hello Aubry how's everything going today I am excellent how are you Lindsay awesome I am ready
for the weekend I don't know about you the week's flown by so fast though I can't believe this week
did go really really fast I feel like the week after the holidays for us is super super fast
I have a question for you this is interesting I'm ready have you ever experienced a power Blackout
um yeah we had well we had our power went out just on Tuesday actually but just for a few minutes
really quickly it came back on um what about like what's the longest you've ever had no power oh
that's a good question I think when I was a kid in like New Hampshire in the 80s we might have
had like a 24 hour or 48 hour blackout at some point yeah yes I remember when I was a kid too I
remember like lighting candles and like playing games in the dark for sure and then just over
Thanksgiving we were up at a cabin in the north of here and the power went out at like 4 a.m and it
was cold it was like 20 degrees outside so because the heat stopped and there was no fireplace in the
house right so by the time we kind of woke up at eight it was freezing in the house and there the
whole grid was out there was no power for several hours so what did you do panicked yeah and we need
to just do laundry we needed heat we just bundled up in blankets oh my gosh and like played a game
but we were very cold it was rough I realized oh we were not prepared to not have power but but
so you didn't just go home I would have gone home well we couldn't because we had to do the laundry
at the VRBO before we could leave so and we we were able at least with our phone service there
was at least phone service we were able to see that they were predicting the power to come back
on around noon okay so we're like okay it'll come back at noon we can do the laundry we don't have
to leave otherwise yeah I think we would have just been out of there okay so yeah we've all had our
bouts with uh loss of power for sure and that's what we're gonna get into a little bit today you
know lots of things have been happening around the world geopolitically speaking and I know that
Europe was kind of predicting sort of a bit of an energy crisis this winter right Aubry yes exactly
depending on what happens with the weather if they're needing a lot of heat they're you know
with the Embargo on Russian oil potentially there would need to be rolling blackouts so
that you could conserve power so we're going to talk about this what Europe did to prepare for an
energy crisis or is doing yeah and then we're also going to share two games that you can practice
English even if when if the power goes out right if it's dark there's nothing you can really do if
it happens at night and then you don't have any candle you're really unprepared right you could
at least work on your English practice some English yeah guys and we don't want to make
light of any kind of scenario if how if you know there are actual energy issues right of course
but you know we believe in maximizing you know where you are in any given moment there's always
something that we can do to make it better right so absolutely right there's nothing you can do
at least yeah make lemonade out of lemons that's a good expression that's a good expression guys
if you love learning new expressions and getting four episodes a week from Muller's English where
we focus on connection not Perfection then hit follow on this show right now we're also
on YouTube this episode should be on YouTube Aubry and the allers English YouTube channel
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if you haven't definitely subscribe to our YouTube channel it's so fun to watch these episodes as a
video it is fun maybe you guys prefer you know consuming our podcast on video you can do that
over there good stuff absolutely okay the first thing I want to do is sort of Define what we're
talking about a power blackout and share some of the synonyms because you'll hear it called several
different things right Lindsay yeah for sure so what does it mean a power blackout Aubry yeah
so it's a loss of electrical power for the entire network of a region right it's not just your home
the all of your neighbors right if you're texting neighbors do you have power do you have power the
whole like Network the whole grid would be out yeah but we also call it a power outage power
cut power failure you and then power blackout which is the more sort of physical um imagery
right of the grid going black yeah I mean now that I think about it I remember a traveling
abroad a fair number of kind of blackouts going on when I was in Guatemala backpacking being in
um Isabel is like a I think it's like a peninsula or somewhere near on the Caribbean and uh Power
going out for a couple of hours every night I mean this is com all over the world you know this
is not just a c like once in a lifetime right so it can happen frequently all over the world many
of us deal with this every day in some countries right it's intentional in order to conserve power
for when it's needed more right yeah so it was really interesting this article about you know
what is France doing what is Germany doing it was in the New York Times and they were mentioning
that in Germany they were buying lots and lots of candles in some countries they were just they
were being told at certain times of the day you can't charge electric vehicles or at least they
were saying sort of like this is what might happen right if there are freezing temperatures and the
electricity is needed for heat then there would need to be limits on on other things that would
happen right yeah I love it okay Power rationing right there would need to be power rationing
what does that mean rationing I feel like we've all heard that if you ever watch a movie about
war rationing of supplies but what would that mean for power Lindsay so it means just uh reducing the
amount and kind of scheduling out how much each person can use at a certain time yep exactly right
there's a fixed amount instead of where usually it's unlimited right charge your electric vehicle
use all the power you need if there were if it were rationed you would have a certain amount
or you couldn't use it at certain times right and this can be used you know to ration is used often
for food as well I just watched that movie alive I might have told you in a previous recording you
do you know that movie alive with the Uruguay and soccer team that crashed in the Andes in the plane
it's an old movie don't get me wrong it's from it's from the 70s oh no I have seen it and they
end up like cannibalizing each other yeah yeah I have seen that oh but before they did that they
had chocolate little bars of chocolate and like bottles of wine and they were kind of rationing
like everyone got a little bit so that's what rationing means it could be used to talk about
energy food uh supplies basically right yes exactly right and so Europe because there was
there is a potential energy crisis and I loved how the article was saying like there's no need
to panic right we're not inciting Panic we're just preparing for worst case scenario and they were
saying it's never it's not going to be a situation where we're out of power for hours and hours like
it would be a very intentional you know a couple hours at a certain time where you would be aware
that you wouldn't have power at this time or right it would that's the nice thing about this Modern
Age in general we can prepare and know what to expect and we can stockpile energy conserve energy
so that we can keep the power grids running and avoid that like long-term blackout oh for sure
for sure yeah okay okay so good to knows we've got the vocabulary here rationing or to ration
um what else Aubry yeah I also wanted to Define embargo I mentioned that at the beginning that
so this recently there was an embargo on Russia this is any official ban on trade or commercial
activity with a particular country and so sometimes it's just um something becomes more
expensive or there are fees sometimes it's banned entirely and so this is sort of just preparing for
a possible energy crisis because historically we have been dependent on Russian fuel so you have
to right as we're changing the way we do things as we're changing where we get our power from we
might have staggered electricity outages to save energy we we recognize like okay things are going
to be changing what do we need to do in order to not inconvenience too much right yes exactly and
in bar the word embargo can kind of be used in a in a lighter way as well um you know for example
if you live on the east coast and your family lives on the west coast and they never come and
visit you you put an embargo on visiting them right that kind of idea in a conversation so we
can play around with some of these words and talk about lighter topics too guys so we can
be flexible when we get to this higher level of vocabulary to connect absolutely that's a really
good point I also saw in one of the articles I was reading about this the word mitigated So it's
talking about how right the goal is for Europe to for problems to be mitigated through preparation
which is another high level word what does that mean mitigated Lindsay big words today Aubrey I
love it again feels like an s.a.t episode but it could be a great Isles episode um mitigated means
to make less right to lessen to make less severe great word to have in your vocabulary guys at your
high level absolutely when you're reading the news you're going to see this we use it a lot too maybe
to sound impressive I feel like sometimes when someone's writing a news article they'll throw
in a word like this to sound very professional very impressive yeah I mean there's nothing wrong
with that right and on the IELTS exam of course it could increase your score I'll mention again
we mentioned this in the last episode but you're on IELTS energy with Jessica three two days a week
so go and search for the IELTS energy podcast guys absolutely this is the type of vocab you
would learn over there right high level less common vocabulary that's very impressive for
the IELTS examiner but also impressive for me just in Daily conversation someone used
words like this aren't you so impressed Lindsay when someone uses a less common impressive word
like this I love mitigated yes yes I feel like they're well read right they're clearly reading
the news it's impressive I love it so good and you know solar generous so so do we want to talk
about solar generation so I mentioned that really quick with Thanksgiving with that power outage I
realized like maybe I need to be prepared for something like this so it actually inspired a
gift I gave my husband for Christmas I got him a solar generator and I realized like these are
pricey but they the technology has become very very impressive right it's the portable solar
panels panels with a battery and they're actually compared to how they were several years ago they
are much more affordable so we have options just as individuals right we can be told by
our nation like Europe has been right oh we have the potential for this happening you potentially
could mitigate that by having something like a solar generator available to you well yeah for
sure I mean speaking about recent power blackouts we actually did have on Christmas Eve we had a
blackout at my brother's house in New Hampshire but out here in the East well on the East Coast I
don't think solar generators are a thing because there's not enough Sun you have a lot of sun in
Arizona and Colorado here but where my brother lives there's not enough Sun I think and so he
had a generator an actual like a non-solar just like a dual power generator yeah yeah yeah and
that thing was running for like 24 hours it's loud it sounds like there's a truck in your backyard
um and so but it's the idea of generating your own electricity again it's a privilege
to be able to do this the these things are not absolutely cheap in any way but I know in New
York City well everywhere hospitals have to have generators for backup power and then in New York
City most of the apartment buildings like certain apartment buildings have to have generators in
case any residents need backup power for something like that but for most of us for a lot of people
don't have that but it's true Arizona is a great a great state a great place for solar power a lot
of people have solar powers on solar panels on their roof and for solar generators but that's
a good point that's not going to work everywhere I don't think so I'm not really like super well
versed in it but I'm I'm assuming that that's have a solar generator yes there's not as much
sun so okay Aubry what's next let's get into the next piece you know again like we said we want to
show you guys some games you could potentially play uh when the power goes out but I just want
to iterate again or reiterate let's say that we're not trying to minimize anyone's experience
if power is going out in your country due to geopolitical issue issues like it it's a serious
thing and we know you're strong it's a struggle right exactly connect online maybe we work online
um but again make lemon make lemonade from lemons right when he what's the expression
what is the full expression of that Aubry or if you if you have lemonades if you have lemons if
life gives you okay I've got it if life gives you lemons make lemonade to get there when I got it
oh my God that should be an outtake I think that'll it should be like a blooper reel right
what we just did there I love it that's so yeah I agree definitely like if if people are suffering
without power for a long long term right yeah we know this has been an issue in Ukraine now
that's a different situation right yeah for those of us who are blessed to not be directly affected
by that we might lose power for an hour or two and and like you said right make the best of the
situation yeah so we are going to share one of these I remember playing when I was a kid and
the power went out and it was dark and we just had a couple of little candles and I I don't have a
lot of memories from when I was a kid but this is one that's really strong in my mind I think
because it was so different and ended up actually being so fun like such a unique experience with my
family interesting okay so this one is called my neighbor's cat is that the name of the game yeah
so it's a great way to practice adjectives in English the way you do it is the person says my
neighbor's cat is Anne and then you have to have an adjective that starts with the first letter of
the alphabet so like awesome Adam to quit right and then the second person will use the next
letter in the alphabet B my neighbor's cat is a black cat or bold or beautiful any adjective that
starts with B oh next person uses C and you go around and around until someone you can't repeat
any right so you have to think of a new one go around the book or you get a really difficult
letter and then you're out and it starts again with everyone there everyone in the circle until
everybody's out one last person wins it's actually so fun man this makes me remember that we wanted
to start an ollers English game night it still makes me want to do this you know maybe we can
get to this in 2023 we have a lot of things to get to but maybe we can add this to happen it needs to
happen you know because a lot of our listeners I know you guys say in the key moment when I need
to come up with a word I don't have it and so how do we get there it's by playing games like that
it's by letting it pop up in your brain and having the habit of the building those synapses right so
this could be a really good game not just for a power blackout for any time I know right it is a
great game for any time and the nice thing is as you know the person after you or the next person
they're trying to think of an adjective that starts with d or e or F you also are thinking
of all the ones you know and it's just like you said Lindsay what a great exercise for your brain
to think of all the adjectives that you know that start with that letter so good good for even for
native speakers as well honestly to build your programs all of us all right so that's a great
game I love that that's even that is great but is there a second one too yes so this second
one we call it the campout and it's a memory game but also vocabulary but just in general
any vocabulary words you can think of so this is great for anyone that's at a lower level in
English or playing with younger children um you say we're going on a campout and we're taking and
you can say anything it doesn't actually have to be something you'd take on a camp out right you
can say we're taking a pie a flashlight a car I'm looking around naming things headphones a
TV right you name anything okay but you have to remember what everyone has said so the second
person would say like we're going on a campout and we're taking uh TV and a microphone right
and each person has to remember what was said before so again such a great exercise for your
brain to remember because you get to where you're saying like 15 20 things and then if you mess up
you can't remember when you're out last night I would so lose that so quickly you'd be out after
like three things kind of my kids are so good at it they will remember we'll have such a long list
that's amazing but it is amazing how you have to use those kind of tricks with your brain to
like visualize it or you know what I mean because otherwise and you do hear it the repetition helps
because each time someone goes they say that's interesting that's true that kind of in a way
of how we learn languages repetition just kind of repeating saying something hearing something
interesting okay and it actually ends up being really funny because you can say anything right
say yeah we're bringing a refrigerator and a cake I love it all right guys so write those games down
keep them in mind really really good solid ways to build your vocabulary build your fluency even in
difficult circumstances right maximize that time you have what's the takeaway for today Aubry yeah
guys France Germany and elsewhere in Europe are doing such a good job making wise preparations
for a possible energy crisis and we should be prepared to and like you said Lindsay we don't
want to make light of what anyone's going through there's only so much you can prepare unfortunately
sometimes we're just struggling with difficulties but when it is short-lived and you know this can
be a great opportunity whoever you're with to play a game practice your English enjoy that
time with the lights out instead of you know just kind of being panicked and scared waiting for the
power to come back on yeah I love it I love it good stuff Aubry well thanks for being on
the show with me today and we'll see you very soon awesome thanks Lindsay all right take care bye bye
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