Topic Talk | Nostalgia

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack talk about nostalgia.Transcript:00:00:01JackWelcome to the A to Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm here with my co-host social. And today we're talking about nostalgia and maybe we should define the term social before we.00:00:16JackGo jump into the episode.00:00:19XochitlYeah, Jack nostalgia or feeling nostalgic? I would say it's when you feel.00:00:25XochitlWistful. Uh, which is another big word, but you long for you. Kind of long for or remember fondly have positive memories and reminisce about a time in the past, a place in the past.00:00:45XochitlPeople in the past and yeah, it can definitely happen when you're feeling homesick, which is something that you feel when you move to another country and you're away from your culture, your family, your friends, your language.00:00:57XochitlAnd it can also just be something you feel during different phases of your life where maybe you miss college or you miss high school and you miss your peers or your family, yeah.00:01:12JackYeah, I do. You can you think of a something that you're feeling nostalgic about right now?00:01:20XochitlYes, Jack. Oddly, I've been well.00:01:22XochitlMaybe not oddly, because this was pretty much the time.00:01:26XochitlBack a couple years ago, when I was preparing to move to Korea for the first time.00:01:33XochitlAnd I moved February 14th. So Valentine's Day I it's late, but it was around towards the end of January when I was putting the last pieces together and packing to move to Korea to teach English. And I have been feeling nostalgic for Korea.00:01:53XochitlAnd I am planning a trip in October.00:01:57JackI know that I'm excited. We're definitely going to have to. We can finally meet face to face.00:02:02XochitlYes. Yes, I'm very.00:02:03JackYeah, yeah, yeah.00:02:03XochitlExcited about that?00:02:05XochitlI funny because I left my last paycheck in my bank account. I don't know, I'm sure.00:02:11XochitlYou're aware of this?00:02:12XochitlCheck it's like.00:02:13XochitlYou can withdraw your money in cash when you leave Korea, but when they pay your last paycheck in your bank account, you can't really transfer it to your U.S. bank account.00:02:24JackRight.00:02:25XochitlUmm so I have like my last paycheck just sitting there so I can basically take a free flight to Korea whenever just on my paycheck. So.00:02:34JackLike a spy. You know you have foreign bank accounts all over the place.00:02:39XochitlRight. So it's like, so that is convenient. So I I have been thinking, OK, well, I should go back to Korea and get that money before they close my bank account down or something. Yeah, and.00:02:52발표자Right.00:02:53발표자So I have.00:02:54XochitlBeen feeling nostalgic and and it's funny because I think.00:02:58XochitlEspecially if you're a little bit of a romantic.00:03:00XochitlIn life, you tend to look back fondly at things even more when you've already left them than you did in the moment, and you appreciate certain things that you missed or liked about that place. For me, I I didn't like my job at all in South Korea. I really hated my job. It was a terrible.00:03:17XochitlJob. But I liked.00:03:19XochitlMy apartment. It was beautiful and I really liked it.00:03:21XochitlThe sun, which is the city and the.00:03:23XochitlTop that I lived in.00:03:25XochitlAbsolutely beautiful city bus ride 40 minutes away from the beach.00:03:31XochitlAnd it was just it was lovely. And I did like a lot of good food. I really like the raw salmon sashimi bibimbop doing Janja as everyone knows, that's my favorite. So I've been thinking a lot about these.00:03:48XochitlFoods and also places within Korea. I I traveled a lot just in the six months I was there, but just places I didn't get to go or you know, foods I didn't get to try things I didn't get to do that. I wanted to do like visit the palace in Seoul.00:04:02XochitlUM or wear a humbug? I never got to wear humbug, which is no.00:04:05JackYou never get to wear a Hamburg handbook is the traditional Korean clothes, yeah.00:04:10JackYou you. Yeah.00:04:12XochitlHave you ever worn A humbug Jack? I'm curious.00:04:14JackNo, I never have. Actually. I've never worn.00:04:17Jack100 yeah.00:04:19XochitlThat's crazy. How can you have gone? You've lived in Korea this long and you've never worn humbug.00:04:24JackI feel like.00:04:25JackI've I've gone so long, I might as well just, you know, be one of those people that never wears one. You know, I'm. I'm so tall, like they'll never have one my size, you know.00:04:32XochitlRight.00:04:36XochitlThat's true. You're you are insanely tall. Yeah.00:04:40XochitlThat's true. And that does make it a lot harder, I'm sure, so.00:04:43XochitlI don't have to worry about that.00:04:45JackYeah. You'll find one. Yeah. Yeah, it might be a.00:04:48JackKids handbook but.00:04:51XochitlYeah, I thought that was funny. Yeah. So I feel nostalgic, I guess, for Korea, I really.00:04:59XochitlI've almost been thinking about going back to teach because I think I just missed independence. There's great health insurance. Like if you teach in Korea, you have pretty good benefits because you get the Korean National Health insurance and pension.00:05:12XochitlWhich is pretty good, and if you finish out your contract you get like one extra month's pay at the end of your contract, and they pay for your apartment. So some places you have to pay, like a utility or an apartment fee where I lived, you had to pay like utilities. So I paid like $90.00.00:05:32XochitlA month for utilities and I also 90,001 a month which is equivalent to like 80 something U.S. dollars and I paid my phone bill which was only like 38 dollars I think a month. So my expenses were like 120 plus food and I would get lunch for free actually on the days I worked so.00:05:50XochitlMonday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I would eat lunch for free.00:05:55XochitlSo the benefits are actually pretty good.00:06:01JackYeah. I mean, if you ever wanted a job in Korea, just let me know, we'll we could find you a good school like there's.00:06:09XochitlYou're making attempt and Jack don't.00:06:11JackI know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm.00:06:11발표자Go back cause.00:06:12XochitlNo, no, you're fine.00:06:13JackTrying to I'm trying to.00:06:14JackPull you back in, but yeah.00:06:16XochitlMe back. Yeah. No, it I do feel nostalgic for. I think I really miss the independence. Also. It's like sometimes you miss a certain period.00:06:23XochitlOf your life.00:06:24XochitlYou feel nostalgic for it because you have, like, independence.00:06:28XochitlThey have, like benefits and a lot of disposable income because like I said so.00:06:32XochitlMany of your.00:06:35JackExpenses are taken care of.00:06:37XochitlYeah, that you just have a ton of disposable income that you can save up and like pay off student loan debt. A lot of people do that when they move to Korea, save up money to come back home and put a down payment on a house or, you know, just there's so many things you can do.00:06:53XochitlYeah, I am feeling stuck in.00:06:54XochitlSick for that, especially that.00:06:56XochitlFreedom and that independence and just the romanticization I guess of it.00:07:01발표자How about you?00:07:02XochitlOhh sorry, go ahead.00:07:03JackWell, I mean, I was just I.00:07:05JackThink we talked about this like.00:07:07JackMaybe a few weeks.00:07:07JackAgo or whatever, but there's a certain like.00:07:11JackAnd I'm going to use a big word here. Trajectory. There's like, a trajectory. Just means like, a a forward motion and it's it's kind of like you start teaching in Korea and in the beginning everything is new and you love it. And it's so fascinating. And then.00:07:28JackAnd then you there's a drop, you know, and you start to hate everything and you start doing this like ohh, this is not like my back home. It's so different and it's annoying. And then you and then you come back up again and you realize that like, no, it's not bad, it's just different.00:07:49JackYou know, and then and then you kind of settle in there a little bit and you're like, you know, I appreciate certain things like I love the food and like you said, the being able to save some money if you have a good job, it's that can be enjoyable too and quite rewarding.00:07:50발표자Right.00:08:07JackAnd and then you finish your year contracts and then you go back home and you get that kind of what we call reverse culture shock, where now your home country is kind of bizarre. You know, it's like, well, this is so different than Korea.00:08:27JackAnd then you start to get nostalgic for those things in Korea, but.00:08:32JackThe the problem.00:08:32JackWith nostalgia is that I think it's like.00:08:37JackIt's kind of like looking back.00:08:40JackThrough rose colored glasses, you know there's a idiom for everybody there. When you put, if you put rose colored glasses on, everything appears row, you know, red kind of rosy and and and it's like you just remember the good things you know. And you you forget about the things that were kind of annoying.00:08:59XochitlRight.00:09:03JackAnd that kind of bothered you about it a little bit. So I think nostalgia can be a little bit deceiving sometimes. I don't know. Do you, would you agree with that?00:09:12XochitlYeah, like there's things that I as soon as I start getting a solid, my brains like ohh remember how you had like I've never struggled with acne and I had horrible cystic acne after a while in Korea and it was really painful. Like I don't. I didn't really care about the look of it. I was wearing a mask all the time anyway. But it was so painful.00:09:33XochitlI hated that it, like, hurt my face. One and two of my hair would like fall out like crazy. This is something that's happened to a lot of foreigners.00:09:42XochitlThat, like, moved to Korea.00:09:43XochitlI don't know if it's.00:09:43JackHey, tell me about it.00:09:46XochitlYeah, you're bold now. Yeah, I literally, I feel like I'm going down that route. I would lose tons of hair every time I showered, and it was very weird. I've heard of that happening to multiple foreigners who move there. And another thing is it can be very isolating.00:10:03XochitlYou're mostly making friends with other foreigners because Korean culture can be little isolating, and it's still true that there are places, especially in smaller, more rural areas. But even in solo and stuff, whether you don't accept foreigners.00:10:16XochitlAnd they turned 4 hours away and it can be a very insular culture and people kind of like.00:10:24XochitlYou kind of sometimes when you're making a new friend in Korea and if they're Korean, you're kind of like an accessory or a new fun shiny toy.00:10:32XochitlFor a while.00:10:34XochitlAnd then they get bored of you because you're just a foreigner and they can't relate to you. Like, that's kind of how it feels at times. I don't know, Jack, if you.00:10:41XochitlEver had that experience?00:10:43JackYou know it's it's interesting because, you know, I I mostly had 400 friends and.00:10:52JackThen you know my, but my wife is Korean, and so I I was kind of brought into a Korean family. But, you know, my wife is my best friend. So it's a little bit.00:11:07JackI don't, I've I've.00:11:08JackNever been really close with like a male Korean friend.00:11:12JackYou know.00:11:13발표자Right.00:11:14JackSo yeah, I I don't really have that experience. I I was just more of, you know, had my foreigner friends and we would just run around town and and go crazy and and be a knuckle knuckleheads. But yeah, I mean the, the the nostalgia for me, you know, when I feel when I feel.00:11:25발표자Right.00:11:34JackNostalgia. Now it is at 47. It's a little bit different it.00:11:39JackIt comes it.00:11:41JackCould be a smell.00:11:43JackRight. Like let's say there's a smell. There's something that reminds me of.00:11:49JackOf a time when I was studying film in Los Angeles, I was at a film studies program, which is maybe maybe one of the happiest times of my life. It was really just such an A great experience. I was an artistically I felt more freer than I had.00:12:09JackNever felt and and creative. We're making short films. I loved my my classmates. I had really good friends and we just really.00:12:21JackIt was. It was just.00:12:23JackThat's the the one of the this maybe the best three months of my life. Like it was just amazing. It was an amazing experience. I will never forget that. And and every once in a while I'll kind of I'll there'll be a smell that will remind me of Southern California and my time there.00:12:43JackAnd and it and.00:12:44JackIt hits you like.00:12:44JackA like it it hits you in.00:12:46JackThe in the gut.00:12:47JackA little bit. You know, it's like it's like a gut punch, you know, like a.00:12:54JackJust a I don't know how to describe it, but it's the feeling of nostalgia.00:12:59발표자You want.00:13:00XochitlTo kind.00:13:00XochitlOf it's like.00:13:02XochitlAlmost sad and happy in a way. It's like a lot of different emotions and a little anxiety. Yeah, yeah.00:13:11JackYeah, yeah, it.00:13:12발표자Just you just.00:13:13JackYou know it, you just wish you could jump back in there for just a day and just have that experience one more time. But you're also is there's gratitude in there too.00:13:27JackIs it's it. It is a. It can be kind of a sad feeling nostalgia because it's like you miss something.00:13:35JackAnd you wish.00:13:35JackYou could go back there, but you're so happy that you were able.00:13:39JackTo experience it.00:13:40JackSo if you can move move from the kind of feeling of like regret that it's that it's done that it's finished.00:13:48JackAnd understand that everything in life moves in stages and that you can't hold on to it forever.00:13:55JackAnd that's why I think like trying to be present more like to live in the present and right now and just really and stop thinking about the past and stop thinking about the future and just really experience things fully in the moment will help you appreciate it. Later when you when you have those.00:14:14JackFeelings of nostalgia. You're like. You know what, though? I have no regret. That's one thing I can say is I have no regrets about that time because I really did experience it to the full the fullest that I could. I really, you know.00:14:30JackYou know, jumped into it and participated, and I wasn't. I wasn't shy. I wasn't bitter during that time. I was just really fully present and enjoying the people and the experience to the fullest I could. And so.00:14:49JackI I I.00:14:50JackBut I do feel nostalgic about that. I sometimes feel nostalgic about my time in Thailand as a teacher. I remember we used to sit out.00:14:59JackOn in front of my apartment and we would throw a mat down on the on the ground and and play guitar and drink beer and people would.00:15:11JackCome over from other.00:15:12JackApartments and they would sit down and listen and.00:15:15JackSoon we had a party.00:15:17JackYou know, and it wasn't.00:15:18JackPlanned it was a completely impromptu party, but we would do that all the time and talk and laugh and play songs on the guitar and sing and those. Those are things that I I was way too embarrassed to do back in my home country.00:15:37JackBut with all these friends who were all kind of traveler types, you know, hippies they, you know, they were OK with like, yes.00:15:43발표자Right.00:15:46JackSing. Sing as.00:15:47JackLoudly as you can with the with you know sincerely, without any sort of embarrassment or shame or anything like that, because we weren't worried about looking cool.00:15:59JackWe were just, it was all about having fun and I I do miss those moments and I do feel a lot of nostalgia for my time that I I spent in Thailand and if I were to leave Korea, I'm sure I would.00:16:15JackThat I would suffer a lot, huge bouts of nostalgia over my time here and and miss and and and probably more so than any other place because I've just so many of my life. Experiences are connected to Korea. Having my daughter was born in Korea.00:16:35JackShe's got she's half Korean. I met my wife in Korea. We got married in Korea. It's just a lot of those seminal moments in my life are connected to.00:16:48JackYeah. And so yeah.00:16:49발표자Right, that's.00:16:49XochitlThe whole like.00:16:50XochitlThese inquiry are basically.00:16:52JackYeah, half my life I have spent in Korea and so it's such a huge part of my life that I think if I were to leave it, I I really would suffer that I I think nostalgia and homesickness are are very close cousins, I would say.00:17:11XochitlYeah, that's true. That's true. It's like being homesick for a time or a place. Kind of.00:17:19XochitlAnd a place in time, because it's like those memories are all frozen and tied together, and that's always a great thing. Yeah.00:17:27JackYeah. And you can't. You cannot relive those. You could. You could try to. You could try to recreate them, but it just it.00:17:33JackDoesn't work. It's all about the people.00:17:34XochitlYou're not.00:17:35JackAnd the place and the time and that's it.00:17:38XochitlYep, definitely true. Well, listeners, if you've ever felt nostalgic before, please let us know in a comment down below, shoot us an e-mail at AZ English podcast at Gmail dot.00:17:49XochitlCome leave us a comment on our website azenglishpodcast.com and join our WhatsApp and link chat groups to join the conversation and we'll.00:17:57XochitlSee you guys.00:17:57XochitlNext time, bye bye.00:17:59JackBye bye.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/topic-talk-nostalgia/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. 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