Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the BigAppleSchool podcast, where the goal of this show is to help you improve your English listening skills by listening to us. My name is Benjamin, and today I'm joined by three wonderful guests. And on my right or on the left of the camera, if you're watching this episode, we have.
Welcome Ayoub. Welcome back. And then to my left or to the right. If you're watching this, we have...
Welcome back Ugur. It's great to have you back.
So what's new this week? Spring is coming.
You know... This guy from the American town said that there will be six more weeks of winter.
Six more weeks of winter?
What is the name of this animal? Groundhog?
Well, speaking of animals, I have a pet rabbit, as some of our listeners know. And springtime means fur everywhere.
So I believe you have a cat as well, Maria, don't you?
Yeah. Well, yeah. For him, fur is everywhere all year round, so it's like spring. All year round.
It's a year round adventure. Yes. What about for you? So I heard that you walked around the market this week and you encountered a really funny word.
Yeah. I was like, walking, and I had to do some stuff there. Then I was walking with my fiancee, and I saw, like, now I can read like, Russian letters and I read it as it was written. Fart like Fart and it was a barbershop. So I was like, really wondering about the meaning of this word in Russian. Because if you say it in English, of course it's super funny and I couldn't help but keep it... Like I just kept laughing, laughing and yeah.
So basically... Well, I believe, Maria... cause you're the native Russian speaker... Believe it means luck.
Yeah, luck. So but I wouldn't probably use this word in my everyday speech. So I would say, удача, but not fart.
So is it slang or something?
It is kind of slang or probably it is a bit outdated.
There's not a Russian tradition? If you fart, it's good luck.
Oh, I don't know of this superstition.
I don't know why. In that moment, uh, Homer Simpson came to my mind, you know? Homer Simpson?
Yeah, Because they called him Big Fart.
Well, maybe that's where the name Bart came from.
Well, it's rhymes. Exactly.
So. Yes. So that was you found that at the central markets? Yeah.
Yeah. The bazaar next door gastrocourt it.
Yes. For for listeners who are not in Novosibirsk, we have a wonderful central market in the middle of town where they sell all sorts of products. What do they sell there? What have you noticed in the market?
They sell meat, fish, uh, condiments for food and also, uh, gastrocourt, itself. Uh, it's a place where you can find multinational food like, uh, Thai restaurants, Turkish restaurants, French, Swedish, Syrian.
It's really good, isn't it?
Yeah. From wherever like you want. Except Algeria.
Maybe it's an idea for a start-up.
You will start a business.
Well, for those of you who live in Novosibirsk or for those of you who are visiting Novosibirsk, there's a great Vietnamese place in the food courts at the market. Really good price, actually. You can get a good...
Yeah, good prices actually.
Big meal for about 300 rubles, which is really quite reasonable. We think about it at least compared to the UK or to the US. So yeah, come to Novosibirsk, come and feed. Come enjoy...
Exactly. Come look at fart signs and enjoy the city.
Anything new with you, Ugur?
Yesterday I learned my dog was attacked by a German shepherd dog and he was hospitalised.
Yeah. Yeah. And he had like six stitches on, on his left cheek.
And where is your dog now?
In Istanbul. At home. Yeah. My, my parents taking care of him.
German. German Shepherd. German are not usually agressive.
He was a police dog and he was kind of aggressive. And he's living in our apartment in the base floor.
And your dog's a bit older, isn't it?
Oh damn. That's not very good at all.
And he was like numb all day yesterday. So we had like a three face time video chats with him. So it was, it was kind of heart-breaking.
That's sad. Yeah. Yeah. Because our pets can be like more than our children sometimes.
And it's been a long time we had been together like 11 years, you know.
The German Shepherd was a police...
They don't attack maybe he was rabid or something?
I don't know. My dog is kind of like a medium breed dog. It's a beagle. So, I don't know, maybe my dog just barked him in a way and he got it completely different. I don't know.
That's not fun at all. I'm sorry about that, man.
I actually I had a student who this week told me that she was feeding a dog with her hands, and the dog bit her hand as it was feeding. So it was a very hungry stray dog.
Stray dogs are kind of unstable. We don't know what are going to do and when... Reacting back at you.
Exactly. And she had to... Well, she was in Kazakhstan, but she had to come to Russia to get good health care and to get checked up. And it's scary because some stray dogs can carry rabies. For those of you who don't know what rabies is, it's a very nasty disease which involves...Well stereotypically it's foam at the mouth.
And you're afraid of water? You can't drink water.
Yeah, exactly. I completely forgot about that.
There is an interesting fact about this, actually. This virus knows exactly where it attacks.
Exactly. Yes. And it's like they say, it's highly intelligent and it makes the dog afraid of water because this virus is sensitive to water.
It's like, really. It knows exactly where it goes. Like in the brain in a special place where it can control a dog and it controls its behaviour. It's like, uh, the dog becomes like a zombie.
What a messed up virus, really.
So now the question is, what if this virus evolves to affect people? Are we going to be zombies?
Maybe that is where zombies come from...
The next next thing will be after COVID. Yeah. A rabies attack.
Yeah. Well, touch wood. I mean, carefully touch the table. Touch wood. Which is.... our, yes. What we do in English or in English speaking countries and in Russia, to touch the wood.
It's a Christian thing, isn't it?
Or is it done in Muslim countries as well? Touching woods.
I think it's a yeah, it's like Christian because it is about touching the cross or something.
We have a saying like Tahtaya vur, which is basically the same meaning like knock the wood in Turkey.
Oh, interesting. Interesting. Well, I just need to mention we had a wonderful speaking club on Telegram earlier this week where I was hosting a a conversation about education. And you can find more information about that on our Telegram chat. We're also going to have another speaking club next week on Wednesday at 5:00 Moscow time, and it will be hosted, I believe, by Katya.
So definitely check that out. And also, if you're loving these podcasts, you might want to join our Aftershow special private chat and you can find more information about that on our Telegram chat. And there you can find information about the words that we say in this podcast. So we have a vocabulary list that accompanies this aftershow private chat. And also you can practice your English writing skills in the chat and you can speak directly with us. Well, today's topic is quite an interesting topic, we're gonna talk about extreme sports and extreme lifestyles in general.
For example, feeding the dog from your bare hand is kind of extreme for me. It's already extreme.
Maybe it's a new type of extreme sports.
Extreme tourism. Also, it's a thing, by the way. Extreme tourism.
Yeah. Have you have you had any experience with extreme tourism?
No. But I heard that many people, for example, are dreaming of go into, let's say, Chernobyl.
You're right. Actually, Chernobyl was a whole tourist sites. I mean, maybe not right this second.
Or some Japanese cities. Well affected by..
What is it... Fukushima, yeach?
Nagasaki. And Hiroshima. Yeah, I mean...
Of course, of course. I thought you were talking about the more recent...
Maybe more recent as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Some people just, I don't know, maybe they got ... what do they get adrenaline from visiting this places and maybe it makes them feel more safe in their own life compared to what these people had experienced.
Appreciate their life itself, maybe. Yeah.
I'm not going to lie. I would love to go to Chernobyl. It sounds like a really interesting place to visit.
But, uh, there is no radiation right now there, right?
There is a little bit, but it's... you have to be careful where you go. You have to have a guide. And you need to have this thing called a Geiger counter, which is maybe you might know. It's this little device which you carry with you.
X-ray operators are wearing that in the hospital.
Exactly. Yeah. So a Geiger counter. Yeah. I've seen a few videos of people going to Chernobyl and visiting it.
Yeah. So extreme tourism.
So what else can we consider to be an extreme sport or extreme activity?
It's boring. So it can't be considered like an extreme thing, so just...
Boring. Yeah. You just...
You know, golf... I have to disagree. It is an amazing sport.
It looks... No I totally get it. It looks so... Have you played golf before?
Once. But it was so boring. I only just swing the golf club and all right, what is next? All right, Move to the next hole. Okay, man. All right, So it's... It's not for me, you know, just walk...
Well, it gets really fun if you live somewhere like Florida and they have crocodile, well, alligators, I believe. Crocodiles? Alligators?
Alligators, yeah, yeah. They're smaller.
Exactly. And then they come and eat your golf ball.
And then you have to fight with the alligator. With a gold club.
Exactly. With the golf club, though I have to disagree. Golf is amazing.
It's so fun. You can't really play it in Russia because it's a little chilly for that. But if you find an affordable golf course there, you in America or in England, it's an amazing way to spend the weekend. So yes.
I think we can invent a new sport...
Maybe we can invent ice golf in Russia.
I think it actually exists.
You need to drill these holes.
I believe it does actually exist. I've never played it.
Yeah. It might hurt because if you swing the golf club and hit the ball when it's really cold, it really hurts, actually. Because when I used to play in England in the winter, it really hurt. Like you would send a shock up the the shaft of the club. The shaft is the big metal part which holds the head of a club to the handle. It was pretty painful, actually.
Okay, so golf is not extreme.
It's posh, luxurious. But not extreme. Speaking of extreme sports, let's say maybe rope jumping.
Which I would totally like to do, but I'm... I just want to find a crazy friend. Crazy enough to accompany me.
What about, uh, wingsuit flying? It's really extreme.
That one was amazing. I've seen so many YouTube videos.
It's like when you don't have a parachute?
Yeah, you just have some wings, you know, and you fly.
Sponsored by Red Bull. Mostly.
Everything is sponsored by Red Bull.
It's not about how high. Like the... They. It can be very high, but once they're , it becomes like a drone or like, uh, you know, like. A flying man or something like that. It's actually a flying man or woman.
So they are flying or just floating.
Gliding. Exactly. Yeah, they're gliding in the sky.
And it's extremely dangerous because they glide like near the surface of mountains of, you know, such things.
I watched one. I guess the guy jumped on the top of Burj Khalifa in Dubai and two emirates planes were just escorting him, while he was kind of base jumping. It was again sponsored by Red Bull, of course.
Red Bull really does have a monopoly on extreme sports. Yeah. Well, speaking of Red Bull, I know. I'm sorry. We're not getting paid. I'd love to get paid by Red Bull. But they have a great show which my wife and I recently discovered. It's called Soapbox Racing.
Yeah, that's great. That's great. The latest one, I guess he got a record for, like, flying, like 20 seconds or something with the wings of Boxcar or whatever.
Which city? Because each city... Okay. By the way, for our listeners. Soap box racing... Maybe in Germany. Yeah. So soapbox racing is I would call it an extreme sport.
It's when you build a kind of car. It's like a kind of go kart and you have to go down a hill. There is no pedals, there is no...
Engine, just only a steering wheel. And you have to go down the hill and it's like a car without an engine. And it's really fun to watch. And I recommend watching this on YouTube. So Red Bull soapbox races.
Because they have a lot of commentary and this would be really good for your English listening skills. So definitely check that out. It's really fun to watch.
Red Bull sponsor a lot of extreme sports. One of them is like... One of my favourite is mountain biking. Like, it's called Red Bull Rampage.
Have you had experienced mountain biking before?
No, no, no. But I like, I used to watch it a lot. They are like really crazy people. They go and they bike on the mountains.
Yeah. You can have some nasty accidents.
Well I mean in all extreme sports, they wouldn't be extreme if they didn't have nasty accidents.
Well I have actually a question to you guys. Do have any extreme sports originated in Turkey and Algeria?
No, no. Like the regular ones.
Maybe something with the desert. Something that they do in the desert?
We have Dakar. But it doesn't contain only Algeria. The whole like Morocco, Algeria.
Senegal, that this country is, you know, with deserts. It's extreme, but...
Big adventure, you know, like...
Well, what about rock climbing? I'm sure you have some rock climbers in your country.
We have, but it's not famous. Like, uh. That's like you can say it's a bearing or something. Like, people don't speak about it a lot. Not like in, for example, the United States. You know, they are really like...
Yeah. Rock climbing is really cool. It can be dangerous, of course, as with any extreme sport. It's pretty cool and you need to be really fit to do it. You need a special body type to be good at rock climbing.
You need to be balanced. And yeah, the weight should be as proportionately in a way.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, what else can we mention? So mountain biking, rock climbing, golf...
Skydiving. I've never been skydiving before. Have any of you tried it?
I had a chance in Turkey, and, uh, my students mom was an instructor, and she invited me to do it, but I couldn't go.
No, no, no. Um, I was teaching in Bursa in that time.
And the place was. I forgot the name... Kas?
You mean the southern part of Turkey?
Okay. The have extreme sports over there. Like paragliding.
And everything. Cool. Why didn't you?
I would love to try. Of course it's scary, but I'd love to try it.
What about bungee jumping? I've never done that.
Yeah, I'd love to. Bungee jumping or rope jumping? I actually don't know the difference, actually. Some kind of jumping.
Oh, of course, you've mentioned. Yeah. Hmm. But I actually, for some reason, think bungee jumping would be scarier than skydiving.
So in bungee jumping... You bounce back, yes?
And then you're, like, going down and up several times.
But for some reason, it's just seems scarier. Bungee jumping, then jumping out of an aeroplane.
For me, it doesn't. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe it's because you are a fan of aircrafts.
It just doesn't seem dangerous to you.
Well, putting my love for aviation aside, I think, maybe it has to do something with, like, the perspective of the ground and the... Yeah. And your relation to the ground. I don't know.
But speaking about safety, I think, uh. I think skydiving is more dangerous than bungee jumping because bungee jumping, you are like tied to a rope and you're like, check it, double check it.
Yeah. If something... Exactly. If something happens with your parachute, there is no way back.
And also, a lot of people break their legs when they come back down to the ground.
Yeah. So I would definitely love to do it. Well. Another extreme sports that I used to do all the time as a teenager was skateboarding.
Yes, I tried rollerblading.
I loved to skate as a teenager.
When you say rollerblading, was this the inline blading like where you do the tricks and stuff?
Inline blades like this. And you jump back, jump, flip jumps and everything. I used to do like a 15, 17 years old. In between that range. That was cool.
I tried it when I was a teenager.
It's very dangerous, really. It seems simple, but it's very dangerous. It can brake your leg. Like, very easily.
You need to... You need to know how to land after you make that jumps.
For me, I bit my tongue and I was bleeding.
When I landed. Yeah, I bit my tongue.
Yes, yes. Imagine it was, like, really extreme. Yeah. You jump from one roof to one roof, you know?
Well, there's so many different types of extreme sport, but why do you think that people like to indulge in extreme sports?
That's an interesting question.
It's not about fun only it's something psychological. It plays a role in, uh, proving oneself, all right? For example, there are many people who want to be shown, like who want to confirm their identity, that they really exist. They have, like, for example, what is the meaning of life? This question arose in their, like, mind and in they want to remember what they did in this life. Like, okay, this is like something risky. I want to do it to remember it is something special that makes me feel special. Maybe.
Yesterday I was watching one episode of my one of my favourite TV series, and I came across this phrase. The guy said, like, you need to push your limits once in a while because it makes you feel alive.
Push the limits. You feel like you are kind of reborn.
Or curiosity. You just want to know what's going to happen If you try something on extreme level and you just do it.
Like, what is the worst thing that can happen? We can die.
You can crash. You can die. Yeah, why not?
Or some people just like that adrenaline rush, like Ugur said.
How do you like adrenaline rush, rushes?
Yeah, I used to. I'm kind of okay with that still. I'm okay with that, but I don't have any chance to push myself that much, I guess.
Oh, yeah. I like. Do you like going really fast? I love it.
I love going really fast.
Need for speed. Yeah. Yeah. Speedy Gonzalez. Yeah.
I don't like going too fast, especially downhill. Like, if it is flat, it's fine. But if it is downhill, I just because I have some bad experience.
Example, when I was a child and I was running downhill, I just fell badly, very badly. And it was like I was rolling and rolling several times and I hurt myself injured quite badly. And also when I was learning how to ride a bike downhill, I fell down, so...
BMX biking, that's also a great experience, you know.
Back in the days we had something about speed. I remember it when I went to the Algerian Sahara. We had some dunes. Some dunes. And, uh, actually, it's not a sport. It's just an activity that people do and it doesn't have a name, but it's just an activity. So when we climb a dune and we want to go down, we run maximum speed on the sand. Like we run down the dune and it gives you a feeling of flying. Really. You cannot stop and your legs start moving by themselves. Yes. And you feel like you have no control over your body.
You feel you're floating.
Yeah. And it is completely safe. Why? Because when you fall down or something, you fall on the sand. There is no rock.
On your eyes. Oh, yeah. That feeling when I felt it, it gives you like that adrenaline rush and... Like there is something greater than you in this, uh, world.
Yeah. Adrenaline is pretty... It's quite...
Addictive. Getting adrenaline is addictive.
What about communities? Would you say that it would help you to be part of a community?
I would definitely agree.
People want to belong. Especially teenagers. Yeah. And not only teenagers.
Or clubs like motorbike clubs or tuning, autotuning clubs.
You gather and you just roll together, like... Yeah it's kind of...
Yeah. When I was, I guess. When did I start skating? It was around 13 to about 20. Yeah. I used to go to the skate park like at least two or three times a week and everyone would be there together. It was really fun.
You have your group of friends and you hang out together, you eat together after that.
Exactly. It was really fun and part of being a skater that you do stupid things and they everyone used to love doing stupid, crazy things like they annoy security guards around town and cause all sorts of...
Some people did graffiti, some people did stupid stuff, even worse stuff. But it was really fun. And I kind of miss being a teenager because of that.
Yeah. And everyone could join together as a community, unite in their stupidity.
I think I will do that soon. Today I was teaching my student and he asked me to help him with his CV. And, uh, when I saw his volunteer work. He belongs to a community of planting trees in Novosibirsk. And I asked him, uh, can I join? Like, if, uh, I want, like, do you have a link or something? He said, later I will send you a link. You can join us and you can plant trees, you know. So it's a good activity. It's not extreme. But anyway it's uh.
Well being a lumberjack which is the opposite of planting trees is quite extreme.
Yeah. Well, speaking of jobs and not so much about sports, what jobs would you consider to be extreme? So, lumberjack. So the person who cuts down the tree, what other jobs would you consider to be extreme?
ER resident? Well, someone who works in a hospital? Yeah, of course. Because ER in America. Yeah, they say that. In England we say A&E.
Exactly. Accident and Emergency. But ER, emergency...
The military. Absolutely.
Firefighters. Yeah. Of course.
You have to be really fit to be a firefighter. Yeah. Yeah. Well, in the police. What types of police officers do we have?
SWAT is the most extreme. And I love watching videos on the YouTube of SWAT teams raiding houses and dealing with domestic idiots.
And they draw guns to SWAT members. So that's kind of...
It's a really scary job. I have nothing but huge respect for SWAT teams because they put their life on the line every time. Um, but apparently a lot of the time they just sit and wait. I believe someone made it abbreviation for SWAT. So it was like sitting, waiting and maybe twiddling thumbs.
Tweeting. Because most of the time you're waiting for the negotiator to deal with the idiot inside a house.
And if it doesn't work, they just get in.
Yeah. And the funniest thing is the way they get in. They have this special tool which they use..
A horn. A bullhorn, right?
Well, it's funny because at least in England, they have a special slang word for this tool. They call it the key.
They must bust into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I have real big respect for SWAT officers because that's scary stuff and you have to be in really good shape. Well, what is? Do they have SWAT? I guess they must have SWAT teams in Algeria?
Of course. And, uh, it's pretty scary when you see them. Uh, one day I was like, uh, a high school student, and we had a weird neighbour. And that neighbour had two children. And he didn't raise them well, because we have we were like looking at them and he was forcing them into doing things, you know. Then anyway, he got divorced and the kids stayed with, uh, their mom and, uh, one of them went rogue and, uh, he joined ISIS in Syria.
Nobody knew that. Like, no... And I was sitting next to my house and out of nowhere. Like trucks, like squad came, like you have not... Like I was scared when I saw them. Wearing all black and everything is black. Even the mask, they don't show their faces with, like, uh, Russian guns, like AK 47.
Like Call of Duty as, like, Call of Duty. And you have, like, when they raid the house, it was, like, really scary when I saw them. We call them special forces. They don't... You don't see them so often unless it's very dangerous.
Yeah, but the way they appeared, they appeared from nowhere. We didn't know, like how they appeared. Like, just like this fast. Like lightning. Yeah.
So that's. That's really cool, though. Yeah. Well, in America, they call it SWATS. In England, we call it CO19. It's a division of the police force. And they... Most police officers in the UK don't have guns. I don't know what your opinion is on that, but, um, regardless, the CO19 are the only officers that have good... Well, maybe not the only officers, but they can use guns and they're expert marksman. A marksman is someone who can shoot.
Yeah, I heard about them. Yeah, I heard about them.
Exactly. And they are the equivalent of the SWAT team. And normally the police officers in the UK, they wear, you know, the funny hats.
Yeah. The black one with...
The helmet kind of things. Yeah. Yeah. But the CO19, they wear like baseball caps with like checker pattern around it. It's pretty cool. Well in Russia you have ОМОН, yeah?
I don't have a lot to say about police forces, unfortunately.
Well, I'm wearing some shoes, which I've mentioned in previous podcast episode, I believe. ОМОН shoes, so I have SWAT officers shoes so I can walk in the snow in Siberia.
For me. I have a huge respect for such people. Really. They yeah, Their job is very risky. You know, I saw a documentary about them like police officers and such things. In front of you, they appear like strong and everything, but when they are alone, they are really sometimes they have psychological problems of, uh, fear, you know, like, uh, if, for example, one officer in the United States he said, When am I going to die? I'm... It's just like every day, every time they call him on the talkie-walkie, he expects to die because that neighbourhood was dangerous, you know?
Yeah. It's a lot of people criticise the American police and sure they... Of course you have some, let's call them bad apples, which is a good idiom. We have some bad apples, of course, in every police force. But this is scary being a police officer. Yeah. And especially in America where people can just pull out, um, a weapon against you and.. Well anywhere, really. And people don't really understand where they're coming from, because just imagine if your job every day. You walk up to a car and you ask them to lower the window and they just shoot you. It's scary.
Which means that all people, or maybe almost all people who have extreme jobs are deeply traumatised and I think the same can be said about their families because it's also kind of an extreme lifestyle to be a wife or to be a husband, to be a partner of a person who has this job.
For example, whenever your husband is going out for work, you have that possibility of not seeing him again.
Yeah. Oh, another thing I need to mention is that we have an earlier podcast that we published called Urban Life. So Dangers in Urban Life. So definitely check that out if you're interested in hearing about crime and other urban dangers. So Dangers in Urban Life, you can find that on our website www.BigAppleSchool.com. So yes, police officers respect. What other jobs can you think of?
Extreme jobs? Risky jobs?
Maybe someone who works in sewers. So sewers like underneath the city where all the toilet water goes to.
I also think that any job can be considered extreme, depending on the location. Maybe, for example, once I read a story about a girl, well, young woman who went to work as a music teacher. But in Afghanistan.
That's funny. I've also watched an English teacher who went to Afghanistan as well.
And it was really extreme.
She spent a couple of years there. Like yeah.
By the way, Afghanistan is the most dangerous country in the world. I made the research two days ago about it, and Afghanistan was on the top list.
I'm not surprised. I thought maybe Somalia. Yeah. Which one do you think? Somalia or Afganistan? They're probably the same.
Somalia? I don't think so. It is dangerous. They have that Boko Haram or something like this. Yeah, but I don't think it's that, uh like dangerous.
Boko Haram's all over Central Africa.
But, uh, I don't know who made this research and who made the statistics, but, uh, on every web page I visited, like it's Afghanistan. And now, currently, by the way, it's funny, they mentioned Russia on the 5th place.
That's so strange. That's silly.
That's not true. Ukraine second, something like this yeah.
Definitely in the 90s Russia. Well, Maria can attest to this. Definitely was a dangerous place.
Yeah, but I didn't feel it like a dangerous place. I just didn't analyse, I didn't know. Now looking back I can say that. Yeah it was. And it's like strange how I survived. And how many people survived because it was. Yeah, you could get robbed in just in the middle of the day. Yeah.
Now it's funny because it's like it's safer than London which is really funny. Like if you go to Paris or London, you're more likely to get robbed. I don't know about the statistics, but it definitely feels that way, having lived in both places.
Yeah, one more reason to visit Novosibirsk, apart from fart barber shop. And what else? Gastro court?
Exactly. Well, it's safe here.
Yeah. Yeah, we are a good example, actually. A British man. Algerian, Turkish. And we are foreigners living in Novosibirsk.
And we are all okay, guys.
No much adrenaline in Novosibirsk.
Yeah, well, also, maybe some of our listeners know I went to Chechnya in was it late August?No, it was late July last year in 2022. And it says on the US government website, do not go to Chechnya.
The travelling advice, yeah.
You will be kidnapped and killed. And yeah, and the extreme... I went there, everyone was really friendly and there was just no problems. Maybe because I stuck to the city of Grozny and I got in a маршрутка being the little mini bus and travelled to Dagestan. But I did not feel in any kind of danger at all. But I wouldn't want to, for instance, make a criticise like a restaurant. Let's say if there was bad food at a restaurant, I would not want to send it back maybe in Chechnya.
But nonetheless, it's not like a dangerous place in the sense that people...
You just need to like, follow the rules to respect, to show the respect to the culture and...
You have to blend in with the society also.
Yeah, you do. When I was on the the little mini bus back from Dagestan to Chechnya, because I had to fly back to Novosibirsk from Chechnya, there was this lady on the bus with us and she was wearing just a normal vest, nothing crazy. And as soon as we got off the bus, these men came up to her and said, you need to respect our traditions and put on a shirt that covers your sleeves. And yeah, they're very religious, but you have to respect guys.
If it's a thing you need to follow as well.
Yes, you have to respect the rules. But yeah, my wife was wearing like a long dress with which covered her sleeves, which had sleeves, which covered her arms and everything. So they're very conservative. But as long as you respect...
It's okay. It's not a problem. Well, I definitely recommend check it out. It's a really cool, really cool place to visit. And yeah, it's off the beaten path. So Chechnya, tourism. Give me some money, please.
So they are promoting for Red Bull and Chechnya. You will get rich.
North Korea is also a strangely kind of popular tourist destination.
Yeah, I would love to check it out. What about you?
No? It wouldn't be interesting?
North Korea is where there is that mad dictator?
Oh, no that's not an option for me.
But it's an interesting country. Really. It's fascinating. I mean, Maria, would you be intrigued just to see a bit of North Korea?
No, I mean, I was born in the Soviet Union.
Did you see what's happened to that American guy who was...
Yes. They killed him at the end. They sent him to, uh, America, and they sent him sick. They injected him with the virus maybe.
Yes. He had a neurological virus.
But he stole the propaganda poster on the wall.
That was his fault, you know?
The punishment was extreme. That's an extreme punishment.
Yeah, that's... I agree. I agree.
Oh, very extreme indeed. But nonetheless, he did break the rules or the law, I guess. You can say. And he was made to apologise, to give a tearfelt a tearful apology on public TV.
In the courtroom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was...
But I would still love to go just to see it.
And one thing that's really interesting I've noticed is that in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, their metros. Novosibirsk has the same metro as... Well, the trains itself...
And the stairs and everything.
Cause Pyongyang's metro is actually beautiful. They've done it up in a beautiful way. And I guess they've bought some trains from the Soviet days.
There is actually a metro station here with, uh, I think the name of Kim Jong or on it like there is Kim Jong on the wall that he visited that place.
Seriously? You have to tell me where this is.
I'm going to. I'm going to ask my fiancee again. And because I was with her and, uh...
It's not so far, actually. The metro station. And I said, Why is his face lay here? And she said, she said, Oh, he came here one day and they wrote the date and everything in Russian.
Air Koryo used to fly directly to Novosibirsk from Pyongyang.
Seriously? There was a direct flight?
I watched the documentary about the history of Air Koryo.
By the way, Air Koryo is the national airline.
And one star airline of North Korea.
I don't know why it's one star I've seen reviews is a beautiful, but it's just really old planes.
Old planes.. Maybe that's why. Tupolev's... They are still flying with Tupolev's planes.
Yeah, exactly. The old ones. Yeah.
Do you consider a North Korea's lifestyle as extreme?
Well do you mean visiting the country or...?
As an everyday lifestyle.
As a citizen of North Korea.
Of course. It's pretty extreme.
They are living ike on the edge.
Of course. Yeah. I mean, obviously we can't know everything about the country, but from what... At least from what the Western media says, it's a pretty extreme lifestyle. So no one can know 100%. No one can be 100% sure what goes on behind the ...
The walls. But yeah, I'm sure there are some not very friendly people and... Yeah.
Kim Jong has, uh. As an extreme sport of his own. Launching nuclear missiles.
Threatens Japan all the time. It's like a game for him, you know. He just wants to make someone nervous. It's like a game.
I guess it is. I saw a video of Kim Jong-un flying an airliner and which is really funny.
He is a man of taste, you know. Oh, yeah, he's extreme himself.
Of course, the pilot next to him was flying the plane for him.
He was posing, showing off, right.
It was really funny. Yeah. So. Yeah. Well... Any other dangerous places or jobs you can think of? Well, South America, there's a lot of... Well and Central America. There's a lot of dangerous destinations..
Dangerous diseases, for exmaple.
Diseases. Yes. So I can think of El Salvador as a pretty dangerous place to go to.
I think that most people consider, like, the whole continent of Africa. To be extreme or dangerous because many people actually think that Africa is a country.
Like very big country. Yeah. Yeah. To be honest. Yeah. Unfortunately, there are some very dangerous parts.
Yeah, there are, of course.
But I'm not sure everywhere.
Some unknown parts. Some are... Like deep forests, for example.
But even the more developed countries like South Africa are still quite dangerous as well. Um, I had a student who somehow he travelled all the way from Novosibirsk to Cape Town on his two week holiday.
Which is a long whole trip. You have to go from Novosibirsk to Dubai. Dubai to Cape Town. Long flight is like 15 hours plus the waiting time.
There are many accidents there, actually, uh, concerning sharks. Shark attacks.
Oh, yes. Yeah, sharks. That's definitely an extreme activity.
My aunt went there and she was put, uh, into a cage. Like, uh iron..
Like filled with iron. And the sharks were trying to, uh, bite her around, but she was protected, of course. So imagine if someone finds himself, like, uh, someone who's not experienced, and he's swimming there.
So every place can be considered extreme. Dependening on the point of view. Like Australia. Insects, spiders, whatever.
Lifeguards we can consider as an extreme occupation. Lifeguarding. Hmm. Maybe.
Yeah, I guess you could say that. Yeah.
Guys, when you came to Russia, did you consider it to be extreme?
I thought in a little... I mean, not...
Your friends think that you are risk takers?
Well, if you... I guess now with the global events, a lot of people have completely different views of what Russia is. But to be honest, being here is not as extreme as people would think it to be. The weather is pretty extreme for sure.
I have a couple of friends and every week they just text me, Are you still there?
Are you still there or are you still alive?
Yeah. Are you still there? Will be better. So. Yeah. Yeah, I am. I'm here. I'm okay. Everything is all right.
Me too, before I came here, everybody was saying, Oh, but Russia. It has like, they were like, really trying to terrorise me or something. But I said reality is something different from what you see on TV, so I came and here I am.
Yeah, it's completely different.
And that's only speaking about like this current political situation. I mean, like many years ago also it was the same like Russia cold, frozen, frozen land.
Yeah, it is. Well it is extreme. But I would love... Well speaking of extremities, I'd love to go to Yakutia and see what that city's like in the winter, just to say... It's just more of like, a personal thing. I just want to say I've been in the minus, whatever it is. 50, 60?
Yeah, for a couple of minutes.
For a couple of minutes. Maybe take off my shirt and get a picture. A little selfie.
Yeah. And then hypothermia. Yeah.
But would you consider England to be an extreme place?
Tell us how it can be extreme.
Maybe you might spill a cup of boiling tea on yourself.
Actually, you were talking... I remember we had some podcast and you said that you were mugged several times.
Same in Istanbul. Same in Turkey. Yeah, it happens everywhere.
For me, it would be an extreme thing to happen.
What about the hooligans?
The hooligans? You know what? The hooligans have kind of died out a lot. They were really big in the nineties, the eighties, the seventies, maybe the 2000s as well. But recently they've kind of calmed down a lot. There are, of course, some old school, like proper hooligans. Yeah. But now in Russia, they've kind of taken the British bulldog image and they've become like the real serious hooligans. But they don't drink the Russian football ultras or ultras, as you say, in English. So unfortunately, it's not the same or fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective. Um, because they were, they did have like a whole community in speaking. This is relevant to the topic.
Mhm. Yeah. Because I guess they do it for the sense of belonging.
Like they're this brotherhood or something.
Yeah. It go smash up your, the opposing teams heads and, and um. Yeah. And then get drunk and what a great way to spend your weekend.
And you don't remember it afterwards.
Uh, like not speaking about extreme sports, but sports in general. The most dangerous one is football. Imagine. Football they said, yes, I was surprised because it has more injuries than any other sports.
Maybe if you compare it like the amount of people who play football with other sports, I mean, you have more injuries because more people play football.
Maybe. Maybe. But this is how they stated it's on the net.
Well, yeah, I guess because of the statistics, maybe if you look at it in terms of percentage of players to injuries, then...
And even die actually yeah, in many matches.
Motorsports we can say too...
Race, racing, motorcycling like car racing, whatever.
Well I've got a little question just to wrap up this podcast, would you put your life in danger for a stranger or for a loved one?
I mean, we have a choice between a loved one and a stranger?
Well, let's say there's, like, a little girl on a highway or motorway.
Come on, don't do that, man.
Are you going to go help her?
Well, are you going to just let her get squished?
You can't ignore. You can't ignore that kind of scenery, you know?
If there is something that you can do. I think you just must, because how can you move on? How can you live on after this? Knowing that you could but you didn't.
And you question yourself every day.
How to look in the mirror after this.
For the loved one. Yeah, of course like no doubt. I mean, not only risk life, but give the life if necessary.
Would you give your life Ayoub? I mean, I don't... If it's a little girl...
I mean not right now but...
Actually this question. Nobody can answer it unless you find that person in that exact situation. I can say yes now and I can say no, right? But, uh, like, I think like speaking about me. If I see something like this, my body reacts automatically.
One day I was walking with my friend in Turkey and, uh, uh, he was almost hit by a car and automatic. I don't even like. I don't even feel how it is, I like, I didn't risk my life because I was in a safe place, but he wasn't, uh, he was, like, talking on the phone, and, uh, like, he was headed toward me by some centimetres, and, uh, the car was coming fast. Okay? And if I didn't like, uh, pull him, he could die. But the reaction was automatic, so now. If I was in danger and there is a little girl there, would I react the same way? That's the question.
Oh, that's questionable. Because...
What if I'm just paralysed with fear?
What if I'm petrified? What if I think of myself as a better person than I actually am?
Yeah. And for our loved ones, of course.
For the loved ones. You have to be blind.
You have to. You do it without any thinking.
I think that this is when adrenaline can help because you get this burst of adrenaline and your body reacts faster, better because people can do incredible things with this hormone is like hormone?
Yeah. Or jump like two metres high. Yeah.
Well, guys, stick by for the aftershow portion of this podcast and thank you very much for listening to the end and we definitely want to hear your comments. If you have suggestions for future podcast episodes or you'd like to just practice your English skills, definitely leave a comment in the Telegram chat. So that's it for today. We'll see you in the aftershow.
Мария Усаченко
