Hey, guys! This is jJack from tofluency.com
back with another vlog for you guys who
are learning English. I have an
action-packed day. I'm going to take you
all with me
and be sure to check out the description for
a list of the vocabulary that I use in this
vlog. So, it's amazing how much the
weather changes here over a span of just
a few days. It's Thursday today and it's
going to get up to 18 degrees. That's t-shirt
weather. But just a few days ago it was
minus twenty or something like that and
we had a big snow storm which meant that we
had to stay at home. We couldn't really
leave the house for two or three days.
And while the snow was a lot of fun - we had
so much fun playing in the snow -
I'm glad it doesn't stick around for
weeks and weeks like it doesn't other
parts of the US. Now when i was living in
the UK, it was quite rare for it to get
really cold, you know, a cold day would be
2,3,4 degrees and the temperatures stayed
pretty steady over the winter. So. it is a
little bit strange to have these big
differences in temperature over the
course of a week or so. But it's kind of
fun at the same time.
Let's do a little Q&A...
The first question comes from its Slava and
Slava wants to know what accent i have
I've been getting this question a lot
recently.
Now, my accent is a northern English
accent - I'm originally from Preston,
Lancashire which is just north of
Manchester, but because I've been away
from that region for a long time because
I went traveling and then I lived in
Spain for two years and because I've been
here in the US for six years it's
getting a little bit more neutral now
and sometimes I use a little bit of an
American
accent just in terms of the
pronunciation, you know, it's not strong -
people from America, when I speak to
people, they don't think I'm from America.
For example, yesterday, I met somebody
here in the office who just moved
here and she said, "Where's your accent
from? So, obviously she knew that I wasn't
from America but it makes me laugh
sometimes when I get comments saying: Are
you from America? You don't sound
American.
Because for me, it's obvious. I feel like
i have a very typical British accent but
let me know what you think...
do I sometimes sound American? Do I
sometimes sound Australia? Do I have a
strong accent or can you understand it
quite easily? let me know below.
Drew has a question about coffee. Mushroom
coffee?
what does it taste like? Like mushroom
soup or something?
So, this is a type of coffee that I
sometimes drink and it doesn't taste
like mushrooms at all, in fact, it tastes
like regular coffee - it is instant coffee
which means that you put the powder into
a cup, you pour in hot water, and it's ready
instantly. But it doesn't taste like
mushrooms - it just tastes like regular
coffee but it has mushroom extract and
apparently this helps you. This stops you
from getting those jitters that you
sometimes get after having too much
caffeine and, apparently, it's a superfood as
well. So, it's really good for you but
i'll leave a link below and you can
check out this mushroom coffee.
Could you tell us the name of the
soundtrack you used in this video? So, I
don't get music from specific people, I
actually pay for a subscription. So, I pay
a monthly fee to have access to royalty
free music that I can use on YouTube and
the reason why I don't upload some of my
videos onto Facebook is because I don't
have permission to do so. I can only use
this music on YouTube, so you can check
out what music I use by clicking the
link in
the description. And Mesut has a
question about the camera I use, asking
what type of camera I use. So, I use a
Panasonic g85 and i'm using it right now
to record this video. Now since I've been
making videos on YouTube, I have used a
variety of different cameras. I've used
this camera. I've used a small Sony camera,
a Panasonic g7 and now the Panasonic g85. I
love this camera. It's great. It's easy to use,
it produces really good quality video,
but with most things in life, you have to
get used to it. Making these vlogs is
quite difficult, you know, I have to
remember which settings to use and if
you watched the video that (where) I talked
about overcoming obstacles, then you'll
understand that sometimes I don't use the
right settings. But this camera is great.
It is small, its compact, it's relatively
cheap compared to DSLR cameras and full
frame cameras and, as I say, it's easy to
use; it produces really good video. I think
you need to start using a hashtag so you
guys can ask me questions on Twitter and
on Facebook and elsewhere - Instagram too -
so, if you know a good hashtag to use,
leave a comment below, I'll start using it
in the next vlog. Two hours later. I'm little
bit tired after that morning because I
spent the entire morning sitting down at
my desk and I should really stand up a
little bit more and then I'll have a little
bit more energy. But it was a fun morning
because I went live on Facebook and a
few people asked me to do different
accents. So, I managed to do a few - I'll
leave the link to that lesson in the
description, but right now I'm just gonna
have a quick bite to eat and then I'm
going to go meet a friend for coffee.
So, at the moment I'm not really eating
that much during the day and I have a
huge meal at night. I'm going to have
these almonds -
these are delicious and they come in this
very cute little packet and then, have a
green drink and this is something I just
put together this morning.
No, i am not having jalapeños. It's
just this mixture that use and I this jar to
carry it in. And then, I'm gonna have what's in
here, which is... a little bit of cheese. And I
just brought a tiny bit of cheese - a couple of those to have for
lunch and then, I'll have a little snack this
afternoon. And then, I'm gonna have a big
dinner tonight.
You've gotta be careful where you park in Asheville.
Hi! And, er, Ellie, tell everyone how we met.
Erm, well, Jack and I met when we were
both living and Valencia. I took an
English... an English teaching course with
his wife, Kate, and then I met Jack. And
conveniently, they lived just around the
corner from me.
We were in the same neighborhood and
could meet frequently for drinks and
dinner and became great friends and then
it just so happened, that we now both live in
Asheville, North Carolina. And what do
you do here? I work at the Rhu, which is this
coffee and café where we are now. I a manager here and I also manage
our marketing and our private events. We
have a another space here and the
restaurant where we can hold large
groups and large parties for special
occasions. That was a lot of fun. It's good to get
a break during the day and Ellie is a
really good friend. As she said we have
known each other for a long time and
it's kind of strange because we spent
time together in Valencia - we hung out
together all the time while we were in
Spain and then after we moved to
Asheville, she sent us an email saying:
I'm thinking about moving to Asheville
and, obviously, we recommended it. What
I'm doing now is taking the long way back to the
office.
so I can get a little bit of exercise
and having a walk during the day is the
best way for me to stay energized. The
coffee helps as well. I can't explain how good it
feels to have weather like this in
January.
Even though the sun's not out, it's
still super warm right now, so, I'm really
enjoying this weather. But now it's time to
go back inside and get more work done.
two hours later...
I managed to get a bunch
of stuff done this afternoon. I won't
bore you with the details, but I'm back out
on the balcony, I'm just gonna have a few moments outside
and then I'm going to head back home.
I might pick a couple of things up on
the way home too, which is all good, it's all
good fun. So, I hope you have enjoyed this
vlog. I hope you have it useful. Again, check
out the description. There'll be list of
vocabulary, the words, the phrases that I -
and Ellie - used in this video and please
let me know what you think.
If you enjoyed this blog then please
share it with your friends. I'd really
appreciate that and be sure to check out
the other videos that should be on your
screen now. Again thanks for being here
and I'll see you in the next lesson. Bye
for now!