Hi everyone, Linda here from ITTT back this week with another live session and this week's topic I'm very excited about it's we're going to cover 15 travel hacks for TEFL teachers. Traveling and exploring new countries is one of the main reasons a lot of people decide to go abroad to teach English and you know whether it's about exploring your new host country, your new home country, where you're teaching or then also other countries during your experience abroad during your stay abroad. So yeah these are 15 hacks that work either way so either for your trip to your new host country or then while you're traveling there and in other countries around that host country. I love traveling I've been to around 35 maybe over 35 different countries I've been living in Asia for the past 10 years and traveled around Asia extensively but also Europe I was born and raised in Europe the US and places there mainly so yeah these are also some hacks that I like to kind of use but I've also researched you know current travel hack trends and things like that so that's what we're going to talk about as always don't forget to like and subscribe so you never miss any of our upcoming live sessions in the future this is a weekly thing right if you're watching this for the first time you might not know but we do this actually every week this place this time most of the time and also want to mention that we do have a 30 percent discount code off of any TEFL or TSOL course from ITTT so if you're not yet TEFL or TSOL certified now's a great place a great time and a great place also to start so you get 30% off and off of any of the courses we have a wide variety of different courses you can check them out on the website but yeah you get this discount code so what you can do is you can scan this QR code or I also have a link for you that I'm going to share in the comment section so we're live on Facebook and on YouTube at the same time right now so wherever you're watching from you will see this code in the comment section so it looks something like this or actually exactly like this it ends with fb live minus Linda then you know it's the right code and this code will get you a 30 discount off of your TEFL course and as you might know a TEFL or a TSOL certificate sort of is the first step towards your adventure of teaching English abroad so something that a lot of countries actually require for English teachers so it's a necessary certification for many countries if you don't have that you don't qualify for a job there you don't qualify for the visa etc there's other places where it's not a requirement but many employers then still prefer hiring people who have this certification because it just shows that either you know you know you know you know what you're doing right you are a certified teacher you're not new to all of this and you're serious about it so that's that and also let me know guys where are you watching from right now where are you at right now what time is it there how are you doing today let me know just leave a comment and then we can jump right in um yeah so maybe first real quick about me if you're watching this for the first time you're new to this and I'm just gonna make myself a little bit smaller so we can see the slide but my name is Linda I am doing many different things which is one of the one of the reasons why I love teaching English so much because it allows you to do you know many different things so I'm a travel writer because I live abroad I travel a lot so that allows me to write about my experiences I'm also a content creator I love sharing my experiences on social media as well um I'm also a language teacher so I teach English and I also teach German um abroad online in class you know all the different venues and you can find my website at lindagosese.com so if you're particularly interested in Asia going to Asia for teaching Korea China all of those places this is a great place to start lindagosese.com and also at lindagosese on instagram very active over there and all social media platforms actually at lindagosese but mainly Instagram I'm very active over there um like I said I'm originally from Germany and the US my mom is German my dad's American but now I'm based in South Korea and I've been based here for eight and a half years so a long time already time really flies before that I also spend some time in China working also teaching so all of these things so that's a little bit about me also I'm still waiting for you guys to let me know where you're watching from today so leave a comment let me know where you are what time it is and just how you're doing how's everybody doing just want to check in with everyone then about it ttt real quick why we're here so I found out about ittt actually because I was interested in teaching English abroad so I googled as you do you know tefal tesol all sorts of things and I found ittt I liked what I saw like what I read about it I liked the reviews and I was like yeah let me try and get the certificate so ittt stands for international tefal and tesol training you can find us at tefalcourse.net and yeah after I took the course I stayed in touch with ittt and somehow ended up working for them then and that's already already been probably 10 years around 10 years as well 9 10 10 years something like that so also a long time that I'm already with ittt as well and ittt provides high quality teacher training programs globally all ittt courses are accredited by reputable institutions and they also meet British council criteria for example ittt is also an institutional member of ia tefal and has an advisory board of experts so that's one of the ia tefal is a pretty reputable renowned tefal accreditation body and graduates can earn credit-bearing certificates and they're transferable to universities worldwide as well so check us out tefalcourse.net if you haven't yet I know many of you watching are already tefal or ittt graduates so yeah appreciate you and yeah that is that let's see still waiting for you guys to let me know where you're watching from but I'm just gonna keep that up so let me know where you're watching from right now what time is it there and how are you doing let me know in the comments I'm always curious about that and then yeah back to the today's topic so like I said 15 travel hacks for tefal teachers a very exciting topic especially for me because I love traveling and like I said in the beginning I think traveling and exploring new countries and cultures is one of the biggest reasons a lot of people decide to go and teach English abroad right you want to live in a different country you want to experience a different culture that's very exciting and important to a lot of people and the main reason why a lot of people pursue this career and so these 15 travel hacks are specifically targeted at tefal teachers so it includes basically your trip to your new host country where you're going to teach but also then your travels during your stay there so either in your new host country travel hacks you can use there or when you you know go outside the border as you explore nearby and other destinations so you can use this for everything basically these hacks and yeah some of them if you're an experienced traveler some of these hacks might seem a little redundant maybe just keep in mind that a lot of people you know haven't traveled as much maybe so keep an open mind and we're all in different stages of our journey of our tefal experience so a lot of people have not been abroad yet or moved abroad yet so these things might be new to people who are new to traveling and moving abroad some of you might know these hacks already are using these hacks so that's great and if you at any time have any any comments any feedback to any of these hacks or you want to you know bring in your own experience or just add some other hacks that you personally use please feel free and share that in the comments i'm always curious always want to know um always want to know more hacks right hacks are great they help all of us they benefit we all benefit from these hacks so please share and let me know where you're watching from right now still waiting for that in the comments let me know guys just leave a high in the comments too if you don't want to share where you're watching from that's fine just let me know you're here i can see people are watching but i i don't know who right so if you want to say hi i'd appreciate that in the comments thank you and then uh yeah we can maybe jump right in into our first hack of today let me take a sip of my coffee and then we can jump right in also if you're listening to this as a podcast episode thank you so much for the download and if you didn't know we always turn our live sessions into podcast episodes so you can search for the Teflon t-cell podcast by itt on whatever podcast platform you use and you'll find us and you can take us with you on the go if you're interested in just audio only um so anyway hello Pedro hi how are you doing awesome all right perfect all right let's jump right in with our first travel hack a very important one as well a lot of people kind of forget to do that that's why i put it first um i actually just started doing this a couple years ago um especially during COVID and things like that it's very useful so um should i yeah i just keep it like this for now okay so hack number one make copies of important documents okay very important digital copies and also physical copies so photocopy your passport your driver's license and other essential documents and have them with you when you travel very important what happens if you lose your passport if you don't you know if somebody uh steals your bag or something or you just lose it um you have a copy and so not only having a physical copy but also create digital copies of essential documents again like your passport your visa your boarding pass employment offers your contract all of these things during COVID we had these um vaccination things the vaccination papers so have copies of that physical copies photocopies but also digital copies so that if you lose the physical ones as well or you know if you travel a lot of times maybe if you go to a country with where it's rainy season and it rains like crazy and all of your stuff is soaking wet and your papers they just get soaked you can't use them anymore then you have digital copies so that's very important and store these copies in a cloud um or share them also with someone that you trust family member a friend to excuse me to ensure you have backups in case of loss what I also do I always keep a digital copy in my dropbox in the cloud but also on my phone just on my phone as a photo file so you also have that so that's very important yes Pedro says doing great thanks you I'm doing great as well thank you so much Pedro and Pedro also says file every document that belief is important that you believe is important exactly yes so just have copies of your documents and you know for a lot of people is like I'm not going to need that why do I have to print this out everything's fine but what if what if it's not fine you know it's it's fine until it's not and you don't want to be in a situation where you don't have any of your documents and it's just very bad if you have a copy you can easily go if you lose your passport you have a copy of your passport a physical copy a digital copy you can easily go to your nearest embassy and get it get a temporary passport so you can travel back home all these things are just a lot easier when you have copies so just keep that in mind half number one make copies of important documents like I said I didn't do this in the past I just started doing this a couple of years ago and yeah it's important to keep your stuff together all right so that was hack number one so I hope you you all are going to do that as well physical copies and also digital copies that's very important let's look at hack number two so a lot of people if you haven't traveled much yet you might not know this but you need to be aware of the 100 milliliters rule for liquids right so what does that mean there's a rule for carrying liquids on flights and this is typically for your carry-on so not your checked luggage your checked suitcase can have liquids with over 100 milliliters but your carry-on you can only have like these little ones that are no more than 100 milliliters and typically they need to be in a clear see-through ziploc bag bag or thing at the airport so it depends on the airport I've been at airports where even at one airport I was recently where they were like you don't have to take it out they have such advanced scanners that they don't really you don't have to take it out anymore it's fine other airports they are not maybe that advanced they don't have this new technology you have to take it out so it depends on the airport just be aware of that the worst thing that could happen is that you bring something that's too big you know your whatever it is your liquids any any skincare or also water right and then you just have to leave it there you have to throw it away they take it you can't bring it with you and if if it's something that's really expensive because skincare is expensive and you have like a toner or whatever it is it's over 100 milliliters you have to give it to them if to throw it away so just be aware of that another thing if you can't put it in your in your checked luggage or you don't have a checked luggage you only travel with a carry-on what you can do is using click and collect services at airports for items like perfumes or also medications to avoid confiscation and a click and collect service is basically a service that allows you to buy this stuff like duty-free online and then you pick it up at the airport and it'll it'll come in like a duty-free bag and these items can be over 100 milliliters and then it's fine so if there's something like that if you want to buy just be aware of that you can just order it and then pick it up at the airport but it's just one thing a lot of people might not think about the 100 milliliter thing because we've seen this all right we're at airports and there's people in front of us at the security check and all of them have to throw away their waters or you know they get angry because they have to throw away an expensive skincare item and things like that so just be aware of that beforehand 100 milliliters for liquids in your carry-on and it needs to be in a clear little ziploc bag that was hack number two all right moving on to number three something also a lot of people don't think about right bring a travel adapter and bring the right travel adapter so what does that mean different countries in here's a small little image of all the different types of power plugs and things but different countries have different outlets power outlets they use different plugs and things right so for example here in korea they use this type which is what this is too small i can't see that but is it type uh e maybe so these ones whereas in the us they look very different right so if you bring something from the us to korea for example it wouldn't fit because in korea use this so research before you go what kind of power outlet what type of plugs they use in this country and then buy a travel adapter they also sell travel adapters that literally have every single option oh i should have put mine out i have one and you can press different buttons and then the different plugs come out depending on what you need there's one for uk there's this one there's a us one whatever it is they have these the most common types and then you can use it so always carry the right adapters for for your electronic devices just to make sure you have access to your power points especially if you're a taffle teacher on the move so that's very important to you you have access to your stuff right your laptop if you're working as a teacher you need your laptop right um you don't know how many times i've spoken to people who moved to a new country and they didn't think about this and then they're like oh i can't charge my laptop because the plugs are different the power plugs i need to get a new charger takes a couple of days until you get it or you find one and it's just a whole mess and it can't be avoided you just get a adapter and it's fine or you just research and then get the right kind and maybe if you're lucky they use the same one as in your country and then you don't have to worry about it at all but most of the time just make sure you research that because this is also a detail a lot of people might forget and then adding on to that so especially when you're traveling you're in a hotel room or you're in a studio apartment you're in a small place this would be hack oh hack number four and there are not many outlets always pack a power strip so especially if you need a lot of electronic devices so this is hack number four pack a power strip okay so carry a compact power strip with multiple outlets because some you might only have one adapter okay so you can use your adapter with the power strip or you get a power strip there and then you can use the different outlets but a power strip is just very convenient you can charge multiple devices simultaneously using just one single power adapter and it makes it very convenient to keep your electronics powered up especially in locations with limited power outlets so a lot of hotel rooms as you might know or even your apartment your teacher apartment might not have that many outlets especially a hotel room think about it I always most of the time when I'm in a hotel room there's just never enough outlets so it's really really difficult to charge everything you kind of have to manage what you know what's higher priority to charge when you have your camera you have your phone you have your laptop you have your all the other things your batteries I have a drone as well so I have to charge that it's it's a lot so having a power strip with you is just very convenient also when you travel especially as if you travel longer term for example as a digital nomad and you also work from there you teach online from this place having a power strip can just make a big difference so that's my hack number four pack a power strip then we have hack number five so this is the wi-fi section and there's two hacks that kind of tie into that so one is portable wi-fi so you might not know this but there's actually um they're also called sometimes pocket wi-fi but you can invest in a portable wi-fi device or mobile data plans to stay connected especially if you're a digital nomad or a frequent traveler just be cautious of roaming charges and location based conditions so what you can do you can either buy your own and use that for whenever you travel so basically what it is yeah it's a portable wi-fi device so and it sometimes works for multiple phones or multiple devices as well so you have your pocket wi-fi and you can connect a multiple devices to it so you can connect your phone to it you can connect your laptop to it whatever you need to research though how many devices you can connect to one device one portable wi-fi thing sometimes only one is allowed depends on the brand what a lot of airports or countries are doing you can actually pick up and rent a portable wi-fi device as well this is what i've done in the past as well before so you can already kind of reserve your portable wi-fi device in advance and then when you arrive at your destination airport you can pick it up there will be like what are usually it's like telecom or whatever their you know the national telecom brand is they would have like little booths at the airport and you can pick it up from there or if you didn't have a reservation you can just i guess if they have availability you can get it from there as well directly after you arrive and then there's typically different plans so like a three-day plan a seven-day plan two-week plan a whole month plan different pricing and then you have this portable wi-fi device and sometimes again more than one device can use it so if you travel with a friend or a partner you could use it together and just be connected that way that is hack number five i've used that before very convenient also just you need to make sure that you need to charge this portable wi-fi device as well so make sure you keep an eye on the battery life of the device as well if it runs out of battery you don't have any internet so that's also one thing that's why it's good to have a power strip so you can charge all of your devices again see how it's all connected if you don't want to get a portable device because again it's it's it's a device right it's about the size maybe as um like this depends maybe like this size so it's another thing that you have to have in your bag all the time in your backpack maybe heavy um so maybe it's not for everybody right if you don't if you don't travel with a lot of stuff you don't want it it's too bulky you can opt for a sim card right you can get a sim card nowadays again at at airports when you travel you see travel sim cards they will have this as an option again for different days three days seven days ten days a month whatever um you can get a sim card just put it in your phone super easy but this is also something i would recommend doing obviously when you move to your new country your new host country as a tefl teacher get a local sim card right um you don't want to use your sim card from back home it's too expensive um and a lot of times actually especially in korea um having a korean phone number you will need your korean phone number for a lot of things to register a bank account um to do many things and all ties in kind of with your phone number so having a local phone number is often necessary and you need to get a local sim card so get a local sim card in your host country and then maybe when you travel and you prefer a wi-fi portable wi-fi device do that um or also get a travel sim card in a different country when you travel but yeah instead of relying on expensive international roaming definitely get a local sim card and this will just give you affordable access to data and calls allowing you to stay connected without incurring hefty charges so and usually um what my place of work did when i first arrived in korea they will help you get it so they will go together to the local whatever phone sim card shop and set this up for you you know someone from your school when you move abroad they will help you with things like that they will also help you with setting up a bank account typically you're not like thrown in cold water there's usually someone there and help you pager says sim card is more convenient yeah you know it depends if you're like traveling with a friend and you want to save costs or split the costs maybe a portable wi-fi device is a better idea it just depends or if you bring another device like a laptop and you want that to have access to the internet as well um yeah some people prefer the portable wi-fi device other people prefer a sim card they do the same thing so definitely just depends up personal preference all right then we're jumping into hack number seven download offline maps so this might be something you haven't even considered before if you have good on you um i actually haven't tried this i tried it before um something i haven't thought about before when i traveled but i was in a situation where i should have done this and then i think the next day or as soon as i got to my hotel i was like oh i need to download these offline maps um so basically what this means is just download offline maps or take screenshots of essential maps in case you don't have access to a reliable internet connection and this can be crucial for navigating a new country right take screenshots you never know the internet connection in different countries varies even when you have a portable wi-fi device or you have a sim card sometimes you just don't have a connection you know the the wi-fi the internet in different countries is maybe not what you're used to from back home and you might have no signal so then what do you do if you're out and about you're traveling you're navigating where you need to go you're screwed if you don't have offline maps so a lot of i think on google maps they do it as well so typically um map apps will allow you to download maps for like whole cities offline so that means you don't have to be connected to the internet to use the maps and to navigate um so you can do that in advance you need to do this though while you are connected to the internet so make sure you kind of check it out when you're still in your hotel room where you have internet or still back home in your in your country and you download these offline maps so that whenever you are in a situation you don't have internet and you need to use your map that you have it download it offline and also this kind of ties into with the maps research which map services or which map apps um are available in the country you are visiting because some countries don't have google maps they use other services um especially in asian countries where i travel a lot um a lot of times google maps just doesn't work this is the case for example in china they use their own maps in korea also google maps works but not really well so research that beforehand and make sure you get the right map and navigation app a lot of cities will also have public transportation apps for example in Seoul there is a Seoul subway map which can be super useful so you can type in you know where you need to go what station it will show you exactly what subway line to take where to transfer etc etc so a lot of cities and countries do that so research beforehand what kind of navigation apps map apps you will need before you go so you have it ready download it on your phone and you know it's working you know it's the right one and download offline maps as well if that makes sense all right let me take or drink some more coffee here and moving on to hack number eight let's have a look oh this is about finding cheap and last-minute flights so this hack is more for when you're already in your new country for traveling abroad most of the time in many many countries actually your employer the school they will pay for your flight from your country to there a lot of times depending on where you want to teach some countries don't so you have to you know pay for your own flight but a lot of countries will pay the flight for their teachers so you don't have to worry about that really because you don't pay for it but this is more for like you're you're in your new country you're ready to explore maybe a school vacation is coming up or some public holidays and you want to go somewhere and explore right so always use flight comparison websites like Skyscanner or Kayak or Google flights to quickly find great last-minute deals right and one important hack as well or with that is to just stay flexible with your travel dates if you can of course if there's set public holidays or set vacation times you can't really be flexible but if you're flexible you know if you want to go this weekend next weekend the weekend after it's also flexible so stay flexible with your travel dates and also the times and then you can get even lower fares on these flights also a mistake a lot of people are making for example if you live in Korea you would search for Incheon Airport the biggest airport in Korea lots of flights lots of connections but sometimes if you explore smaller nearby airports you actually can save you could actually save a little bit of money a little bit more money so there's different there's actually a couple of airports like in Korea for example that are smaller that also fly to really good destinations and you can check that out and save and just be open to spontaneous adventures and set fare alerts for your preferred destinations that's also a really good idea I use use to use sky scanner a lot and they have fare alerts so you could put in like I want to go to wherever Cambodia for a week give me an alert when the price is the lowest for the flight and then if we send you an email as soon as the price decreased another hack also with finding cheap flights is to use the incognito mode on your browser so it doesn't track your IP address it doesn't track who you are on the internet basically or you can also use a VPN to change your IP address because what happens is the more you look up flights let's say you look up flights every day you look up flights okay with your laptop with your computer that flight website the flight comparison website will recognize you and will know oh you already looked at this flight before you looked at this flight before and it'll show you higher prices basically because it knows you're interested and you want to go there so it shows you higher prices until you book it but if you switch to incognito mode or a VPN to disguise your IP address they don't know who you are they don't know you've searched this before and they typically show you a lower price so that's kind of what a lot of people are saying and how it usually works so keep that in mind and maybe next time use your incognito mode or a VPN if you have one just to get the best deal for your flight and maybe another thing with flights I know this from Korea there's public holidays I know this is the case also in Japan and in China where they have these big public holidays right where everybody travels well sometimes that also means that you have to pay the highest prices for the flights for the trains and all of that and you have to be very quick with make your reservations so if you live in a place like this where they have these huge public holidays where like the whole country is on the move literally maybe avoid these days to travel and just stay in your town in your city and explore there just typically then there would be less people around as well a lot of people are doing that in Seoul when a lot of when it's the holidays and people who work in Seoul actually go out of Seoul and go to their hometowns a lot of people will then a lot of expats who live in Seoul kind of enjoy that a lot more because Seoul is a lot less crowded and they can enjoy the attractions more when it's less crowded when all of these locals are kind of out of the city so that's another thing to keep in mind if you can be flexible but of course as a teacher if you have your set hours and your contract and your set holidays school holidays and things like that you might not be that flexible but if you're a freelance teacher an online teacher you can schedule that that way perhaps so that's just another thing to keep in mind good okay so then we're moving into hack number nine which is mitigate jet lag so how can you mitigate jet lag there's actually a couple of things you can do because jet lag is annoying especially when you travel very far and then depending on which direction you go east or west or north or south whatever well north or south actually doesn't really matter much right but however wherever you're going however long the flight is you might lose a whole day or two right due to jet lag you're just tired you need to sleep etc etc which you know isn't too bad but there's a few things you can do to just make it better so that you don't lose that many days so a great way to do this to mitigate jet lag is to gradually shift your schedule already before the trip to ease the jet lag effects um i actually have not tried this to be honest because i think it's really difficult to do we all have our schedule right but if you can try and just gradually maybe a week before your trip try and gradually already switch your sleeping habits maybe to adjust to the new time that might help a little bit um what a lot of people are also saying helps is using light therapy classes you can sync with the new time zone so i've actually seen this i have not used this myself i really want to but there's people wearing these light therapy glasses on the airplane they're like blue light or something like that you can google this you can see them there you get a pair and apparently they are they work apparently so i i think that's really great i would love to try this but of course uh they're not that cheap i think um so if you don't want to buy that and if you don't have time to gradually switch your schedule what you can do that also helps a lot is drinking lots of water during your trip before your trip just getting hydrated will really really help i always notice this when i travel when i'm on an airplane the air is so dry my whole face my whole skin just dries out um and so if you drink a lot of water that will also help with jet lag you should skip caffeine and alcohol just to prevent dehydration because caffeine and alcohol they dehydrate you and also give you sleep disruption now for a lot of people they like having a glass of wine or two on the plane and then they can sleep well um i don't think that works for me but it might work for you and then if all else fails you can always consider melatonin uh with professional guidance to regulate your sleep so these are like sleeping aids sleeping pills i've also done that before on an airplane you just pop a pill and then you can sleep really really well as well normally i actually sleep really well on an airplane i can always sleep but there's people who just can not sleep on airplanes um so if you're one of those people follow these steps then maybe it's worth investing in one of these glasses or it's worth you know gradually shifting your schedule beforehand if you really can't sleep and it just destroys you after and you're really dead for like a week then you might just need to do a little bit more preparing beforehand to mitigate the jet lag so you can enjoy your trip all right perfect i think that's it for hack number nine and then we're moving on to hack number 10 which is don't change currency at the airport um a lot of people do this right especially first time travelers i think um you just go to the airport when you arrive there you exchange or in your local airport you exchange the currency for the other currency just avoid doing that i know there's these currency exchange books everywhere and it's like why why not use them why not that's why they're there for but they usually just have really really hefty extra fees and unfavorable exchange rates they're just too expensive so instead what you can do is you can either from your home country get a travel debit card that offers favorable exchange rates i used to have one like that that was really good um or what i typically do because nowadays um you know in this global world it typically works everywhere i have my local debit card that i can then use at atms when i travel and just get money out that way um and the exchange rate is a lot better when you use that card you just go to the ATM and get the money straight out in local currency Pedro said this is the last night learned in my last trip it was really bad oh what happened tell us what happened with the currency exchange Pedro i'm sorry to hear that tell us what happened and then what do what what will you do differently now let us know so i always do that or um bring a credit card and just try and pay as much as you can with your credit card and have a little bit of cash but i always use my debit card at local atms you just make sure you call your bank or you visit your bank before your trip and tell them that you're going to this in this country and if you can use the card at a local ATM so my debit card has a master card sign on it and that means that it works apparently but yeah make sure that your debit card has this function can do that and then also another hack for um when you're teaching abroad when you're living abroad and you want to let's say you want to send money back home or somebody from home wants to send you money um typically bank transfers from like for example US bank to a Korean bank is very expensive right so there's a lot of services nowadays like wise or also paypal but i think nowadays wise is even better where you can send money online uh in seconds and the fees are very very small very favorable so a lot of people are doing that use services like wise or paypal to kind of send money back home or from home to you to your new country that's a very easy way um i've been using wise now for a while i really really enjoy it i've used paypal before um i like wise a lot more now than paypal so it's super easy you can set up a virtual online account in different countries in different currencies for example you have a virtual US bank account or a virtual german bank account or a virtual Korean bank account and so it's very easy to transfer money there um very minimal fees so i recommend doing that because the worst thing you know you know your heart earned money and you don't want to lose a lot of it by paying these ridiculous exchange rates and fees right we all work hard for our money so it's important that we keep most of it okay then moving on to hack number 11 which is bringing a first aid kit also something a lot of people don't think about number one a first aid kit for when you move abroad to your new country and also when you travel so let's talk about that in a second but Pedro says with the currency exchange so I did some currency exchange and the rate was unfavorable what I do now is that I go to the local bank to get exchanged prior to my trip that's another good tip yeah you can do that too you can go to your local bank instead of at the airport you'll also get a better rate there that's true well I'm glad you learned your lesson Pedro I'm sorry you had to learn it the hard way though okay so back to our first aid kit so always have sort of a first aid travel kit when you're traveling and it should include like basic supplies like bandages antiseptics medications like pain relievers right um or something for diarrhea it's always very important depending on what part of the world you travel to right um personal care items wet wipes sunscreen sunscreen actually can be very expensive in different countries I've noticed so I always bring my own as well emergency contacts also in first aid manual how to do things and then just personalized items so if you need an epi pen for example also make sure for when you traveling no when you're traveling or when you're moving abroad for us girls that you have your birth control you can go to your doctor and tell him hey I'm moving there and there for a year and they can give you a bigger stash of your birth control so you can have it or also things like contact lenses um that you have that with you that's very important make sure you arrange that before yeah it's just always better to be prepared for unexpected medical situations and it can save you the trouble of trying to obtain supplies in a foreign place with potential language barriers and sometimes depending on the country you know the the medicine might just not be the same standard as you're used to back home or you know I'm just used to this the painkillers and things that I use from back home I don't really trust anything that I don't know so it's just better to have like your own stash for things like bandages of course like you can just go to a local pharmacy and get bandages I don't think that that's a problem right for these basic things um antiseptics as well so maybe the basic things you can get anywhere but if you really are in an emergency you want to have all of that stuff already with you that just saves you time um because then you have to find a pharmacy and maybe it's clothes and whatnot and yeah language barrier etc so yeah bring a first aid kit and stock up on those important things yeah if you have allergies birth control contact lenses epi pens all of those things make sure you have a stash of those before you move abroad because then when you are abroad you have time to kind of find out how to get refills and you don't need them right away you still have some time so yeah pack number 11 bring a first aid kit all right pack number 12 and this kind of depends on everyone everyone's different but it's preventing travel boredom okay so if you're somebody who's just sitting on the airplane kind of playing with their fingers or whatever playing with their thumbs and don't know what to do and time just won't go by make sure you prepare beforehand so you have something to keep yourself occupied with a lot of people like to make the most of their travel downtime by staying productive and engaged so you could review and deepen your understanding of teaching materials right from your Tefl course you could review that when you move abroad to teach just kind of get back into it you can always prepare for upcoming lessons making your classroom time more effective another thing you can listen to Tefl podcasts for professional development while you travel as well or what I also really like to do is learning some essential local phrases and expressions you can do that as well on the plane or whatever you can watch movies of course but sometimes that gets boring real quick as well so if you really want to stay productive and engaged you can just follow these things review your Tefl course material listen to a podcast like the ITTT podcast we do have a podcast I mentioned this earlier but we always turn our live sessions into podcast episodes yeah red pursuit says watch movies on the phone or laptop yes yeah so some airplanes they actually have a really bad entertainment section they have really bad movies in them so if you have a favorite movie a favorite show or something you want to make sure you download it onto your phone beforehand onto your laptop beforehand or if you want to play a game or something like that make sure you have that on your phone make sure it works offline as well so that you're enough bored while you travel basically but again this is personal preference however you want to keep yourself entertained different ways to do that then we have hack number 13 also very important and also a lot of people don't think about this but it is getting the right travel insurance so some countries they provide insurance during your stay as an EFL teacher but this does not include other travel destinations right so when you move abroad to let's say you move abroad to Korea you move abroad to Japan wherever you typically get local health insurance as part of your teaching contract right of your work but it doesn't cover other places if you leave Korea or if you leave Japan that doesn't count as travel insurance so in this case you want to invest in comprehensive travel insurance that covers medical emergencies trip cancellations and also lost or stolen belongings it's just as a TEFL teacher having that reliable insurance can offer a piece of mind and also financial protection and I never really thought about travel insurance before but I was younger but it's something I now always get when I travel because you never know what happens you never know what especially I feel like we always say this nowadays but in today's state of the world you never know what happens and then you need travel insurance you need to you know get transported back home god forbid or something like that just you never know what happens something gets stolen you know I once traveled with somebody on the train in China and their laptop was stolen you know things like that and if you ensure that you can get your money back or part of the money back so always do that always make sure you get travel insurance and if you have to go to a hospital back home you keep or in your travel destination keep the receipts of everything have them issued if possible in English and then you can provide that to the insurance and you can get the money back later so that's also very important always keep receipts of these important things especially think like medical you know hospital visits things like that you can then claim that at your insurance later so yeah hack number 13 always get travel insurance very important birth it because it's your health it's your body make sure you have it hack number 14 language learning apps so it's always useful to learn a little bit of the language of the country that you're moving to or also traveling to especially just saying please thank you can just go such a long way and luckily in today's day and age there's so many easy ways to learn a little language and just by downloading a language learning app specific to your destination's language you can easily just learn some basic words and phrases that will really make a difference and you know get you closer to the locals and connect with the culture and things like that like I said even basic phrases they can really go a long way in connecting with the locals and just navigating day-to-day life in foreign countries if you want to do even more learning you can take online lessons before your trip I did that at the beginning of the year for a trip to Japan I took a couple of Japanese lessons with a teacher one-on-one online and it was really great I was able to use these phrases when I was in Japan I was able to read some Japanese I was so proud of myself and it's just a whole different feeling when you travel because you actually understand a little bit of the country of the culture it's great I love it and especially when you venture outside of bigger cities where people might not speak English that well when you can order food when you can buy something in the local language it's just so helpful for you but also you know just nice to connect with the locals and it's just a whole different way of traveling when you're able to speak that language even if it's just a little bit it just helps it goes such a long way so I really recommend it right now I'm still learning Japanese with Duolingo for example that's a very popular language learning app all free as well they have a premium plan of course but they have a free plan it's really good where you actually really learn something so pick it up it's super useful I recommend it it's a lot of fun as well and then finally the last hack hack number 15 travel as light as possible so something I need to kind of get better at but whenever possible travel with just a carry-on to avoid checked baggage fees and reduce the risk of losing your luggage of course if your checked bag is already included in your ticket price there's no problem there's no harm in doing that right but most of the time if you use different airlines you have to pay for every single bag every single thing you you bring on to the plane it's more expensive so if you just travel as light as possible just to carry on is usually cheaper it also saves you time at the airport since you don't have to wait at the baggage claim you can just go out and just always pack efficiently and try and mix and match clothing items to create various outfits during your trip we've all seen this maybe on Pinterest on tiktok all these different things you can combine these clothing items to create different outfits I'm also not very good at it to be honest so I need to get better at traveling as light as possible sometimes it's really hard but sometimes you just have to and yeah also keep in mind that you know if you're traveling to a place and you're staying there for a long time you can buy new things there and you can always wash your clothes right even I did a backpacking trip through Thailand once for three to four weeks and I think halfway through the trip you know we just went to a local laundromat and washed our stuff so you can always do that um and wash your stuff and get you know clean clothes again that's always an option and especially me I travel a lot alone and then having too many bags is a problem it can get very heavy if you're just one person so that's also a reason why you should travel as light as possible or you invest in one of these really good backpacking backpacks that's another thing you can always travel by backpack that can be another hack and useful for traveling as light as possible so these are my hacks just something to keep in mind I hope maybe you learned something new along the way but here's just a quick recap of all the things we mentioned all the things we talked about so we talked about making copies physical actual copies and digital copies of important documents very important your passport your visa all of that make copies of it store it on the cloud but also have actual copies of it with you when you travel then be aware of the 100 milliliter rule for liquids if there's anything that's over 100 milliliters in your hand luggage you have to give it up you have to throw it away bring the right travel adapters just research what power outlets what power plugs they use in the country that you're visiting it might be different than your country so you just want to be prepared um and then also pack a power strip so you can charge multiple devices a lot of hotel rooms they come just with one or two power plugs not enough to charge all of your camera your laptop your phone your drone whatever you have I have a lot of stuff so I definitely need to do that get portable wi-fi or a local sim card when you travel so you are connected don't use the data from your home country typically that's very expensive right get portable wi-fi or a local sim card in the other country so it's cheaper download offline maps so you can navigate even if you don't have any internet there's an emergency you can still use your maps offline find cheap and less minute flights with the tips that I gave you and also mitigate jet lag when you can if you know that you're having a hard time with jet lag if you know that you can't really sleep on an airplane you might follow these steps right it will help you don't change currency at the airport the fees are too high the exchange rate is crazy so either do it at your local bank as Pedro suggested or just get money from the ATM there make sure your card can do that your card works use a credit card just don't exchange money at the airport bring a first aid kit make sure you have all of your necessary medications if you have any allergies birth control contact lenses things like that you have your stash with you prevent travel boredom so make sure you have your entertainment for when you travel get the right travel insurance very important get travel insurance and then make sure there's so many different kinds of travel insurance there's one that just works for you maybe it covers your phone it covers your expensive camera things like that um learn use language learning apps I always really recommend that like I said knowing just please and thank you and hello and goodbye can make a big difference for your trip and lastly travel as light as possible when you can to avoid any additional fees and also for yourself if you're traveling alone and you have like a bunch of bags it's very difficult sometimes to get from one place to another so these are my 15 travel hacks for Tefal teachers traveling Tefal teachers I hope you enjoyed them I hope you learned something new today and then just some information how you can find out how you can reach um ITTT oh and there's a spelling mistake in general of course that just one end here general information um you can always email us at courses at tesal-tefal.com and again our website is tefalcourse.net and this is how you can reach us on social media but whenever you have any questions about Tefal TESOL our courses reach out we're more than happy to speak with you courses at tesol-tefal.com and then I'll be able to answer some questions that you might have about today's topic or about anything else related to Tefal or TESOL if you have any now is a great time to ask um and again you have this 30 percent off discount code so you can scan this QR code or you can use the link I'm just gonna share the link again with you let's see I think I shared the wrong link earlier but it also has the discount code on it oh no we still want to see the slide okay so let's see this is the correct link the apply link all right I'm gonna share that again with you guys 30 percent off here we go this is the link looks like this ends with fb live minus linda this will get you a 30 discount off of any Tefal or TESOL course it so you can get started with your English teaching career um and yeah if you have any questions I'll still be on for a couple more minutes to answer them so let me know don't be shy type away in the comments and I'll just finish my coffee and does anybody have any trips coming up and planned maybe you can use some of these travel hacks let me know in the comments where you going what's your next upcoming trip curious let me know and then just as always like and subscribe stay tuned for next week's live session if you have any uh topic suggestions and ideas let me know we've uh I'm always looking for new you know ideas what to talk about so let me know if there's something you want me to really talk about next week um teaching related Tefal TESOL related let me know and I will do that but yeah I hope you enjoyed today's session I did it was fun makes me want to go on a trip now really makes me want to travel maybe I need to check out some flights after this and book a trip also if you're watching this later or as a replay you can always leave your comments below and then we'll get back to it later as well okay Pedro says I enjoyed your suggestion about travel hacks I'm traveling to Peru and Ecuador in December I am so jealous Pedro Peru has been on my list for ever since I was a teenager I don't know I've always been fascinated by Peru really want to go to Peru um so I'm really jealous I really want to go to is December a good time to go to Peru need to search so I really really really want to go to Peru as well all right uh Ray says is online teaching getting oversaturated just curious and your opinion um that's a great question I would say no I know it's getting super popular and big but it's also because so many new platforms are also popping up and the more you know the more platforms are popping up of course the demand because the demand is also growing especially since covid and everybody did you know took lessons from home and things like that um there's really a huge boom and it's continuing until now there's a huge boom and so more and more online platforms are popping up because the demand is also high and then they also need more teachers so I don't think it's getting oversaturated um there's still opportunities maybe like the big really big platform sometimes you see that when you apply for you know at at one of the big platforms that they don't hire any teachers who speak a certain language at the moment because they have enough that can happen but I don't think it's getting oversaturated we're not there yet I think the demand is still very very high um that's why a lot of online teachers are still working and getting hired so I don't think it's getting oversaturated right now it's still very popular a good um field to get into I would say okay Pedro says yes so Peru is or December is a good time to go there interesting maybe one day one day I'll go to Peru great well I hope you have a wonderful time there Pedro you need to tell me all about it in December after December amazing all right well thank you so much for the questions if there's no more coming through I am gonna sign off now um I really enjoyed today's session I hope you did too maybe you learned something new today or you know it was just interesting to watch um please tune in again next week if you have any suggestions let me know and until then just stay happy stay healthy and I'm excited to see you again next week I really hope I do and thank you again so much and have a wonderful weekend and then I'm gonna say goodbye thank you all bye


Hello everyone welcome to talk of the town. I'm James Milan and we are back in the studio for our one of our regular meetings with our State Senator Cindy Friedman always a pleasure to talk to Cindy always Illuminating so thanks as always for coming in good to see you James glad to be here appreciated We know that that this is not an easy morning for you I know I This is one of my workout mornings, and they really put me through the paces today, so I'm But they're wonderful. I actually go to fitness together on Broadway and whoa Nice plug. I want to give them a great plug. They're amazing. Although right now. I'm not real happy with that That's right. It was a workout with capital W capital world today But all right, we'll see if we can revive you during during the conversation Oftentimes when we're talking and we like to get you know a general update about what's going on at the state house and with your priorities Etc. And obviously we are going to get to that But oftentimes we we start there and then we end up talking about Arlington specific issues near the end of the conversation I would like to invert that today and start by Saying that you know we'll talk a little bit more about where the budget is and the surplus of money that We know is the case in here in 2019 But just tell us about how either budgetary decisions or allocations or other kinds of policies Are going to be impacting Arlington specifically Okay, I think there's a couple Things that are noteworthy first we had a good budget this year and we increased money for chapter 70 which is education and we Funded local aid and so I think Arlington about about 14 million dollars in Chapter 70 money and I think About 7 million in in local aid and don't hold me to those right right in front of me but But are those let me sorry to interrupt but are those numbers like So it's 14 million compared to Something else something 12 million before or is it actually 14 million dollars more in no no It's it's not 14 million dollars more, but it is an increase. Okay, and right now we did mostly that increase in In specific Student funding so we increased the the number of dollars per student that we okay great We also As part of the supplemental budget we put in money for Additional money for chapter 90, which is roads and bridges, which is something that Will support Arlington hopefully and Then we also had some I put in some earmarks we about I think was 175,000 for Arlington Youth Counseling Center $85,000 for food link We also did I put in some money for English at large, which is a wonderful Wuburn program of supporting immigrants learning Learning English so we got some of those earmarks in and that right so just to clarify for those in the audience who might not know earmarks or kind of Budgetary allocations to very specific projects or organizations or yes, okay Yeah, it's a way of us getting it's a way of us being able to support specific local Local work, okay great and a white you know I'm sure the program in Wuburn as you say is really excellent and we all know that a YCC and Food link are both very value valued institutions in this town. So good news there Yeah, yeah, and the great thing too about food link is that it covers my all my whole district So even though it's it's Arlington based right they work with People all over the district. So I feel like it's it's something that benefits all my communities. Yeah, that's a great That's a great point that food link is based in Arlington and was born in Arlington, of course But as we know he's continuing to spread its tentacles in the best way the best possible way So yeah broad more and more broadly, which is great And probably the money that you you know got for them has got only going to help with us with those efforts I Don't want to interrupt where you know, I mean that so I think in the budget specifically those were some of the Pieces that I think were Arlington You know specific along with the how much money we put into for instance the Department of Mental Health We we have nine hundred million dollars that we you know the Department of Mental Health budget 100 million of that is if is for children or actually in addition there's 100 million dollars for children's mental health Those are the kinds of things that I feel like support all of our communities across the Commonwealth So those are some of the budget Items that I might point out it was so long ago that I Were on to the new budget at the supplemental budget So I'm trying to remember okay. What was it which one right so in a sense It was so long ago and yet budget Issues and questions are still with us. Yes, you know We were talking to you as well as our state reps a couple of months ago and got the word from all of you that That as you just repeated it's a good budget this year and I've obviously a good budget Can be and often is defined as more money there for lots of worthy programs and but From what I understand and I would love some clarification the the actual Allocation of especially there's surplus money to be spent etc. They're This is stalled in some way or can you just tell us what's going on with the budget right now? there's two pieces one is the annual budget which we passed and is moving forward and Then there is what we do throughout the year the supplemental budgets and At the end of the year there is a supplemental budget, which is called a close-out Budget and basically what it does is it makes whole any? Accounts that may not have gotten enough money. So perfect example is is salt Okay, the the the you know the salt and the plowing but we know You put a certain amount of money in Depending on the year you have you may have put enough money in or you may not and at the end of the year You make that account whole so that's what a close-out budget does this year We had Supplemental money. We actually had more money To the tune of maybe one billion dollars At the end of the year so there was a Effort to say okay, what should we do with that money? First of all, let's close out. Let's make everybody whole Secondly, let's put a chunk of that a large chunk of that into the stabilization the rainy day Rainy day fun and then we have some money left over to fund some programs that are important to us to fund So we did that and for instance in the supplemental budget on the Senate side we put in money for Sidewalks and streetscapes for Arlington. So there's sixty six thousand dollars in there for Arlington to To support the Broadway Plaza there was streetscapes and sidewalks for Lexington I put in and streets aid for for for Bill Ricka. So those were some of the things that we got to Put in we had some more money for Substance use disorder we put in put that money in What's happening now is this? Procedural issue of how we so the house did theirs. They did their supplemental budget We do our supplemental budget. We send our supplemental budget back to the house And now what's happening is what's going something is going on in the house for how they need to move that piece of legislation Forward so that it can come back to us so that we can have a conference committee and work out the differences And right now the procedural issue is in the house and they've got to figure out for all sorts of inside baseball Reasons how they're going to move that bill. So we're sort of the Senate is kind of sitting there going just kind of Let's let's we'll help you but let us know and so there's some back-and-forth going on So that's the money that stalled Not the big not the fifth why 20 budget money It's the closeout for FY 19 and some additional money right that people would love to have okay, so Again, we're talking about as we've mentioned in the past good problem to have Have to figure out oh extra money. How are we going to allocate it? Etc. But nonetheless things work the way that they work or don't work the way they don't work In the state house and we're stuck right now and in a moment. So hopefully this gets resolved quickly Things start moving along we can feel confident though that the things that you said the the the money going to Arlington Lexington Bell Ricker et cetera for these streetscapes it will it will come Great we will see that money Anything else you wanted to say about the budget more generally or just that we also got five million dollars in the budget for Substance use disorder treatment and harm reduction. I think that that's a really important piece That we're going to put more money into Those activities and those services and organizations that reduce harm around Substance use disorder. Okay, so I actually did want to ask you about that because I noticed the artful use of language Into in in referring to what you're talking about as harm reduction sites. I Know that other people would have other things that they call such places. Oh, yes So describe what you're talking about, right? Okay, so there's harm reduction reduction efforts So that's things like making sure people have clean needles to use to stop the spread of HIV and hep C There's Access to people who have substance use disorder increasing their access to just general health care very important There's Programs in that are helping people with substance use disorder. That's important There is also another piece and this is what people have been talking a lot about which is called a Safe use site or safe injection site or harm reduction highly controversial. We have to say highly controversial Which would allow There to be a place where a person with a substance use disorder who's using can go Use their drugs with oversight from medical professionals to make sure that they're First of all to watch to make sure that if there's a reaction somebody's there To make sure that their power finalia is clean That they don't reuse needles or that they're not They stop infection things like that and then Also to create a safe supportive place Which every bit of research says when you provide these kind of places You allow an opportunity for a door to open to treatment So while the first and foremost most we want to keep people safe The also the benefit of it is that you are you can create a space where certain people Would be willing to then go into treatment. So I think on that last point. That's probably where critics of this would Would be you know, we would voice some skepticism about you know, how? strong the evidence is there or something like that, but I am Intrigued by the fact that again if we I'm happy to refer to them as harm reduction sites for the moment But that those places are really bringing into high relief this wrestling match That has been going on for the last number of years in this state at least of How to look at the opioid crisis, etc Is it something that is a criminal that should be treated in a criminal way? should it be treated as a public health issue and this really does kind of put that you know make that in Rather a bold spotlight on that very intersection there. Yeah And I assume that you are a well, I'll ask you I shouldn't assume Are you a supporter of of the this approach? Yes, I am a very strong supporter of this approach. I Absolutely firmly believe that substance use disorder is an illness and not a crime now people who sell drugs people who You know are on the you know are out there trying to hook people and you know make money They're they're criminals and there's just no question about that But somebody who has who uses drugs who's a substance has a substance use disorder that is an illness in every sense of the word and We need to start treating it like the illness that is Nobody decides that they want to be addicted to heroin or opioids or methamphetamine. It's not a happy life These people are just at that point just trying to survive So it's our job to help them in any way that we can and we have different programs for people But we don't we don't have every door not every door is open and it has been shown That at least you need to keep people alive and safe before they can get treatment if they die they can't get treatment and And So this is just another tool in the toolbox. It has shown that it doesn't increase drug use It doesn't increase crime. In fact, it reduces crime because people go to places and are not victims Or they you know are not victims of crimes, which is often happens, especially for women and There's medical intervention. So I Just very strongly believe that it's and it can't be about our comfort. It has to be about what works for an illness and there's no other illness that we would get into This kind of discussion around saying well, should we give them a treatment that we think works? right and Again, you've just articulated that you see that the the you know for those who would be Using in a harm reduction site because they are drug users That really on a societal level the people that they are most likely to harm are themselves That's right. It's not others. So that's an important point That reminds me of the fact that you're also working on legislation I believe to address another aspect of that which is section 35 Civil right well you tell us about that so section 35 is a section in the chapter in the mass general laws that allows Somebody to go to court and ask the court to intervene for a loved one or somebody they know Who has a substance use disorder and is a harm to themselves. It is an imminent risk so if my child for instance is has an opioid addiction And I can't I'm worried that they're going to die. I can go to the court and say will you Put this person in into an involuntary treatment for and it's a very defined amount of time and If the court finds that that person is in fact a harm to themselves or others They will then commit them to a treatment program It's called a civil commitment because nobody's done it. They haven't broken any law You know, they haven't you know robbed anything or or hurt anybody, but they're hurting themselves And so that's a civil commitment Currently you can under a civil commitment Be placed in a correctional facility that is treating Substances like and the big one is Mesaq down in Plymouth We I firmly Believe that nobody that is civilly committed that has an illness should ever Ever be placed in a correctional facility. It is not where they belong if you had a heart attack We would never consider sending you to a hospital in a prison This what this bill says is that the the state is on the hook for having enough beds so that people with civil who are civilly committed because of a substance use disorder go to a Treatment center that is not part of a prison. And I Suggest everybody, you know Google Mesaq and find out all of the stories that have been going on around there for people who are civilly committed and how they're treated When they are in those facilities and they don't belong there It is not the it is not a medical model that we should be Perpetrating and that's what this bill would say is you can't do that Mm-hmm, and you said that it puts the onus on the state to ensure that there are enough beds Is that because at least in part the response to critiques of the current system is hey There aren't enough yeah I mean that's what the courts will say is if you take this away from us We don't have places to send these people and in fact, it's a valid It's a valid concern in the western part of the state the only treatment center is in the house of correction In Hampton that is the only place in the western part of the state where somebody who? Has a substance use disorder and is committed civilly. There's no other place for them to go they'd have to go to Worcester or go to Boston and That's a very valid Issue there's we need to have places in the western part of the state But that's our job to figure out and that's the why we have the department of public health and the Department of Mental Health and The Executive Office of Health and Human Services, so right so hopefully that if the bill goes through in fact We'll just see more we will see more facilities in places where we yeah, great Um Interestingly this topic that we were just talking about I think is a good intersection of two of your main concerns as a legislator I know and that is you know health and public health And and also the criminal justice system and how those two things yeah collide a lot of the time, right? Yeah, and don't necessarily work all that well together I'm wondering if I can now just zoom out a little bit and ask you more generally These are these are both areas that you're always I know working away to file legislation to Help different constituencies and constituents What's what's what's the update on what's going on with some you know the more major pieces you're working on The governor has just come out with a big on the bus health care bill which has some really interesting things in it and as the Chair the Senate chair of health care financing that bill will come to our committee So we'll be we'll be having a hearing on that We are working very hard in the Senate on specific pieces I think you're going to see a pharmaceutical bill very soon coming out of the Senate Which is going to hopefully address the issues of the high cost of drugs and I don't know if anybody had noticed but when the state every year does a cost-trend hearing where they look at the cost trends in in in health care and One of the biggest Increases has been in pharmaceuticals as and I I bet you could randomly call anybody and they will say yeah I either my either Drugs went up or I they're no longer Covered and now I'm paying out of pocket So it's a it's a huge issue. So we're going to be looking at that specifically and then we'll We're going to be looking at next pieces so Whether the Senate does an omnibus bill or not is up in the air, but we will be doing health care and taking up a lot of the pieces that you saw in the Governor's budget and that in the governor's bill and that bill Will it will have a hearing and then it will go to the house because it was filed in the house So they'll take it up first last session. We did a health care bill first Sent it to the house. They did one, but we never reconciled it. So let me ask you as you know now You've been at this for a while Working between the Senate in the in the house, etc How hopeful are you that something of substance? No pun intended will Will come from the pharmaceutical, you know the work on on You know kind of restraining Yeah Prescription drug prices, etc. How hopeful are you that something real is going to is going to come from this? I Am hopeful I think that there's so much pressure on the system that if we don't address pieces of it There's going to be a real It's it's going to implode even more than it is imploding today So I think there is a sense among My co-chair in the house and you know house members I'm sure and the Senate that we absolutely have to continue to address health care I don't think that's a question The question is always how do you do it? Okay, and there is so much at stake in health care There are so many players that have so much skin in the game Especially around money That it is a real effort it will take a real effort on our part to move that For to move the cost Containment forward because it really will mean that some people are going to have to make a little less money right That we have to get costs out of the system And these aren't costs that are helping improve health care They're costs that are going into the pockets of people doing of companies mostly doing business And I am all for people making a profit. I'm all for you know innovation But at some point It is so affecting the consumer They are not seeing the benefits of all of these great new fabulous things that we're doing in the health care space Because they can't afford it or it's not accessible so Revenue at the expense of the consumer is something that we really have to address and that's what we're looking at It's got to be about the consumer and I can hear the Urgency in your own voice and I assume what you're saying is that you're you're you're far from alone that you you have That sense from your colleagues from the two chambers that there is this feeling Yeah In the same way as you're describing that something has to be done about this and soon right I I think that's true I mean the governor put a great stake in the ground around Pharmaceutical pricing I don't I May not agree with Exactly the way that they're doing it, but they absolutely put a stake in the ground and said we're serious We've got to do something about about the cost So so we know it's coming that that they recognize it on the administration I believe the house recognizes because they hear from their consumers I mean you you you should look at the Hearing that we did around some cost pharmaceutical cost prices and listen to the stories of people who are who need insulin I mean it is when you start rationing your insulin when you have Pharmacies that are are telling to people if you don't use all you need I know somebody who needs it and they can't afford it When you don't go With your insulin you can't you go for days because you can't you're trying to right That this is that's unconscionable. They're you know there that is just beyond What any of us should spend any moment accepting? So I think people get that and I hope the pharmaceutical companies really begin to hear that We're serious But we have to show it in action right so right especially because as you said you're up against yep Very very deep pocketed With with a very vested interest in the status quo, so good luck with that speaking of Though things that need to be done and everybody agrees and yet Let's talk a little bit about transportation Do you have anything nice good hopeful or otherwise to share with us about Possibilities for how again to deal with what we have talked about so many times yeah a Transportation system in this country in this state and in this city even which is not adequate right To the existing needs much less You know looking into the future Anything going on there that we can hang our hats on at all Well, I think what we can hang our hats on is that Talking about pressure the pressure is intense and the pressure is intense on the state to address it And there was a couple different bills The house has a transportation bill that they're working on now. I know the Senate we've been I know that the the shares and The committee has been looking at transportation I Think we are getting to a point where we where we don't have to explain to the governor that it is a revenue problem Although you never know. I think they're looking at some short term and some medium terms the long-term fixes the The truth though about transportation is we do need to fix our transportation system and we need to do it now We actually needed to do it 20 years ago The problem is that anything what I've seen that anything we were looking at is a long-term solution We need to do it, but it's not going to immediately reduce the You know the traffic on 93 which I go through every day when I can't take the tea Oh, and by the way when I take the tea sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't it's you know so We're going to have to get smarter about how what we can do in the short term but we're also going to have to keep the will to make a change even though this current administration and maybe this Legislature isn't going to see the outcome of it because it's going to these these take five ten Twenty years to build the infrastructure that we don't have so in the meantime We've got a I think focus on housing and making sure that people have housing and they have housing near Transportation so that they can at least get on the tea or they're near where they work. So housing is critical To to helping to solve this problem and then I know we're looking at congestion pricing Which people are very interested in I have issues with because I think contrasting congestion pricing That's when you you have certain tolls and they go up and down depending on the time of day, okay? Great idea Except if you don't have an alternative Then what you're just putting the burden on people who have to get in their cars to drive, right? So when you say don't have an alternative you mean you got to get the public transportation, right? You know you have to get that you have to get that as a viable option for people if we had a great transportation system I'd congest in price Everybody on everybody Get on the train get on the bus get on the You know the tea but we don't have that people don't have that choice It's going to mean that That business that employers are going to have to say, okay, we'll have shifts We won't have everybody coming in at eight or nine o'clock We'll have shifts so that we can reduce some of the pressure on the streets. Are they willing to do that? Right, okay, so everybody's gonna add to just yet another thing that everybody's gonna have to put skin in the game So I wish I could tell you this is the answer and it's gonna happen right now, but it's not we've we've got to We've got to have a shorter medium and long term I do believe we need to reduce the price on the tea that we should make it very cheap to ride Buses and trains. I think the commuter rail prices are too high for many people coming from Bill Ricker or coming from Newbury port it's expensive to ride the commuter rail And I think we have to address that we've got to reduce the prices. That's something we could do That's something we could do and you're saying that you really feel like That is something there's either data to show or it's your sense for sure that there are Some number of people who are opting to get in their cars and get in increase the congestion simply because it costs too Much for them because hundreds of dollars for certain people to take the commuter rail every month if you're a If you're a minimum wage worker or even if you're you know, somebody making I don't know Middle-class middle-class wage. That's a huge amount of money a week Absolutely, and we need to get people to work and we need to keep I mean that's our job infrastructure is our job and It's not it's not the job of the private sector. It's the job of the government to provide that so One more job of the government that I just wanted the last thing that I know that I want to ask you about other than One little thing about Arlington that I forgot to ask you about before but one other thing that the government in my opinion is responsible for is Addressing and reducing discrimination in all its different forms and you know from Racial discrimination through sexual orientation through everything else I know also that that's an area that you're always working To to to mitigate I'm wondering if there are any at any updates on legislation that you're doing In the sexual harassment or discrimination area anything like that. Well, I do have a bill and The bill would include a venture capitalist firms and and grant makers to Come under our sexual our protected class rules. So right now employers have all sorts of requirements and and statutes around what they can and can't do and that are for protection of people and and to Give people the right if they are being discriminated against to seek course of course it turns out that venture capitalists and Grant makers in general do not fall under that category because they're not typical employers And it also turns out that especially in the venture capitalist world. There is a lot of discriminations especially gender and Well, I'm sure I'm sure minority too, but but gender is what I know about And and so this this bill would just say if you were in that type of employer You fall under you fall under the the requirements that we have for all other employers And so that's a bill that I've been working on and I think has some legs and hopefully we'll see We'll see that move. Mm-hmm. Great anything else from Your world that we haven't covered that you would like people to know about Well, probably but Maybe it'll come to you as you answer the following question, okay, which is There is one you know Well, it's an ongoing issue and yet and and it's cropped back up again on the Arlington radar and that is Disposition of the MuGar property and we have been talking about this Arlington has been concerned with this for years and years now But it is that property a budding budding route to near a wife that is There's going to be development there it looks like The town has long opposed the development as it has been posited up till now What are your what are your opinions about it? And Yeah, I guess that's what I would like to know where where do you stand? so I am very much opposed to The MuGar development especially as we are seeing it from oak tree. I think they're still called I believe so. I Have always I've opposed in the past. I oppose it now. It is does not belong in that Place. I'm a huge proponent of affordable housing But that size development. It's so clearly does not belong there and I I empathize with the neighborhood. I empathize with the people who are trying to stop it. I Firmly am in support of the work that they are doing and I will do anything I can as the state senator To help the town address the issues around that development and I know they just got a ruling from DHCD that It can move forward. It's going to be going to I think to the zoning board. It it just doesn't belong there and All you have to do Probably you can do it today is drive down a lifebrook parkway Or drive down that inner that exchange around the tea and You will see How what a disaster it is in terms of flooding and being able to mitigate water and the thought of just putting more massive buildings on there is just It defies logic so We will you know, I will I'll support help it I'll support the town and the neighborhood in any way I can as the state senator It's it's tough to change, you know, this is a 40 B It's very hard to change that legislation, but it's clear that we have to relook at that In a very thoughtful way so that we continue to make strides in affordable housing, which is the most important thing right now across the state is housing and So we really need to make sure that we have housing for people and we have to do it in a way that It can coexist with our environment, which is very very fragile right now. Thanks for that Yeah, and and that's a wrap as far as I'm concerned unless there's anything that we like all of a sudden You've remembered anything that that you'd like to mention. If not, that's fine No, I think we covered a lot of good areas, but I really appreciate being able to come on and talk to you and Be here at ACMI. Yeah, it's a great rhythm that we've developed and We appreciate both you and your office working with us because this is what one of the things that we see as a real public service That we can offer to the residents of Arlington and frankly the rest of your district as well But we you know, I've said it before I'm sure I'll say it again We really do appreciate the fact that you come on here you give us straightforward an answer to every question that we ask as you are able to do and It is both refreshing but also I said you were it's illuminating to talk to you It is because that's what we're getting so we're very appreciative of that. Well, thank you And we look forward to the next conversation as always I do too And that's it folks. I'm James Milan. This has been talk of the town with our state senator Cindy Friedman We appreciate you joining us and we'll see you next time


it's been busy busy busy when I tell you I've been busy just busy with life and the week search is going by like that girl we're gonna be in summer soon hell it's already summer here in Phoenix his school they be doing too much like literally every other week it's I'm glad he's not gonna be going to this dangled school from the summertime I mean I understand that we you know it's good to be you know active but let me know if this is what I'm I'm to expect his old school wasn't like this but this school every week is something this week they're going to a actually this week is Spirit Week so dress your kid up in neon dress your kid up for sports dress your kid up backwards I'm like the hell going to the zoo tomorrow which should be interesting I have my anxiety pills ready girl and then next week is teacher appreciation week I believe again it's to keep you keep the parents involved but I shouldn't have to do all this stuff I'm already homeschooling to a little bit so Lord have mercy I mean that's going real good jb's JB is coming along really well there but child he needs to get in a extracurricular activity I'm trying to hold off until he goes to kindergarten because it's just gonna be I feel like there's gonna be so much he's gone through in the past year I mean he still talks about his friends at his old school because we see some of them every now and then and so he would have been at three schools in one year I think that's a lot yeah three different schools in one year that's a lot like I said we have all that other stuff going on next week too um what else what else what else have y'all noticed some of the changes on YouTube I've been seeing quite a few besides the I feel like a lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon when it comes to content and we've y'all heard me talk about this before so I'm really not gonna go down that rabbit hole right now however I'm a little upset that a couple of people are actually leaving African hair got posted last week that he would no longer be doing hair related videos and I absolutely love his videos because he's one of the few people who know what the hell they're talking about and he's a stylist so he has hands-on experience you know what I mean you don't find too many people on here who are a stylist that do natural hair videos and there's a mono's hair there's deeper than deeper than hair is that her name there's a few that I like and stomach and he was one of them so I was on Facebook earlier this morning looking at some groups and I'm in and y'all people women complain just people in general complain about the same thing about Phoenix it is really hard to connect with other people out here and I've been here for 12 years so I think I can talk on it you know it's hard to connect with people and it's hard to stay connected and ironically the people who I've gotten close to or from the South so maybe that's a cultural thing original thing I'm not sure but I just think about the times I've gone back to Dallas and I immediately start talking to people maybe because I feel more at home but these people are actually coming up to me most of the time so it's just hard you know I've tried to get in contact or meet up with a girlfriend I had not seen her in three years and we used to work together too and after a while when you know when you try to reach out to someone you just give up so I'm just like okay I'm I've reached out to you now two or three times and at this point I'm just gonna stop and say boom not in the middle of the road on the side right here she's like I'm not going there nothing that's making all that noise I think this is a peacock it's very beautiful really do this for about 15 minutes and avoid the water baby you have to get wet he found my best friend loves charger and then somehow remember that an iPhone my old iPhone was up there it took me all morning to figure out how this is like an iPhone 3 or 4 not even that this is like an iPhone negative 2 2 that's from 2013 and you know what the password is hold on no don't tell them the password not that it matters they y'all they can't why would you know don't tell them the past y'all saw clips from the zoo look we were so tired coming back look at my hair y'all this is a wash and Joe from the main wash and Joe wash and go from the main just hit the button down there there you go and I think I used too much of the gel which is why it's flaking in the front it looks cute yesterday I really didn't get on camera yesterday but it looked cute yeah it'll turn off by itself baby it'll go to sleep anyway you guys it is Saturday okay JB yes great I'm getting so frustrated you guys when it comes to my car my yeah no husband hit my car like two months ago of course he immediately gets his car fix due to Kelly services or whoever the auto place say you may want to go through a dent place now he's like maybe you need to call a few dent places and see how much is cost I'm like oh so you could just go and get your car fix to the insurance but since it may be cheaper for me I'm like why didn't you do and granted my car has the most physical I should say visible damage than his so I'm so over y'all so I told him I said I have a lot going on the next two weeks I have a lot in between JB's all he's having like a little kindergarten graduate and I can go to preschool graduation all this stuff y'all heard me talk about there's a lot every week leading up into my up to my I should say um surgery I said I'm not gonna be able to do anything until July because this that's probably a bit stretched so I may have to call around a few places next week but I don't want to deal with that and I told him that I said you know I don't want to deal with that how about you just dish up the $500 for the deductible and we call it a day he got quiet girl but no I'm just talking y'all talk a lot so let me show you something I just saved my husband some money I went online to look up some dent repair places and I came across a couple of blogs that showed how to get dents out of cars now I need to work on these other two but I was able to use the plunger isn't a plunger isn't that crazy to get this huge dent this was the huge one out and then the dent up there I mean it's it took me a little bit of elbow grease and I have to do a little bit more but that's gonna save money those days and I didn't over here no Chucky cheeses you know what's so funny why we were there I kind of I think I cut that footage out I was speaking earlier when I was laying them on my bed I was talking about how one of my friends who I used to work with she's moving on the state her and her family are moving to Michigan her oldest daughter's is on the spectrum she has autism think she's like eight years old now and apparently Michigan has some of the best schools programs in regards to autism Phoenix education system is horrible we are up there with I had to say this for like states like Kentucky and Alabama like the public school systems are horrible not only that but there has been an increase of and this just really bothers me this is why I'm trying to convince my husband to get the hell out of here there has been an increase in racial issues and racial bullying towards African-American students in the schools here anyway to say all this is that I'm so glad I ran into my friend at Chucky cheeses because she's having to give a get get together I'm going away for her family but it's like May 4th which is the day before single-demio and all these people out here love to celebrate single-demio even though they don't like Mexicans I'm just being real and it's on a Friday at 6 30 and an oyster place and I don't eat I'm actually allergic to all that stuff so anyway I'm so glad I ran into her was so funny she tapped me on my shoulder I turned around I hadn't seen her in like four years and I'm looking at her I didn't recognize her one her face is always beat to God one but two she saw a lot of weight I think that was really it she's lost a lot of weight at least 40 pounds so got to see her which was good and we were chit-chatting and I was telling her as I'm gonna tell my husband that my girlfriend is moving out of state for the future of her child education that's I think that's this is our favorite song oh yeah I'm tired this is one of my favorite gospel songs I love Park sisters so that I have the ending of this song which is about five minutes on a CD this is me playing through YouTube so doing doing that total towards the end of the song I think it's what Duranda was singing through the storm I made it and so JB was like you the storm what does that mean and so I have to break it down for him cuz he's just a baby what it means to still praise God and the storm matter of fact you should be thanking God and praising God when you're at that low at your lowest because that's when you grow in your walk with Jesus Christ okay man he don't want to hear your praises when everything is going good girl when things are going bad when you're sick you're feeling lonely on that's when you should be praising God and thanking God and going to God all right let's get into the store


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