Casual/Plain Speech

[ss]

Flipping back to those workbooks, I found the following conversation:

男の人と女の人が話しています。男の人はいつまで休みですか。
Ｍ：　やー、昨日も今日もゆっくりしたね。
Ｆ：　ええ、明日も休み？
Ｍ：　そう。
Ｆ：　あさっては？
Ｍ：　あさってからまた会社。
Ｆ：　そう、大変ね。

I have learnt ゆっくり as in "Take your time, no hurry, ...." or something like "Read/speak/Do it slowly ..... ". I've not heard of ゆっくりしたね like the above 会話。 I don't get the "feel" of ゆっくりしたね at all, in first catch. It sort of strikes my mind, if I do not know the meaning/usage of ゆっくりしたね there, how am I going to answer the question like such in listening test, especially when it is only played once?

As I'm still working on the 2kyuu study group, I'm also thinking, is there any opportunity we can include some real daily speech (plain/casual speech) in between the session?

Any feedback is welcomed. Thanks in advance.

[Harisenbon]

I think you pretty much answered your own question when you said that you know that ゆっくり means to "do it slowly."
In this case the man is saying that he took it slow on his days off, or in more direct english, was relaxing.

[ss]

Harisenbon-san, thank you very much for your reply.

Are there any different expression of "relaxing" in Japanese?
Those are words I wish to learn as well. Thanks.

[spin13]

Well, there are リラックスする and くつろぐ. In related meanings, there is also 楽にする, which can translate as "to relax" but could also be "to get comfortable" or "to take it easy". I often hear 楽にして as a command which might best translate as the imperative "relax".

As for ゆっくり a common phrase by employees in service positions would be ごゆっくりどうぞ. It certainly gives me a feeling of "Please, take your time" as in a lack of pressure to hurry rather than an actual need to do my dining or what have you at a slow pace (such as just "Slowly, please"). If that's not akin to relaxing, I don't know what is.

-Eric

[Garappachi]

Also, in the context above, I would say のんびり and ゆったり, too.
ゆっくりする itself does not mean （会社を）休む but keeping on one's relaxing(?) and implies 休む in this case. So the man just answered ゆっくりした instead of 休んだ directly. のんびりした and ゆったりした are the same.
「昨日、会社を休んだの？」と訊かれて、「昨日はゆっくり/のんびり/ゆったりした。」と言ったら、それは会社を休んだという意味です。

[ss]

Thanks Spin13 and Garappachi *san for your input.

I've heard of ほっとする日, does this mean "a relaxing day" or "I feel so relieved, today."
Can ほっとする日 be used in the above dialogue (Contextually okay?)?
If not, what could be the possible context?

Thanks again.

[Shirasagi]

The sense of ほっとする is a feeling of relief after something worrying or taxing. (The ほっ represents a sigh of relief.) So, to my ear, ほっとした日 sounds like a day where one could finally relax after continuously working for days on end. A break from the insanity, as it were. So, IMO, it wouldn't quite fit the above context.

[ss]

Thanks again Shirasagi-san and everyone. Your input has been very useful for me.