do in life, I think.
It's a real pain in the neck.
Did you feel that way?
It is difficult but, as you remember, and listeners might remember, I had been on maternity leave for the past year and I loved it.
It was such a great experience and time to spend with my family.
But we had been living with my in-laws for a year at that point.
And again, I love them to death.
But I was very much ready to have my own place.
And a lot of our stuff had actually been built packed for that past year.
Because, you know, we weren't in our own home.
I didn't want to strew my stuff everywhere, so a lot of stuff was in boxes already um, and then the remaining things were like kitchen utensils and clothes for the summer and everyday items.
So it wasn't as daunting of a challenge, as you know someone who's packing up a place that they'd been living in for years and years.
But it was still stressful.
And more than that, when we got to the new place, our new place, I love it.
It's bigger, but it's on the fourth floor.
And there is an elevator.
But we are at the very end of the hallway of this building.
So the elevator is very far away from our apartment.
And the place... where we park our car compared to the building is also quite far.
So we had to use like a wagon to bring stuff from the cars to the building and then up into the elevator and then down the hall to our current place.
And it was it was a stressful time, Andrew.
That sounds like a pretty difficult move.
And I'm surprised that you did it yourself, because so many people in Korea just use a moving service and it's a little bit expensive, but it's pretty convenient.
The moving services here in Korea really do a good job, I think.
But yeah, it seems like you're more of a DIY style.
Do it yourself, right?
So that's cool.
But a big job for sure.
Now Cassie, I wanted to just circle back and talk about some interesting vocabulary that I heard you use while you were telling your story there.
First one was caravan.
You said you caravaned it.
What does that mean if you caravan?
I think of, you know, like going through the...
Sahara Desert, where you have a lot of camels and maybe carts and you're carrying all of your stuff in a line through the desert.
Everyone is working together.
So when we caravaned it, that means that we had three cars for our small family and all of our luggage packed in there.
And we all drove together in a line from Guangzhou to our new home.
So yeah, I think back in the day especially me too.
I think of this kind of image of people in the Mideast maybe traveling through the desert and they have a lot of goods that they're moving back and forth and they're all traveling together, usually on camels, right.
So maybe that is the origin of caravan and our mid-east listeners can chime in and tell us if we're correct about this or not.
But yeah anyways, it just means to travel together, especially when you have a few separate vehicles but you're all driving together.
That's the caravan.
And then the second interesting vocabulary that I heard you use this word caravan.
I think many of our listeners maybe won't know this one.
It's a verb, guys, and it is to strew, to strew.
And the spelling is S-T-R-E-W.
You said, I just didn't want to strew my things all over my in-laws' place.
What does that mean, to strew?
To strew just means to spread it all out.
If you want to really make yourself feel at home, you're going to spread all of your items on the table, on the bed, all around the room.
And yeah, I did not want to do that.
I tried to be as neat as possible.
Yeah.
So when we strew things or like spreading them, scattering them around an area or on a table or something, but usually in an untidy way, it's not very neat and tidy.
It's kind of messy and messy.
I think a lot of times when we use this word, guys, we say strewn, strewn.
We add an N to the end, the spelling.
Like I remember when I was a teenager, my mom would come into my room and be like why are your clothes all strewn around the place?
Like, pick it up, clean up your room.
Strewn all over the floor.
That's where I like to keep my clothes.
Yeah, it's a good just sort of chunk to memorize.
Strewn all over the floor when we're talking about.
Yeah, a dirty room.
Good.
Cassie, I did have a question that one of our QLips members wanted to ask you.
And this message was left on our member chat.
So guys, if you are a QLips member, please come and join us on the member chat area of our Discord community and you'll be able to ask questions like this directly to the hosts.
And so this was a question from Alex Chatter, a user named Alex Chatter.
And he wrote, best wishes for Cassie.
I would like to hear how she managed her emotions when she moved or changed her house, specifically when she had been living there for a long time, until now.
So you were in your old place there for a while, but with your in-laws.
And so maybe this made the move easier.
I'm not sure.
But Cassie, what would you have to say to that question?
Yeah, I did live in Gwangju for a while.
And I think the hardest part of the move was probably saying goodbye to friends and family.
Where we are now, we don't know anyone.
I mean now I'm starting to meet people, but I think the hardest part about moving to a new place is just making connections.
I have moved apartments specifically.
Probably every two years of my adult life.
So I'm not really attached to a specific place, but definitely the city.
Guangzhou, it's always hard to leave.
And we've already been back to visit two times since we've moved.
Yeah, once was for my son's first birthday party.
Time flies, right?
Wow, yeah.
Yeah, another time was for the Chuseok holiday, the Korean Thanksgiving holiday that just passed.
Now, Cassie, I also wanted to ask you about mat leave, maternity leave.
And maternity leave is the break that some women not all women, but some women take after having a child.
And so you took a mat leave and...
What was that like?
I imagine the first part of it was like a totally new experience, adjusting to life with a baby.
But then maybe after I know you're like such a hard worker and you love to stay busy and stay active.
I'm just curious if that got a little bit boring.
I don't know.
What was it like for you?
Yeah, I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to take Matt leave, especially because I didn't have a job or support at the time.
So, because we could live with my in-laws, I was able to, to like, afford that mat leave and so yeah, i'm very grateful that i could take it and i had an amazing year.
But even though i wasn't working, You know, I studied for my master's and I was applying to new jobs and planning this big trip to the States.
So you are right.
I have a very hard time not having some sort of goal that I need to work on or a project.
And that was probably the hardest part of mat leave.
A lot of the time was just staring at my super cute, but very immobile baby.
And so um, I really like to be able to walk outside and to be able to go hiking or riding a bike or seeing new places.
And sometimes I couldn't do that if it was too cold or it was raining.
Those are kind of weather conditions that are not super great for a newborn or a young baby.
So I was very ready to go back to work.
And I can say now that I've been working for the past two months or so, I'm 10 times happier now.
And again I would go back and do mat leave again in an instant, but I'm also happy to be back at work.
I think we're similar in that regard, that if we stay idle for too long, we...
We start to get a little bit bored and we want to be active and stay busy.
So I totally understand why you would want to get back to work.
Cassie, could we circle back again to something that you mentioned just a second ago, your son's first birthday.
Because korea has like a really interesting cultural tradition for first birthdays, and because i don't have any children myself, i don't actually know what it's really like.
I've only read about it in books and seen it a little bit on tv, but i've never actually been to a first birthday party, So I'm really curious what this was like.
Maybe you could explain about this interesting culture to our listeners.
Yeah, so I'm part of a mom's chat actually on Kakao Talk, like, you know, the WhatsApp of Korea.
And for the past few months...
The few months before my son had his first birthday, a lot of moms whose kids were born earlier in the year.
They were posting all these pictures about their children's first birthdays and they were such fans.
Fancy parties.
I was like, that seems like a lot of pressure.
We did not end up doing something super extravagant.
What would these super extravagant parties be like?
Like.
I've seen pictures of the babies wearing hanbok, which is like the Korean traditional clothes, and A lot of people call their first child's first birthday like a second wedding.
Wow.
Because people pay thousands of dollars to rent out a hall where they have food catered for them, the party and the baby gets professional pictures done in a studio with their parents and yeah, they have usually a hanbok um with like traditional korean wear and then they're They also might have like a fancy suit or dress that they wear with their parents.
That's a really big deal.
And then at the party there's tons of food and there's rice cakes that you have to line up in a pile that you give out to guests as gifts.
And there's also a ceremony called the 돌잔지, which is when there are a bunch of different items lined up in front of the baby.
And the baby has to go pick an item and that item is supposed to say what kind of job they might have in the future.
Yeah, so that's really cool, right?
You put the little baby in front of these different items.
And yeah Cassie, maybe you would know better than I do, but I think there's like that tool that doctors use to listen to your heart.
What is that called?
A stethoscope?
Yeah, stethoscope.
Yeah, stethoscope.
So maybe there's a stethoscope.
And if the baby grabs that, then that indicates that perhaps in the future he or she will grow up to become a doctor.
And then maybe there's a pencil for studying and academics.
And what are some of the other things that the babies can grab?
There's a gavel, which is the like wooden mallet thing that judges use to bang.
Doc, doc, doc, order, order.
Right.
In the courtroom.
Yep.
Yep.
And there's.
These days there's usually a microphone for like, a singer or a Idol or something like that.
Oh, K-pop star.
Yeah.
There's like a rope, which represents long life and wisdom, maybe.
And some sort of sports gear, like a soccer ball or...
Is there anything else?
I don't know.
Some families add in other things as well, but those are the main things.
If it were me, I think I would only give stethoscopes so the baby would have to become a doctor.
Yeah.
Oh, we put a book in in ours because he was really into books at the time.
He would make us read the same book four or five times in a row.
Very exciting.
So what did he end up grabbing?
I was so sure he would pick the book.
He did not.
Can you guess what my son picked?
Ah well, I know your husband is into sports, so I'm going to say that maybe he was influenced by dad and went for the soccer ball.
You are correct.
Really?
He dove for that soccer ball.
And since then, I kid you not, he is addicted.
This kid is 14 months old now, and he can already dribble a soccer ball.
And yeah, he can throw it over his head behind him and he can kick it into the goal.
We play soccer every day in this house.
Wow.
OK, so it sounds like it's a good fit.
It is.
I don't know if it's what his grandmother wanted him to pick, but I thought it was funny.
Hey, in terms of future earning potential, I think if you are a top soccer player, that is the best career in terms of the financial side of things.
So I think...
Yeah, it's a good decision.
And I know that you're pretty athletic and so is your husband.
So who knows?
Maybe he has a soccer playing future ahead of him.
Yeah, maybe he'll go the distance.
We'll see.
Cool.
Well Cassie, I think this is probably a good time to wrap things up here, but it was so nice to have you back.
Thank you for joining us.
Yeah, it was great to be back.
And of course we'll get you back soon and we'll talk about that America trip and some other things in the near future.
So guys, please stay tuned for those upcoming episodes.
But for now, I think we'll wrap things up here.
So everybody, thank you for listening.
Please again make sure to check out that helpful study guide and interactive transcript and other amazing tools and benefits and bonuses on our website, culipscom.
And of course, you can join us on our Discord community as well.
It's the place where Listeners gather and we practice our English together.
It's free to join, and you can do that just by following the link in the description for this episode.
So guys, please take care and we'll catch you in the next episode.
Until then, bye-bye.
See ya.
