[0:01]Let's start off by talking about drinks. What's your favorite drink? My favorite drink would be coffee. Every morning that I wake up, I have to have my coffee first before I even eat my breakfast. And which is not very healthy, I know, but I prefer that way. Are there any drinks you drink in the summertime to cool down? Yes, I do actually. I have a favorite, it's called Barbican. I've also tried this other drink, which is called Freeze. It's a brand that I've recently explored. And it has less sugar, so that's beneficial. And I also like drinking fresh lime juice or juices in general, because they are healthier options. What's the healthiest drink that you like to drink? Smoothies. I love bringing leafy greens in general and putting them together. A great example of that would be spinach, kale, throw in some flax seeds in there and a spoonful of honey, organic honey, obviously. And maybe with a fruit and then mix it all up and it's a very good option if you're into health. Now let's talk about staying healthy. What do you do to stay healthy? I make sure that I have a proper diet. I make sure to include protein in my meals. And I also try to eat clean green food, leafy greens, vegetables. I gravitate naturally towards vegetarian food because I, that's my personal choice and my personal opinion that I feel like if you were to eat animals, for example, it's not the healthiest options and I could go on and on about that, but I'm sure not everyone agrees. Um, I also try to include lots of nuts and, um, and exercise. You have to get your workout in. It's a must. How often do you exercise? Every day, I exercise for about an hour and a half. Even on days that I don't feel that motivated, I try to walk it out or get on the treadmill for a bit, or I could do some basic yoga poses with my mom and that makes me feel less guilty about skipping my workout. In your country, what's the most popular way to keep fit? I feel like a lot of people in my country prefer walking. That's something that brings people together in a way as well. Um, friends decide to meet up for a walk, for example, or older women or older men in general, they prefer meeting up for an evening walk or a morning walk. So I think walking is one of the things that we like to do a lot. Now let's talk about cooking. Do you like to cook, or do you like to eat out? I love cooking, but I also like to eat out. However, if I had to pick one, I would pick cooking, because I I feel like it's a, it's an outlet for me and it's very therapeutic. I I like creating something with my own hands and it gives me a sense of, um, joy. And I also love feeding people. So I love cooking for my friends or for my family, or if there is something specific that they crave or that they love, I love to be the one who's cooking it for them. Did you learn to cook when you were a child? Um, Before we continue, I have a gift for you. I've analyzed hundreds of band nine transcripts from our successful VIP students and I've put the 100 most used words into a PDF for you. If you want that, go to the description or the pinned comment, you can download it for free. I wouldn't say so. I started cooking when I turned 18 or 19. Um, or probably 17. I can't I can't uh, recollect. But it was a passion that, um, I found out I had after I used to be, because I used to be really interested when my parents were cooking. And I would always want to know how to do the next step and then I started, um, watching cooking videos online and then I cut myself watching cooking shows and that's when I knew I really love cooking. Are there any cuisines that you would like to learn how to cook in the future? I would love to learn how to cook Arabic food. I feel like their food is so flavorful, but their way of cooking is a bit different than the way we cook in India. And um, it's simpler. So I would like to know their thought process and how they cook their meats for example or how they blanch their vegetables or how they put together a meal in one, because it's usually layers. It's at least the food that I like. It's usually in layers, so I would learn I would like to learn the technique that they use for that. If someone from a different country was visiting your home, what would you cook them that would give them a good idea of food and cuisine from your local area? Okay, so I would cook butter chicken for them. I'd like to think that I cook really good butter chicken.
[5:37]After all the compliments that I've gotten. And I love to eat it as well. I mean, imagine I would create that meal with my own hands and then share the joy with every single person in the room and that feeling is unexplainable. Last month, I got myself a bookshelf and, um, I got it online. I was a bit hesitant before I got it because, um, I just had my doubts if whether or not it will be the perfect bookcase. Um, however, it turned out to be something I really adore in my room. I wanted to sort of make my own mini library because I love reading books and, um, I had a bookshelf before this, but it was smaller and I wanted to expand since I have more books now. And it's something that brings me a lot of joy and, um, in my free time, I like just, um, browsing through my bookcase and seeing which book I'd like to pick. So I've categorized everything this time and it's just something that brings me so much joy. I chose this particular thing because I feel like even when I will grow older, I feel like I can always share this joy with other people and, um, they're also going to be intrigued, um, when they come over to see what books I have and, um, it's sort of also gives an insight to my personality and the things that I like or dislike and the things that I like to learn about. And, uh, I would also get to know them better by the book choices they make. It's just how my thought process works. That's the end of part two. And we're going to move on to part three now. So we've been talking about something you bought for your home. We're going to continue to talk about creating a nice home. Why do some people love buying lots of things for their home? I feel like every single time that they see something new, they instantly want to have it and it ends up at home. And some of the times, you grow out of it and, um, but you still have an emotional connection to whatever it is that you've bought. And, um, it just ends up there or gets passed on. And I think that's why people buy a lot of things, sometimes they don't even need that much stuff. Do you need to spend a lot of money on a home to make it look nice? No, I don't think so. Nowadays people are a lot more into recycling and doing things themselves. So what I mean is they like to DIY things at home. And I'm a big supporter of that. I believe we should do that often. Um, because there are so many things that end up in the wastelands that are not even supposed to be there and that can be reused and, um, for years, honestly. So, to answer your question, I feel like, uh, you don't need to spend a lot of money. You can DIY stuff or you can thrift even, I believe. Why do some people not care at all about how their home looks? I feel like it has a lot to do with how they're feeling emotionally, internally. It doesn't have much to do with their home, but it's just that they lack motivation to get up and to tidy up their space. And it can happen to the best of us.
[9:27]Um, I also feel like you need sometimes you need the right motivation to get up and make your space feel like home. Because sometimes people don't feel like they belong internally because they're going through things, so even a home doesn't feel like a home for them and hence, I feel like they don't really put in much efforts. Now let's talk about different types of homes. Do you think it's better to live in an apartment or a house? It depends where you're located. I have lived in an apartment and I've also lived in a home. Both were really, really nice. Um, apartments feel a bit shared. However, home feels like this is your space and your family space. That's how I felt. Um, growing up we lived in a home back in my country and it felt like, okay, this, these four walls are like our thing. This where this is our house, but in apartments, like you have to make sure that you're careful about everything you're doing, because you live with a lot of other people in the same building. How do you think homes will change in the future? As I can see from now, buildings are growing everywhere. So I feel like a lot more apartments are available compared to back in the days. Um, a lot of homes are available as well. So I feel like it's a 50/50, but I would still lean more towards buildings. I feel a lot of buildings are being constructed lately than they used to back in the days. Do you agree that the type of home that people prefer changes as they get older? Yes, I do agree. For me, at least, um, I live in an apartment now, but when I grow older, I would love to have my own home. Um, I would love to see my kids grow up there and I would love to have my own little patio. I'd love to have my, like I said, like own little things. It's just a mental thing. One thing I want to talk about with you is everybody has different personalities and everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. One thing that I've noticed with you is you really shine when you can relate things to feelings and emotions. I'm the opposite, I can't talk about feelings and emotions. So if you ask me to do it, I, I don't think I would get a band nine. I'm very analytical and I'm, I'm good at discussing stories and examples and things like that's how I relate to the world. But for you, every time you talk about emotions, you shine. You're able to be really fluent and and you can really dig deep into that topic. So anytime you are doing the test and you feel a little bit stuck, try and move the conversation towards maybe not even how you feel, but how other people feel. When you're discussing a part three questions, you do talk about your other people's feelings a lot and you tend to find out much, much easier.
[12:41]I agree. You do feel that way. 100% I agree. I agree. Thank you very much again. Thank you, Chris. If you want to see Isha's other band nine performances, click here or here.
