Episode 34: Hobbies & Leisure

What’s your favorite way to relax? In this episode, Donielle and Khrystyna chat about hobbies — from baking and reading to board games and gardening — and share some laughs along the way. Grab a cup and join the conversation! 

Show Notes

Transcript

D           Welcome to Coffee in Conversation for ESL Listening. I'm Donielle. 

K            And I'm Khrystyna, so grab a cup and join the conversation.  

D           Hello, hello, how are you? 

K            I'm alright, how are you? It's been a while.  

D           Yeah, we say that a lot, but you know...It's rough out there.  

K            Yes, I mean, and life is crazy. And the world is crazy. And it's just, I feel like one thing after another…oh the funny thing: so we're recording this beginning of February, right? And I feel like so many people thought that January was so long, that I walked into a meeting at work, and somebody said, goodness, it feels like day 194 of January.  

D           Yeah. I hear that kind of thing a lot too. Yeah. It's been something.  

K            Right. So when February first happened, everybody was like, yay, 200 days of January is over.  

D           Whee! Now the fun of 400 days of February starts.  

K            Gosh, I hope we can stick to 28 of those, but we'll see.  

D           Exactly. You know, I forgot to tell you, but I don't know if you notice at all, like if you pay attention to the weather in these here parts, but we had a snowstorm. I'm going to send you a picture later on so you can see: legit snowstorm. I mean, we shattered records from like I don't know what, like nine inches, eight inches, some places. I mean, it’s crazy.  

K            No way! Wow! Well guess what? Yesterday we had 62 degree weather.  

D           Yeah, that checks.  

K            But tomorrow, we're having [an] ice storm.  

D           Oh yeah, absolutely. Well, then this is why everybody gets so sick. You know, it's crazy. But yeah, it was like that here too. We had that snow storm, super, super cold. Three days later, it was like 70 degrees again.  

K            And it's always melting and wet and just gross and all that, right? Well, you know they said that Groundhog Day, right on February 2nd was Groundhog Day. Not that you should ever believe a rodent about the weather.  

D           No, you shouldn’t!  

K            They said the Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. And people say, but except for Illinois, ‘cause you guys do your own thing there.  

D           Well, you know what? It's so funny because I've seen that meme around here too, but except instead of Illinois, it says: except for Florida; you do your own thing. That's funny.  

K            Yeah. But it's crazy. We had really cold spells in the last couple weeks, like really cold. And then it went to 30 degree weather, kind of upper 30s, low 40s.  

D           Such a heatwave!  

K            Yes. But yesterday when we had 62 degrees, I am not kidding you, I've seen people in shorts.  

D           No, I believe it. People are nuts. What are you going to say? Well, when it was cold here and we were bundling up in coats and gloves and hats, and I legit saw some dude walking around with shorts on and a sleeveless shirt.  

K            Do people in Alabama even own coats, hats, and gloves?  

D           Well, not Illinois type coats for sure. But we do have coats and this guy had nothing. I'm sure he owned some pants. But he chose the shorts for that day, I don't know. Really strange. Well, contrary to what it may seem, we are not having a conversation about weather today. But no, really, I mean, it's been so strange. How can you not talk about it? It's interesting. So today we're going to talk a little bit about hobbies and leisure. Thought we would have, you know, a conversation about happy things, fun things, you know, non-controversial things.  
 

K            Something pleasant, right?  

D           Something pleasant, absolutely. Alright. So I think you probably know some of my hobbies. I know some of your hobbies, but let's have a chat about that. Oh, before that, I wanted to say just for the heck of it, I decided to look and see what are the most common hobbies in the United States? And so I said, you know, there's usually a survey or a statistic for pretty much everything. So yeah. And I saw that as of December 2024, somebody had done a study of like 61,000 people. And so I just thought I would ask you, what do you think is the most popular hobby?  

K            In the United States.  

D           So people fill out a survey and they could choose several different things, but the one that was chosen far and beyond, you know, number for the largest number, I would say, is one thing. What do you think it would be?  

K            Hmm. Is it like exercising?  

D           No way. That's way on the bottom. It's exactly the opposite.  

K            I don't know, traveling? The opposite, oh sitting and watching TV?  

D           Okay, I guess not exactly the opposite. No, it's cooking and baking.  

K            Oh wow, I can see that.  

D           Yeah. Yes, I can too.  

K            Yeah. What were some other ones on the list?  

D           Well, the second one, number two, I can see this too, but I'm maybe a little bit surprised. No, I guess I'm not reading. Reading is number two. And the third one, I have to say, I don't really understand. So maybe you can enlighten me. Number three just says pets. And I'm like, what does that mean? So I cuddle my cat and that's a hobby?  

K            You know it could be; it could be like people just you know cuddle with cats and dogs or take them for a walk or just love being around them but I wouldn't necessarily consider that a hobby.  

D           Yeah. I would not have either. Yeah, definitely not. Because if that's a hobby, I guess that's my hobby.  

K            Oh my gosh.  

D           But anyway, yeah, the exercising, I've lost it now, but it's kind of way down on the list, which I'm surprised because it seems like a lot of people talk about that kind of thing.  

K            You know, I thought that maybe walking would be one of those because I see a lot of people walk, just go for walks.  

D           That's true. And I guess, you know, if you say exercise, that covers a lot of territory. So it could be, you know, walking, could be working out at the gym. It could be playing some kind of sport maybe. So yeah, makes sense. Yeah. So, what would you say is a hobby that you have that is maybe your favorite thing to do for fun?  

K            Well, I don't think I have one favorite thing, but as you were kind of reading the most popular, I was like, oh man, that's… I fit that category. But a funny thing, I asked my husband and my son earlier, like, what do you guys think my hobbies are? Because, you know, I like to do things. I like a lot of things. Like, I can't sit still usually.  

D           Same.  

K            Right. So my husband said baking.  

D           Absolutely.  

K            Reading and gardening.  

D           Oh yeah, I was going to guess that.  

K            and painting, like drawing.  

D           Ah, that’s nice.  

K            Yeah. So I was like, okay, all right, I can see that. I guess those are my things that I enjoy doing because, and so the funny thing is my husband said that I didn't used to bake as much before our son was born.  

D           Oh. I'm just thinking I feel like as long as I've known you, I associate that with you: baking.  

K            But apparently, I started baking more. Well, I know I went completely crazy with baking during COVID. But you know, I feel like it is true, like a stress relieving activity for me. I remember like during COVID, people were like, Oh my gosh, but baking, you have to do things. And I was like, but that's how I deal with stress. I bake because if everything comes out in the end right, it just makes you happy. But then my husband also said, since COVID, I started reading a lot more too. And I was like, well, but that's because I have time. I felt like I never had time to sit down and read a book or finish a book. I feel like COVID made us slow down so much with everything that I started figuring out that I can make time. I can read. And I read so many books that year.  

D           Hmm. Well, it's funny because I was going to say to you today, because one of our questions is, is there anything that you used to do as a hobby that you don't do so much anymore? And I would say reading is that for me, I used to read much more and I just really don't do that. Now, with the books behind me, I've got like hundreds of books behind me. Do not be fooled. I haven't read any of them. No, I'm kidding. No, but as far as reading for fun, I just haven't done that like I used to. And I don't know. I think sometimes you just fall out of a habit or you maybe trade one hobby for another. I don't know, but it would be nice to start that again.  

K            It you know what helped me? One of my best friends that lives here in town. She always read; like she was always a reader, right? And when I started reading books during COVID more than usual, we figured out that we were reading or read the same books. So that's just made me read more and more and then we would just meet up sometimes and talk about our… kind of like our mini book club type thing. But then it got to the point that we would be like, Well, have you read this one yet? No, I haven't. Well, I just got this one at the library. I'm like, Well, I'm still in line waiting for it. So you probably got my [copy]. It was like, not necessarily competitive, but… but I still haven't stopped. And I feel like as soon as I finish the book, I get another one.  

D           Good for you. Yeah.  

K            You know, it just takes my mind off, you know, as much craziness as there is around us everywhere. I feel like you need something to just pull yourself into a different world.  

D           You know, that is true. And that was going to be another question that… kind of getting ahead of ourselves again here, but that's fine. I was going to say about hobbies that you specifically do to take your mind off of stress or just to relax or something like that. And so for you baking and reading.  

K            Well, and yeah, and gardening, I noticed that. And but again, you can do that only during certain season, right? You can do that year-round. But I noticed a couple years ago, because I garden not just like with vegetables and fruit and all that, but I like flowers. I grow a lot of flowers around my house and all that. And I noticed this one day I was planting something. And I caught myself smiling. I was like, well, this really makes me happy if I'm just sitting here, grinning, planting flowers. So I was like, you know what? Yes, I love flowers. And sometimes I complain and it’s like, ah my back hurts because I've been digging all this stuff here. But nevertheless, it makes me happy.  

D           Well, that's good, yeah. know, sometimes we just need something to make us happy.  

K            What about you?  

D           Yeah. So I guess I haven't really been doing much reading. I haven't done that in a while and I can definitely see that kind of escaping to another world kind of thing would be great. But what I've been doing lately, and this really seems to take my mind off things a lot because I really get focused, you know, doing jigsaw puzzles. Yeah. that's something I've kind of started not that long ago. But yeah, I get focused on it and I can stop thinking about other things going on and just, yeah.  

K            So question: what is the biggest one you've done? How many pieces?  

D           I think just 1500.  

K            Oh, well, that's not bad. Oh, just 1500. When my kid was little, I was happy that I could put together a 48 piece one.  

D           No, I don't even do anything less than a thousand because it's like, well then, that's not a challenge. But I have one that I didn't even realize because I didn't pay attention when I bought it, but it's 2500 pieces. So I started to take that thing out and I saw how many pieces it was and I go, wait a minute, how big is this thing going to be? Because I have one of these tables specifically for puzzles and it's got all these little drawers in there so you can sort the pieces by color or something like that. And I forgot what the size is, but it's bigger than this giant board that I have. So I'm like, okay, well, I guess I can't put this puzzle together until I get a bigger board.  

K            What if you do it on the floor or something?  

D           You know I have two cats, right?  

K            Oh, well, they might help you.  

D           Oh, and the help they give me, yes. Lucy, you know, she gets up on the table and she just plops herself right down on the middle of the area that I'm working on. And I have to keep pushing her butt over a little bit. And I'm like, excuse me. Yeah.  

K            Cute.  

D           Yeah, it's adorable. And then she'll just be looking at the pieces in the box, you know, and I just see her looking and all of a sudden that paw goes…               

K            and the whole box goes over.  

D           and she starts knocking over the pieces. And I'm like, get out.  

K            Alright, so jigsaw puzzles. What else? What else do you like to do for your hobbies?  

D           Well, this is also not gonna surprise you. Board games.  

K            I was just gonna say that I know this one. I know this…  

D           Well, again, this comes to another question that I had: what is something that you could do for hours and hours and hours? For me, that's it. I could sit and play board games all day long.  

K            You know, funny thing, every time I buy a board game, I think about you. Every single time.  

D           Well, you know, remember we used to, we probably talked about this before, but when we used to go to the conferences and we would bring a bunch of games and oh, that was so much fun.  

K            Good times. Good times with those board games. Lots of laughing. That was good. Yeah, I feel like my collection of board games is growing and growing too. It's fun.  

D           I have to come over and check it out. Yeah. So board games and jigsaw puzzles for me. What else? True crime podcasts and shows and stuff like that. You know I'm not artistic so can't do any of that.  

K            Well, I feel like there is one hobby that we also have in common. And I think you do more of it than I do. But I still enjoy it, I think, equally.  

D           Yes?  

K            Traveling.  

D           Oh yes, yes. Absolutely. Oh, I’ve got a good one for you. Guess where I'm going in June.  

K            Where?  

D           Italy. Yes. Yes.  

K            What's the luggage allowance? How many pounds?  

D           I don't know.  

K            I'll start losing weight now! Oh, how wonderful! How long?  

D           It is a cruise, it's a Greek islands cruise, but then we're gonna stay for a week afterwards. You know, this is my bucket list. We've talked about this. So yeah, I know I'm so excited. Yes.  

K            That's wonderful. good, good, good. But you had to fit in cruising there. You have this thing about cruises. That must be another hobby of yours there.  

D           No, no, it's my friend. Well, you know, and her daughter is turning 15 and instead of the big crazy quinceanera party, she wants a cruise and so that's what we're doing.  

K            Oh my gosh, that's wonderful. I am so happy for you guys. Oh my gosh.  

D           So excited. Anyway.  

K            All right, back to hobbies.  

D           I would say that's a hobby. You're right. Definitely. If I could do more of that even, I probably would.  

K            You know, after traveling home and spending so much time on the road, I thought I would be “traveled out” for a while. But three weeks after being back, I'm like, can we go somewhere?  

D           You can come to Alabama.  

K            Well, we've been talking about it here. We've been talking about it.  

D           Man, this talking's been going on for a long time.  

K            Make it happen.  

D           Make it happen, that's right. All right, so back to this. Okay, so would you say that your hobbies, have they changed over the years or do you pretty much, well, you've already said that you bake more now than you used to, but is there anything that you used to do that now you're like, meh, or the opposite, something new that you've suddenly decided to do?  

K            I don't think there's anything that I used to do. I mean, reading, obviously, I read more than I used to. So I think that kind of picked up more. But I also like decorating and crafting and all that stuff. I used to craft more. I used to sew. I used to make things with my hands. And I feel like I don't do that anymore. Or at least not as much.  

D           Yeah, well, you know, there's only so much time. Yeah, exactly. Well, you know, as you say that, it made me think of something; hobbies sometimes they come in and out of fashion and things like that. And I remember there was a time where a lot of people did things like knitting and crocheting, and then you just kind of didn't hear about it anymore. But I feel like it's kind of coming back into fashion. I see a lot of people who are into crocheting, into knitting and young people, you used to kind of think, like older people like that kind of stuff. It's interesting.  

K            Right? Well, and do you remember how people used to -- and I think I might be getting ahead of myself and kind of including a little technology here – but you know how people used to scrapbook? it was a huge thing, right? And now you don't really see or hear about it anymore. But I think that's because everything is digital. Like all the pictures, nobody is printing pictures.  

D           It's interesting that you say, because I think about this, you know, years ago, you didn't have all kinds of pictures. You know, you just had some and yeah, you'd make a scrapbook or whatever. And now we have like thousands. I mean, I take, I take 49 pictures of my cats a week, probably, you know, just, just cat pictures. And the thing is that you never look at those things again, you know, they're buried somewhere on your camera roll and your phone. But I feel like all the pictures we take now, and we don't really get to enjoy them like we used to.  

K            And you know, when I was visiting my family, I pulled all the old photo albums that my parents had. Some of them still had like black and white pictures of my grandparents or great aunts. And there's just something about looking through those old pictures or like when I was a kid or I was younger. It's not the same as scrolling on your phone and looking through those pictures.  

D           It's not, you know, I have a feeling that, you know, the old fashioned photo albums, scrapbooking, I think that's going to make a comeback.  

K            Oh I like I think it's the circle, right? Things just keep coming. Like they will come back. They'll come back, they'll become popular, then they’re gonna go away, then they'll come back again.  

D           I think so. Yeah. You know, it's kind of like, how music has evolved and you had records and then you had cassette tapes and then you had CDs and now everything's streaming. And then you have people that are going back to getting records, actual albums.  

K            We have some records.  

D           Yeah? Well, I have some too. And I don't know, there's something to pulling that record out of the sleeve and putting it on the record player. I don't know. There's just something fun about that.  

K            It is. There is something. I mean there's this charm some sort of a charm in it even though it's so much more convenient just telling your computer, hey play this but you're right; there's a charm in it and taking that record and all that and so yeah yeah  

D           Yeah. I remember when I was younger too -- this used to be a hobby of mine. Now that I think about it, going to thrift stores and flea markets and, yard sales or whatever, and just look for goofy little things. And I used to buy records all the time. And it was fun to just kind of go through these big bins of records and flip through and, know, find something that looks cool. Yeah.  

K            Yeah, that's true, that's true. Cool.  

D           Hmm. I sound like I'm 80 over here, I’m like embracing all this old stuff. Yes. I'm.  

K            You're vintage, honey.  

D           I am vintage, like a fine wine…  

K            …gets better with time.  

D           That's right. You know it. All right. Let's move on to the next thing. Okay. How about this? Is there a hobby you always wanted to try but never have and maybe still will?  

K            Hmm a hobby I wanted to try.  Well. So… I am more of a heights person.  

D           Oh yeah, ugh!  

K            I've always wanted to skydive, I always wanted to learn how to fly a plane, so I could go on my plane rides and stuff.  

D           Okay, I'm gonna let you have that.  

K            I want to be in the sky.  

D           Oh, no, no  

K            So something I really want to learn to have as a hobby: I want to learn how to fix things around the house.  

D           That’s a good thing, DIY it. Yeah, absolutely.  

K            Yes, the DIY in part. I feel like I'm trying and I always watch some YouTube videos but I’ve always wanted to have that as a hobby so I can really get into it and learn these things so I can start tinkering around the house and fixing things. Might not be a good idea, but…  

D           Yeah, it could be dangerous, right? I gotta fix this. No, I gotta fix this now. No, gotta go to the store, get some more stuff, get some more supplies.  

K            So what about you? Is there something that you always wanted to have as a hobby or do?  

D           I don't know. There are certain things like, oh, you know, this new trend, kind of weird, pickleball. It looks so fun.  

K            It does.  

D           I have not played it. It looks fun. And it's strange because I had to look this up. I was like, when the heck did pickleball get started? It was 1965. And I just heard about it a few years ago.  

K            So I wonder if it was popular in [the] 60s and 70s. And then it kind of went away. And now it came back. Just like crocheting and records.  

D           Seriously, I literally thought it was a new sport and it's not.  

K            I don't know if you want to try it because I see a lot of... Well, I hear about... 

D           Old people?  

K            Older people like to play it, but they get hurt. And considering you're vintage... I would be worried about you so much...  

D           You’d better watch yourself there.  

K            I would worry about you. I don't know.  

D           It doesn’t look that physically taxing. I don't know, does it?  

K            Well, that's the thing you would think, but for some reason I was hearing, as it was becoming more popular and you see older people like to play and all that because it doesn't seem that physically demanding. But then you hear it's like, he pulled that and he hurt that - because there's still more movement than usual. And I don't know, but it does look fun.  

D           Yeah, but I guess it's like anything else, like you need to kind of warm your body up a little bit. And when you start using your body in different ways and moving muscles that have been kind of, you know…  

K            dormant  

D           …just hanging out for a while. And then suddenly it's like, hello, what are you doing to me?  

K            Wait, I have muscles there?  

D           Yeah, it does happen. Right? Sometimes you do an exercise and you're like, oh, I’ve got a muscle up there because that hurts.  

K            Or sometimes you exercise and the next day you're like I wish I died yesterday. Gosh, oh terrible.  

D           I know. Talking about hobbies: Yeah. You know what? I guess I could say this is sort of a hobby. I have been doing exercises and this is something new for me because I don't do that, but I've been watching these videos and I've been doing some, you know, some stuff. So that's new, you know.  

K            Nice. nice. You know what else a big hobby of mine is and I don't always get to enjoy that hobby, but it's a quiet morning by myself with a cup of coffee.  

D           Yeah, you know what? There is something to be said for just having some, some “me time”.  

K            And it's the morning for some reason. Especially when it's nice out, I like to go on my porch, listen to birds over there, and just sit there with a cup of coffee and nobody bother me. I just need my quiet time. So I would say that's a hobby of mine too.  

D           Yeah, I would say. And I like it too. Yeah, definitely. Well, we're coming up on time here, but I did have one last question that I wanted to ask you. And because this leads into a nice little phrase that I hear all the time now, so I wanted to get this in here. Have you ever or have you ever wanted to turn a hobby into a side hustle? And for those who maybe don't know that phrase, a side hustle is something [often but not always] fun that you enjoy, that you're actually able to turn into a money-making scheme. Not necessarily to pay all your bills, but to give you a little extra cash.  

K            So I get that asked a lot when I bake.  

D           I bet you do and I bet I know what they're thinking too.  

K            Yes, when I bake for others. People ask me, when are you going to open your bakery? I'll be your customer. When are you going to open your bakery? And I have this belief that if I start baking for profit or for money making or side hustle, I feel like I'm not going to enjoy it as much anymore.  

D           You know, I can definitely understand that, because it takes it to a different place. You know, it's no longer, I'm relaxing and I'm enjoying this and I'm losing myself in it. Now it's like, okay, I’ve got to fulfill this order, you know? Yeah.  

K            Yeah, there's pressure that comes with it. And I have done some baking for charity or auctions or people would ask me to do that. But I just, I mean, it's still enjoyable knowing that I'm not, there's no pressure that I have to sell it or whatever, but it's, there's just, I don't know. Now, if I learn all these house maintenance skills, there might be a possibility. No, who am I kidding?  

D           Hey, you know, that's pretty lucrative, you know? And I feel like I need to say lucrative means something that makes you a lot of money.  

K            Do you have a hobby that you think you could have a side hustle?  

D           No, unless someone wants to pay me to play Scrabble, I don't know. Well, you hear of these people that do those poker or something that's online and they actually make money doing it. I'm like, okay, now we need to figure out how to play Scrabble or some other game that I like and get money out of that. But yeah, until I can figure that out, I'm going to say no.  

K            All right, all right.  

D           Well, as usual, this was a fun conversation. It was nice talking to you.  

K            Yes, very much so.  

D           And I will also be that customer if you want to start making some baked goods for profit. Or for free.  

K            I need figure out how to ship them you.  

D           You can come over and make it in my kitchen. How's that? Come on over. All right. Well, so like I said, this was fun. Nice talking to you. And here's to good coffee, good vibes and great conversations. Cheers.  

K            Cheers!