DIALOG ACTIVITY— Two Old Friends

It’s a winter day in the morning. Two people walk down the street. One stares at the other when they smile

Alex: Sorry... Are you... Helena? I can’t believe it! How long since we met for the last time!

Helena: Alex? The crazy Alex from University? Oh my God, what a coincidence! How are you!?

Alex: I’m fine. I’ve just arrived from the airport. And you, how you doing?

Helena: From the airport? Where did you arrive from? You are always traveling, you make me feel envy...

Alex: Well I just got back from Sydney... I’ve been studying there for a while for the master, you know, and now I have a jet lag...

Helena: Wow! It had to be fantastic! Oops, look at that, it seems it’s going to rain. What do you think if we go in a bar and have some coffee while we talk about our lives?

Alex: OK. That would be great! I know a cool place nearby. Do you have an umbrella? It’s getting dark...

It starts raining

Helena: No I haven’t got an umbrella, we’ll have to run!

Alex: OK. It’s not far away from here.

They enter into a coffee shop while thunders start to be heard outside

Here we are. It’s not the Ritz, but still...

They take a seat and wait for the waitress

Please, take a seat. And tell me... What have you been doing during all those years?

Helena: Well... I don’t know if you heard something about it, but when I finished the degree I got married.

Alex: Yes... Well... I thought those were just rumors, so I didn’t pay much attention... And... How’s the married life? Have it changed much your life?

Helena: A year has passed since the wedding.. It was very nice and romantic. All it was perfect but now all of that seems to be gone...

Alex: Oh! Why’s that?

Helena: I suppose that we did everything too quickly and we didn’t know each other enough... So, we have different priorities and we want different things... It’s a bit different from what I expected, but I’m more or less fine.

Alex: What do you mean?

Helena: Well... Today at breakfast time I had an argument with Derek, my husband.

Alex: I’m really sorry. I hope it wasn’t anything serious.

Helena: Well, hem... I’m just a little worried because my husband wants to have a baby soon. But... We’ve only been married for a year!

Alex: I truly understand you. You don’t feel ready for such responsibility, do you? Also, what about your future career?

Helena: Absolutely not! I had a lot of plans in my professional career and a baby at this point... It would change everything!

Alex: I know really. I guess it’s a sensitive issue. What does he say when you tell him that you don’t want a baby right now?

Helena: He tries to convince me saying that it is a marvellous thing and that now it’s the perfect moment because we are young, full of energy and both of us are working.

Alex: However, you don’t thing it’s true, isn’t it? Me neither. I think that you are very young for this... At least now. Having a child brings many responsibilities: food, home, school...

Helena: I’m so happy to see that you understand me. I feel very pressure.

Alex: I can remember those moments in the University. It all was so easy! Don’t panic, really!

Helena: Anyway I don’t want to annoy you with my silly couple problems.

Alex: They aren’t...

Helena: Tell me about Australia, your life... I think you have lot of things to explain me, more than me to you. Now... Will you settle down here or will you go back to Australia?

Alex: Well, nothing interesting there. Just some years of my life studying what I wanted. I didn’t had enough and I wanted to go to the other side of the world. The first weeks were very weird for me. You know, Sydney isn’t a little city like Lleida. I rented an apartment near a river and we’d to evacuate it some weeks later because of floods, which sadly brought my possessions. You can imagine I’d to rewrite my thesis again...

Helena: What’s a petty! And now will you settle down here or will you go back to Australia?

Alex: I got tired of Australia. You know what it’s like... Having summer vacation... In winter? It’s so frustrating when here it’s summer, and there it’s winter, and vice versa. So the summer vacations are in winter... It’s so weird. And crocodiles... They laughed in my face from the riverbank. And sharks are even worse. While swimming they follow you as if they were friendly... But then, suddenly, they mercilessly thrown to you. Look, the wound of my arm.

Helena: Wow! Really?

Alex: No!

Laughs

Just joking!

And mosquitoes were the worse part... They are as big as rats, and their bites make you a sting that big.

Shows an exaggerated size

So that is why I came back to Lleida.

No, really, I needed to come back home, see my old friends and relatives... So I’m staying here in Lleida for a long time.

Helena: I’m surprised, I thought it had been a wonderful experience.

Helena’s mobile phone rings

(Talking by the phone) OK, OK... I’m coming... I found a colleague from University... Alright, see you now.

She hangs up the mobile phone

I’m sorry I’ve to go... It was Derek, he wants that I pick up a trousers from the dry cleaning and it closes at one, so I’ve five minutes.

Alex: Oh, no problem! It was so nice to meet you.

Helena: I hope we can meet again soon. Give me your telephone number to be in touch. Sorry, I’ve to run... Goodbye, see you soon!