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Valeria |
Daniel |
Rainy Routine
Daniel and Valeria discuss how rain can wreck routines in different cultures.
Valeria: For example in Argentina if it is raining, it's like you change your schedule a little, right?
Daniel: Yeah.
Valeria: Because of the rain, because it's not like every day raining. But here you have to do everything under the rain.
Daniel: Yeah, but at the same time it, everything is made and it's built to kind of you know work with the rain.
Valeria: Yeah, for instance, the clothes, right?
Daniel: Yeah, the clothes and all the facilities, you know everything is made for that.
Valeria: It's preparing for having a lot of water.
Daniel: Yeah, exactly. If you have, I don't know, two or three days in a row that it's raining in Chile, we will have serious problems.
Valeria: The same happens in Argentina.
Daniel: Floods and that would be an issue so for me the weather thing is I like rain, just a little bit.
Valeria: Yeah, from time to time it's really nice.
Daniel: Yeah, exactly.
Valeria: And enjoyable.
Daniel: Yeah.
Valeria: But every day? Yes, it's true. The thing is that the weather is changing, right?
Daniel: Yeah.
Valeria: And the infrastructure of my country wasn't prepared for this weather.
Daniel: That's true.
Valeria: So if it rains a couple of days in a row, sometimes the city collapses.
Daniel: That's true. A lot of cities in Latin America have the same problem. They're poorly constructed and for that specific thing and we have a lot of problems especially with poor people. So when you talk about the weather I think it's not only your personal thing, sometimes you have to consider a couple of other factors as well.
Valeria: And the public transport?
Daniel: Yeah, I think that's another issue because for us public transportation is just a complete mess.
Valeria: There are a lot of public transport in Argentina but the thing is that all the infrastructure is not prepared for a lot of rain so when it happens sometimes the subway should stop for a couple of hours and that is very annoying.
Daniel: Because it changes the whole schedule, right?
Valeria: Yes, definitely.
the thing is that
The thing is that the weather is changing, right?
You can use this phrase when you want to give a reason for your opinion. Notice the following:
- The thing is that I prefer to watch movies in my house.
- The thing is that having someone to do things with keeps
you active.
infrastructure
The infrastructure of my country wasn't prepared for this weather.
In this case, 'infrastructure' refers to the facilities and services that exist in a specific country. This includes water systems, transportation systems, etc. Notice the following:
- The local government would like to make some major
changes in the infrastructure of our area.
- It is always difficult to adjust to the infrastructure
of a new city.
collapse
If it rains a couple of days in a row, the city collapses.
Something 'collapses' when it falls to pieces. This can be physically, in the sense of a building collapsing, or it can refer to a system that can no longer function. Notice the following:
- Our complete plan just collapsed after the first step.
- That barn looks like it's about to collapse.
poorly constructed
The cities are poorly constructed.
If something is 'poorly constructed,' it is assembled in a way that is not done well or isn't durable. Notice the following:
- We didn't worry too much that the building was poorly
constructed because it was only temporary.
- Most of the houses in this area are poorly constructed.
a complete mess
Public transportation is just a complete mess.
When transportation is a 'complete mess,' it means that it doesn't function the way that it should. Notice the following:
- Her car is usually a complete mess.
- After the storms, the whole city was a complete mess.
Vocabulary Quiz
constructed • complete
