A Day in America - REAL English Conversation

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.