Couchsurfing: Surfing Couches Around the World

A1 Speech, Rebecca Chou

Traveling is interesting but sometimes it costs quite a lot. If you want to go on vacation with very little money, Couchsurfing is the best choice for you. It’s a worldwide non-profit organization where you can meet new people with different culture and once you are a member, you may apply for free accommodation around the world.

I joined it before going to the UK because I know I wouldn’t have much money for traveling as we didn’t have much salary. So after my friend’s suggestion, I found the website and signed myself in.

The only thing you have to do is writing your personal profile, like, personal description, interest, philosophy, types of people you enjoy, favorite music, movies, or books, languages and etc as a self-introduction. Then you can enjoy surfing other members’ couches. You can send out your requests and wait for reply. Of course, not every time you can get positive answer but it’s always worth trying.

 

When you set your profile, you may decide to be a member with a couch, or just a cup of coffee/tea which means you can accommodate someone or you can just meet up with them. You may need to describe your couch or room and upload a picture for review. It’s totally up to you. If you are welcoming people to stay with you for a couple of days, you can show you have a couch to share. Or you can just be a local tour guide and tell others where to go or what to see when they come to your city or town. Or you will be traveling at the moment and is not available to host anyone like me at that time.

However, saving money is not the only purpose I join couchsurfing. Practicing languages, increasing life experiences and making friends with people who probably have the same interests or hobbies are the other advantages you can find if you’d to try it.

I start with introducing myself to other couchsurfers including my itinerary and planning and ask them for their available dates to host me. Even though we are absolutely strangers, they are still very friendly and nice. Most of the time, I need to use English and it helps me to understand the art of communication. As you know, I went to England to teach Mandarin but before going there, I have no idea about English people. Then I found the way they use English is different from the Americans. They are very conservative and polite and you need to be very indirect when you talk to them. For example, if you are asking for something, you may have to say “Is it possible for you to bring something to me?” Honestly, I am not used to speak English like this probably because I watch too many Hollywood movies. So I learnt how to talk to English people. Always start with the weather. Or greet people with “Are you alright?” And many couchsurfers I met during my journey are curious about Tibet when they saw the news on TV. They also like to ask me what different between China and Taiwan. Then I have to use my poor English to explain the political situations in Tibet and Taiwan. They also want to know about Kaohsiung or anything about Taiwan so I try to be their tour guide and find different pictures on google so that they can get to know my city as well.

 

Moreover, you may wonder couchsurfing is only for young people or is only for very active people but as a matter of fact, many middle-aged or retired people are couchsurfers and they are all from different background. I met a couchsurfer in Oxford who is already 67 and he teaches English to wealthy new comers. Another one in Oxford is a lady, 39, from Italy and she is a physicist in Oxford University and she plays Frisbee for Italian team. I also met a Taiwanese couchsurfer in Edinburgh and she studies bio-technology. A computer programmer who is a gay , a couple, one is a social volunteer and the other is a doctor in London, a town councilor in Swansea, a musician in Nottingham or another couple who are both nurses in Newcastle, a Californian housewife in Newport or a journalist-to-be and bride-to-be in Edinburgh. When I stay with them, sometimes we will cook together or share our opinions about global warming or other problems. I have made fried noodles, spring opinion pancakes and red bean tang yuan and since I am not good at cooking, they are not very tasty but still not too bad except tang yuan. At least, it’s a whole new experience for them and for me.

Some of them became friends of mine and I appreciate their help for offering me a free place to stay and welcome me as a family or a friend. You may say couchsurfers are people who love traveling and sharing and I am very happy to join this big family. At least it’s easier than Toastmasters. You don’t have to deliver speeches or take any assignments.

At last, we have local couchsurfers in three major cities from Taipei, Taichuang to Kaohsiung and other places. Probably you can find one in 屏東 and plan your 海角七號 day tour with a free local guide and free house to stay.

Not every time you will have wonderful experience. At least I had one unlucky chance when I went to Wales and I waited for a couchsurfer for over 3 hours till midnight. But I still believe Couchsurfing is a warming place for people who love traveling and sharing. I have been to Spain and the UK but hope to go to the United States, Italy or Japan in the future. Are you looking forward meeting someone in Taiwan or abroad? It’s time to join Couchsurfing and enjoy couchsurfing!

Slump (Word of the Day, 2008/10/1)

slump /slʌmp/ verb [intransitive]

►to fall or lean against something because you are not strong enough to stand

--She slumped with grief.

slump against/over/back/in/into/on/onto etc.

--She slumped against the wall.

--Carol slumped back in her chair, defeated.

--He slumped onto the couch.

--A witness stated that he had seen the driver slump over the wheel immediately before the accident.

►to suddenly go down in price, value, or number

--Sales slumped by 20% last year.

--Oil prices slump four dollars as greenback rises.

slump to

-- The currency slumped to a record low.

--The Dow Jones index slumped 180 to 10,098.2, its lowest since this year.

►(also be slumped) if your shoulders or head slump or are slumped, they bend forward because you are unhappy, tired, or unconscious:

--Her shoulders slumped and her eyes filled with tears.

slumped /slʌmpt/ adjective

-- For the last two years OPEC has reduced the production of oil to boost slumped prices.

slump noun [countable, usually singular]

►a sudden decrease in prices, sales, profits etc

slump in

--A drop in consumer confidence has caused a slump in house sales in 2008.

►a period when there is a reduction in business and many people lose their jobs

--The war was followed by an economic slump.

--Stocks in Taiwan continued to fall on Monday in the wake of a worldwide slump prompted by last week's market plunge in New York, causing Taiwan's economics minister to call for investors to hold their stocks.

►(especially American English) a period when a player or team does not play well

--The team went into a slump.

►landslide in which mass of rock moves as a coherent body

--Heavy rain caused a slump.

in a slump

--The US’ housing market has been in a slump for more than two years.

slumpflation /ˋslʌmpˏfleʃən/ noun

►bad financial period: an economic situation in which an economic depression is accompanied by increasing inflation

-- The Chairman of the Fed in the USA says the current situation is not like the 1970s and the slumpflation crisis at that time.

September Reading: Seven Staples of Public Speaking

Reading:

Seven Staples of Public Speaking

Notes:

 

bullet point [countable]

►a thing in a list that consists of a word or short phrase, with a small printed symbol in front of it

know one’s stuff / know one's onions 

►be experienced or knowledgeable in one's field or in the matter at hand

-- Patrice knows her stuff when it comes to Mexican history.

-- He’s a good lecturer as he really knows his stuff.

-- We need a handyman who knows his onions.

screw up [phrasal verb][ informal]

►to make a bad mistake or do something very stupid [= mess up]

--You'd better not screw up this time.

screw (something) up [ informal]

►to spoil something by doing something stupid [= mess something up]

--She realized that she had screwed up her life.

screw up your eyes/face

►to move the muscles in your face in a way that makes your eyes seem narrow

--He screwed up his eyes against the bright light.

--Her face was screwed up with pain.

screw (somebody ) up [informal]

►to make someone feel very unhappy, confused, or upset so that they have emotional problems for a long time [=mess somebody up]

--It really screwed her up when her mother died.

screw up the/enough courage to do something / screw up your courage 

►to be brave enough to do something you are very nervous about

--I finally screwed up enough courage to talk to her.

wing it [spoken]

►to do something without planning or preparing it

--We'll just have to wing it.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

is a series of books, usually featuring a collection of short, inspirational stories and motivational essays.

word for word

►in exactly the same words

--The newspaper printed his speech more or less word for word.

--he repeated the conversation word for word.

also word by word

►if you translate a piece of writing word for word, you translate the meaning of each single word rather than the meaning of a whole phrase or sentence

bore to tears / bore to death / bore stiff / bore the pants off

►= make them very bored

-- Sam was bored to tears by the opera but didn't dare to admit it.

-- Carol bores the pants off me with her constant talk of remodeling.

-- His books bore me to death.

Fly Me to the Moon (Learning by Singing, 2008/9/3)

"Fly Me to the Moon", a pop standard song written by Bart Howard in 1954, originally titled "In Other Words". 

Lyrics: Bart Howard

Poets often use many words

To say a simple thing

It takes thought and time and rhyme

To make a poem sing

With music and words I've been playing[1]

For you I have written a song

To be sure that you know what I'm saying

I'll translate as I go along[2]

Fly me to the moon 

And let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like

On Jupiter and Mars

In other words, hold my hand

In other words, darling, kiss me

Fill my heart with song 

And let me sing forevermore

You are all I long for

All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true

In other words, I love you

----------

[1] With music and words I’ve been playing.

It’s an inverted sentence. We may rearrange it as:

I’ve been playing with the music and words.

The verb “play” in Present Perfect Continuous Tense indicates that writing music and lyrics have been continuous for a long time and proceed to now.

play with somebody/something

► to keep touching something or moving it

--Stop playing with the light switch!

►to consider an idea or possibility, but not always very seriously

--After university, I played with the idea of teaching English in China.

► to try doing something in different ways to decide what works best

--Play with the design onscreen, moving text and pictures until you get a pleasing arrangement.

play with words/language

►to use words in a clever or amusing way

[2] I’ll translate as I go along.

►I’ll explain impromptu.

go along 

If you do something as you go along, you do it without planning or preparing it.

----------

Let’s listen to the song on Youtube.

Tony Bennett

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=kIrcxGdyUdk&feature=related

Frank Sinatra

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=1rAsoLm1Ges&feature=related

Tom Jones

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=b1wDFwU4D-w

Moon (Word of the Day, 2008/9/3)

Alan Lin

moon (noun)

the moon / the Moon

►Earth’s only natural satellite that you can see shining in the sky at night, and that moves around the Earth and changes its phase every lunar month.

--Neil Alden Armstrong, a former American astronaut, is the first person to set foot on the Moon.

moon

►The natural satellites orbiting other planets are also called "moons", after Earth's Moon.

--Mars has two tiny moons, Earth has one large moon, and Venus and Mercury have no moons at all.

ask for the moon also cry for the moon

►to ask for something that is difficult or impossible to obtain

►ask for a lot, ask for more than you need or want

--When we negotiate our salary, don’t try this strategy: Ask for the moon and hope for a 10% raise.

--Don’t ask for the moon, but have we any stars?

Promise somebody the moon/the earth

►to promise to give someone something that is impossible for you to give

--He had promised her the moon but five years later they were still living in the same small house.

over the moon

►very happy

-- David Florence simply laughed as he was asked by one journalist if he was over the moon.

many moons ago

►a long time ago

--When I got my first laser printer many moons ago, my bank manager almost had a heart attack.

moon in color

dark moon

► the Moon during that time that it is invisible against the backdrop of the Sun in the sky

--The duration of a dark moon is between 1.5 and 3.5 days, depending on the orientation of the Earth and Sun.

blue moon

► the second full moon in a calendar month

--A month with a blue moon happens every two years or so.

Once in a blue moon

►very rarely

--This opportunity only comes once in a blue moon.

--This wasn't something they did once in a blue moon. They practiced all the time.

<The phases of the moon

new moon

►the new moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon, in its monthly orbital motion around Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun.

►[countable usually singular] the moon when it first appears in the sky as a thin crescent

--It was a mild night with clouds drifting across the sky and occasionally obscuring the new moon.

►[uncountable] the time of the month at which the moon is first seen

--By the time of the next new moon, the tribe had seen one birth and two deaths.

crescent moon

►the shape of the moon when it appears as a curved shape

--A thin crescent moon will appear to the left of Venus the evening of July 6.

quarter moon / half moon

►the shape of the moon when only half of it is showing

--A half moon shone through the dark, flying clouds on to the wild and empty moor.

gibbous moon

►the shape of the moon's visible surface when the sun is illuminating more than half of the side facing the earth.

--A gibbous moon called to the lake. (from the lyrics of Burning Shadows)

full moon

►the moon when you can see all of it as a complete circle

--Already the moon was up, a full moon bathing everything in a pale blue light.

waxing moon

►the moon between new and full, when its visible part is increasing.

waning moon

►the moon is decreasing in size, moving from the full moon towards the new moon

--These phases of the moon, in sequence of their appearance, are: New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last or Third Quarter, and Waning Crescent.

moon (verb)

►to bend over and show your buttocks as a joke or a way of insulting someone

--One man mooned the President's limousine as it drove past.

moon about/around

►to spend your time lazily, moving around with no real purpose

--I wish you'd stop mooning about and do something useful!

--But there was no point in mooning around until then.

moon over somebody/something

►to spend your time thinking about someone that you are in love with

--She sits mooning over his photograph for hours.

moon away

►to spend (time) idly

--The time to moon the afternoon away has come.

lunar (adjective)

►relating to the moon or to travel to the moon

-- Lunar eclipse always occurs during a full moon and solar eclipse always occurs during a new moon.

--About three days later the command, service and lunar module combination arrived at the Moon.

<moon festival

--The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. During the moon festival, families get together to watch the almost full moon and enjoy mooncakes.

mooncake

►Mooncakes are Chinese pastry traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

--Most mooncakes are baked and consist of a thin tender crust enveloping a sweet filling. Many types of fillings can be found, such as lotus seed paste, sweet bean paste, jujube paste, and five kernel paste. Some may contain one or more whole salted duck egg yolks.

Pomelo

►A kind of citrus fruit with sectioned sweet pulpy flesh and thick spongy rind.

moonwatching

--You don't need a huge telescope to do moonwatching. Binoculars and small telescope do just fine. Even doing it with naked eyes can be very rewarding.

<some features on the moon

mare (plural Maria) or “sea”

►any of the large dark areas on the moon

mountain and mountain range

►the Moon’s mountains are large, rounded "bumps," which look much like old, eroded mountain ranges on Earth.

crater

►any of roughly circular depression in the surface formed when meteoroid struck the Moon at high speeds

ray

►rays are bright streaks of debris that radiate from some large craters

August Reading: Small Steps to Successful Speechwriting

Reading:

Small Steps to Successful Speechwriting: Helping fledgling Toastmasters face the page

Notes:

take on
►Undertake or begin to deal with
--I took on new responsibilities.
--She took on too much when she accepted both assignments.
►Hire, engage
--We take on extra workers during the busy season.
►Oppose in competition
--This young wrestler was willing to take on all comers.
►Display strong emotion
--Don't take on so.
►Acquire as, or as if, one's own
--He took on the look of a prosperous banker.

over one's head
►Beyond one's understanding or competence
--The math required to complete these figures is way over my head.
►To a position higher than another's
-- She was furious when her assistant was promoted over her head.

go over someone's head
►Appeal to a higher authority
--Since she couldn't help me, I decided to go over her head and talk to her supervisor.

hold somebody/something back
►To make someone or something stop moving forward
--Police held back the demonstrators.
►To prevent someone or something from making progress
--They felt the British economy was being held back by excessive government controls.
►To be unwilling to do something, especially because you are being careful, or to make someone unwilling to do something
--In the current situation many investors are holding back.
--She wanted to tell him but pride held her back.

hold something back
►To stop yourself from feeling or showing a particular emotion
--She struggled to hold back her tears.
--Anger flooded through her. She couldn't hold it back.
►To keep something secret
--Tell me all about it - don't hold anything back!

come up with
►produce, supply; discover, think of an idea, answer etc.
--Henry always comes up with the wrong answer.
--We're hoping they come up with a cure in time to help Aunt Alice.

July Reading: Ready to Blow a Fuse?

Reading:

Ready to Blow a Fuse?

Notes:
►blow a fuse also, blow a gasket, blow one’s top/stack/cool

Lose one's temper, express furious anger.

When his paycheck bounced, John blew a fuse.

Tell Mom what really happened before she blows a gasket.

An electric fuse is said to "blow" (melt) when the circuit is overloaded, whereas a gasket, used to seal a piston, "blows" (breaks) when the pressure is too high. The first of these slangy terms dates from the 1930s, the second from the 1940s. (from Answer.com)

►to one’s face

Openly; directly.

I do not have the nerve to tell him to his face that he wasn't invited and shouldn't have come.

They don't want to acknowledge to someone's face that they need to lose weight.

►The Golden Rule

The biblical teaching that one should behave toward others as one would have others behave toward oneself.

►A soft answer turneth away wrath.

A gentle reply to someone who is angry will pacify that person. This saying comes from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible.

►hot under the collar

Very angry.

►soothe ruffled feathers

To make someone feel calmer and less angry.

►ruffle someone's feathers

Annoy or offend someone.