I’ve finally come to the end of my summaries from last year. Today I’m just posting a summary of the first section from this week’s episode and will just choose a section from future episodes to summarize
#28 アメリカ節約生活事情_お出かけ編
After the intro, she starts by asking her listeners how they spend their days off. Judging from SNS, she thinks that many of those living overseas go to lots of places. In her own case, however, she & her husband can’t afford expensive outings (行かないと言うか、行けない) so in this episode she wants talk about places you can go on a budget which might also interest those wanting to save money or listeners who just want to try something different.
So her first recommendation is hiking in nature which is popular in the U.S. not only with middle-aged people (as in Japan) but also with young people (which Utaco seems surprised by).
Anyway, there are lots of hiking trails as well as national parks and state ones and while you sometimes have to pay for parking (around $10), in some places parking is free. National parks also have annual passes which she recommends if you live near one and are a frequent visitor. There are forest type trails and desert (well, broad open spaced) ones; trails with rivers or lakes ( feeling those negative ions where there’s water is great isn’t it) as well as different trail lengths, different degrees in gradient so you should choose your trail depending on the condition of the people you’re walking with…There are many family groups with small children, even surprisingly quite a few parents carrying babies unable to walk in エルゴ like pouches walking along typical trails and even hard ones. Amazing!
Utaco herself prefers forest trails being surrounded by greenery, the sun’s rays piercing the space between the leaves where you can feel a pleasant breeze… it’s the best! So refreshing!
For longer breaks, camping is Utaco & her husband’s go to holiday choice - not only do they love camping, it’s also a good budget option. Campsites are cheaper than hotels and because camping is popular in America, there are lots of campsites. It might be difficult getting all the gear (sleeping bags etc) initially but you don’t need to get the best gear at first and you can gradually get more gear over time, making do with what you have or - as she suggests - get together with friends and/or family and share equipment. She’s recently been following Japanese Instagram camping accounts and is impressed with how stylish they are and gets excited just looking at the photos. She has hopes of having such a camp someday!
Naturewise, the beach is another good option for days off. Where she lives in California is cool so not like everyone’s usual idea of California being a sun drenched place with palm trees and everyone in tank tops and shorts. And not just cool, actually cold. Even in summer the water is cold and not enticing to enter - surfers and children go in but not Utaco. She never went into the water in Japan and just hasn’t got used to it. But she likes to lay out a rug (?) & picnic at the beach, take naps, read and sometimes plays volley ball or “smash ball” with her husband. The beach has a relaxing effect which she thinks is good.
Other than nature activities, antique fairs are good and flea markets where you can see goods lined up you won’t see in shopping malls - just walking around and looking is fun and if you find something amongst the trash, it’s exciting. She really likes the atmosphere at such places selling a mix of weird and stylish items.
They go to a nearby antique fair held monthly on Sunday mornings. Getting up early, coffee in one hand and strolling around looking is a favourite pastime! Americans like antiques so she thinks you can find one in most areas except maybe very small towns. There are a range of flea markets from big events to small - the big ones might have an entrance fee but probably just a couple of dollars. She’s been to a big one held at the end of summer in San Francisco with lots of stalls which she really enjoyed.
Then there’s art galleries and museums and while many charge admission fees, you can also get good deals (free for locals; free days). The one she went to in summer was the Museum of Natural History and enjoyed the exhibitions there. Normally they charged a $10 admission fee but for locals it was free - no ID checks, you just had to give your zipcode. She went with a friend but she’s thinking of going there with her husband soon.
In American there’s often local discounts so she thinks it’s worth investigating. In her area there’s a famous aquarium with an admission fee of $50 but they apparently have a period where it’s free for locals. Groupon is also worth investigating for these kind of things.
Then there’s free and low priced library and community events. In her last podcast she talked about a free craft workshop she attended with her husband. She enjoyed it so much she’s going to look out for similar events. And then there’s lots of events for kids so you check your local area. You can also google “free events”
Well, sadly I’m sick again. But not too bad. And at least before I go on holiday next week. Just need to get through the weekend (when I’m working).
@prath which episode are you on? I’m currently on episode 10. Have done one listen through, but will go over it again. Probably won’t start episode 11 till Monday at the earliest.
I’m going to be doing a road trip in Albania, which in theory is awesome for listening to a podcast, but my stepdad is coming with me. Will have to see what his tolerance for background noise is…
Unfortunately, I fell sick last week. Then, early this week, I was focusing on catching up with the Nana book club. I took off from work and have a long weekend coming up though, so I’ll finish the 11th ep by Monday too.
I wear earphones/headphones when I do my listening around others but maybe you’re driving? But I guess if you’re traveling together, it might also be difficult to carve that time out for yourself….
Hope you’re well and truly recovered before you leave.
A few people have mentioned that Utaco’s speaking speed is too fast for comfort. Well, this episode contains a little gem for you. Never mind how far behind you are in this series, just jump ahead for a moment and treat yourself to these 50 seconds of Episode 29, from 5:45 to 6:35.
Background
Utaco has enrolled in Mr Peterson’s English 1A class to give herself a challenge and take her English to the next level. English 1A is not ESL (English as a Second Language), but rather a normal English class attended by native speakers. Here she is reacting to the experience of attending her first native-level English class:
There is just something indescribably delicious about listening to Utaco moaning about people speaking English too fast. It always brings a smile to my face.
This reminds me so much of my experience in university learning Japanese. I skipped the first year of lectures because I had gone in with a lot of self study. So my first year was great with teachers speaking slowly and clearly. But when I got to upper division classes it was mostly kids with Japanese heritage who spoke Japanese at home but didn’t study it at school. So the lectures were usually in mostly (fast) Japanese, our homework was like read 10 pages of this modern short story or essay, and our tests were to write essays in Japanese. I will also point out that when I graduated university I still couldn’t really speak or read Japanese, so being in these classes was torture.
On the plus side, our history and literature classes were all taught in English, so at least I didn’t have to struggle through all of that.
A bit later than I hoped, but I just finished listening to the 11th episode. It was a little hard to follow, but I got the overall message in all three sections.
Still can’t believe avocados are a thing people like. The ones we get where I live are so tasteless and boring. I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been eating the wrong fruit lol
Planning to give the same episode another listen tonight before starting the 12th one. I might’ve zoned out a bit during the last 10 mins :3
And I reckon - in this episode - she was speaking faster than normal! When she said other Japanese friends had warned her about Mr Peterson but she still went ahead and enrolled in his class instead of in the class of the teacher she already knew, I just shook my head
There are different varieties and some just taste watery. Even if you have a good variety, you have to wait till it’s ripe before you eat it or it won’t be any good. Also, I think they might be an acquired taste as my mother loved them but as a child I couldn’t understand why. Now as an adult I love them too. Maybe eating guacamole helped
I think re-listening to the 10th one realllly helped me better understand everything! I’m gonna re-listen to the 11th one tomorrow haha
avocado
Oh, I think this might be it! I see avocado everywhere on the internet (spreads, dips, snacks), and I’m always confused. But also, I prefer sweet fruits like mangoes and apples, so maybe the subtle taste just feels boring to me.
Ah, I tried guacamole once and I’d honestly rather eat plain avocados ahahaha. I’m just gonna stick to my sweets then TT
For me the avocado is more like a vegetable, in terms of cooking. It goes with salty things like salads, it’s not a sweet dessert thing. More like a tomato and less like an apple, if that makes sense.
The go-to way to eat avocados for me growing up was the “avocat vinaigrette”, where you slice an avocado in half, remove the pit then fill the hole with vinaigrette (olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, sometimes mustard and other things). Then you eat it with a spoon:
Avocado on their own taste very bland, but with the right dressing I find them really enjoyable. It just needs to be handled well, which unfortunately is not always true, especially with industrial processed food. I suspect that the issue is that avocado spoils fast. So for instance a well made, fresh guacamole can be absolutely delicious IMO but industrial guacamole you buy ready-made at a store will often be rather mediocre in my experience, but I think it’s because they have to add a whole bunch of ingredients to stabilize it and give it a better shelf life.
Like Simias said, homemade guacamole/smashed avo with ripe avocado and good seasonings is godly, incomparable to some of the stuff at the supermarket. I don’t remember what Utaco was talking about re. avocados, but also the avocados you get in California are supposedly very good given how close it is to Mexico, size of their Latin American community, and they also produce their own I think.
That makes a whole lot of difference actually, thank you!
That sounds delicious.
Okay based on your comments and what @Malinkal suggested, I’m planning to try making guacamole at home, instead of eating it out at a restaurant (which is what I did last time and completely regretted the decision).
I listened to it last week and already forgot so you’re good I think it was about avocado milkshakes or something if I’m not wrong.
Oh wow that’s so cool! They’re not native to my country unfortunately, and the ones we get are frighteningly expensive TT
Most other people have already chimed in with good avocado advice, but I will also toss in my two cents.
I’m from California and grew up eating them. Just plain with some salt is fine, but not my favorite. I do prefer them as an ingredient in things, or as guacamole, but a great avocado when perfectly ripe is delicious.
Speaking of perfectly ripe, there are a ton of memes on this theme, but this is my favorite:
Now, to the bad side of avocados.
When I moved from California to London, I kinda started hating them. I mean, I still loved avocados, but no one knew how to handle them. It didn’t help that most of the fruits that I saw were not Haas but some other smaller variety whose green skin didn’t turn purplish black when ripe. I stopped ordering avocados on things and only out of desperation did I finally learn how to tame the weird tiny avocados eventually, and here’s my advice:
Until you really have a good feel for what you’re looking for in a ripe avocado, don’t try to buy one from the store. I grew up squeezing them in the grocery store with my mom telling me what was and wasn’t a good one, and with my avocado senses I’m still only right about 80% of the time. Which is a lot, but 20% of the time getting bad avocados is still a lot of the time. What I do instead is find the hardest, firmest (and in the case of Haas avocados) greenest ones I can find. Bring it home and put it in a paper bag on the countertop. It’s usually safe there for about 2-3 days, but that will probably depend on the ambient temperature of your kitchen. Check it daily for 2 days and twice daily for afterwards. To be safe you can put it in the refrigerator once it’s starting to soften. It will still ripen in the cold, just a lot slower. You are ready to go when the flesh is soft but not mushy. I’ve heard that you can also pull out the stem bit and see if it’s the right color green underneath as a backup. Very occasionally you’ll end up with a weird bruised fruit, but buying them from the store hard as rocks will do a lot to protect against this. What you should end up with is a beautiful spring green fruit that yields to a spoon, no knife needed (except, you know, to cut into the skin, so if I’m cutting it up I will use the same knife). After you’ve undertaken all of those steps and you still don’t like it, only then can you say that you don’t like an avocado.
jshjshjs omg we did this last time! But I think the transition from “Hard AF” to “Nope” was so invisible we were in shock. I think putting it in the refrigerator might help. Can’t wait to become an avocado expert in 1000000 years
Episode: 
Time Count: 30:41
I think it was about avocado milkshakes or something if I’m not wrong.
