Fond Memories of France
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Mike
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Todd
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Todd: So, Mike, you were born in Europe, but grew up in Canada. Have you been back to Europe?
Mike: Yeah, uh, I've been back to Europe on a couple of occasions. The first time, I guess I went back to Europe was in 1989, 1990, when I went to visit my brother who was studying in France in Paris, studying business at one of the business schools there. And during the trip, I'd, we'd rented a car, so we were driving around the country and one of the best memories I had was when we drove into Leon, in the center of France, and the people were really friendly, really fantastic and we just met some people in a bar who then invited us out to their cottage, in the
country, the following day for a pig roast.
Todd: A pig roast!
Mike: Yes!
Todd: What is a pig roast? You put a pig on a stick?
Mike: Yeah, well, that's exactly, we had no, we thought it was just a barbeque but we drove through this tiny road into the middle of the forest it seemed, and, there was this, we came to a cottage, a small wooden, very old-looking cottage, and next to it there were roasting a gigantic pig on a big spit over an open fire, (Wow!) and there was one, one of the people that we met was there turning the spit so that the pig was being, obviously was being well-cooked, and he'd been there for several hours already doing this by the time we arrived about 1:00 in the afternoon, and it was interesting. It was amazing. They told us the history of this little cottage that belonged to one of the people. It was several hundred years old, and apparently, it used to be a hide-out for French pirates.
Todd: No way!
Mike: Yeah! Yeah, and it looked like a wooden shack. It didn't really look like something, which would be perfect as a hide-out because no one would suspect it. But it was fascinating. They even had pictures on the walls of two of the pirates that I guess visited or had visited been there during that time, and so, a lot of, just it's incredible, the history, and the culture that you'll find in that small little shack in the woods, in the middle of Leon.
Todd: That is cool!
Mike: Yeah, that is neat.
Todd: That is really cool! Nice, so um, what happened? You had lunch and then you.
Mike: We had the pig roast, and obviously some wine and just had a great time. Got to meet all kinds of really new and interesting people and talk about the history of the place, and the actual, the region, the Loire valley, which is just famous for castles and for wine, very historic area in France.
Todd: Mm, that sounds nice!
occasions
I've been back to Europe on a couple of occasions.
In this sentence, a 'couple of occasions' can be replaced by a 'couple of times,' meaning more than once. Notice the following:
- She lied to you on a number of occasions.
- I've only been to her house on one occasion.
gigantic
Next to the cottage, they were roasting a gigantic pig on a
big spit over an open fire.
If something is 'gigantic' it is really, really big. Notice the following:
- I'm hungry for a gigantic ice cream cone.
- Your new house is gigantic! How do you have time to
clean it?
spit
Next to the cottage, they were roasting a gigantic pig on a
big spit over an open fire.
When referring to cooking something, a 'spit' is a long piece of metal that goes through a large piece of meat and holds it over a fire. Notice the following:
- At the roast chicken restaurant down the street they
cook the chicken on a spit for hours.
- There are all different kinds of meat cooking on spits
at the restaurant.
hide out
The cottage, apparently, used to be a hide-out for French
pirates.
A 'hide out' is a place where you hide yourself from someone who is trying to find you. Usually a hide out is a place where you could stay for a long time and gives you shelter. Notice the following:
- I had a hide out in a tree by my house when I was a
child.
- The police finally found the kidnapper's hide out, but
they were already gone.
pirates
They even had pictures on the walls of two of the pirates
that had been there.
A 'pirate' who robs or commits crimes on or next to the ocean. Pirates usually travel by boat. Notice the following:
- A pirate ship sank near here in the 1800s.
- Pirates caused many problems for ocean travelers in the
past.
Vocabulary Quiz
hide out • pirates
