 Hi everyone. Welcome to Real English Conversations with Liz and Adam. I'm Liz Wade and this is Adam Navas. Hello. And we are just two native English speakers who are going to have a conversation about this week's Spotlight English Program and it is called Life and Loneliness during COVID-19. And yeah, this program was, if you are a crier like me, it might have brought you some tears. If you are sentimental, it might have brought back some memories. But we really tried to gather together some experiences of people all around the world who had the effects of COVID, who maybe didn't have COVID themselves, but definitely went through a shared experience and what that meant. And of course, many people have died from COVID so far, right? We're a year and a half in about. And so there is that additional sadness, right? There is that sadness. But there's also that loneliness that people all around the world felt during that time just because we were disconnected from people. And that is what this program is really trying to get at by telling different experiences. So Adam, I know you have read this program. Were there any of these experiences that really stood out to you, like a story that really connected to you or that you thought about? Yeah, I mean, the one in near the end of the program, the woman who has a baby and then has to decide to spend time away from that baby to keep that baby safe. Of course, like that is the sacrifices people make to move to a new country to help their family or to like to send money back anytime where you're doing something for the people you love, but it's drawing you away from those people that you love. Those are always heartbreaking. But of course, you try to do something in the short term that's good. But it's just the idea of like, when my kids were young, or even now, like if I had to be away from them for any amount of time, yeah, just be really difficult. Well, and especially as a tiny baby, that's a three month old baby. Yeah, like as a new mother, like you want to be able to spend time with this baby. And yeah, to not have that is very difficult. Yeah, emotionally and physically. Right. I mean, I'm assuming you also connected to that story. But was there anything that resonated with you? And because the program has has several stories in it? Yes. Well, I there were a couple that were really, that were really touching to me. Of course, that first one with the mother who had to shoot well, who chose to spend no time with her baby. But then there was also I didn't go through this. But I do know some people who did the woman in the nursing home or the woman whose father was in a nursing home and nursing homes, if you remember, were like, they were just totally overrun by COVID. Yeah, and many people in nursing homes died because COVID is very, very deadly for older people. And so if a nursing home got COVID in it, many, many of those old people died. And so to hear her talk about how she could see her dad through the window. But then he passed away before she could talk to him or touch him again. You know, it's thinking about that last time that you talked to a person or that you gave that person a hug and like, was it meaningful enough? Did you do enough? Did you say I love you? And I think that was that was interesting. The one that really I keep thinking about for this program is the beginning story, actually. Because I actually know this person who who is quoted here. And he says that in the house street near near my house that he's talking about, it's a very busy street. And he says that it was maybe a weekend to lockdown. And nobody had been leaving their houses, all work was shut down. And he goes out in the middle of the night and lays in the street. And no cars come. And first of all, that I want to tell him, please don't do that. Yes, not a good idea. But um, but yeah, just to it illustrates how quiet and lonely it really all was. Yeah, like, you know, there was nobody on the streets. There was nobody outside their houses. And so that to me, I keep thinking about that image of that person just laying in the middle of a busy intersection and there's no cars. And that for me was really shocking. Yeah, I remember because I didn't go anywhere for I don't I you know, I'm I miss remembering now. But I do remember the first time I drove somewhere, because I we were out of food or we needed to get something. Yeah. And it was very strange. Yeah, drive on the road and just there were no other cars. There's just, you know, there were other I shouldn't say there's zero wasn't like, but it compared to how it usually is, it felt like the world changed. And I know that I've never experienced anything like this in my life, or in your life, and even my parents' lives, I don't think they've experienced anything like this. And so I it was very odd. But I will say this program talks a lot about the loneliness that people feel and that disconnection. My person it took me a long time to feel that I did feel it. But because of my personality and I like being at home and I like being with my immediate family. It took me I think a lot longer than people whose personalities are I love people I want to see people I want to go out and I want to interact with people extrovert. Yes. So I don't know how you experienced that Liz. Did you were you are you more like me? Were you okay with that? Or were you like, Oh, I need to go out and see people? I do think because I have worked at home for a couple years now. Spotlight is made up as you know, Adam of people who are in different parts of the world. And we all come together to make this program. So I feel like I had gone through a lot of the work from home loneliness, or the workplace sort of loneliness before in the years previous. And so but also our team gets together quite often over Zoom or you know, just over the internet online. And so this is kind of normally how we are. And I remember even just back at the beginning, our first live show in COVID. Yeah. And man, thinking about that now, right? That we we were able to sort of get together and chat that way face to face. Even though it wasn't face to face and even talk with listeners and I I'm going to cry right now as I remember it. But you know, do you remember people were were messaging us in the comments and saying like, No, we're we're like this too. And you know, we're lonely and we're not we're not allowed to go outside either. And it just felt like it didn't feel lonely in that moment. Right? I seriously am going to cry right now. It felt like it felt like a community of people all around the world who were going through exactly the same thing together in real time. And so I guess there was some loneliness about it. But there was for me at least a feeling of community, like we're all locking down, we're all staying in our homes to protect those people who are more vulnerable to disease to protect older people or to protect our children. Because of course, at the beginning, we also just did not know anything about COVID. Right. There were a lot of big question marks and theories floating around about how to protect yourself and what was okay and what wasn't okay. And I think one of the things I know that that we're both committed to is really not just doing what's good for me now, but what's good for everyone, and especially not forgetting what's good for those people who who might not who might be a little different. You know, I know someone who has a it's a terminal cancer, and he has he's doing fine. But he's a very high risk person, even with vaccines, even with masks, just because of that. And I always, you know, that's the person who's in my mind. Most of the time when I'm having a conversation or I'm thinking about what does it mean to start to return to normal? What was normal? Is it just about me? Is it just about, oh, look, I get to do things that that were like they used to be. No, I need to make sure that everybody is safe and everybody has what they need. And if I have to do some things differently, I'm okay with that. Yeah. Well, there's also, you know, here in the US, we have had we've had vaccinations already. And in my family, a couple of us have been able to be vaccinated. But there are some people in my family who have not been been vaccinated yet. But you know, if I think about other countries, there are other countries where vaccines aren't freely available yet. Right. And so for us, well, I'll just speak for me. For me, it seems like, oh, there's some new hope here, right? Right. But until everyone is vaccinated, we're all at risk, right? We can we can have coronavirus variants that that cause problems. So part of that community thinking is making sure that everyone is taken care of everyone can be vaccinated if they want to. And so for me, there's a one sec. So there's there's hope. But it's also like, it's hopeful for long term. It has to be long term hope. It's not like we're going to be solved in a year. There still might be a long time. Well, that's exactly I mean, that's the natural extension of so I think about that one person and what you're in that. That's my community. You know, my example, what you're saying is, with when it comes to a coronavirus, are the community is the whole world, right? You can't you can't just say, I'm good. My family's good. The people in my town or city or even state or country are good. Until until this is solved for everyone, it's kind of solved for no one. Right. Exactly. Exactly. I we're gonna end this program on such a sad note. But I again, I think it goes back to like, we're all going through this together. We all need each other. Yeah, right? Not only to be together and for support for being around people, but we need each other to to fix the problem. Yeah. Right. To go for the solution. Right. We need everyone on board for the solution to work. Yes, exactly. Yeah, so that's I mean, I would love to hear. Well, I mean, maybe not love to hear, but I would love if you would share your stories with us on on, you know, comments or send us an email or whatever. Because I know that I know that this has affected all of us the same, but it's also affected all of us differently. Yeah. And yeah, I know, like you were saying, Adam, there are some people who are like, I cannot wait to get out and like, hang out with my friends and do a million things. And I'm like, well, that would be nice. But I also would like to go to the grocery store again, without, you know, feeling unsafe or whatever. And I also would like to know that everyone in the world is able to like get vaccinated, or, you know, is not in danger anymore. So yeah, tell us tell us your story. Like, how are you feeling now? A year on from COVID. What do you think the future is going to be like? I also think it's interesting to think about what what is our future going to be like in in two years, or five years? If something like this happens again, will you do something differently? Yeah. Or will you will it will we just kind of go through it together and see what happens? I think those are great questions. We'd love to hear from you in the comments. Yeah, to this video. Yeah, I was gonna say, thank you for for listening and watching. However, you're consuming this real conversation. You can find a link to the programs in the program notes below on wherever you're finding this, you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and YouTube as always. And yeah, let us know what you think. Tell us your story. And thank you for being a part of this community where we can actually be all together and that we are a community who who really want each other to do well, the spotlight community. So here we go. That's a that's a very heartfelt and happy, happy and hopeful way to end this program. And um, yeah, let's let's take down COVID. Let's do that together. Let's um, yeah, that'll be the spotlight team. We're gonna do it. Exactly around the world. Anyway, listen, watch, practice, learn, spotlight out.