English Listening B2 Episode 11 - Track 06
Fill in the Blanks Exercise
TRACK 6
Eva, from Colombia I got a chance to go to Toronto in Canada for a year to work for my company – I didn’t have to go there, but I chose to go because (1)
. And it was a great experience. And, of course, at the start it was all new and exciting, and there was so much to see, so many places to go out. I’m from quite a small town in Colombia, so (2)
. The most difficult thing I think was (3)
. I think in a big city everyone’s busy with their own life, you know, everyone’s in a hurry. It was really hard to meet people and make friends. Also, because it’s really cold in winter, (4)
in the street, everyone does things indoors in their own homes and that’s quite a big difference. Sometimes you walk down a street and you think, where is everyone? And it was so cold, that really affects your mood, it makes you just want to stay indoors and as a result (5)
. So yes, it was a good experience, I’m very glad I went there, but (6)
and see all my friends.
Nick, from England I got a job teaching English in a town called Katowice in Poland. When I first went there, I was very lucky, because I stayed with a family who didn’t speak English, so (7)
. It was very difficult at first, I couldn’t understand a word. But because I learned Polish, I very quickly (8)
. I think a key to understanding a country is to learn the language, without that you only ever meet the people who speak English and (9)
. Another thing is that people often go to places that are beautiful to look at, and that’s fine if you’re a tourist. But to live in a place, I think what it looks like (10)
. People are much more important. For example, I come from a very beautiful old town in England – it looks great in photographs, but (11)
. Where I was in Katowice, it’s just a big industrial town, nothing special about it, but the people were very friendly and welcoming, so I very quickly (12)
and I had a really good time. I was supposed to stay there for three months but (13)
!
Jean, from France I work for a large engineering company and I went to work in Oman, in the Gulf, for a year. And I had a very good time there. I had a good salary so I ate out a lot and, at weekends, I went diving and swimming and (14)
. It’s a very beautiful country. So, as I say, I had a good time there, but (15)
. I never got under the surface of it, so as a result (16)
. People were very friendly, very hospitable, and I spent some time with the local employees who worked with us – we often went out together. But I suppose because the culture is very different and you’re working hard every day, (17)
, so my friends were mostly Europeans. I know it’s not a good excuse, but it’s what most foreign visitors do – they end up in a group of expatriates and have their own lifestyle, and that results in them being like a separate community. Maybe I should have tried harder to learn Arabic, I did try to learn a bit, but (18)
with people.
