Transcription
[music] Hello everybody and welcome back to English with Gemma where we turn English practice into progress.
I need to address the elephant in the room. That's an English expression that means when you talk about something that is very obvious or something that, uh, people know that they need to talk about when they're in a conversation. Um, it's sometimes something awkward or uncomfortable, but, yeah, it's like, imagine a big elephant sitting in a room and you need to talk about why that elephant is there. That's basically where that, where that expression comes from. So, to address the elephant in the room, to talk about something that you need to talk about.
Um, and so my elephant in the room is, where the hell have I been for the last, I think it's been like, three weeks. Well, I'll tell you. Um, I got sick again. I feel like, uh, this year, or at least like this flu season, I really got hit hard, um, 'cause I was sick after Christmas, shortly after I came back, um, to Spain after Christmas, and then I got sick again like three weeks ago. So, I'm going to, in this episode, I'll be talking about briefly like what happened to me, how I got sick, what, why I disappeared, and then also I'll give you a little update on like, how I'm doing now, where I am right now, and stuff like that.
I'm still not feeling 100%. So, if I seem a little bit out of it, slow, uh, unfocused, it's because I still kind of feel like crap. [snorts] Um, but I just knew that it had been far too long and I needed to, you know, come back and make an episode, even if it was just a little catch-up with you guys. And don't worry, today's episode will still be full of, uh, useful phrases, expressions, vocabulary, idioms, because when I talk, I'm always talking in, in a natural native speaker way. Um, and I will highlight any phrases that come up.
So, where do I start? Um, yeah, like three weeks ago, I got a really, really bad sore throat. But it wasn't just any type of sore throat. It was a type of pain that I was very familiar with because I am a person that's very prone to. If you're prone to something, it means, um, it happens easily to you or you're sensitive to something. So, I'm prone to, uh, something called tonsillitis. Um, so basically, in your throat, you have those two weird little things in the back of your throat. Those are your tonsils. In some languages, I think they're called, it's called amygdalitis. Like in Spanish, it's amigdalitis, amydalitis. So, I know that you can call them amygdala as well, but in the English language, they're called tonsils. And the amygdala is the thing, the little dangly thing in the back of your throat. But the tonsils are the two things on the side of your throat. And I'm pretty sure that they're supposed to help with infections 'cause they like, catch the germs before they go down your throat into your respiratory system. So, they're supposed to help your immune response. But in people like me, sometimes they kind of work like, too well and they end up getting infections all the time because they're just like, too sensitive to germs.
So, yeah, I got like a throat infection, a tonsil infection, and my throat was so inflamed, I could barely swallow, uh, or talk. It was really bad. And when that happens, it hasn't happened to me in a really long time, actually. I haven't had tonsillitis for, I'd say, a good three or four years. It used to happen to me very often, especially when I was in university. I don't know why. I just, I guess my immune system was suppressed or something, but I used to get tonsillitis a lot and I hadn't really had it since I moved to Spain. Um, so it was kind of annoying and surprising for me that it came back and I was like, "Oh, here we go again."
"Here we go again" is an expression you can use sarcastically when something bad or obvious is going to happen, or something that you have lived before, you can say, "Gosh, here we go again." So, yeah, I was like, "Well, here we go again" when I realized I had a tonsil infection.
So, I went to the doctor. The [snorts] only way to get rid of it is antibiotics because it's a, for me, it's a bacterial infection. It can be a virus or a bacteria. Antibiotics don't help viruses, they only help bacteria. So, uh, if you ever have a throat infection, just make sure that it's, uh, bacterial. Your doctor can do like a swab, like take like a cotton, uh, what are they called? A Q-tip and swab your throat to check if it's bacteria or virus. So, it was bacterial. Um, so my doctor prescribed me some antibiotics. It was weird, though. It was only a four-day course. Normally, antibiotics are like a seven-day course. Anyway, this was a four-day course. I took them. Uh, I got better and then a week later, the infection came back. This time worse than before, stronger than before, more painful than before. It was so painful and my throat was so swollen on one side, um, that I actually ended up going to the hospital because I, I knew that they had to give me an injection or do something 'cause it was just not getting better on its own. Excuse me.
So, I went to the hospital. They gave me an injection of some steroids and some painkillers, uh, just to take down the inflammation really fast and within 20 minutes, I could like, I could speak, I could swallow, I could, I don't know, I felt like, wow, night and day. When something is a huge difference, you can say it was like night and day to emphasize that it was a huge difference. So, as soon as I received that injection, I'd felt like night and day difference in my throat. Um, and then they gave me a different type of antibiotic and it was a seven-day course this time and I finished that course of antibiotics a couple days ago. Um, and it worked.
But here's the thing. If you don't know about antibiotics or if you have a resilient body and stomach, maybe you've never had this issue. But for a lot of people like me, antibiotics are awful. They are sometimes the experience of taking antibiotics for me is worse than the illness or problem that I'm taking the antibiotics for. So, for me, antibiotics affect me in a lot of different ways, but also I have a chronic illness, so I have a lot of health problems anyways, so my body is not really in the best, like, form, best shape that it could be. So, sometimes when I take antibiotics, um, it really, uh, affects me and makes me feel really bad and I, I get a lot of side effects. Um, so for me, the main thing is my stomach. I get a really bad stomach. Um, because, well, antibiotics, they kill all the good microbiome, all the good bacteria in your stomach. Um, so you have to make sure that you counteract that effect with like a probiotic, prebiotic. And little tip here, this is becoming like science with Gemma rather than English with Gemma, but hopefully, you'll learn some cool vocab. I really like medical stuff. Um, [snorts] so I am a bit nerdy when it comes to this stuff and talking about it. But basically, if you have stomach issues when you take antibiotics, take a probiotic. But you need to take that probiotic either two hours before or two hours after you take your antibiotic pill. Because if you take it at the same time, it just kills, the antibiotic will kill the probiotic bacteria. It will kill all the good bacteria. So, it becomes redundant. It cancels out that effect. So, just make sure you space out your probiotic and your antibiotic. Um, which, yeah, it makes sense, makes logical sense if you think about it, but a lot of people don't know that. Um, and then yogurt, eat a lot of yogurt, kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, any fermented foods that have natural probiotics can help you when you're taking antibiotics.
So, I did that, but I still, even now, I'm just feeling really wiped out. And I get like brain fog. Like, I just, I get headaches. I feel like my brain is like cloudy. Like I can't, I'm feel slow. I can't process information as fast. I can't think as fast and produce speech as fast. Um, like, I don't know, it just affects me a lot because also antibiotics kill, like I said, your gut microbiome, the good bacteria in your stomach. And maybe you know this, a lot of people know this, but your brain and your stomach are very much connected. And the bacteria that lives in your stomach is responsible for producing things like dopamine and serotonin and those feel-good hormones that, um, you know, can affect your mood, anxiety, depression. Like, if you have low levels of those types of bacteria, then you can actually have like, really low mood, you can have some cognitive issues, which means with thinking in your brain, so like brain fog, like I mentioned. And honestly, I really do feel like I'm having some of those side effects. So, I, I think it's just a matter of time until I feel like 100% again. Um, my throat's still not like 100%. I still feel like there's a lot of like inflammation in my throat. Um, I don't know, you guys. I'm just feeling really wiped out.
To feel wiped out means to feel really, um, tired, drained of energy. Excuse me. I'm literally yawning while I say that. But yeah, I don't want this to be a negative episode or anything. I just want to explain what's been going on with me and why I haven't made a podcast, um, in such a long time. So, I think it's just a matter of time. I have to be patient with my body. Um, and hopefully, it will, you know, start to balance out, level out a little bit after taking the antibiotics, after having this infection. Um, but yeah, I'm still, I'm not feeling good at all. Um, but, you know, life goes on. The show must go on. Um, I'm still teaching. I'm still trying to create content. Um, and I know a lot of you will say, "Oh, take your time to rest." But I have. I've taken three weeks, and honestly, it hasn't really made much difference. So, I think at a certain point, you have to kind of get back into it, into the swing of things, because if you spend too much time like resting and loafing around, which means doing nothing, sitting on the sofa, I think it can actually make you feel worse, especially [clears throat] sorry, my throat is really hurting. I haven't spoken this much in a long time. Um, what was I saying? Out that like the more, sometimes for me, the more I lie around and do like nothing, the worse I feel. Um, especially when I'm feeling a bit like down or depressed. It's like, okay, I need to like, put on my makeup, put on an outfit, try to record a podcast. Like, it helps me to feel more productive. So, that's what I'm trying to do.
Um, and then the second half of this podcast, it's kind of just a little life update of like, what I'm, where I am, 'cause if you've noticed, my background is different. I'm actually in Prague in Czecha. Um, Czech Republic, but I think Czecha is like the name that they prefer as a country. So, I'm going to call them Czecha. Um, this is my third time in Prague. It's, uh, it's a beautiful city. If you've never been here and you live in Europe and it's easy for you to get a flight, you need to come. I've only been to Prague. I haven't been anywhere else in Czecha, but Prague is a beautiful city. Um, I actually would go as far to say that it's my favorite European city. And I've lived in Madrid. I've visited a lot of places in Spain and Europe. I've been in Italy. I'm half Italian. And like Prague is so unique and beautiful. I'm not talking about like the culture, the people, the language, any of that. I mean purely aesthetically. Purely the way that Prague looks. It's my favorite city. Like the beauty of the buildings, the river, the bridges, the architecture, the museums. Like, the, the beauty of the city is like unmatched to any other European city I've seen personally. Um, I've seen it in the winter. I've been here during Christmas and seen all the Christmas markets and the lights and just the atmosphere is amazing and the cold weather and the snow, like amazing. I've been here in spring. I, I, I was here last May and I've been here, this is my third time right now in March. So, [snorts] um, every time I come, doesn't matter what the temperature is or what the weather is, I'm just like, I love this city. I love it so much.
And you're probably thinking, why have I been here so often? It's because my friends, my best friends, um, they live here. They've lived here for three years. My friend, it's a couple, a girl and a boy. And, um, the girl, my, my best friend, she's from the United States, but she's studying here. She's doing a course in the university here. So, her and her partner have been living here for three years. They both, um, also work from home. So, yeah, I've come, uh, a couple times and stayed with them. They've got a beautiful apartment. I'm sure I'll make some vlogs while I'm here and you guys will be able to see the apartment more. Uh, they live really close to the city center, so that's really, uh, convenient for me. And this time, I'm actually spending the entire month of March in Prague, um, because my friends adopted a dog, um, last year. They've had him, yeah, just over a year now. They adopted a dog and, uh, my friends are traveling at the moment. They're out of the country. They're visiting family in the United States. So, I am the dog sitter. I came here to stay with their dog, um, because I can work online. I love their dog. Uh, they were really worried that they wouldn't be able to find somebody that could come and stay at their place with him because he's a rescue. Um, he has a lot of trauma and a lot of issues, but he's an amazing dog. Really sweet dog and I'm just, Rishko, you want to come say hi? Come here, Rish. His name's Rish. I want him to come say hi. I don't know if he will. Risho, come here. Risho, come. Risho, come. Come. Let's see if I can get him to say hi. Oh, here he is. This is Rishko. If you're not watching the video on YouTube, you need to come over to YouTube to come see this guy because he is so cute. [laughter and gasps]
So, Rishko means rich man in the Czech language. I think that's what they were told. If you are from Czecha and you speak Czech, um, let me know if that's true. If Rishko means rich man. So, he is a really cute dog and he's a mix. He's like a street dog. We don't know what he is. He's probably got some pitbull in him, some terrier. I think he's got [laughter] he's currently like sniffing my ear. Yeah, I think he's got some Chihuahua in him as well. And he's like very small. He's a good compact-sized dog. Want to go on Nick? There you go, baby. Um, so he's cool, but he's not friendly with people and he's very scared of like, everything. So, that's the reason why my friends wanted somebody familiar to come and take care of him. And, um, if you guys don't know already, dogs are, well, animals in general are one of my passions. I absolutely love animals and I actually dogsit like professionally when I go home to Bermuda. Um, it's kind of like my second job, I would say. So, I've got a lot of experience with dogs and cats and a lot of different animals, actually. And, uh, yeah, I'm really, it's something I love. I just, I love animals and like having an animal with you. I don't know. You just never feel alone. Like, they truly are man's best friend, you know? And he's got such a cool personality. He's so funny. Um, he's full of energy. He's quite young. I think he's only like, two years old. So, he comes everywhere with me because he can't be left at home. Um, which is fine 'cause Prague is a very dog-friendly city. He can come on the tram with me, all the public transport. He can come into most stores, cafes, restaurants. Like, it is so cool. It's such a dog-friendly city and there's so many dogs here. Um, [snorts] so yeah, I want to make some vlogs while I'm here about Prague, about what I'm doing, um, about me and Rishko and our adventures. And I'm really looking forward to it. But first, I just, I need to feel better. I need to get my energy back. Um, 'cause yeah, I've just, I'm just feeling really exhausted and I don't know. I think I just have to be patient with myself and with my body. I'm doing all the things, you know, I'm taking vitamin C. I'm doing ginger shots. I'm doing all the health things to try and feel better. Um, but, you know, sometimes in life, it's just a matter of time and sometimes your body just needs a little bit of time to get better. So, yeah, I'm trying to stay positive.
Um, and then the last thing I will say before I go is that I will be doing my regular uploads of the podcast. I'm so sorry that I was away for so long. It's definitely not intentional and I was very stressed every week. Like, oh, I know people love this podcast. I know people rely on it for English and I've felt horrible not being able to show up for you guys. Uh, but on the other hand, I was just not, uh, in the headspace to show up and I couldn't force myself because if I did, I probably would have, you know, slowed down the healing process even more. So, yeah, I hope you guys understand. Again, I'm just really sorry. It's not something I like doing and disappearing without [snorts] any explanation. Um, but to finish off this episode, I would love for us to catch up in the comments. So, if you could share your weekly wins, um, if this is your first episode or you forgot what weekly wins are. Basically, it's just anything great that happened in your life or in someone else's life that you want to share. It can be about learning English or it can just be about life in general. So, if you have a weekly win, something good that happened to you, uh, last week or this current week, uh, just drop it in the comments below and then I will read some of them in the next episode and share them and share the positive vibes.
So, thank you guys so much for listening and watching. I promise I will be back to my regular schedule and, yeah, I look forward to creating some fun content in the next month. So, I'll see you guys in the next episode. Bye. Heat. Heat.
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