foreign

so let's talk about countries all right

let's do it so you live in Japan right

now yes that's right I live in Japan and

I teach English in Japan oh

[Music]

well Japan is a very very expensive

country

uh so transportation is very expensive

in Japan train tickets are expensive

also sometimes taxis are expensive even

buses are expensive

wait so you don't have a car in Japan

actually I do have a car

that's funny because

in Japan cars are very cheap

so cars are cheap but taxis are

expensive it's crazy

that's so weird in the UK where I'm from

taxis are really cheap but to have your

own car it's so expensive wow that's

strange

hmm so I'm really interested in Japan

tell me what's beautiful in Japan oh

Japan has lots of beautiful things the

temples are very very beautiful

um the nature and the scenery

are beautiful as well

there are beautiful forests beautiful

lakes beautiful beaches

and even beautiful buildings

so what is different

well Japanese is difficult

So reading Japanese is very difficult

writing Japanese is difficult because

kanji is difficult kanji

is the Japanese character

and how many characters are there in

kanji there are about 2 000 characters

so it's difficult to learn all the

characters all the kanji it's very hard

Japan

well there's many things

that are fun

about Japan

uh the people are fun they're very nice

and teaching English in Japan is Fun the

students are very nice

so day-to-day life in Japan is fun and

exciting

so I live in Japan

but you live in Thailand

so what about Thailand

what is expensive in Thailand

well Thailand is a really cheap place to

live but some restaurants are really

expensive

for example

if you go to a American restaurant

that's very expensive

but if you go to street food carts

they're really cheap

yeah and the street food is very

delicious

it's amazing

So speaking of food what Thai foods are

really delicious

so my favorites uh

pad capral and this is pork it's spicy

with rice and chili

I also like Tom Yum Gung

this is like a soup

but it's very spicy it usually comes

with shrimp and mushrooms

Ginger

and I usually get some rice

yeah I love Tom Yum it's really really

good

so what is difficult about living in

Thailand

I think that transport is a very

difficult part of living in Thailand if

you have a car the roads are very busy

so it takes a long time to get anywhere

in the city

I usually use the Subway or the SkyTrain

system

but these get really busy in the morning

so when I'm taking the train to work

there's usually so many people on the

train at the same time sometimes it

actually makes me late for work

yeah the trains in Japan are really busy

too

and what is fun about life in Thailand

so I really like the people here

Thai people are so friendly they're very

fun and they always like to hang out

yeah Thailand sounds like a nice place

to live

yeah it's a great place to live actually

hey Todd let's talk about months and

American holidays all right let's do it

great

what holiday is in January well in on

January 1st we have New Year's Day right

it's very fun of course I love New

Year's Day me too

and what about February in February we

have Valentine's Day on February 14th oh

that's right so romantic yes

I don't like Valentine's Day

I never have a girlfriend oh sorry yeah

what about March what holiday is in

March March has St Patrick's Day right

right on March 17th yes

do you usually celebrate St Patrick's

Day I do I love green green is my

favorite color me too oh nice

what about April

April has April Fool's Day

um

but that's not a holiday

not really but it's still fun to

celebrate on April 1st right oh usually

Easter is in April usually yes but the

day changes every year right sometimes

it's March though true right okay

what about in May what holidays are in

May

and May

I think a lot of countries have a

holiday on May 1st but America doesn't

have a holiday on on May 1st but we do

like to have

fun holiday fun celebrations for Cinco

de Mayo May 5th right what do you

usually do for Cinco de Mayo we usually

eat Mexican food

same and I hear that in Mexico they

don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo really

yeah it's only in America that's funny

yeah funny yeah I actually heard that St

Patrick's Day also is not popular in

Ireland

oh

surprising yeah I don't know maybe maybe

okay what about June

in June we have the first day of summer

oh what day is that I think it's on June

21st I think so the longest day of the

year I love that day me too it's the

best yeah in July in July in America of

course we have July 4th Independence Day

what do you do on

July 4th Independence Day

I would have a barbecue with friends and

family and watch fireworks yeah me too

the same it's fun

what about August is there a holiday in

August

I can't think of a holiday in August but

my brother's birthday is August 15th oh

that's great yeah my younger brother oh

wow

do you know of any holidays in August I

don't but usually school is out in

August so right for the whole month

there's no school yeah vacation time

what about September

well September has Labor Day

um

but I don't remember the day is it

September 1st

I'm not sure I think it's September 1st

second third or fourth

is every year maybe it's the first

Monday I think I think so

let's see after September what holiday

is in October

the best holiday

Halloween yes I love Halloween and

Halloween is October 31st right every

year plus October has my birthday oh

what day is your birthday

until December

coming up

yes

okay so what holiday is in November

November

day Yes actually Thanksgiving is my

favorite holiday oh you said Halloween I

know um I changed I changed it

what day is Thanksgiving it changes like

Easter it's

on the third Thursday

is it the third

okay it's the fourth Thursday okay

you're right it's on the fourth Thursday

of every November right how do you

usually celebrate Thanksgiving I have

dinner with my family and I watch

football yes it's tradition watch

football right

okay what about December

uh well December has Christmas which is

December 25th yes

and we also have New Year's Eve which is

December 31st right both fun holidays

yeah really good holidays

I like it because you get lots of time

off work or school

yeah it's good to spend time with

friends and family

and get presents of course

so when is your birthday December 14th

oh nice I have to remember

yes you can give me a gift so what is

your favorite holiday

my favorite holiday is actually

Halloween

oh okay I change Again YouTube

hello are you the new teacher

um yes

my name is Natalie

I'm Todd nice to meet you nice to meet

you too welcome to the school thank you

so what is your morning schedule so

first period I teach maths

so do I I teach math first period too oh

cool after that for second period I

teach French

you speak French I do we

that's great well I speak some Japanese

so I teach Japanese second period

yeah but my Japanese is not very good

but I'm the only teacher that speaks

Japanese so I teach Japanese maybe you

could teach me one day

maybe but I don't know much

how about third period what do you teach

third period third period

period I teach English too our schedules

are very similar

I know

although it is my first day I'm a little

nervous

so what about the afternoon schedule

what do you teach fourth period so

fourth period I think I have

physics

oh you teach physics yeah I love physics

do you teach physics no I don't teach

physics but I teach math so I teach math

fourth period oh what do you teach in

fifth period in fifth period That's the

sports period so I am the cross country

coach

[Music]

but I'm the coach for swimming oh really

are you a good swimmer

I think I'm a really good swimmer how

about you

I can swim but I'm not a good swimmer I

like running oh I hate running how far

do you run well for the class usually we

run 5k Every Day wow 5K

so sixth period I hear that's our

teaching hours yeah so sixth period we

are in the classroom but the students

are free they can do what they want but

the students can come to class and ask

questions

cool so do lots

of students come but not too many

oh okay well this is your first day in

your first week so maybe

the job will be a little crazy but I

think after your second or third week

the job will be very very easy I hope so

oh

I think the students will like you a lot

I hope so too maybe if you have some

time

a tool of this

sure I'd love to great thanks

so Natalie let's talk about times okay

like when we do things sure first

when do you get up

I get up

yeah I get up early too

I don't get up at 7 30 but I get up at

8.

oh well

sometimes I get up at eight maybe at the

weekend

yeah

actually I I always wake up at six

I wake up very early but I don't get out

of bed I wake up I have some water and

then I sleep some more I sleep two more

hours

really yeah it's a bad habit

I wake up at 7

[Music]

. so bad I know I read that it's not

good to check your phone in bed so I

never check my phone in bed

what about breakfast when do you eat

breakfast

I usually eat breakfast at around

no time no time how about you

I usually have breakfast right away so I

wake up at eight or I get out of bed at

eight and then I eat something at 8 15.

so I eat something as soon as I get up

well I always eat and I always have

coffee very early do you have coffee

every day every day I have three cups of

coffee I have one cup of coffee around

eight o'clock I have another cup of

coffee around

10 o'clock and then I have my last cup

of coffee around two o'clock or three

o'clock
whoa three coffees yeah my office is buy

a cafe and the cafe has really good

coffee so I love their Cafe mochas

oh I hear you

so when do you start your day at work or

school

well

oh that's

fairly early yeah it's okay I work for a

few hours in the morning and lunch comes

by really quickly how about you when

does your day start well I have two jobs

so now I make websites and I work at an

office so I start at 12 o'clock

so noon so I start my day late and I

finish working at eight o'clock or nine

o'clock at night

oh it's great I love it because

there's no traffic

at noon

when I go to work and there's less

traffic at night when I come home so I

finish at nine and the train is not

crowded and it's really nice

it takes 15 minutes by train and

if the weather is nice

on nice sunny days I walk to work it

takes one hour and I walk home it takes

another hour
I bet that's really nice it is nice I

like to walk to work and I like to walk

home

but I work at night so I eat dinner

really late I eat dinner at 10 o'clock

and that's very late and a little

unhealthy when do you eat dinner well

yeah 10 p.m is really late I'm usually

in bed at that time

I usually have dinner I'd say

Maybe

7 30 p.m wow you have dinner before I

finish work I know but if I don't eat at

that time I get really cranky so you go

to bed around 10 o'clock

I'd say midnight sometimes one or two

A.M

wow that's interesting because on work

days Monday to Friday

I go to bed late

but

on the weekend my days off I go to bed

early

yeah so on Saturday night and Sunday

night I go to bed at 10 o'clock but

Monday to Friday I work I go to bed at

12 o'clock or one o'clock so why get up

early at the weekend

I don't know I actually don't like

staying up late
but I do it for my job so it's strange I

guess on the weekends some people like

to sleep in

on the weekends I like to go to bed

early oh my at the weekend I love to

have a lie in bed sometimes I stay in

bed all day and watch movies oh

you know I'm guilty of that too I do

that also

so Todd where are you from I am from the

US I am from San Francisco it's on the

West Coast

and what do you do I'm an English

teacher

also I create ello so I work on ello a

lot

okay how old are you I am 47.

yeah I am old no it's not old

uh who is your best friend my best

friend is Dawn he is a teacher too he

lives in America

and are you married no I am not married

I am still single

where does your mum from my mom is from

California she is from Los Angeles

and what does she do she is a manager

she works in a clothing store uh

where does your dad from my dad is from

San Francisco he is not from Los Angeles

um but he met my mother in Los Angeles

[Music]

and what does he do uh he is also a

manager he works for a tree cutting

company they cut trees wow

that's exciting yeah cool job

is it dangerous

it is a little dangerous a little

and Amy what about you where are you

from I'm from Glasgow on the west coast

of Scotland in the United Kingdom nice

and what do you do I'm also a teacher

nice what do you teach I teach English

me too it's fun isn't it it is it is

very fun

um excuse me can I ask how old are you

of course you can ask I'm 34. okay very

young very young

uh where is your mom from my mom is also

from Glasgow ah I like what does she do

well she's retired now but she was a

nurse oh nice

and is your dad from Glasgow yes he is

what does he do

he's also retired but he used to be a

teacher oh wow

many teachers yes

looks like it

thanks Amy nice talking to you you too

Todd
Natalie let's talk about our favorite

things sure

first what is your favorite color

favorite color is purple

really my favorite color is purple too I

know yeah but I don't have purple

clothing

I love the color purple but I don't have

purple clothes oh

everything I wear is purple no kidding

yeah

yeah so cool

so what about food what's your favorite

food

question

I don't like really big pizzas I love

pizza too what is your favorite topping

on pizza

I like really spicy toppings so salami

or pepperoni chilies

and sometimes bell peppers too

do you like thick pizza or thin pizza no

I don't like thick pizza because I can't

eat too much but the thin pizzas I get

lots of toppings and I don't feel so

full

yeah I agree

what about Seasons what is your favorite

season
hmm my favorite season is winter

yeah I love winter don't you no I hate

winter why do you like winter I love the

snow

oh I hate the snow well I like the snow

a little bit but I hate cold weather

yeah

it is kind of annoying but the snow is

so much fun I go skiing and I play

snowball fights and I build snowmen

yeah that sounds fun

what about sports what's your favorite

sport

I'd say

my favorite sport is tennis

that's interesting do you play tennis

yeah but I'm not very good

do you like singles or doubles

at the moment I'm I'm having singles

lessons

they're really fun oh now you are taking

tennis lessons yeah

about twice a week

do you watch Tennis on TV yes I watch it

all the time who is your favorite tennis

player

I really like Roger Federer yeah he's

really good

okay last question

what is your favorite movie

[Music]

have a favorite movie

but

I really like comedies

so what is your favorite comedy

my favorite comedy is Ace Ventura

Ace Ventura is very funny but that movie

is really old it

is classic Todd it's like 20 years old I

think maybe more I know I've seen

yeah I like it a lot too

hey Chantal what do you do

on the weekend

on the weekend I wake up and first I

make breakfast oh what do you make I

like to make toast all right I often eat

toast too do you put butter on your

toast

I do I put butter and jam oh I love

butter and jam on my toast do you eat

cereal

no I used to but not anymore

yeah on the weekend I don't eat cereal

uh on the weekend I cook a nice

breakfast but I eat cereal during the

week

what else do you do on the weekend hmm

let's see

first I clean the kitchen and make my

bed

what about you

I also cleaned my house uh I clean my

rooms I vacuum I wash the windows I wash

the dishes I do my laundry

I do that on Saturday but on Sunday I

have fun

what do you do for fun I go to the park

I play sports I play soccer at the park

sometimes I ride my bike sometimes I go

hiking I do lots on Sunday on Sunday I

relax

I don't study I don't work and I don't

clean my house

nice what do you do on Sunday

I also enjoy my time on Sunday

I really like to meet my friends

and sometimes we go to festivals or

visit New cities

and we eat a lot of really good food oh

that sounds fun Yes actually we also

really enjoy camping do you like camping

I love camping I love the outdoors I go

hiking often oh me too oh that's cool

what about Sunday evening

oh Sunday evening I relax I cook a big

dinner and I listen to music and

sometimes I read my book

but often I go to sleep very early on

Sunday oh wow
and you

well on Sunday I don't cook I usually

order food I order pizza or maybe I eat

at a restaurant

and then later in the evening

on Sunday I always watch TV

so my favorite TV show is on Sunday

night and what's your favorite

show my favorite TV show is called

billions billions yeah it's about money

and Power in New York it's very

interesting nice maybe I should watch it

oh you should but you go to bed early

yeah

around 9

o'clock maybe you can see it

hey Todd let's talk about colors all

right what is blue ooh the ocean is blue

the sky is blue

during the day the sky is blue

and my eyes are blue

mine too

what is red

red let's see well tomatoes are red

strawberries are red

and

and Roses are red roses are red that's

right

yep
what is green

well lots of vegetables are green so

lettuce is green

cabbage is green or purple

and

asparagus is green

right

also grass is green Ah that's right

grass is green

what is yellow

ooh well

lemons are yellow

uh the sun is yellow sometimes

or orange

or red

what else is yellow

sunflowers are yellow oh sunflowers are

yellow that's nice

what is orange

also sometimes the sun is orange

oranges are orange of course

and persimmons

are orange

yes oh I know what carrots carrots

carrots are orange carrots are orange

what is black

hmm

sometimes

dirt is black mm-hmm

the night sky is black right

and your shirt is black it is I like my

black shirt

what is white

vanilla ice cream is white

[Music]

the snow is white yes

and clouds are white clouds are white oh

and sometimes clouds are black yes or

it's going to rain or gray right

what is Pink

ooh some flowers are pink

oh cotton candy is Pink

yes

and

sometimes lollipops are pink

candy it's pink sometimes

now sometimes

women's clothing is Pink

ornaments ormonds do you like pink

shirts I don't usually wear pink shirts

what about you I don't like pink shirts

oh I don't like pink actually

yeah that's too bad so what is your

favorite color my favorite color

is orange

really orange yeah I love Orange it's so

bright

what about you

I have three I like the same I know I

like green

I love green I love blue I love purple

mmm like the cool colors right and I

don't like orange I don't like yellow

and I don't like pink you don't like the

warm colors yes bright colors not so

much oh I

what about red do you like red

I don't especially like red I like red

poppies a type of flower all right yeah

but I don't like to wear red

yeah me too

do you dislike any colors

um actually I don't like

I think it's a boring color

yeah that's true but

often dogs are brown

and I love dogs

I also like dogs so a brown dog is okay

but a brown shirt no thank you

so Natalie

what is a typical day for you for

example what is a typical morning

well I wake up at about 7 A.M

oh that's early

yes I really am a morning person

I think you are a morning person I'm not

a morning person at all uh well I don't

actually get out of bed until about 7

30. okay so what do you do

well I play on my phone I check my

emails I check Facebook

and I read the news

uh and do you eat breakfast at home

usually prepare breakfast at home yeah

what do you eat

oh just the simple stuff eggs bacon

sausages sometimes I'll have toast

do you drink coffee or tea no I don't

like coffee or tea oh what do you drink

actually I like hot chocolate in the

morning

yeah I like hot chocolate too

so what about your day

well I'm a teacher I teach at a school

lessons start at about 9 A.M and we have

lunch at noon

how many classes do you have in the

morning

each class lasts an hour so I have three

classes

do you eat lunch at school yes we have a

huge canteen ah is the food good the

food is great and it's so much fun

eating with the students too

is the food cheap or expensive

I'd say maybe three dollars for lunch oh

that's really good

yeah and for that you get a lot of food

what do you do in the afternoon

in the afternoon I have more lessons

usually taking me till about 4 P.M

oh

and do you have big classes

yes so I teach English that means I

teach the whole year so I have really

big classes

we have about 200 students at the school

that's a lot yes it is

what about the evening what do you do in

the evening

when I get home I'm usually really tired

so I get changed into my pajamas and I

watch TV for about two hours

after that I'll maybe have some dinner

maybe get a pizza and then read a book

or play on my phone again

what do you watch on TV

I really like watching Korean Drama

Korean dramas are cool I know the

characters are so

do you listen to K-pop

uh a little bit but I think it's a

little bit boring I prefer American pop

oh so you like Korean dramas and

American music

that's right

I also like game shows

ah what game shows

well actually my favorite one is busted

and that's also Korean okay

I need to see that

so when do you go to bed

most nights I go to bed at around 10 pm

but at the weekend sometimes it's later

maybe around midnight

well I think you have an interesting and

long day

that's right I'm usually very tired

hello Chantal

let's play a game okay can you guess the

famous person

let's play okay person number one

she is American

okay she is a singer

she is young she is about 25 years old

and now she is very famous

her hair is blonde

and she's very cute and very pretty

hmm

is it

Taylor Swift yes correct ding ding ding

ding

okay so the next person

is also very famous

he is from Argentina

he is a soccer player

he is very good at sports

and

he is on a team in Spain

team in Spain yeah he is very good

he's a little short

but he is quick he is very fast

hmm

I don't watch

so much but is it

Cristiano

ronaldi no

it is Lionel Messi oh I don't know oh no

Ronaldo is the Rival of Leonel Messi I

see okay so one one

all right ready next one this person is

from Hong Kong

he is

older

he is my age about 50

maybe older

he is good at martial arts

he is in many movies

okay oh also he is funny he is very

funny is it

correct ding ding ding

ding okay so now let's switch you ask me

okay

this person is a woman

she is American

and she is a very famous singer

in the United States

and in the world

and she is married to a very famous

rapper

do you know who she is

is she

Beyonce yes very good

oh nice

okay are you ready for the next person

I'm ready okay

he is a Jamaican

and he runs really fast okay he is fast

he's from Jamaica

and he is so fast he joined the Olympics

and won many times is he a Gold Medal

winner he is a Gold Medal winner oh I

know who is it it is Usain Bolt correct

okay

thanks Chantal

so Todd you live in Japan do you see

your family often

uh yes I see them often I see them

usually once a year

but I write to them often and I call

them sometimes okay and when you see

them do you go to the United States to

visit them or do they come to Japan

uh I go to America and then everyone

goes to my mom's house and everybody

meets me at my mom's house

which is nice I see my sister

and we we talk a lot and it's good

does your mother miss you

yes she misses me and I miss her a lot

so it's very nice to see her and also I

miss my dad

and I miss him a lot so I'm always happy

to see him

have some activities you like to do

together

uh yeah sometimes uh we do stuff

together maybe uh I will meet her at a

cafe

or I will go shopping with her so we do

something fun each time I go back nice

also when I go home I see my best friend

and that's always nice I usually meet

him for dinner

and of course I call him and it's always

nice to see my best friend

and how about your family

well

since I live in Japan I also call them

and write them

but usually we only Skype about once a

month oh so who do you Skype with the

most your mom or your dad

he wakes up very early so his time and

his schedule match my schedule

so it is easy for us to Skype do you

call him or does he call you I usually

call him

calls me

usually if he calls me it's because I

haven't called in a long time

so sometimes you make him mad a little

angry all right that's nice

but you have a brother too right I do

have a brother and I call him less

frequently because he is so busy with

his job

so we speak about once or twice a month

by messages or by phone oh that's nice

so do you follow your family on social

media yes

I use Facebook oh I use it too it is a

really easy way to keep in contact with

them

yeah I agree what about other social

media do you use Twitter no I don't use

Twitter and I don't use other social

media either only Facebook oh that's

good I think

too much is too bad I agree

brother and my and my mother

father anytime

so with Facebook do you check it every

day

I do check it every day maybe it's a bad

habit but I do like to check it every

day

do you check your Facebook every day not

every day I check it maybe three times a

week three times a week yeah I don't use

it much and I don't use it on my phone

that's a good idea yeah I like my free

time

there's social media such as Twitter or

Instagram

I do use Twitter but I don't use it on

my phone I only use it on the computer

okay what about Instagram oh I don't use

it at all do you use it no I don't use

it oh that's right you only use Facebook

I only use Facebook oh interesting well

that's nice that we can talk to our

family on Skype and Facebook because

Japan is so far from America yes and I

think they are very happy too yeah I

think they are happy

hey Natalie I like your outfit it looks

really cute oh hey Todd thank you

so that shirt

looks expensive did it cost a lot oh

this one yeah it was about fifty dollars

fifty dollars that's a lot I know it's

an American brand

ah do they have that shirt in different

colors yes
actually have this top

really what colors

I have it in purple

blue

red

gray white and black actually I have two

black ones so that's seven

you have two shirts in Black why well

black is such a good color to wear it

matches everything yeah so true so true

what about your pants those pants are

pretty cool too

oh these yeah these were much cheaper

than the tops I bought these in San

Francisco

they've cost about forty dollars oh

those are cheap that's a good price it

is and I only have one pair of these

and your shoes did you buy those shoes

in San Francisco too no I didn't buy

these in some

these I bought online you bought them

online

yes these sandals are really hard to

find so I had to buy them through Amazon

oh I like Amazon I buy lots of things on

Amazon for example I bought this watch

on Amazon

well this watch was really cheap this

watch only cost about twenty dollars wow

yeah but I have two watches and I also

bought a nice gold watch on Amazon that

watch was very expensive it cost two

hundred dollars whoa two hundred dollars

on a watch I think my watch only cost

hmm maybe seventy dollars but I really

like this watch it's an Apple watch

I bought it in Malaysia I've had it for

about two years now but I think now that

I have an Apple Watch I'll always have

apple watches yeah that is a nice watch

I've won an Apple Watch too

yeah that's so cool I spend so much time

on my phone and the watch works really

well with my phone I definitely

recommend it it's

yeah I like this cheap watch because if

it rains or if I play sports

or if

I am traveling

I can take my cheap watch because this

watch is not important I can break it I

can lose it

I can do anything but my gold watch that

watch is expensive so I keep it at home

I only wear it on nice occasions

[Music]

expensive but my watch can tell me what

the weather's like my watch can tell me

how many calories I've burnt and my

watch can tell me what the time is

anywhere in the world

you know I think I need to get a watch

like that

the greatest watch

hey Todd what is your hometown my

hometown is San Francisco

yes San Francisco is very beautiful it

has a nice view of the ocean

sounds nice

is your town clean

it's

pretty clean

sometimes it's dirty some places are

dirty but usually the city is clean oh

is San Francisco

it's not too dangerous

sometimes we have crime but it's safe

great

is your town expensive yes San Francisco

is very expensive

everything is expensive food is

expensive housing is expensive shopping

is expensive everything oh really

is San Francisco famous yes it's very

famous in America it's famous for its

Bridge we have the Golden Gate Bridge

it's the world's most famous bridge I

think

never San Francisco is never hot it's

never super cold but it's never hot it's

always warm or cool

sounds great

is San Francisco interesting I think so

it's a very interesting City we have

people from everywhere

and we have good food we have nature

nearby

and we have interesting buildings

wow I'd like to go there oh you should

what about your city

what's your city

my city is Chicago oh Chicago Chicago

is your city beautiful

it's very beautiful with

with a big lake oh nice

is Chicago clean

parts of Chicago are clean and other

parts are a little dirty

how about dangerous is Chicago dangerous

similarly some parts are dangerous and

some parts are safe yeah San Francisco

is the same I think every American city

is the same I think that's true most

places are safe but some places are

dangerous right

is Chicago expensive

yes because it's such a big city

almost everything is expensive food

attractions parking entertainment

everything sounds like San Francisco I

think so a little similar is it hot

it can be hot in the summer usually July

or August it gets hot sometimes

is it interesting yes of course Chicago

is very interesting we have many museums

and things to do and we also have nature

at the lake you can go and enjoy the day

on the beach

oh nice is Chicago by the ocean it's not

by the ocean it's by a really big lake

called Lake Michigan what about San

Francisco is it by the ocean yes San

Francisco is on the ocean it's on the

Pacific Ocean

right so we have really nice beaches do

you like the beach I do but the beaches

in San Francisco are a little cold in

Los Angeles they're warm

but

Los Angeles is not interesting and it's

expensive and it's not beautiful right

so I don't like Los Angeles so we should

stick with San Francisco or Chicago yeah

so Meg are you busy

do you have a busy week

yes I usually have a busy week

yeah me too

so what day is your busiest day

my busiest day is Thursday oh why on

Thursday I have to work from early in

the morning until around 6 pm I have to

teach classes and then after that I need

to do my shopping at the supermarket

okay

I do my shopping on Saturday oh really

yeah always on Saturday what else do you

do on Saturday uh on Saturday I do all

my boring activities like what I do my

shopping I do my laundry

I run errands I clean my apartment

I do boring stuff because on Sunday I

like to have fun what do you like to do

on Sunday on Sunday I often go hiking or

I go to the park

or I go to the beach

I go to the beach

almost every Sunday wow that sounds

really fun yeah the beach is beautiful

nobody is there it's really nice yeah it

sounds great

how about you what do you do on Sunday

on Sunday I always go to church in the

morning and sometimes I'll have lunch

with friends after church oh cool and

then I usually clean as well Sunday

evening
before the new week starts now do you

work Monday to Friday

yes I work every weekday

what about you

I work Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday I

don't work Wednesday oh what's your

schedule like on Wednesdays

on Wednesdays I usually stay at home and

I relax sometimes I go shopping

sometimes I go to the park

sometimes I prepare lessons because I'm

a teacher so sometimes you do a little

work on Wednesdays yes but I do work at

my house I never go to school on

Wednesday why not because it's a day off

hmm

so how about Monday are you busy on

Monday

I'm usually busy on Monday because my

schedule is similar to Thursday so I

have to teach class until around 6 PM

yeah Mondays are busy for me too Mondays

are busy Thursdays also are busy Tuesday

and Friday are not so busy

schedule sounds a little similar to mine

yeah well we're both teachers that's

true what about activities do you do any

activities during the week

during the week if I have free time

sometimes I will watch a TV show

or a movie and I also go to Japanese

language class oh nice yeah so sometimes

I have homework so I have to do my

Japanese language homework Some Nights

what about you

I play Futsal on Tuesday nights so every

Tuesday I play Futsal with my friends

for two hours and that's fun and then

sometimes on Friday I meet my friends

for dinner

and I also like sports so I usually

watch sports on TV on Monday

what sports do you usually watch on

Monday I watch everything I watch

baseball I watch basketball I watch

American football and I watch soccer so

I come home and I watch a video of a

game from Saturday or Sunday so I don't

watch sports on Saturday or Sunday I

watch the video later on Monday night is

it better that way

yeah usually I don't check the internet

so I don't know the score

well it sounds

too

so Abby Demi let's talk about languages

sure

so

you are from Nigeria and Nigeria has

many languages correct that's true yes

how many languages can you speak

I would say that I can speak what

language very well me too

and that would be English

but I speak another I speak other

languages

fairly well Yoruba which is a Nigerian

language

French

and a little bit of Japanese as well now

you are Canadian also and in Canada

students study French correct that's

true yes do you speak French often in

Canada

while I was living there

I spoke it a lot more yes

do you like French I love French I love

learning languages

French I think is very hard for

some people

myself included because the

pronunciation of some words is very

different than the pronunciation of

American English

so I think it's funny that there are

some words in French that look exactly

the same as words in English but we

pronounce them completely differently

for example I will say the word in

English and you say the same word in

French okay oh try for example

impossible

impossible right so that is so

interesting again impossible

and they're spelled the same correct

that's true yeah how about reservation

that's so cool I have never thought of

it like that before Todd but you're

right

they look the same but the

pronunciations are different I think

it's a trick because

we see the word and we know how to say

it one way but we have to say it a

different way and we just can't do that

well that's true yeah

so uh you can speak uruba Yoruba how do

you say

how are you in uruba

bawoli oh that's so cool again

oh wow that's so cool thank you yeah

have you ever taught that language no

never

I don't think too many people want to

learn it outside of Nigeria I think in

the future more people will want to

learn unique languages

I hope you're right yeah maybe maybe

what language do you want to learn in

the future

I have many that if I had more time

I would like to learn I'm interested in

Japanese of course I live in Japan now

so I would like to speak it better

I would also like to learn Mandarin

Russian

hausa another Nigerian language

Spanish

and maybe a couple of others yeah

there's so many languages I want to

learn I want to learn Spanish too I can

speak some Thai and Japanese because I

lived as a teacher in both countries

but I want to learn a language that has

the same alphabet

so I can read Thai but not very well and

I can read Japanese but not very well

but I want to learn a language where

it's easy to read and see what the word

is you know because in Thai you can't do

that in Japanese you can't do that I

know what you mean it would make it

easier to learn the language but in

Russian you can't do that that's true

right it's completely different that's

true but they have alphabets that are

that are the same

so you just have to decode them a little

bit yeah we have the phrase It's All

Greek To Me

which means you have no idea

anyway thanks a lot Abby Demi thank you

Todd

so Natalie

what is a typical day for you for

example what is a typical morning

well I wake up at about 7 A.M

oh that's early

yes I really am a morning person

I think you are a morning person I'm not

a morning person at all

[Music]

okay so what do you do

well I play on my phone I check my

emails I check Facebook

and I read the news

uh and do you eat breakfast at home I

usually prepare breakfast at home yeah

what do you eat

oh just the simple stuff eggs bacon

sausages sometimes I'll have toast

do you drink coffee or tea no I don't

like coffee or tea oh what do you drink

actually I like hot chocolate in the

morning

yeah I like hot chocolate too

so what about your day

well I'm a teacher I teach at a school

lessons start at about 9 A.M and we have

lunch at noon

how many classes do you have in the

morning

each class lasts an hour so I have three

classes

do you eat lunch at school yes we have a

huge canteen ah is the food good the

food is great and it's so much fun

eating with the students too

is the food cheap or expensive

I'd say May

lunch oh that's really good

for that you

can what do you do in the afternoon

I have more lessons

usually taking me till about 4 P.M

oh

and do you have big classes

yes so I teach English that means I

teach the whole year so I have really

big classes

we have about 200 students at the school

that's a lot yes it is

what about the evening what do you do in

the evening

when I get home I'm usually really tired

so
I get changed into my pajamas and I

watch TV for about two hours

after that I'll maybe have some dinner

maybe get a pizza and then read a book

or play on my phone again

what do you watch on TV

I really like watching Korean Drama

Korean dramas are cool I know the

characters

is fun

do you listen to K-pop

I think it's a little bit boring I

prefer American pop oh so you like

Korean dramas and American music

that's right

I also like game shows

oh

what game shows

well actually my favorite one is busted

and that's also Korean okay

I need to see that

so when do you go to bed

most nights I go to bed at around 10 pm

but at the weekend sometimes it's later

maybe around midnight

well I think you have an interesting and

long day

that's right I'm usually very tired

hello Chantal hello

let's play a game okay can you guess the

famous person

let's play okay person number one

she is American

okay she is a singer

she is young she is about 25 years old

and now she is very famous

her hair is blonde

and she's very cute and very pretty

[Music]

is it

Taylor Swift yes correct ding ding ding

ding

okay so the next person

is also very famous

he is from Argentina

he is a soccer player

he is very good at sports

and

he is on a team in Spain

team in Spain yeah he is very good

he's a little short

but he is quick he is very fast

hmm

I don't watch

so much but is it

Cristiano

ronaldi no

it is Lionel Messi oh I don't know oh no

he is Ronaldo is the Rival of Leonel

Messi I see okay so one one

all right ready next one this person is

from Hong Kong

he is

older

he is my age about 50

may be older

he is good at martial arts

he is in many movies

okay oh also he is funny he is very

funny is it

correct ding ding ding

ding okay so now let's switch you ask me

okay

this person is a woman

she is American

and she is a very famous singer

in the United States

and in the world

and she is married to a very famous

rapper

do you know who she is

she

Beyonce yes very good

she is Beyonce oh nice

okay are you ready for the next person

I'm ready okay

he is a Jamaican

and he runs really fast okay he is fast

he's from Jamaica

and he is so fast he joined the Olympics

and won many times is he a Gold Medal

winner he is a Gold Medal winner oh I

know who is it it is Usain Bolt correct

thanks Chantal

so Todd you live in Japan do you see

your family often

uh yes I see them often I see them

usually once a year

but I write to them often and I call

them sometimes okay and when you see

them do you go to the United States to

visit them or do they come to Japan

uh I go to America and then everyone

goes to my mom's house and everybody

meets me at my mom's house

which is nice I see my sister

and we we talk a lot and it's good

does your mother miss you

yes she misses me and I miss her a lot

so it's very nice to see her and also I

miss my dad

and I miss him a lot so I'm always happy

to see him

have some activities you like to do

together

uh yeah sometimes uh we do stuff

together maybe uh I will meet her at a

cafe
or I will go shopping with her so we do

something fun each time I go back nice

also when I go home I see my best friend

and that's always nice I usually meet

him for dinner

and of course I call him and it's always

nice to see my best friend

and how about your family

well

since I live in Japan I also call them

and write them

but usually we only Skype about once a

month oh

so who do you Skype with the most your

mom or your dad

he wakes up very early so his time and

his schedule match my schedule

so it is easy for us to Skype do you

call him or does he call you I usually

call him

if he calls me it's because I haven't

called in a long time

so sometimes you make him mad a little

angry

that's nice

but you have a brother too right I do

have a brother and I call him less

frequently because he is so busy with

his job

so we speak about once or twice a month

by messages or by phone oh that's nice

so do you follow your family on social

media yes I use Facebook oh I use it too

it is a really easy way to keep in

contact with them

yeah I agree what about other social

media do you use Twitter no I don't use

Twitter and I don't use other social

media either only Facebook Ah that's

good I think

too much is too bad I agree

but I do love Facebook because I can

speak with my brother and my mother and

my father anytime

so with Facebook do you check it every

day

I do check it every day maybe it's a bad

habit but I do like to check it every

day

do you check your Facebook every day not

every day I check it maybe three times a

week three times a week yeah I don't use

it much and I don't use it on my phone

oh oh that's a good idea yeah I like my

free time do

social media such as Twitter or in

S I do use Twitter

but I don't use it on my phone I only

use it on the computer okay what about

Instagram oh I don't use at all do you

use it

no use it oh that's right you only use

Facebook I only use Facebook oh

interesting well that's nice that we can

talk to our family on Skype and Facebook

because Japan is so far from America yes

and I think they are very happy too yeah

I think they are happy

hey Natalie I like your outfit it looks

really cute oh hey Todd thank you

so that shirt

looks expensive did it cost a lot oh

this one yeah it was about fifty dollars

fifty dollars that's a lot I know it's

an American brand

do they have that shirt in different

colors yes so I actually have this top

in six colors really what colors

I have it in purple

blue

red gray white and black actually I have

two black ones so that's seven

you have two shirts in Black why well

black is such a good color to wear it

matches everything yeah so true so true

what about your pants those pants are

pretty cool too

oh this yeah these were much cheaper

than the tops I bought these in San

Francisco

they've cost about forty dollars oh

those are cheap that's a good price it

is and I only have one pair of these

and your shoes did you buy those shoes

in San Francisco too no I didn't buy

these in San Francisco these I bought

online you bought them online

yes these sandals are really hard to

find so I had to buy them through Amazon

oh I like Amazon I buy lots of things on

Amazon for example I bought this watch

on Amazon

well this watch was really cheap this

watch only cost about twenty dollars wow

yeah but I have two watches and I also

bought a nice gold watch on Amazon that

watch was very expensive it cost two

hundred dollars

whoa two hundred dollars on a

my watch only cost maybe seventy dollars

but I really like this watch it's an

Apple watch

I bought it in Malaysia I've had it for

about two years now but I think now that

I have an Apple Watch I'll always have

apple watches yeah that is a nice watch

I've won an Apple Watch too

yeah that's so cool I spend so much time

on my phone and the watch works really

well with my phone I definitely

recommend it

yeah I like this cheap watch because if

it rains or if I play sports

or if I am traveling

I can take my cheap watch because this

watch is not important I can break it I

can lose it

I can do anything but my gold watch that

watch is expensive so I keep it at home

I only wear it on nice occasions

[Music]

expensive but my watch can tell me what

the weather's like my watch can tell me

how many calories I've burnt and my

watch can tell me what the time is

anywhere in the world

you know I think I need to get a watch

like that

the greatest watch

so Todd where are you from

I am from the US I am from San Francisco

it's on the West Coast

and what do you do I'm an English

teacher

also I create ello so I work on ello a

lot

okay how old are you I am 47.

yeah I am old no it's not old

uh who is your best friend my best

friend is Dawn he is a teacher too he

lives in America

and are you married no I am not married

I am still single

where is your mum from my mom is from

California she is from Los Angeles

and what does she do she is a manager

she works in a clothing store uh

where does your dad from my dad is from

San Francisco he is not from Los Angeles

um but he met my mother in Los Angeles

[Music]

and what does he do uh he is also a

manager he works for a tree cutting

company they cut trees wow

that's exciting yeah cool job

is it dangerous

it is a little dangerous a little

and Amy what about you where are you

from I'm from Glasgow on the west coast

of Scotland in the United Kingdom nice

and what do you do I'm also a teacher

nice what do you teach I teach English

well me too it's fun isn't it it is it

is very fun

um excuse me can I ask how old are you

of course you can ask I'm 34. okay very

young
very young

uh where is your mom from my mom is also

from Glasgow ah nice what does she do

well she's retired now but she was a

nurse oh nice

and and is your dad from Glasgow yes he

is what does he do

he's also retired but he used to be a

teacher oh wow

many teachers yes

looks like it

thanks Amy nice talking to you you too

Todd

Natalie let's talk about our favorite

things sure

sure first what is your favorite color

is purple

really my favorite color is purple too I

know yeah but I don't have purple

clothing

I love the color purple but I don't have

purple clothes oh well everything I wear

is purple no kidding yeah really that's

so cool

so what about food what's your favorite

food

good question my favorite food is pizza

I love pizza but I don't like really big

pizzas I love pizza too what is your

favorite topping on pizza

I like really spicy toppings so salami

or pepperoni uh chilies

and sometimes bell peppers too

do you like thick pizza or thin pizza no

I don't like thick pizza because I can't

eat too much but the thin pizzas I get

lots of toppings and I don't feel so

full

yeah I agree

what about Seasons what is your favorite

season

my favorite season is winter

yeah I love winter don't you no I hate

winter why do you like winter I love the

snow

oh I hate the snow well I like the snow

a little bit but I hate cold weather

yeah I guess the cold is kind of

annoying but the snow is so much fun I

go skiing and I play snowball fights and

I build snowmen

yeah that sounds fun

what about sports what's your favorite

sport

I'd say my favorite spot is tennis

that's interesting do you play tennis

yeah but I'm not very good

do you like singles or doubles

at the moment I'm having singles lessons

they're really fun oh now you are taking

tennis lessons yes about twice a week

do you watch Tennis on TV yes I watch it

all the time who is your favorite tennis

player

I really like Roger Federer yeah he's

really good

okay last question

what is your favorite movie

have a favorite movie

but I really like comedies

so what is your favorite comedy

my favorite comedy is Ace Ventura

Ace Ventura is very funny but that movie

is really old it

it's like 20 years old I think maybe

more I

900 times yeah I like it a lot too

hey Chantal what do you do

on the weekend

on the weekend

I wake up and first I make breakfast oh

what do you make I like to make toast

all right I often eat toast too

you put butter

or toast

I do I put butter and jam

I love butter

on my toast do you eat cereal

no I used to
yeah on the weekend I don't eat cereal

uh on the weekend I cook a nice

breakfast but I eat cereal during the

week

what else do you do on the weekend

I clean the kitchen

make my bed

what about you

I also cleaned my house uh I clean my

rooms I vacuum I wash the windows I wash

the dishes I do my laundry

I do that on Saturday but on Sunday I

have fun

and what do you do for fun I go to the

park I play sports I play soccer at the

park

sometimes I ride my bike sometimes I go

hiking I do lots on Sunday on Sunday I

relax

I don't study I don't work and I don't

clean my house

nice what do you do on Sunday

I also enjoy my time on Sunday

I really like to meet my friends

and sometimes we go to festivals or

visit New cities

and we eat a lot of really good food oh

that sounds fun Yes actually we also

really enjoy camping do you like camping

I love camping I love the outdoors I go

hiking often oh

[Music]

oh that's cool

what about Sunday evening

oh Sunday evening I relax I cook a big

dinner and I listen to music

and sometimes I read my book

but often I go to sleep very early on

Sunday oh wow

and you

well on Sunday I don't cook I usually

order food I order pizza

or maybe I eat at a restaurant

and then later in the evening

on Sunday I always watch TV

so my favorite TV show is on Sunday

night and what's your favorite TV show

my favorite TV show is called billions

billions yeah it's about money

in power in New York it's very

interesting nice nice maybe I should

watch it

you go to bed early

around 9

o'clock oh okay maybe you can see it

okay

hey Todd let's talk about colors all

right

what is blue ooh the ocean is blue

the sky is blue

during the day the sky is blue

and my eyes are blue oh mine too

what is red

red let's see well tomatoes are red

strawberries are red

and

and Roses are red roses are red that's

right

yep

what is green

well lots of vegetables are green so

lettuce is green

cabbage is green or purple

and

asparagus is green

right

also grass is green Ah that's right

grass is green

what is yellow

oh

well

lemons are yellow

uh the sun is yellow sometimes

or orange

or red

what else is yellow

sunflowers are yellow oh sunflowers are

yellow that's nice

what is orange

also sometimes the sun is orange

oranges are orange of course

and persimmons

are orange

yes oh I know what carrots carrots

carrots are orange carrots are orange

what is black

hmm

sometimes

dirt is black mm-hmm

the night sky is black right

and your shirt is black it is I like my

black shirt

what is white

vanilla ice cream is white

[Music]

the snow is white yes

and clouds are white clouds are white oh

and sometimes clouds are black yes or

it's going to rain or gray right

what is Pink

oh some flowers are pink

oh cotton candy is Pink

yes

and

sometimes lollipops are pink

yeah a lot of candy is pink sometimes

now sometimes

women's clothing is Pink

ornaments ormonds do you like pink

shirts I don't usually wear pink shirts

what about you I don't like pink

I don't like pink actually

yeah that's too bad so what is your

favorite color my favorite color

is orange

really orange yeah I love Orange it's so

bright

what about you

I have three I like the same I know I

like green

I love green I love blue I love purple

mmm like the cool colors right and I

don't like orange I don't like yellow

and I don't like pink you don't like the

warm colors yes bright colors not so

much oh I

what about red do you like red

I don't especially like red I like red

poppies a type of flower all right yeah

but I don't like to wear red

yeah me too

do you dislike any colors

um actually I don't like

I think it's

a boring color

yeah that's true but

often dogs are brown

and I love dogs

I also like dogs so a brown dog is okay

but a brown shirt no thank you

so tell me what languages do you speak

well I speak two languages I speak Thai

and I speak Japanese but

my Japanese is not so good and my Thai

is just okay uh now I live in Japan so I

study Japanese

and I use Japanese every day

I can speak Japanese at the supermarket

I can use Japanese at a hotel or with a

taxi driver

but

I cannot have a long conversation

yeah and you what languages do you speak

well I speak English of course

and I speak Spanish and Japanese wow

Spanish yeah I lived in Ecuador

and so I spoke Spanish every day a lot

I used to think I was fluent

maybe I forgot some Spanish now oh so

you can read speak write everything

mm-hmm

in Ecuador I did everything I signed my

cell phone contract I could read that in

Spanish I was all of my friends I spoke

Spanish with

and I spoke Spanish all the time

but my Japanese is like yours I can

speak only enough to go to the grocery

store or ask when the bus leaves or buy

a train ticket

[Music]

um

difficult it's hard to have a good

conversation in Japanese but I can read

Japanese I studied kanji so my reading

is okay but my speaking is just really

bad I have bad pronunciation so because

my Japanese pronunciation is not very

good Japanese people don't like to speak

Japanese with me I think my Spanish

pronunciation is really bad because I

always spoke with other foreigners who

were also studying Spanish so there

would be a Korean person me a Norwegian

person and we were all speaking Spanish

together so we all had bad pronunciation

what about Thai yeah I can speak Thai My

Thai is different My Thai pronunciation

is okay

so I can have conversations in Thai I

lived in Thailand when I was young

so or I was 22 to 26. so I studied it

and I like Thai but reading in Thai is

difficult for me so I can read Japanese

better than I can read Thai but I can

speak Thai better and My Thai listening

is better also

do you have any Thai friends I do have

some Thai friends and now I study Tai on

Facebook so every day I check my friends

messages on Facebook and then I use

Google Translate to learn new words so

it's very good yeah

do you think you'll live in Thailand

again someday maybe I I will visit

Thailand again I don't think I will live

in Thailand again but I'd like to go to

Thailand because Thai is fun to speak

and Thailand has great food and great

weather good beaches so it's nice

oh great what about you do you want to

live in Ecuador again

not Ecuador I love Ecuador but I want to

live in another Spanish-speaking country

I'd like to live in Argentina maybe or

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico is part of

America but they speak Spanish there

yeah I hear Puerto Rico is really nice

yeah I went there for one week and it

was just amazing it has beaches and

mountains and the people are really fun

and it's a really exciting place to

visit

Todd why do you have three computers

no it's crazy I do have three computers

before I had four computers now I only

have three computers I have three

computers because I use computers for my

job

so I have one computer for my house my

one laptop computer for my house and I

always keep that computer at my house so

it's heavy it's a MacBook Pro and I

don't like to carry it so I leave it at

home

and I have a MacBook Air it's very light

it's not heavy and I use my MacBook Air

when I travel when I go to school when I

go downtown to a cafe so yeah I have one

computer for home and one computer for

when I travel

and how about the other one oh the other

computer the other computer is old it's

also a MacBook Pro and it's seven years

old yeah it still works it works really

well but I use it as a backup computer

so sometimes I need a computer in case

one computer fails also sometimes my

friends need a computer

and I lend my computer to my friends oh

that's nice yeah it's it's easy I like

that

what do you do in you need something

that's on the other computer

well I use cloud computing so I use

dropbox so Dropbox shares everything so

all computers are linked

and they share all the files so it's no

problem

how about phones how many do you have I

have three phones also for my job I have

an iPhone I have a Samsung Galaxy and I

have a Nokia Windows phone oh really

which one do you like the best

mmm that's tough I think

I like the Samsung Galaxy the best

because it's bigger and it's easy to

read but the iPhone has good apps I like

the apps on the iPhone

and the iPhone is very reliable so it

always works

so yeah

how about the Nokia the Nokia is also a

good phone uh it's a Windows phone and I

travel a lot so when I travel I always

take the Nokia phone and I use a new SIM

card in the country and then that is my

phone when I travel I usually leave my

Galaxy phone or my iPhone at home you

say you use your phone for work how oh

so I create websites and so I need to

check how websites look on different

phones so every time I make a website I

check it on the Nokia phone I check it

on the Samsung phone I check it on the

iPhone so I make sure the website works

on all smartphones

does the website often have problems

with one phone or a different phone

usually not usually everything is okay

but sometimes media files like audio

files or video files do not work on

those phones so sometimes I have to

change things but usually it works huh

how about you how many computers do you

have

well at home we have one laptop

and it's kind of big so I don't usually

take it out with me

and then we have a personal computer

and we also have a tablet an iPad oh

yeah

and I don't use the iPad very much

it's usually used by my daughter she's

two and she loves to play games on the

iPad right so it's an expensive toy

so your daughter likes the iPad you like

the laptop I like the laptop yes and the

personal computer the personal computer

is my husband's

and we also use it as the family

computer when we want to watch a movie

or watch a TV show

something like that oh wow sounds good

and phones

phones well I have my own phone I have a

Sony phone it's an Xperia

and I like it it's big so sometimes my

fingers can't reach all the buttons but

I can watch videos on it I like that

and when I leave the country I can't use

it in other countries but I can use the

Wi-Fi so that's convenient yeah that is

convenient okay thanks a lot Sarah thank

you

so Greg you're saying that you had a

brothers and they always picked on you

like all older brothers do

um do you have any stories about your

brothers used to do to you oh yes it's

you know it's I think back on

some of the crazy fights we had and it

is absolutely amazing that we are all

still alive

yeah one time

I was closing the garage door

and I didn't see my brother my oldest

brother walking behind me and I pulled

the door down and it hit him in the head

right completely out complete accident

yeah

but he just got so angry

he had a pair of shoes that he was

holding in his hands I think he was

going to polish them or something

and he just took the shoe and he smacked

me as hard as he could right in the

stomach oh It's gotta hurt oh it hurts

so much I

bent over and I got so angry that I

looked in the garage and I saw a big

piece of metal pipe oh no and I held it

like a spear and I was ran after him and

he of course ran away and I was chasing

him around the house and he ran into the

front door and I threw the spear as hard

as I could and it went like a s I threw

the pipe and it went like a spear

through the air and he closed the door

right behind him

and it put a hole in the door

oh man I was gonna hit him it would have

hit him it would have hit him actually

wow

you don't even want to think what could

have happened if it had hit him yeah

it's amazing that we're still alive we

used to have fights with

you know baseball bats and branches and

things man well it must have been good

made you tough and strong for all the

other kids at school

yeah they thought I was crazy

tell me about your family who do you get

on well with in your family well I think

that I get along the best with my mother

I would say

so why why is that

well

um I think it probably has to do with

the fact that uh we're both female

I mean the only other people in my

family are my father and my brother

so

what does your mom look like

well she's actually taller than me she

has dark hair

and a pretty firm build

um

she's not too thin not too fat

and uh yeah

and what does your mum do does she have

a job oh good question she's actually a

hairdresser wow yeah so she does my hair

and she's also an esthetician as well so

I get free uh free skincare products

from her oh that's fantastic yeah

so what does your mom like to do when

she

went to King well uh she used to take

sewing lessons so she really likes to

sew things like her own curtains and she

even made me some clothes a few times

wow this is talented yeah she's quite

artistic

so when did you last see your mom I

speak to your mom well the last time I

saw her was this spring

I stayed at my parents house for about a

week and uh yeah that's when I saw her

was that a couple of months ago

uh yeah a couple of months ago that's

right

and what was the last thing that your

mom bought for you

actually just before I came here we went

shopping together and because I have to

fly away to a new country she bought me

some new clothes she bought me a new

coat actually wow that's really nice

well thanks for that Connie thanks

uh last year I went to Portugal just

after Christmas and I stayed there until

well just after New Year's this year

in Portugal I met up with one of my

friends from Toronto

he had family that lived in Portugal

because his family was originally from

Portugal

so they were kind enough to let me stay

with them

I didn't know any Portuguese except for

some simple words like hello and thank

you

I learned some simple words through an

audio CD before I went there

and the people that I stayed with didn't

know very much English either

however we got along surprisingly well

they were surprised that I was able to

eat some of their exotic foods

they made some delicious meals every

single day like octopus tripe and rabbit

it is quite exotic but I thought it was

quite good

they also made some excellent desserts

like creme caramel and

a rich sponge cake that they called

pound low

okay now I'll talk about my winter

vacation this winter vacation I spent

two weeks in my hometown which is

Daytona Beach

Florida

it was wonderful the weather was warm

every day that it was sunny every day

and the temperature was almost 80

degrees

I visited my mother and I spent every

morning having a nice leisurely cup of

coffee and reading the newspaper and

after that I uh
got my bicycle out and rode down to the

beach and enjoyed the sun and the surf

I came back home and read a book and

went to bed early I had a wonderful time

I saw a couple of new movies when I was

home in Florida I saw the a The Aviator

and also a interesting movie called

Spanglish

which I hope you all can see because

it's a interesting movie about English

and the Spanish

John

tell me about your day what time do you

wake up

well let's see

um some days I wake up early maybe about

six o'clock yeah sometimes I wake up at

six o'clock

when I get up early I like to get ready

for the day take a shower and have

breakfast

but

other days I don't like getting up early

maybe I'll sleep in until 10 or 11.

yeah I like sleeping in late so

sometimes I wake up at 11. on those days

if I know I won't wake up until 11 I'll

take a shower the night before before I

go to bed
how about you Sarah when do you usually

wake up

well I like every day to be the same

so I wake up every day at eight o'clock

eight eight

and I always do the same thing first I

make coffee right away

then I wake up my kids

and we have breakfast together at about

8 30. really yes we usually have

something easy like bread and yogurt and

fruit

I like to have coffee every morning

whether I wake up at six or at 10 I'm

still gonna have coffee

but I often skip breakfast

do you always eat breakfast every day

yes if I don't eat breakfast

I'm so hungry

what about lunch what time do you have

lunch

lunch is the same every day for me I

always eat lunch at 12 30 pm

so whenever I wake up I do some things

and then I always have lunch at 12 30 pm

just half past noon

and I always have a simple lunch maybe

some soup or spaghetti or a sandwich

something like

and it's always at half past noon what

time do you eat lunch

dusting I have breakfast at the same

time every day but lunch is always at a

different time really because I'm busy

in the morning I go out maybe I go

shopping sometimes I clean the house

so I might have lunch at 11 o'clock or

12 o'clock

sometimes as late as 2 30. oh that's

getting late yes but it's always an easy

lunch like you maybe crackers and cheese

or a sandwich or a baked potato I see

do you always have dinner at a different

time too

no I almost always eat dinner around six

o'clock

how about you when do you eat dinner

my dinner time varies a lot just like my

breakfast

so maybe I eat dinner later than most

people I think I would have dinner at 7

pm

at the earliest

but sometimes I will have dinner as late

as nine o'clock at night really yeah I

don't mind it

um I really like cooking so

if I'm cooking a short thing I'll have

dinner earlier but I don't mind if it

takes two hours to cook something really

good I'll eat later at night

can you tell me about your work routine

what time do you usually go to work

oh see my work schedule is different

every day

that's why I wake up at a different time

every day

maybe on

for example

some weeks on Monday Wednesday and

Thursday I start work at seven

but on Thursday and Friday I don't start

work until 11 30.

how about you do you have a different

work time sometimes well right now I'm

on maternity leave

so I stay home and take care of my new

baby

oh congratulations thank you

I tried to work at home a little bit

every day though

if the kids are sleeping or they're

playing quietly I tried to do some work

maybe

around two o'clock I can usually get

some work done because the kids are

sleeping oh

if you don't start getting some work

done until two o'clock in the afternoon

you must be very busy every morning

grocery store

park around 10 in the morning

I often do the laundry or wash the

dishes

and then as soon as the dishes are

washed it's time to make lunch so I'm

busy all day I see

so that's why your lunch time can change

so much yeah

oh it sounds like a busy day

so Hannah tell me um do you cook much

yes I always cook

I often cook with my roommate and we

always make Chinese or Japanese food

how about you

well um

I don't really cook that often because

I'm really busy during the week

so I'll just I always get something in a

shop and eat that

but

uh during the weekends

um I I do I always cook during the

weekends because I really like baking

food so that's what I do

so do you ever eat out

um only occasionally because

I'm really busy during the week and I

prefer cooking during the weekend so

not really often I don't go out really

often to eat but whenever I'm tired

and oh I don't have time to cook during

the weekend I go and eat out with a

friend so how about you

uh well I always cook so I normally go

and eat out on the weekends with my

friends or family

so do you ever buy take away

no I never normally when I go out to eat

I like to sit and enjoy my food how

about you

well that's really nice

um of course I I do like to sit and

enjoy my food but I have to admit that

occasionally I have to buy take away

especially when I'm coming late from

work and I'm driving

um I'm so hungry that

most of the times I don't really make it

home so I have to buy something and eat

it on my way that's a shame but that's

the way it is

and do you do you usually have people

over for dinner

really like cooking so occasionally

I invite my friends over and I cook for

them or we all cook together

how about you

um not really I do love cooking but the

problem is my place is really small so

even though I want to invite my friends

I never do it because my place would

only fit one or two people so

unfortunately I never have my friends

over for dinner

so Sarah what can you tell me about your

hometown

my hometown

well my home

is called Eau Claire Wisconsin

and it's a really great City

there are about 80 000 people

there are lots of things to do

there are three movie theaters I love to

watch movies

me too there's lots of shopping

you can find anything you want there

there are lots of malls and stores

are there many restaurants yes

the thing I like is you can eat any type

of food

there are Chinese restaurants and Korean

restaurants Italian restaurants

there is a big variety of restaurants

and they're all good that sounds great

um what about

parks are there many places to see

nature in your town

yes

we have a lot of rivers and lakes and

Hills

my hometown has four seasons

so in summer

it's great because there are lots of

lakes to swim in lots of forests to play

in

in Winter there is a lot of snow

so you can go ice skating or ice fishing

or even skiing

wow that sounds really fun yeah it's a

really nice city

it's also really safe

there are lots of nice people there

good

is there much to do at night

well

maybe maybe not there's not many things

to do at night there aren't any

nightclubs

there aren't many bars

so actually maybe there isn't much

nightlife that's okay it sounds like a

nice place to have a family yeah it is

it's a great place to have a family

there's lots of good schools and

libraries

so John where are you from

my hometown is very small

it's a little town in the countryside

in Wisconsin

there are only 5 000 people there wow

there aren't very many people no it's

very small

there aren't very many businesses

there isn't a shopping mall

there are a lot of grocery stores

and there are a lot of gas stations

but there isn't much to do there

oh really are there any movie theaters

well there is one movie theater

so that's a nice thing to do in fact

there are many screens in the theater

there are eight different movies showing

how about at night what's fun to do

how about at night is there very much

nightlife

yeah there's not so much but there is a

bowling alley

it's fun to go bowling with friends

there's a bowling alley and the movie

theater

there's one restaurant where you can go

for

um tacos and burritos and there's one

more restaurant for pizza and spaghetti

ah but
during the daytime

you can go to the park there's a river

that goes through the town

so

in the middle of town There's a river

and there's a park that goes along both

sides of the river

and at the park there is a tennis court

and

um a disc golf course

disc golf yeah I like to play disc golf

with my friends it's really fun and

after we finish playing disc golf we

usually go to the pizza restaurant

oh I see

how about schools are there very many

schools

let's see

no there aren't very many there is only

one Elementary School one junior high

school and one high school that's it

interesting

yeah there aren't very many schools but

the town doesn't need more schools

because there aren't very many people

there

I see

are there any mountains no the whole

area is very flat there are no mountains

but there are a lot of trees in fact

there are trees on my Town's sign

because my town is famous for all the

trees on every street

like a great City

hey Hannah how are you

I'm fine thank you how are you I'm fine

thanks

um so tell me do you have any plans for

the weekend

yes I heard it's going to be a really

nice day on Saturday so I'm planning to

go to the beach with my friends

the beach is three hours away so we are

going to go by car and we are planning

to have a barbecue and I'm very excited

in the evening we are going to have

fireworks so it's going to be very

beautiful

so are you going to stay over at the

beach

um no we're going to come back so

we'll be home quite late

oh so then where are you going to do on

Sunday

um I think I'll be sleeping all morning

and probably in the afternoon I'm going

to study because I have a maths exam on

Monday

oh that's a shame uh well I think I'm

gonna wish you good luck in your exam

and have fun at the beach thank you

hello how are you

I'm good thanks how are you I'm good so

what are you going to do this weekend

well

um on Saturday I think I'm going to go

to the gym

because I haven't been there for a while

um and then I think I need to clean my

house because I didn't have time during

the week and it's a bit messy now uh and

in the evening I think I'm going to have

dinner with my friends

are you going somewhere after dinner

I don't think so

um I really want to spend

this weekend in a really relaxed way so

I don't think I'm going anywhere after

dinner

see how about Sunday

well Sunday I'm not going to do anything

during the morning I really want to take

you know at rest and then I'm going to

have lunch with my family because I

haven't seen them for a while

and then in the afternoon there's this

movie I really want to see so I'm going

to the cinema with my friends

I've never met your family

do you have a big family

yeah kind of there are five people in my

family so it's a medium family

I have two brothers so there are three

boys in my family

and there's my mother and my father

how about your father do you look like

him

yes I do

I do look like my father

when he was younger he had blonde hair

like me

and he has glasses so do I

my mother has glasses too

[Music]

I'm the same height as my father

we are both

180 centimeters tall

my older brother is the same height as

me and my father

but my younger brother is shorter than

us

he has blonde hair and glasses too

though oh how tall is your younger

brother

he's a bit shorter than us I'm not sure

but I think he's around

170 centimeters tall oh

how about your mom

my mom is short too

she is the same height as my younger

brother oh and my mom has red hair

her hair is bright red so

my mother has different hair from the

rest of my family

there are four people with blonde hair

and one person with red hair

but actually all five of us wear glasses

oh really yeah so John you're thin what

about the rest of your family are they

thin too

well

my mother is skinny too like me

but

my brothers are more like my dad in

their body type

they are a little bit more muscular than

me

they have big muscles and they're very

strong so

they are heavier than me

that's my father

he weighs more than I do

and my brothers are also heavier than me

thank you

so John

you told me about your family's

appearance what about their personality

well all five people in my family have

different personalities

yeah my younger brother is really fun

it's great to spend time with him for

example

we usually play video games together

he likes to play racing games or sports

games

and

also we play card games or just watching

TV

he's so funny no matter what we're doing

he tells jokes and I love listening to

him

tell jokes about whatever we're doing at

the time

and

he's so cheerful and bright

he's always open to new people and new

ideas

so I really like spending time with him

he makes me feel cheerful too when we

talk together

that's great

their brother

well my older brother

he is a really good guy

he's not so entertaining like my younger

brother but he's very smart

he's really serious

he likes to study and read

for example he likes reading the Greek

philosophers

he likes reading about

Plato and Socrates

and he's always talking about philosophy

I like that stuff too I think it's

interesting

but he's not very funny I see how about

your dad

my dad

let's see what can I say about my dad's

personality

he's a hard worker

he's very devoted to everything he tries

he was raised on a farm so he knows a

lot about animals

and now he has a farm as a hobby

my dad raises horses and chickens he

loves animals and he has so many animals

but he doesn't think of them as farm

animals they're his pets and he loves

them

he spends every day outside where no

matter what the weather because he has

to take care of his family which is all

of his animals

and he's a really smart guy maybe a bit

serious at times

his sense of humor is maybe like uh you

can imagine from an old man I see

how about your mother

what's she like

my mother loves to read horror novels

really yeah horror books

so she knows a lot of stuff about

crime or Mysteries or police dramas and

lawyers

she loves that stuff

so my mother is very interested in in

those kind of books and movies and TV

shows too so she's kind of like a

detective

my mother is very smart and enjoys

solving puzzles

wow

thank you

hey I'm really sorry I'm late I came as

fast as I could

it's okay nobody has really come yet

why where are they

um

well John's shopping he's getting some

food okay what about Emma where is she

uh Emma has an exam so she's studying

and she's gonna come later

okay how about Alex I I don't see him

around

Alex is over there he's preparing for

the barbecue

oh yeah that's that's right and how

about Marcus and Emily

they're over there they're playing oh so

how many people are left who else is

coming

um I don't know nobody has really

contacted me yet oh well let's hope we

can get around uh 10 people maybe yes I

hope so cool

hello hello come in

um where is everyone

uh well everyone is doing something

right now

oh really where's your mom

um my mom she's at the mall uh I think

she's shopping she might she's I think

she's getting the groceries for the week

how about your dad

well every weekend he goes to the

country club so I think he's playing

golf with his friends now

where's your brother and sister

uh my brother he's upstairs I think he's

probably sleeping or playing video games

as he always did

um and my sister she's at school and

she's playing soccer because she has a

game today

I think in 20 or 30 minutes let's go

watch it

really that sounds fun let's go

I don't I've been trying to reach you

all day where have you been oh sorry

when did you call I first called you at

three o'clock

oh sorry I was playing soccer

well I tried calling you again at five

oh I was going home on the train well

why didn't you return my message

I was I was sleeping

well what happened when you got off the

train

as I was leaving the train I I saw a

friend and we started talking and I just

didn't look at my phone what was it that

you wanted to talk about well I was

thinking about getting a new boyfriend

hey Adam have you done the things I've

asked you to do yet

what did you ask me to do I asked you to

take out the trash

I haven't done that yet

how about wash the dishes

I washed a few dishes

wash the car

no I I haven't washed the car what did

you do today

I was sleeping mostly

so Meg you're getting married soon how

are things going

things are going pretty well we have a

lot of planning to do I bet so have you

hired a band yet no we haven't hired a

band yet my brother has some friends who

are in a band so he's going to ask them

oh cool and uh have you gotten a caterer

for the wedding yes we have gotten a

caterer because the food is very

important so we ordered it in advance oh

what kind of food we're going to have

traditional American food oh nice nice

so have you bought a dress yet yes of

course I have bought a dress

you tried it on yet yes I've tried it on

many times already okay cool have you

shown it to your groom to be no I

haven't shown it to my groom TV because

it has to be a surprise on the wedding

day oh that's right that's right so uh

have you ordered the flowers no not yet

I haven't ordered the flowers because

I'm waiting for some special flowers

from the florist so still waiting and

have you sent out the invitations yes we

have sent out the invitations we sent

them out maybe a month ago oh cool so

then I assume you have booked the hall

yes we have booked the hall because we

wanted to have it at a special Hall so

we booked it probably six months ago

okay cool well the only one problem I

didn't get an invite am I invited to

your wedding oh I brought the invitation

with me today okay great thanks

hey Meg I have a big favor can you help

me out sure what do you need my parents

are coming to visit me but I can't go to

the airport and pick them up I have an

important appointment

do you think you can go to the airport

and pick them up yeah absolutely but

what do your parents look like

um yeah well they look kind of unique

actually so you can't miss them my dad

he's really tall and he's really hairy

he's got a big kind of fro-like hair and

he's got um a facial hair he's got a Fu

Manchu so he has a mustache and a little

goatee and he's kind of muscular wow so

I think I should be able to see your dad

very easily right so you can't miss him

and also my mom's pretty easy she's it's

not kind of 60-ish she's in her 60s and

she kind of has blondish grayish hair

she's kind of medium build and she's

kind of average average height okay well

it sounds like no problem I think I can

find them at the airport okay and the

way one other person with them and she

might be the one actually looking around

trying to find you and that's my my

niece oh what does your niece look like

okay so she's in her 20s she's very thin

and she has long blonde hair

and yeah she's quite energetic so you'll

probably see her running around so I

have a feeling she's going to be the one

looking for you okay great then I'll

look for your niece okay great I really

appreciate this no problem

hey Todd I was talking to your

girlfriend she seems really fit

yeah she's very fit uh it's kind of a

problem actually oh really why well

she watches what she eats and she's very

careful about the foods she eats so she

doesn't eat meat she doesn't eat fast

food

she doesn't eat sugar she doesn't drink

coffee so because she doesn't eat or

drink all these Foods it's kind of hard

if we go out to dinner or if I want to

eat something because then I feel guilty

do you also

not eat those Foods no are you kidding I

mean I'm I always eat fast food and I

love to eat sweets and stuff like that

so we both love exercise right so she

exercises a lot I exercise a lot she

exercises more than I do but

yeah the the diet thing is kind of a

hassle so what do you think I should do

maybe you should also try to be healthy

because it sounds like a good idea

yeah maybe

oh I'll give it a try but the thing is

is you know she there's one other

problem she eats five small meals a day

so she never eats big meals so we can't

go to a restaurant and stuff like that

so it's just really hard to adjust I

mean I love a big breakfast you know she

never eats a big breakfast she always

eats these small little meals so

yeah well maybe you can cook at home

together

maybe or maybe I should just get a new

girlfriend maybe because

hey Todd I want to go to Osaka what's

the best way

uh oh the best way you know it kind of

depends

um on your time and your cost and your

comfort

uh the easiest might be the ferry so the

fairy leaves every day at seven o'clock

and it goes overnight and it arrives in

Osaka at I think six o'clock in the

morning so it's a nice trip you're on

the boat you can kind of have dinner on

the boat you go to sleep and then you

wake up and then you're there so and it

costs about seventy dollars sounds

pretty good yeah it's good yeah but you

sleep in a big area with other people so

it's like a shared sleeping area right

what are some other ways well if you

have lots of money you can take the

train the Train's convenient because it

leaves every hour from the downtown

station and it takes about four hours

three and a half hours oh wow you have

to transfer the train once but you know

it leaves every hour it costs a little

bit it costs you know about 300 bucks

but it's an enjoyable ride

um and you know you're never stuck in

traffic so Ferry train what else

you can take a plane there are two

flights one flight leaves early in the

morning another flight leaves in the

afternoon and that's probably the

fastest because if you fly there it only

takes one hour

but it takes 30 minutes to get to the

airport it's outside of town and then

you have to get there an hour early for

your flight and check in your bags and

stuff so you know it still takes door to

door probably four to five hours and

also flights they can be cheap but

they're about 100 bucks

other ways there's one other way the

cheapest way is actually going by bus

um the good thing is you know the buses

leave every hour but you must take a bus

to Fukuoka and then transfer in Fukuoka

and it takes a long time it takes about

eight hours to get there but it only

costs about 50 bucks so and there are

some buses that go overnight so

pretty good well

[Music]

well boring so maybe I'd rather sleep on

the ferry yeah I think the Ferry's the

way to go thanks

okay Sarah and John we are going to play

a guessing game great sounds great I

will describe a city

what city is this in America

first city

it's a really big city

and sometimes it has cold weather it has

lots of snow

sometimes it's very hot in summer

it has all seasons oh I know

is it Milwaukee no not Milwaukee

uh it has really tall buildings I know I

think it's Chicago no it's not Chicago

oh it is a very expensive city and maybe

it's America's most famous city oh I got

it

it's New York City

okay next city

this city has warm weather most of the

year it also is really really big very

big city

and it is famous for movie stars in the

movie industry I know I think it's La

yes Los Angeles ping pong yay well you

got it

okay next city this city has different

seasons it is cold in Winter a little

bit and it is usually warm in summer

it has lots of fog

and it never has snow

um it rains sometimes

and it has a big famous bridge

is it San Francisco ping pong good job

thank you I was gonna guess Seattle ah

okay last City

if this city is also famous in America

of course and it has warm weather

and it is usually hot all year

and it never snows but it rains

and it has nice long beaches

hmm

oh is it Orlando Florida Not Orlando but

it is in Florida hmm is it Miami

good job thank you so I think it's tied

two two yeah wow okay so one more City

can you guess the city okay so this city

has four seasons so it has snow it has

rain it has beautiful colors in the fall

lots of leaves and it has

old historical buildings

oh oh I know it

Chicago not Chicago no no I think it's

Boston it is ping pong wow Sarah wins

nice one okay thank you

okay guys we will do another guessing

game this time Guess the Movie

sounds fun

okay this movie is very famous it's

about 20 years old maybe 18 years old

and it is about a love story

and about two people that meet on a big

ship and the ship sinks

oh

um oh it's really really famous

uh is it Titanic right ping pong Panic

Titanic okay the next movie is also a

famous movie but I never saw this movie

but I know about the movie

and the movie is about a fight

between two creatures

and both creatures

monsters come from the ocean they come

out of the ocean and they fight each

other two monsters from the ocean

sometimes they fight in Japan but the

last movie The Monsters fight in America

I think they fight in San Francisco I

is it Godzilla

Yay good job thank you thank you

Okay so

the next movie is also a movie many

teenage boys like

and it's also about fighting

and it's about machines that fight each

other

and I think the machines come from space

so the machines are not from Earth

and the machines can change and the

machines have special powers

machines that have special powers and

change I know it's Transformers

is that right yes Transformers ping pong

okay so now I'm gonna go way back way

back so this is a movie also about an

alien

and this alien is very kind and the

alien is very shy

and the alien meets a boy and oh I know

it they become friends

do they ride a bicycle they do ride a

bicycle it's E.T that's right Bing Bong

yes good job

okay so now one more movie ah okay so

this movie is also old this movie is

Maybe

over 25 years old oh over 20 years old

I'm better at the old ones yeah and in

this movie there is a scientist and the

scientist is trying to find a special

treasure

and he goes all around the world

and he needs to find a special treasure

and he goes to Egypt

he goes to Asia

and he wants to find something but he

has to fight people in the movie

I think it's Indiana Jones ping pong

John wins yeah good job thank you great

I tried really hard

hey Hannah how are you

I'm fine thank you how are you

I'm fine thanks

um so tell me do you have any plans for

the weekend

yes I heard it's going to be a really

nice day on Saturday so I'm planning to

go to the beach with my friends

the beach is three hours away so we are

going to go by car

and we're planning to have a barbecue

and I'm very excited in the evening we

are going to have fireworks so it's

going to be very beautiful

so are you going to stay over at the

beach

um no we're going to come back so

we'll be home quite late

oh so then where are you going to do on

Sunday

[Music]

probably in the afternoon I'm going to

study because I have a maths exam on

Monday

oh that's a shame uh well I think I'm

gonna wish you good luck in your exam

and have fun at the beach thank you

hello how are you

I'm good thanks how are you I'm good so

what are you going to do this weekend

well

um on Saturday I think I'm going to go

to the gym

because I haven't been there for a while

and then I think I need to clean my

house because I didn't have time during

the week and it's a bit messy now

uh and in the evening I think I'm going

to have dinner with my friends

are you going somewhere after dinner

um I don't think so

um I really want to spend

this weekend in a really relaxed way so

I don't think I'm going anywhere after

dinner

see how about Sunday

well Sunday I'm not going to do anything

during the morning

I really want to take you know

at rest

um and then I'm going to have lunch with

my family because I haven't seen them

for a while

and then in the afternoon there's this

movie I really want to see so I'm going

to the cinema with my friends

fun I've never met your family

do you have a big family

yeah kind of there are five people in my

family so it's a medium family

I have two brothers so there are three

boys in my family

and there's my mother and my father

how about your father do you look like

him

yes I do I do look like my father

when he was younger he had blonde hair

like me

and he has glasses so do I

my mother has glasses too hmm

I'm the same height as my father

we are both

180 centimeters tall

my older brother is the same height as

me and my father

but my younger brother is shorter than

us

he has blonde hair and glasses too

though

oh how tall is your younger brother

he's a bit shorter than us I'm not sure

but I think he's around

170 centimeters tall oh

how about your mom

my mom is short too

she is the same height as my younger

brother oh and my mom has red hair

her hair is bright red so

my mother has different hair from the

rest of my family

there are four people with blonde hair

and one person with red hair

but actually all five of us wear glasses

oh really yeah so John you're thin what

about the rest of your family are they

thin too

well
my mother is skinny too like me

but

my brothers are more like my dad in

their body type

they are a little bit more muscular than

me

they have big muscles and they're very

strong so

they are heavier than me

that's my father

he weighs more than I do

and my brothers are also heavier than me

oh

sounds like a good

thank you

so John

you told me about your family's

appearance what about their personality

well all five people in my family have

different personalities

yeah my younger brother is really fun

it's great to spend time with him for

example

we usually play video games together

he likes to play racing games or sports

games

and

also we play card games or just watching

TV he's so funny no matter what we're

doing he tells jokes and I love

listening to him

tell jokes about whatever we're doing at

the time

and

he's so cheerful and bright

he's always open to new people and new

ideas

so I really like spending time with him

he makes me feel cheerful too when we

talk together

that's great

how about your older brother

well my older brother

he is a really good guy

he's not so entertaining like my younger

brother but he's very smart

he's really serious

he likes to study and read

for example he likes reading the Greek

philosophers

he likes reading about

Plato and Socrates

and he's always talking about philosophy

I like that stuff too I think it's

interesting

but he's not very funny I see

how about your dad

my dad

let's see what can I say about my dad's

personality

he's a hard worker

he's very devoted to everything he tries

he was raised on a farm so he knows a

lot about animals

and now he has a farm as a hobby

my dad raises horses and chickens he

loves animals and he has so many animals

but he doesn't think of them as farm

animals they're his pets and he loves

them

he spends every day outside where no

matter what the weather because he has

to take care of his family which is all

of his animals

and his really smart guy may be a bit

serious at times

his sense of humor is maybe like uh you

can imagine from an old man I see

how about your mother

what's she like

my mother loves to read horror novels

really yeah horror books

so she knows a lot of stuff about

um crime or Mysteries or police dramas

and lawyers she loves that stuff

so my mother is very interested in in

those kind of books and movies and TV

shows too so she's kind of like a

detective

my mother is very smart and enjoys

solving puzzles

wow it sounds like an interesting family

thank you

hey I'm really sorry I'm late I came as

fast as I could

it's okay nobody has really come yet why

where are they

um well John's shopping he's getting

some food okay what about Emma where is

she uh Emma has an exam so she's

studying and she's going to come later

okay how about Alex I I don't see him

around oh Alex is over there he's

preparing for the barbecue

oh yeah that's that's right and how

about uh Marcus and Emily

they're over there they're playing oh so

how many people are left who else is

coming

um I don't know nobody has really

contacted me yet oh well let's hope we

can get around uh 10 people maybe yes I

hope so cool

hello hello come in

um where is everyone

uh well everyone is doing something

right now

oh really where's your mom

um my mom she's at the mall I think

she's shopping she my she's I think

she's getting the groceries for the week

oh how about your dad

well every weekend he goes to the

country club so I think he's playing

golf with his friends now

where's your brother and sister

uh my brother he's upstairs I think he's

probably sleeping or playing video games

as he always did

um and my sister she's at school and

she's playing soccer because she has a

game today

oh really when does the game start

I think in 20 or 30 minutes let's go

watch it really that sounds fun let's go

Adam I've been trying to reach you all

day where have you been oh sorry when

did you call I first called you at three

o'clock

oh sorry I was playing soccer

well I tried calling you again at five

oh I was going home on the train well

why didn't you return my message

I was I was sleeping

well what happened when you got off the

train

as I was leaving the train I I saw a

friend and we started talking and I just

didn't look at my phone what was it that

you wanted to talk about oh I was

thinking about getting a new boyfriend

hey Adam have you done the things I've

asked you to do yet

what did you ask me to do I asked you to

take out the trash

I haven't done that yet

how about wash the dishes

I washed a few dishes

wash the car

no I I haven't washed the car what did

you do today

I was sleeping mostly

so Meg you're getting married soon how

are things going

things are going pretty well we have a

lot of planning to do I bet so have you

hired a band yet no we haven't hired a

band yet my brother has some friends who

are in a band so he's going to ask them

oh cool and uh have you gotten a caterer

for the wedding yes we have gotten a

caterer because the food is very

important so we ordered it in advance oh

what kind of food we're gonna have

traditional American food oh nice nice

so have you bought a dress yet yes of

course I have bought a dress that's the

most important part so last week I

picked up my new dress have you tried it

on yet yes I've tried it on many times

already okay cool have you shown it to

your groom to be no I haven't shown it

to my groom TV because it has to be a

surprise on the wedding day oh that's

right that's right so uh have you

ordered the flowers no not yet I haven't

ordered the flowers because I'm waiting

for some special flowers from the

florist so still waiting and have you

sent out the invitations yes we have

sent out the invitations we sent

we sent it a month ago oh cool so then I

assume you have booked the hall yes we

have booked the hall because we wanted

to have it at a special Hall so we

booked it probably six months ago okay

cool well the only one problem I didn't

get an invite am I invited to your

wedding oh I brought the invitation with

me today okay great thanks

John tell me about your day what time do

you wake up

well let's see

um some days I wake up early maybe about

six o'clock yeah sometimes I wake up at

six o'clock
when I get up early I like to get ready

for the day take a shower and have

breakfast

but

other days I don't like getting up early

maybe I'll sleep in until 10 or 11. wow

yeah I like sleeping in late so

sometimes I wake up at 11. on those days

if I know I won't wake up until 11 I'll

take a shower the night before before I

go to bed

how about you Sarah when do you usually

wake up

well I like every day to be the same

so I wake up every day at eight o'clock

eight eight

and I always do the same thing first I

make coffee right away

then I wake up my kids

and we have breakfast together at about

8 30. really yes we usually have

something easy like bread and yogurt and

fruit

I like to have coffee every morning

whether I wake up at six or at 10 I'm

still gonna have coffee

but I often skip breakfast

do you always eat breakfast every day

yes if I don't eat breakfast

I'm so hungry
what about lunch what time do you have

lunch

lunch is the same every day for me I

always eat lunch at 12 30 pm

so whenever I wake up I do some things

and then I always have lunch at 12 30 pm

just half past noon

and I always have a simple lunch maybe

some soup or spaghetti or a sandwich

something like

and it's always that half past noon

what time do you eat lunch that's

interesting I have breakfast at the same

time every day but lunch is always at a

different time really because I'm busy

in the morning I go out maybe I go

shopping sometimes I clean the house

so I might have lunch at 11 o'clock or

12 o'clock

sometimes as late as 2 30. oh that's

getting lit yes but it's always an easy

lunch like you maybe crackers and cheese

or a sandwich or a baked potato I see

do you always have dinner at a different

time too

no I almost always eat dinner around six

o'clock

how about you when do you eat dinner

my dinner time varies a lot just like my

breakfast

so maybe I eat dinner later than most

people I think I would have dinner at 7

00 pm

at the earliest but sometimes I will

have dinner

as late as nine o'clock at night really

yeah I don't mind it

um I really like cooking so

if I'm cooking a short thing I'll have

dinner earlier but I don't mind if it

takes two hours to cook something really

good I'll eat later at night

can you tell me about your work routine

what time do you usually go to work

oh see my work schedule is different

every day

that's why I wake up at a different time

every day

maybe on

for example

some weeks on Monday Wednesday and

Thursday I start work at seven

but on Thursday and Friday I don't start

work until 11 30.

how about you do you have a different

work time sometimes well right now I'm

on maternity leave

so I stay home and take care of my new

baby
oh congratulations thank you

I tried to work at home a little bit

every day though if the kids are

sleeping or they're playing quietly I

tried to do some work maybe

around two o'clock I can usually get

some work done because the kids are

sleeping oh if you don't start getting

some work done until two o'clock in the

afternoon

you must be very busy every morning

yeah I usually usually go to the grocery

store

to the park around 10 in the morning

I often do the laundry or wash the

dishes

and then as soon as the dishes are

washed it's time to make lunch so I'm

busy all day I see

so that's why your lunch time can change

so much yeah oh it sounds like a busy

day

so Hannah tell me um do you cook much

yes I always cook

I often cook with my roommate and we

always make

Chinese or Japanese food

how about you

well
um

I don't really cook that often because

I'm really busy during the week so I'll

just I always get something in a shop

and eat that but during the weekends

um I I do I always cook during the

weekends because I really like baking

food so that's what I do

so do you ever eat out

um only occasionally because

I'm really busy during the week and I

prefer cooking during the weekend so

um not really often I don't go out

really often to eat but whenever I'm

tired

and oh I don't have time to cook during

the weekend I go and eat out with a

friend so how about you

uh well I always cook so I normally go

and eat out on the weekends with my

friends or family

so do you ever buy takeaway

no I never normally when I go out to eat

I like to sit and enjoy my food how

about you

well that's really nice

um of course I I do like to sit and

enjoy my food but I have to admit that

occasionally I have to buy take away

especially when I'm coming late from

work and I'm driving

um I'm so hungry that

most of the times I don't really make it

home so I have to buy something and eat

it on my way that's a shame but that's

the way it is

and do you do you usually have people

over for dinner

yes I sometimes do I really like cooking

so occasionally I invite my friends over

and I cook for them or we all cook

together

how about you

um not really I do love cooking but the

problem is my place is really small so

even though I want to invite my friends

I never do it because my place would

only fit one or two people so

unfortunately I never have my friends

over for dinner

so Sarah what can you tell me about your

hometown

well my

my Eau Claire Wisconsin

and it's a really great City

there are about 80 000 people

there are lots of things to do

there are three movie theaters I love to

watch movies
me too there's lots of shopping

you can find anything you want there

there are lots of malls and stores

are there many restaurants yes

the thing I like is you can eat any type

of food

there are Chinese restaurants and Korean

restaurants Italian restaurants

there is a big variety of restaurants

and they're all good that sounds great

um what about

parks are there many places to see

nature in your town

yes

we have a lot of rivers and lakes and

Hills

my hometown has four seasons

so in summer

it's great because there are lots of

lakes to swim in lots of forests to play

in

in Winter there is a lot of snow

so you can go ice skating or ice fishing

or even skiing

wow that sounds really fun you yeah it's

a really

there are lots of

there

good is there much to do at night

well
to do at night

there aren't any nightclubs

there aren't many bars

so

actually maybe there isn't much

nightlife

that's okay it sounds like a nice place

to have a family yeah it is it's a great

place to have a family there's lots of

good schools and libraries

so John where are you from

my hometown is very small

it's a little town in the countryside

in Wisconsin

there are only 5 000 people there wow

there aren't very many people no it's

very small

there aren't very many businesses

there isn't a shopping mall

there are a lot of grocery stores

and there are a lot of gas stations

but there isn't much to do there

oh really are there any movie theaters

well there is one movie theater

so that's a nice thing to do in fact

there are many screens in the theater

there are eight different movies showing

how about at night what's fun to do how

about at night is there very much

nightlife

yeah there's not so much but there is a

bowling alley

it's fun to go bowling with friends

there's a bowling alley and the movie

theater

there's one restaurant where you can go

for

um tacos and burritos and there's one

more restaurant for pizza and spaghetti

ah but during the daytime

you can go to the park there's a river

that goes through the town

so

in the middle of town There's a river

and there's a park that goes along both

sides of the river

and at the park there is a tennis court

and

um a disc golf course

disc golf yeah I like to play disc golf

with my friends it's really fun and

after we finish playing disc golf we

usually go to the pizza restaurant

oh I see

how about schools are there very many

schools

let's see

no there aren't very many there is only

one Elementary School one junior high

school and one high school that's it

interesting

yeah there aren't very many schools but

the town doesn't need more schools

because there aren't very many people

there

I see

are there any mountains no the whole

area is very flat there are no mountains

but there are a lot of trees in fact

there are trees on my Town's sign

because my town is famous for all the

trees on every street

oh wow it sounds like a great City

hi I'm Ron from Hawaii I'm here with

Mari from Japan

today we're going to be talking about

food so Mari what's your favorite

cuisine

I think I like American food

what type of American food I like

hamburgers hamburgers

is that your favorite dish as well that

is my favorite dish

um my favorite hamburger

place is right near where I went to

University and

um they have this hamburger called the

Danish burger and the Danish Burger has

blue cheese inside the hamburger so I

love my favorite dish has to be the

Danish Burger

do you like any side things like french

fries with your hamburger I love french

fries but I know that eating hamburger

and french fries is a little bit

unhealthy so I always replace the

hamburger the the french fries for a

salad a salad okay

what about desserts what's your favorite

dessert

my favorite dessert has to be chocolate

cake

chocolate cake

anything else do you like to eat it with

anything

no I I like chocolate cake by itself

um

anything else I like brownie Sundaes

like brownies and chop brownies with

vanilla ice cream

I guess my favorite dessert is anything

chocolatey

sounds good

so before you said you like to eat a

salad what type of salad what type of

vegetables do you like I like all

vegetables

I like them cooked or raw

but

I don't like raw onion

not raw onions I really can't eat onions

raw that's probably the only vegetable I

can't eat raw that's interesting

thanks Mari

so miss Naomi from where is it you're

from Wales Wales okay so and how old are

you now I'm 11 11. okay so that means

you are in what would that be junior

School Secondary School uh Junior School

Junior School okay and

um

so what grade is that in Junior School

six oh grade six okay so um okay tell me

about your school what kind of subjects

do you study in Junior School you study

art and maths and Science in English and

geography in history and Ari Ari what

what's re religious education ah okay

and uh so you go to school from what

time in the morning

first classes at five past and then

um do you get a break

get a break at half past ten and then

lunch at 12 o'clock so oh 12 o'clock for

how long for an hour an hour oh nice and

then what what do you do for lunch in in

Wales do you do you have do they have

like a cafeteria where they cook for you

or yeah they have that and you can bring

sandwiches oh you can bring your own

sandwiches instead yes okay have what do

you do

I normally bring sandwiches okay oh is

that because the dinners are no good or

they're okay but I don't really like

them as much as sandwiches oh okay and

what what kind of food do they do they

serve up in the in the canteen and they

serve roast dinners and roast dinners

yeah what's a roast dinner it's like a

meat and vegetables okay okay sounds

very simple yeah and pizza and chips and

oh okay okay oh it sounds good and do

they give you lots of homework

no oh really no oh that was good to hear

so what's your favorite subject then in

in Junior School arts art yeah okay why

is that

I don't know I just like

um painting and drawing okay and then

what's the what's the subject that you

find most boring maths maths oh really

yeah I'm not a big fan of maths so I

guess uh if you're in grade six you'll

be going on to your next schools yeah

Secondary School okay and are you

looking forward to that yeah okay great

okay well it's very nice talking to you

and good luck in your next School

so Naomi uh so you're from Wales and

you're 11. so what does an 11 year old

girl do for fun in Wales I do music I

play the piano and the violin okay how

long have you played the piano for

um

since I was about

eight at eight and what about the violin

um about the same okay and what kind of

level are you at now then at the piano

[Music]

grade three three oh congratulations so

that's grade three of what is that

of

um you have different levels okay yeah

and it starts at grade one one and it

gets harder up till what's the what's

the highest grade you can get a grade

eight so you're grade three now yeah so

I guess the next one you're gonna do is

grade four yes okay and so what do you

have to do what kind of test is it it's

um you learn three pieces three pieces

of music yeah

um you have to

to do um some singing oh really yeah

okay
and so is that like sight reading you

look at the

the script and you have to sing the

notes or and no somebody um plays a tune

for you and you have to sing it with the

exactly the same tune that they played

and this site reading where you have to

um look at a page and then play it on

the piano oh wow is that hard yeah yeah

I can imagine

so how often how much do you practice

the piano then

um it probably should be once a week

once a day yeah but I normally do it um

three times a week about that okay and

you enjoy it then yeah okay great and

you play the violin too yeah yeah and is

that fun

sort of

it's not as fun as the piano okay

okay and how do you do any other things

in your spare time

uh I do

um guides and swimming guides yeah

what's guides it's like um a group of

girls and they do activities and

everything they meet each week to do

activities

okay like what kind of activities do you

do well you can go you go camping

sometimes yeah and you just do um

uh activities like um sometimes you do

Sports and outside activities

and lots of things okay oh is it like

kind of like the Cub Scouts for the boys

okay so you have to wear a uniform

um yes okay what can you explain the

uniform for me it's sort of it's dark

blue and you can either wear jeans or

joggers or these um trousers joggers

yeah what are joggers

the trousers that you wear for sports oh

for like jogging yeah okay

okay well okay well sounds like you have

you do a lot of fun things in your spare

time yeah okay well it's very nice to

talk to you and good luck with your

piano and your violin thank you

so Naomi uh so you're from Wales and

you're 11. so what does an 11 year old

girl do for fun in Wales I do music I

play the piano and the violin

and I play

um Sports

netball

yeah what's that it's like a basketball

a bit yeah

um the mostly girls play it and um you

have to you have um two teams and you

have to try and get the ball on each

other's Nets

okay so it's just like basketball you

bounce it around well you can you don't

really bounce it that much you can only

bounce it once oh really yeah okay okay

I see and you play it indoors then or

yeah mostly indoors in the summer

sometimes Outdoors okay all right sounds

good

yeah so you can only bounce it once yeah

there's three different passes you can

do but

um one is a user bounce called bounce

pass and you can only um use a bounce

once okay to pass it to your teammate

yeah okay and what are the other passes

um there's chess pass and what's that

this is sort of a straight pass from

chess to the other person's chest okay

and um shoulder pass which is just sort

of lob like a lob you throw it over your

shoulder kind of thing okay

so it's just well like basketball then

somebody throws it in the net and then

how many points do you get

um

it's one point for every net

the um balls that you get in the net oh

okay and how long is a game of netball

um probably about an hour oh really so

like half an hour each side or yeah I

think so okay and how many people are

there on a team

seven seven yeah okay nice

hi I'm Ron from Hawaii I'm here with

Mari from Japan

today we're going to be talking about

entertainment and how often we do these

things so Mari how often do you watch TV

I watch the news in the morning and when

I come home at night I sometimes watch

TV

do you have a favorite TV show

I don't have a favorite TV show

okay

how often do you go to the movies I

really like going to the movies

um

I think I go maybe once a month or once

every two months

and other than that do you rent movies

I no I don't rent movies but sometimes I

download movies

um I like to watch comedies romantic

comedies and a little bit of drama

which which is your favorite movie you

watched recently

favorite movie are

one of it was my favorite movie

a movie that I watched recently

called 27 Dresses it is about a girl or

a woman who was bridesmaid 27 times and

that's a romantic comedy it is

what about reading do you like to read

books I do like to read books

um right now I'm really busy with with

work so I don't have a lot of time to

read

but when I'm on vacation or whenever I

have free time I like to read books what

kind of books

I like to read non-fiction usually

um like biographies of people

and I also like to read about

um like teaching practices so that I

could become a better teacher

and

um a little bit of fiction

and what about concerts do you enjoy

going to concerts

I don't go to music concerts

I don't think I've ever been to one

actually but I like to go see musicals

and I also like to go to sporting events

hi this is Mari I'm here with Ron today

we'll talk about types of entertainment

and how often we do these things let's

first start with watching TV Ron how

often do you watch TV usually I watch TV

every day I don't watch TV very long but

I usually watch TV every day usually I

watch the news why just the news I like

to know what's going on in the world so

I usually watch CNN or BBC

and that's it not

usually yes you

you other than that sometimes I'll watch

sporting events such as baseball or

football

but that's it yeah okay okay

uh next do you go to the movies how

often do you go to the movies I don't go

to the movies very often maybe twice a

year I would say that's it yeah do you

rent movies

I rent movies more than I go to the

cinema but also not very often what kind

of movies do you like I like funny

movies comedies comedies

what's the most recent movie you watched

I watched home alone last night but it

was on TV I didn't rent the movie

okay

uh how often do you read books

I don't like reading so I don't read

books very often the only time I do read

books is for school purposes

what kind of books do you read for

school

well my major is international relations

so usually I read international

relations books if I have to read if you

have to read

so nothing no books for pleasure not for

entertainment so when you're on the

airplane you don't read no I try to

watch the movies on the airplane

okay

how often do you go to concerts I go to

concerts once in a while

um in Hawaii there aren't many concerts

so when there are concerts I try to go

what do you

I like Hawaiian music so I go to

Hawaiian concerts and if a big star from

America comes I usually try to go also

some music concerts right music concerts

okay Ron thanks

hi I'm Ron from Hawaii I'm here with

Mari from Japan today we'll be talking

about abilities

so Mari are you a good cook

I like to cook

um more specifically I like to cook for

people I like to have people over and

eat with people I don't really like to

eat alone so I don't like to cook for

myself I like to cook for other people

um but more than cooking I like to bake

baking what do you like to bake cookies

and brownies and cake that sounds very

good I would like to eat one of your

brownies

okay next um are you a good singer I am

terrible at singing I don't like going

to karaoke and I don't like to sing I

like music but I can't sing for my life

um

I yesterday or I guess in class it was a

student's birthday and I made my

students sing happy birthday but they

wouldn't start

so I had to start them off singing and

my voice was so bad that they started

laughing at me so I'm just a terrible

singer that's funny

okay next are you a good dancer

no I'm not a good dancer

I can't dance at all I used to when I

was younger my parents enrolled me in

ballet classes so I did ballet for

six years but

I am not very good at dancing

so you're a teacher now right so were

you a good student when you were a

student I was a good student because

um because I'm a dork no

um yeah I think I was a good student I

tried hard in all of my classes I always

done my homework I was always focused

and took notes during class

um if I didn't understand something I

would either ask questions in class or

speak to the teacher or Professor after

class I always really liked learning and

so I think that's why I was a really

good student

and Athletics were you a good athlete

and are you a good athlete now

that's a tricky question

um I like sports and I like playing

sports I

I am I don't think I'm a very good

athlete probably compared to you I'm

probably not but I really enjoy playing

sports

um in high school I played soccer I ran

cross country

um I played ice hockey and a little bit

of Lacrosse and which one was your

favorite sport

my favorite sport was ice hockey

I'm Mari from Japan I'm here with Ron

from Hawaii today we're going to be

talking about abilities so let's start

with food can you cook

I can't cook well but I do cook

so I think the reason why I can't cook

well is because I can eat anything so I

don't try very hard to make it taste

good

okay

what do you like to cook

I like to barbecue outside on the grill

what do you put on your barbecue

when I cook meat I don't put much only

salt pepper and a little bit of

seasoning

okay

next

do you think you're a good dancer no I

don't think I'm a good dancer and I

don't really try to be a good dancer

either do you not like to dance I don't

like to dance at all right

um I heard that you're a good line

dancer I would like to learn how to line

dance and I do like country music but I

haven't officially been taught how to

line dance so you don't dance at all

okay next

um are you a good singer

no I'm not a good singer but I do enjoy

going to karaoke what do you like to

sing
in Hawaii when I go to karaoke I enjoy

singing Hawaiian music if I'm in Japan I

like to sing other English songs that

they have usually country music or 80s

or 90s music

God that's good that's good

um do you think you're a good student

I don't know if I'm a good student

growing up I was not a good student but

now I am trying harder to be a good

student how were you not a good student

growing up I didn't enjoy going to

school and I didn't try very hard in

school now I try a little harder I make

an effort

can you talk more about your effort what

do you do to try to be a good student

I tried to listen to the teachers now

instead of doing my own thing and I try

to

complete everything with good quality

that's good

and last do you think that you're a good

athlete

growing up I was a good athlete I played

a few Sports

um now I don't play any sports anymore

because I'm old but growing up I think I

was a good athlete what sports did you

play I played American football baseball

and soccer

which one is your best sport I would say

football American football is my best

sport how long did you play

I played

um since I was 11 until age 22. so for

11 years yeah and you played when you

were in University I played at the

University of Hawaii yeah

so after Laos where did you go after

Laos I flew to Vietnam

and actually

I took the bus into Vietnam okay yes and

in Vietnam I traveled from the north

from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City

but because my time was so short

I could only spend one or two days in

each City

wow what city did you like the most

I think I prefer Hanoi the most the food

the street food is amazing

it's a very Lively City lots of

motorcycles and traffic so it's reminded

me of Nigeria where I was born a little

bit oh cool yes and what did you do in

Vietnam

I spent time in Hanoi I also went to

visit Sapa which has a lot of Rice

Terraces
so these are mountains where they've

planted rice fields so the scenery the

view is really beautiful

and you also get to meet the native

peoples the local peoples there so I

enjoyed it

and then from there I went to Hoi An

which is a very historical City

very beautiful

um night scenery by the river

and then I went to Ho Chi Minh City but

I could only spend one night there

before leaving for Myanmar okay and then

how was Myanmar what did you do there

Myanmar was my last stop

and

I didn't have so much time there

but I managed to go

but I managed to visit some of the

places I really wanted to see

like Yangon Bagan and Mandalay

man I would say that Bagan was the

highlight

they had many temples

from the past

and just seen that many of them

it was very impressive

that's fantastic yes

so what country was your favorite

it's hard to say they each have their

own good points

but

I think I would definitely like to visit

Thailand again oh okay Thailand that's

in a great place

anyway thanks ABI Demi thank you Todd

abidemi what did you do for summer break

for summer break I went to visit some

countries in Asia ooh what countries I

visited Thailand Laos

Vietnam and Myanmar oh great

what did you do in each country

in Thailand I was there for about a week

I ate a lot of delicious food

and I met many nice people

I love Thailand so I hope to return

again what foods did you eat

I don't remember the names but I just

remembered that they were all good

Thai food is so good

um did you go anywhere in Thailand like

the beach or the forest I was more

interested in nature so I traveled from

Bangkok to Chang Mai and Chiang Rai

and I went trekken and rode elephants

so that was one of the highlights of my

trips oh nice how long was the Trek the

Trek was about a day

it was a trek for two three hours but

then we also stayed overnight

in uh

community

in the Hills

and then the next day we trekked for a

little bit to come back to the city nice

so was Thailand the first stop yes it

was my first stop

it was supposed to be the shortest stop

but I loved it so much that I spent

more time there

after Thailand where did you go

from Thailand I moved on by land

to Laos

and what did you do in Laos

I mainly was in the northern part of the

country and I went zipline lying ooh fun

it was fun

so ziplining is going flying from tree

to tree that's correct so that was about

two days worth

of uh zip lining

and we stayed overnight in a big tree

house

oh how fun it was quite

nice I really enjoyed it

hey Todd can I ask you a favor sure

anytime

um I really need a place to stay and I

heard that your house is on Airbnb it is

on Airbnb I do rent my house but for you

it's free oh amazing yeah can I stay

there then you can how long maybe a week

or two weeks okay uh when uh from next

Monday yeah actually you can do that

that that works excellent thank you so

much how about uh how about a car can I

park my car Ah that's a problem you

can't park your car because there's no

space but there is a cheap parking lot

about

maybe two blocks away okay so it's only

a couple dollars a day okay I guess I

guess are there how about cooking there

can I cook of course yeah you can cook I

have a stove refrigerator you can bring

your own food you can do whatever you

want excellent thank you can I use the

internet you can use the internet

um there's a password I will write down

the password before I leave and I will

write down the password before you get

there excellent thank you so much I was

thinking about asking my friend if he

can stay could my friends stay over yeah

sure so your friend can stay

um not a problem I don't think he has a

dog can he bring his dog ooh that is a

problem
uh does the dog have a cage

um no but we can get a cage

I'm not sure about the dog if the dog is

in a cage

it's okay in the house but I think

yeah you can't have the dog in the house

okay

how about smoking my friend is a very

heavy smoker can he smoke outside yeah

he can smoke outside just please pick up

cigarette butts but of course he can't

smoke inside okay he can't smoke inside

no okay

how about if we want to have a party can

we have a party yeah you can have a

party that's okay but please be quiet

don't be too loud the neighbors live

very close to my house

all right that sounds good thanks

question uh-huh

can I use the washing machine yeah of

course you can use anything you can use

the washing machine

um you can use the internet you can use

the TV you can use anything you like wow

excellent that sounds great thank you so

much yeah I am I will write down

directions for my house and I will send

you a map

and you can check it out and get all the

information

and just um I will leave the key for you

with my neighbor excellent thank you

very much sure no problem

so Meg are you busy this weekend

yes I'm so busy because I'm moving oh no

yeah there's a lot of work to do what do

you have to do

first I have to prepare my apartment so

I need to pack all of my things

that's not fun no takes a long time

do you need help

yeah do you have time to help me I can

help you on Sunday oh are you busy on

Saturday yeah on Saturday I have to work

I have to teach two classes

and then after I teach

I have to grade papers

um it sounds like you're really busy too

yeah plus I have to meet my friends

that evening oh what will you do with

your friends I'm helping my friend also

my friend has car problems

so I have to take him to the mechanic

but on Sunday I can help you

okay that would be great because on

Sunday I have to take some trash to the

dump

and I have to
finish some paperwork at City Hall

to prepare for moving to a new country

oh now because you're moving do you have

to go to the Post Office

I do have to go to the post office I

almost forgot at the post office I have

to submit a form to say my new address

that's good because I have to go to the

post office too oh really I have to send

my mom's birthday gift to her when is

your mom's birthday it was one magunta

go ah so you have to send it quickly yes

I have to get on it okay well let's go

together so I'll see you Sunday what

time should I be here

I have to go to City Hall by 3 P.M so

can you come at two okay but if you want

to go to the dump

The Dump closes at noon so we have to

leave earlier

okay can you come at 11 yes okay so I

will see you at 11 o'clock great see you

then bye bye

okay Katie yeah let's take an

international test oh okay how

International are you let's find out

let's find out okay first

have you ever eaten Greek food Greek

food uh I've eaten how do you say it

Buffalo oh is that Greek I think so okay

I've had that but apart from that I've

never eaten Greek food okay how about

you have you uh I think I have

well I've I've eaten Greek yogurt does

that count that counts that counts okay

have you ever eaten Russian food

what's Russian food I think like Russian

food like is it borscht borders is like

a soup a cabbage soup I've I've never

eaten Russian food yeah maybe I haven't

eaten Russian food either

okay last one have you ever eaten

Vietnamese food

uh I I see it written down it's is it

full faux the noodles yeah I've eaten

faux before yeah I've been to Vietnam so

I've eaten Vietnamese food a lot and

followed the noodles is really good it's

yeah it's delicious I've had that too

okay now let's talk about languages okay

have you ever studied French I have

studied French

can you still speak French nope

at all yeah me too I I once studied

French years ago but I haven't spoken

French in so long I can't remember

anything I can't remember any

where yeah have you ever studied an

Asian language
um I've studied Japanese oh okay I can

still speak it a little bit now

and I studied a little bit of Korean but

I don't speak Korean oh really okay wow

like I've studied uh Thai okay because I

lived in Thailand for five years and

like you I've studied Japanese but my

Japanese is terrible how about your Thai

my tie is okay

it's okay I can talk a little bit

okay so have you ever met a Spanish

person

a Danish person actually I don't think I

have

really I don't think I have met a

Spanish person oh interesting I've Been

to Spain so I've met a few and we have a

Spanish teacher at my school

oh maybe I have met a Spanish person

then

maybe maybe I've met a secret Spanish

person okay have you met a Chinese

person oh yes I've met lots of Chinese

people okay and have you met a Brazilian

person

probably met a Brazilian person yeah

I've met a few people from Brazil so

they're always very nice very friendly

people

hey Todd are you healthy do you eat lots

of fruits and vegetables

I guess I am healthy I do eat lots of

fruits and vegetables but I also eat

junk food sadly but I try to eat lots of

fruits especially to stay healthy what

kind of fruits do you like to eat well I

like all fruits I love all fruits except

pineapple I hate pineapple I don't know

why I just don't like pineapple I don't

like the taste I don't like to chew it

it just feels funny

but I love apples I love bananas I love

oranges I usually have an apple every

morning for breakfast it's very easy to

eat and I just love Apples because you

can take them to school you can eat them

quickly they're very easy to eat

I also like oranges and I love orange

juice so sometimes I make fresh orange

juice in my kitchen so oranges are great

but my favorite fruits are bananas and

strawberries I love bananas and

strawberries and I love to eat bananas

and strawberries together so my favorite

snack is to cut up some banana and then

cut up some strawberry and mix them

together and then eat them well it

sounds like you really like a lot of

fruits oh yeah I do what about

vegetables do you eat vegetables every

day

I do I try to have a salad every day and

I have a special salad I make and I call

it

my chunky crunchy salad and it's carrots

cucumbers and tomatoes and I cut the

carrots and cucumbers into small little

squares and then I cut up the tomatoes

and I mix them together and the carrots

tomatoes and cucumbers mixed together

the colors are really pretty and when

you eat the salad it's very crunchy and

it's very chunky because it's all little

squares so I call it my crunchy chunky

salad well that sounds delicious do you

ever share it with someone else no I

don't but I want to because I really I

like it so much and I can't cook so when

I go to somebody's house and I need to

bring food

I think oh I should bring chunky crunchy

salad

that's a good idea another

idea is to

chewables do you

do you too much I do cook asparagus

asparagus is probably my favorite a

vegetable and it's very easy to cook

because asparagus you just have to cut

up and do small pieces and then you can

put the asparagus in a bowl with some

water in the microwave and you can cook

asparagus in about 30 seconds so I eat

asparagus a lot

also I eat broccoli I love broccoli

sometimes I have broccoli and lettuce

together for my salad and then sometimes

I cook eggplant I like to cook eggplant

because I like the taste and it's easy

to cook

I don't really like eggplant really I

don't oh no why not it has a strange

flavor to me so I prefer not to eat

eggplant well as long as you eat your

veggies mmm

so Meg you look like a healthy person

do you eat lots of fruits and vegetables

the fruits and vegetables a essentially

fruit I love to eat fruit because it's

so sweet yeah what fruits do you like

I love bananas because they're so

healthy for you and so usually in the

morning for breakfast I'll have a banana

I also love blueberries blueberries are

my favorite fruit but sometimes they're

expensive so I can't often eat

blueberries oh I agree blueberries are

so good I love blueberries and oatmeal

Ah that's a good idea I love to have

blueberries in muffins oh that's nice

well you bake do you bake blueberry

muffins I do bake blueberry muffins and

also blueberry bread blueberry pancakes

many blueberry things oh wow that's

great so are there any fruits you don't

like

I don't like kiwi actually

because the flavor is okay but the fruit

is too soft so usually I don't want to

eat kiwi oh wow I love kiwi I love kiwi

and kiwi in bananas it's very good

sounds okay but maybe I'll just have the

banana

so what about vegetables

um are you a person who eats lots of

salad

um I don't eat a lot of salad but I do

like to eat vegetables with my meals

usually lunch and dinner

so you cook vegetables I cook vegetables

or I eat vegetables fresh for example

usually with my lunch I'll cut up a

cucumber and put some salt or pepper on

the cucumber and eat it with my lunch oh

great I love vegetable sticks so I love

carrot sticks cucumber sticks

radish sticks it's very good do you like

to dip vegetable sticks into any

dressing I do but it's not healthy right

but yeah I love the dressing like the

ranch dressing with carrot sticks or the

ranch dressing with cucumber sticks it's

very nice yeah it's pretty delicious but

you're right not so healthy no

so what vegetables do you cook sometimes

I cook broccoli I actually like to roast

broccoli which is when you put broccoli

into the oven and cook it for a few

minutes so it's really delicious you can

add some salt or seasonings and it's

easy to make you can cook some meat or

rice while the broccoli is in the oven

and then it's ready for your dinner oh

that's great

yeah you see some vegetables uh like on

a kebab that are roasted I guess onions

are roasted peppers are roasted do you

roast other vegetables besides broccoli

sometimes tomatoes and sometimes

potatoes although is that a vegetable

it is but it's not a very healthy

vegetable oh so maybe I shouldn't eat

potatoes oh I love potatoes though

um so you roast vegetables do you cook

vegetables any other way do you boil

vegetables or fry vegetables

I boil vegetables for example I like to

boil carrots because they're soft and

you can add some spices again to have

some flavor when you eat carrots with

your meal yeah actually I love carrots

but I only like raw carrots oh really

and I hate cooked carrots oh well I'll

try to remember that if you ever come

over for dinner yeah carrot sticks

please okay

so Meg we are talking about animals uh

do you like to go to the zoo I love to

go to the zoo okay so when you go to the

zoo what animals do you like to watch I

really like to watch giraffes giraffes

are so tall and giraffes look really

soft and friendly so I wish that I could

touch a giraffe someday oh that's so

true there is a zoo near my house in

California and you can walk up some

stairs and then you can feed the

giraffes and their face is the same

height as your face and they look really

really cute and yeah giraffes are great

oh giraffes are so cute maybe someday I

can feed the giraffes I like how

giraffes look I love their face and I

also love camels also because I think

camels have a similar face they look

really cool I

Idols are very cute

camels have so much hair that they look

ugly oh really oh I like camels they

always look cool and relaxed they do

look relaxed but I like giraffes better

than camels well what about llamas

llamas are kind of like camels and are

kind of like giraffes they kind of have

the same face do you like llamas I think

llamas look cute but I've heard that

llamas aren't very friendly really have

you heard about llamas spitting at

people before no actually I think I

heard camels do that but maybe llamas do

it too hmm I'm not sure

okay so um what about other animals what

other animals do you like at the zoo

I really like the zebras because zebras

are black and white with stripes so

they're the zebra stripes are really

cool and zebras are similar to horses so

sometimes I think I could ride a zebra

if I had one yeah that would be cool

zebras do look pretty cool are there any

other animals well there's one animal

that I'm afraid of and that's a bear

yeah bears are pretty scary bears are

really scary and they're so big with

huge teeth and giant Claws and I feel

like a bear would eat me if I met it in

person actually have you seen a bear in

the wild

no I've never seen a bear in the wild

and I really don't want to oh wow in

California uh sometimes you can see

bears in the wild small black bears and

actually the black bears are not that

dangerous really yeah I mean you need to

be careful when you see a black bear in

the wild but they almost never attack

anybody so the one animal you must be

afraid of though is the mountain lion so

there are mountain lions also in

California and they are scary

I should avoid mountain lions too yeah

yeah if you walk in the wild and you see

a mountain lion maybe it's too late

you're already in trouble maybe I'll

just keep going to the zoo

hey Todd did you have any pets when you

were a kid I did I had many pets

actually uh I had a dog of course and I

had some cats but actually I grew up on

a farm

yeah so uh we raised lots of animals and

on the farm I always felt like the

animals were my pets so it was pretty

cool wow that sounds really exciting for

a kid oh it was great it was the best

what kind of animals were on your farm

we had almost every

you know farm animal possible

um for example we had pigs we raised a

lot of pigs and pigs actually are really

good pets they're very fun

um pigs are very friendly animals and

they're not really dangerous so also

pigs like people so sometimes when we

were little we would ride on the pig's

back but if our grandpa saw us riding on

the pigs he would yell at us we always

got in trouble uh-oh yeah also aren't

pigs dirty they are dirty so when you

would go in the pig pen you would get

very very dirty but you know when you

are small when you are young you don't

care it's just fun what about other

animals like chickens we did have

chickens and lots of chickens and the

chickens maybe were the least friendly

animals so chickens don't like people

and the chickens you have to go get the

eggs so work with chickens was not easy

and I never really liked the chickens

that much plus the chickens you eat more

often so it's a little different right

yeah yeah I don't think I've ever seen a

chicken in person really no oh wow you

must be a city girl I am although when I

was young I always wanted to have a

horse did your farm have horses we had

one horse for a while and then we had a

pony so yeah we had one horse and we had

one Pony the pony was great because when

I was little we could ride the pony but

the pony was actually really mean so the

pony would bite you if you were not

careful and if you try to ride the pony

sometimes the pony would get angry very

angry but it's okay uh you know when

you're small on a farm it's normal

that were more friendly yeah actually

the best pet you can have is a goat

really a goat yeah goats are fantastic

goats love people they really really

love people and they're very social and

goats follow people so when you are

little on the farm and when you walk

around the goats become your friend so

when I was little I would walk and I had

friendly goats that would follow me

everywhere and they were great and

they're very curious they like to see

what you're doing and uh yeah and they

like to be petted so you know like you

pet a dog you pet a cat goats also like

for you to pet them they're very very

social and it's interesting because

goats and sheep are kind of similar but

really they're very different so goats

are very social goats are very friendly

and sheep are very shy and sheep don't

like people at all so sheep stay away

from people and goats always get close

to people

sounds like a goat is a good pet to have

goats are the best they are so friendly

and goats are cool because goats talk to

you so they like to make a sound you

know like they ba or whatever they make

a sound and uh when you walk around as a

young boy or young girl the goats are

great they follow you and you feel like

the goat is talking to you which is cool

that sounds really fun now I wish I had

some goats yeah you gotta the only other

animal we had we also had cows and cows

are cool some cows are friendly most

cows are shy uh but cows you know they

always come to you because they think

they will get food but if they see you

have no food then cows stay away so cows

like sheep are a little afraid of people

but pigs and goats love people and

they're very social oh it sounds really

cool growing up on a farm it was it was

I was lucky

hey Todd where do you live I live on the

east side of town

oh like it there I do I live in an older

house but it's a big house and it's

really relaxing it's a nice place to

live wow sounds nice how many rooms does

it have my house is pretty big it's four

rooms

um it has a big sleeping room it's a

Japanese house so it's not really a

bedroom because you sleep on the floor

but it also has a living room it has

like an office room and it has a kitchen

is it a big kitchen

no it's a pretty small kitchen and it's

a very old kitchen I have a small stove

so it's very difficult to cook but you

know I have a refrigerator I have a

microwave I have a nice kitchen table to

eat at so it's a it's a pretty decent

kitchen it sounds okay what about your

living room what do you have in the

living room my living room it's pretty

cool for a guy because it's a good place

to watch sports I have a really big TV

and I have cable TV so I get all the

football channels nice and I have a

really big sofa so I can sit on my sofa

and watch sports and drink beer it's

great sounds relaxing very relaxing well

do you also have a nice bathroom

I do I actually have

three bathrooms oh really it's kind of

crazy yeah so in English you know we say

bathroom but I have two rooms that are

for the toilet and I have one room uh or

bathroom with the toilet for the guests

and then I have a bathroom that I use

and then also I have a natural hot

spring bath outside my house so if I

want to take a shower or bathe I use

that room wow I'd love to have a hot

spring at my house yeah it's very nice

it's very very nice does your house also

have a yard it kind of has a yard so

outside my house there's an area for

flowers and bushes and it's like a yard

or a garden around the house but it's

not a place you can play sports there's

no grass or anything so it's a very very

small yard but you know it's a nice

place oh yeah it sounds like a nice

place to live it is a nice place to live

I'm very very lucky you said you have a

sleeping room not a bedroom what does

that mean yeah I live in a Japanese

style house so it's called the tatami

room and you sleep in the tatami room

and you sleep on the floor on a futon so

I don't have a bed so it's not a bedroom

it's a room that you sit in during the

day and you can eat and talk with guests

but it's also a room that you sleep in

at night so yeah I call it my sleeping

room but I think in Japan they just call

it the tatami room uh

yeah it's really comfortable now I love

it so before I slept on a bed but now I

sleep on the futon on the floor and I

really like it actually I prefer to

sleep on the futon on the floor

it's like your house is really

comfortable it is it is I never want to

leave

so Meg do you live in a house or an

apartment I live in an apartment near

the train station oh you live downtown I

do ah do you like living downtown I do

like living downtown because it's so

convenient everything is close by

grocery stores the mall the station oh

that's great so what about your

apartment do you have a nice apartment

it it's a nice apartment but it's really

small oh yeah how many rooms well there

are three rooms but each room is pretty

small

there's a bedroom a sitting room like a

living room and the kitchen room oh wow

so in your bedroom like

do you have like a big queen size bed a

small bed I have a small twin size bed

or a single bed in the bedroom because

it's pretty small so there's not much

space for a big bed all right so do you

have a TV in your bedroom no actually I

don't own a TV at all really so there's

no TV in the living room too there's no

tv anywhere in the apartment wow what do

you do in your house uh I have a laptop

computer so usually I can watch some TV

shows or videos on my laptop all right

okay do you like to like watch movies in

bed uh yeah sometimes I like to watch

movies in bed or sometimes I prefer to

sit in the living room and watch movies

right so you must have high speed

internet

I do yes I have an internet box that my

laptop can connect to okay cool do you

have a nice big sofa I have two small

sofas so you can push them together to

make one big sofa or you can keep them

separate usually I keep them separate

because there's more room for people to

sit on okay now you like to cook so you

must have a nice kitchen unfortunately I

have a very tiny kitchen oh no what do

you cook I I have to use some extra

tables to have more space the counter is

really small so there's not much space

so I have an extra table I use for

preparing the food okay do you have an

oven I have a very small toaster oven so

it's not really an oven all right so do

you have a microwave I do have a

microwave and a small refrigerator and

one burner like a stovetop burner okay

do you cook every night I don't cook

every night sometimes I'm too busy and

sometimes because my kitchen is so small

I get a little frustrated so I I just

pick up some food from a restaurant all

right now you live in an apartment so

how many floors does your apartment

building have the building has five

floors and I live on the fifth floor

nice yeah yeah the view is nice but

unfortunately there's no elevator so you

always have to take the stairs wow five

flights of stairs five flights of stairs

every day but it's good exercise so

you're on the fifth floor do you have a

balcony I have a small balcony where my

washing machine is and I can also hang

up my laundry out there oh cool washing

machine's outside it is outside it's a

little different from my house in

America oh so from your view what can

you see I can see the train station from

one window and all the restaurants

downtown and from a different window I

can see the mountains oh nice yeah the

mountains are nice yeah it's really

pretty

hey Todd I know you've traveled a lot

have you lived in I've lived in three

countries I've traveled to many many

countries but I've actually lived in

three I lived in England for one year I

lived in Thailand for four years and I

have lived in Japan for 15 years wow

lived in England why did you live there

it was the first country I traveled to

after college

and I had a work permit a work visa for

one year

and I worked at a pub restaurant which

was great it was in the countryside and

I really enjoyed it and then I did that

for

six months I lived near Cambridge so I

was near Cambridge University

and then after that I moved to London

and again I worked at a restaurant

and I lived in London and just worked

wow so it was after college how old were

you I was 23 years old oh and living in

London that must have been fun it was

fun and interestingly when I went to

England I could not speak English

so I could not understand British people

it took me maybe two months before I

could understand their English so it was

very very difficult to understand

British people when I first moved there

ah ah so you liked it I did like England

it was fun it was my first country

but the weather was cold for me so I'm

from California and California in the

United States is very warm so I didn't

like the weather but that's okay because

all British people don't like the

weather too oh oh really yeah everybody

complains about the weather

[Music]

warmer I did uh right after England I

moved to Thailand and I lived in

Thailand for over four years wow why did

you live in Thailand uh I was traveling

and in Thailand I had no money and I

needed a job and I wanted to stay in

Thailand so I became an English teacher

really yeah did you teach English there

for four years I did so I went there and

I began teaching English then I got a

teaching course certificate to teach

English in Thailand and I really enjoyed

it the Thai students were really fun and

Thailand is a great place to live

because the weather is really nice the

people are really friendly and the food

is delicious it has the best food in the

world I think I've also heard that

Thailand is beautiful is it true it is

it has many many beautiful islands and

it has lots of beautiful places with

nature in the mountains it has jungle it

has beautiful beaches so it's a nice

place to live so you liked Thailand too

I did Thailand was great yeah so England

Thailand you you said next was Japan

yeah so next was Japan

and Japan's nice I am a teacher an

English teacher in Japan and I love

teaching English in Japan like Thailand

the food is really really good the

people are nice the scenery is really

beautiful so Japan is really nice are

there fun things to do in Japan Yes

actually I like Japan the most because

you get everything you get lots of

beautiful nature so you can go hiking

you can go see beautiful beaches you can

go to really nice Islands but also Japan

has many many nice cities so you can go

to Tokyo Osaka Fukuoka and the cities

have lots to do there's good shopping

great restaurants it's easy to travel in

Japan by train and bus so it's really

nice wow that sounds like the Best of

Both Worlds yeah it is definitely a good

place to live

Meg we are talking about traveling and

visiting other countries what countries

have you traveled to yeah I've been to

quite a few different countries for

example Spain Belize and Indonesia wow

three different continents yeah pretty

far apart

wow that's cool so Spain that must be a

really nice country what did you think

of Spain Spain is really beautiful

there's a lot of beautiful nature and

also some nice cities while I was there

I lived in a small city called casades

oh nice are the people really friendly

in Spain uh Yes actually the people are

very friendly and very helpful

especially if you're lost oh that's

great I hear Spanish food is really

really good

food is delicious I lived with a Spanish

family and my Spanish mom cooked

delicious meal meals every day for lunch

in Spain Seafood is really popular so I

ate a lot of fish and shrimp oh I love

fish and shrimp me too

now Spain is really warm right yes Spain

was very hot while I was there during

the summer oh yeah how hot how hot does

it get it got up past 40 degrees celsius

during the summer wow yeah it was pretty

hot does it rain it does rain but when I

was there in the summer it didn't rain

very often

so what about Belize Belize is a really

small country Belize is very small but

it's also hot similar to Spain in the

summer why did you go to Belize I went

to Belize on a study trip for school and

I stayed there for about two weeks okay

now does police have good food police

also has good food there was a family

that cooked for us and we had a lot of

delicious almost Mexican type food oh

really so for example what do you eat

like what do people eat in Belize people

eat it's kind of like a taco but flat

with a tortilla and some meat and

vegetables on top and some spices that

make it really delicious

so the last country is Indonesia when

did you go to Indonesia I actually went

to Indonesia just last year oh whoa how

long did you stay I only stayed there

for about a week oh yeah ooh short trip

yeah it was a short trip but I was just

visiting some friends there where did

you go I went to Jakarta and Bali okay

so I hear Bali has really beautiful

beaches is it true yeah it's true there

are a lot of famous and beautiful

beaches in Bali oh did you surf in Bali

I've never surfed before usually when I

went to the beach I just wanted to put

my feet in the water oh yeah now Bali

also has a very famous scenery on the

inside like the rice fields did you see

the rice fields of Bali no I didn't see

the rice fields but I did go to some

famous historical spots so of the three

countries Spain Belize and Indonesia

what country was your favorite maybe

Spain was my favorite because I love

learning language and it was really nice

to stay with my Spanish family yeah I

could see that I really want to go to

Spain and I hope to go soon I hope you

can go too it's beautiful

so John do you like to play golf

well no I don't play golf very much but

I play disc golf

disc golf what's that well some people

call it frisbee golf

basically there are courses at parks

it's similar to golf but the courses are

much smaller

you use a frisbees or flying discs and

you have to throw it

so it's different from golf

you're not aiming for a small hole

but actually you need to throw the

frisbee into a basket

oh that sounds fun is it very easy

well

it can be easy or it can be very

difficult it depends on the course

many different Parks have different disc

golf courses

and you can be a easy beginner or you

can be an expert

it all depends on how much you want to

get involved

I see my friends and I

we're beginners so we just like to have

fun

so we just do the easy courses and have

a good time

I think it's relaxing

so you only need one frisbee

well actually

it's better to have two or three you can

play with one but

in fact when you learn more about disc

golf there are different sizes and

weights of the discs why would you want

a different size

disc well it's similar to the clubs in

golf

when you throw your first throw you want

it to go very far so you should use a

heavier disc

but when you're near the basket

you should make a short throw so you

want a lightweight disc

I see that's interesting

yeah so as I said when you want to

become an expert you have to spend more

money to get better equipment

it's like any sport I guess

in fact they have disc golf competitions

now

so you can even participate in a

tournament and win some prize money

did you ever compete oh no I'm just a

beginner I don't think I want to be too

serious about it

so golf has 18 holes how about this disc

golf does it have 18 holes too

well not usually

golf courses are very large but disc

golf courses are usually found in parks

so

they usually have only six holes but you

can play 18 holes by doing all six three

times each

how do you keep score

keeping is like real golf

so

the winner should have the lowest score

every time you throw a frisbee or a

flying disc you have to mark one point

so if you can do a hole in one that

means you can hit the basket on your

first try

then you'll only have one point that's

best

but I'm not that good at it so usually I

have three or four points for each

course

I see

you said disc golf is at the park do you

have little kids playing in the middle

of the course

sometimes the kids of course they can

play wherever they want and the courses

do go through the park where kids play

so we have to be very careful

and we have to use good sportsmanship to

wait for the course to be clear

um

that sounds like a lot of fun it is fun

maybe you can join us next time that

sounds great thank you

so Sarah I see you eat soup every day at

work why are you eating soup every day

because I love to cook soup

so you you make the soup yeah yeah it's

very easy to make so you cook it and

then you just bring it to work every day

yeah I just make a lot on Monday and

then I

bring it to work every day of the week

oh nice so how do you make the soup

what's your your secret

well I like to cook very easy so I buy

meat that's already cut up usually

chicken

and then some rice usually brown rice

and then I buy some vegetables so after

I bought the ingredients I chopped them

up I put them all together in water

until it boils and add some seasoning

Okay so

you say the water boils so as soon as

the water boils that's when you put in

all the ingredients yes that's right so

you don't put any ingredients before the

water boils no

I guess it's just easier for the water

to be hot because then the vegetables

and the meat cook a little faster

so how do you give the soup flavoring

um I usually add salt and pepper maybe

some garlic and depending on the type of

soup either maybe some soy sauce or

lemon juice

okay do you put in the flavoring after

you put in the ingredients or before you

put in the ingredients

um maybe after but usually right about

all at the same time so I just put

everything in at one time

and then after you cook the soup do you

put the soup in the refrigerator do you

let it sit outside

I usually eat some right then

and I also put it in containers for the

week

but I let it sit in the containers out

on the counter for a while for it to

cool okay before I put it in the

refrigerator all right and so you don't

put it in the refrigerator until it is

cool until it's about room temperature

okay yeah nice and then how do you heat

it up do you heat it up in a pot or do

you heat it up in the microwave and then

microwave it's the easiest yeah nice so

you make enough for five meals

uh maybe sometimes

if
heard of eating it during the week then

maybe I'll just make enough for three or

four meals but if it's some kind that I

think is really delicious and I know I

want to eat it every day then I'll make

a lot

well if that happens when you make the

soup you can make it for six or seven

give me a bowl

okay I'll do that next time oh great

thanks

hi Todd hey Sarah how are you good how

are you oh not bad so I heard you were

from San Francisco that's right yeah I

was born there and I lived in the city

for many years cool

what is the most interesting thing about

your city

well San Francisco has many interesting

things but the most interesting thing is

probably the architecture there's lots

of very unique buildings

um and the most unique building is

probably the TransAmerica building

it's a building like a pyramid and it's

nice wow that's really cool what is the

most expensive area in San Francisco

well it is very very expensive the most

expensive area is a place called Pacific

Heights
and it's on the highest hill in San

Francisco and it overlooks the bay it's

a really really beautiful place

that that area by far has the best views

of the city

what is the most beautiful place in San

Francisco

well actually the most beautiful place

is outside the city it's a place called

Muir Woods and it has the tallest trees

in the world and some of these trees are

really old they're the oldest trees in

North America some of them are over 2

000 years old

so it sounds really expensive where's

the cheapest place to live the cheapest

place to live is a place called Sunset

and sunset is on the west side and the

houses are kind of old and they're a

little bit cheap but one thing about

Sunset is it has the nicest view of the

ocean and you could watch the sunset

every night that's why it's called the

sunset area

if I wanted to go there when is the best

time to visit

the best time is probably in the fall

because that's when the weather is the

nicest it's not too cold and it's not

too hot and it doesn't rain that much

so when would be the worst time to visit

the worst time to visit would be

probably February and March because

February and March are the coldest and

wettest months so well March isn't that

cold but sometimes it's wet so it rains

a lot

but it's a great place

hey Shirley you're from Australia right

yeah that's right from Down Under

okay are you from Sydney no I'm not from

Sydney actually I'm from Melbourne

Melbourne okay

so are there any nice parks in Melbourne

well you know Josh Melbourne is a great

City and one of the reasons is because

there are lots of parks there's a really

big park right in the center of the city

is it beautiful it's gorgeous it's

called the Botanical Gardens and they

have plants from many different places

around the world

and there's a lake a small Lake in the

center

but what I really love about that Park

is

at one time of the year

they have lots of big fruit bats that

fly into the park and they hang upside

down from the trees they're really huge

like big sacks it's very cool that

sounds beautiful yeah so is there good

shopping in your city

oh there's great shopping in Melbourne

you know Melbourne has people from many

different countries

so we have a great variety

of things and clothing

cars coffee shops foods from many

different countries so it's a great

place to shop wonderful what about

housing or is there cheap housing or is

it really expensive

well it's not cheap

but it's not

Sydney it's the biggest city in

Australia it's very expensive to live

but in Melbourne the housing is

so so

how do you get around in Melbourne do

you take the bus

you can take the bus

but Melbourne has something very special

that no other city in Australia has we

have a tram system

I think they're called trolley cars in

America maybe yeah that sounds familiar

yeah well
Melbourne has a really big tram system

so you can go lots of places in the City

by tram it's really good fun what about

the tram is it expensive

uh not so expensive

cheaper than the bus

maybe about this

cheaper than a car

probably one of the cheapest ways to

travel in the city what about schools in

Melbourne is there a big university

Melbourne has three or four really big

universities

and some smaller universities too

also they have some very good private

high schools and some very good public

high schools great that sounds like a

great place to go to school it's a

pretty great place to live

hey Shirley hey Josh so how was your

weekend

quite busy

really those are hard yeah

so what did you do on Saturday

well

Saturday morning I usually clean the

house

okay yeah it's kind of boring

but I have to clean the bathroom and

then the kitchen and in the lounge room

because I have lots of cats okay and the

cats leave hair everywhere so I always

have to clean on Saturday mornings yes

cats are messy yeah so after you cleaned

what did you do well in the afternoon I

went for a walk up the mountain

it was a beautiful sunny day

there were no clouds in the sky wow it

was gorgeous so I walked up the mountain

and I saw a ferret a ferret yeah wow

they're little little furry animal four

legs tail

uh not like a rabbit but about the same

size as a rabbit okay and they're kind

of gold brown color wow did you see any

other animals on your walk hmm

didn't see any other animals on the

ground but

I did see a beautiful bird flying in the

sky

wow do you know what kind

I think it was an Ibis

it's a big bird that usually walks in

the water it has long legs and it was

white with a black head great so after

your walk did you do anything else

um I went home

and then I watched some TV

okay
that was about it for my Saturday okay

what did you do on Sunday hmm

Sunday I went to the art museum really

yeah great I really like to go and see

new art pictures or paintings or

photographs or sometimes sculptures

okay so who's your favorite artist

um

I don't really have a have a favorite

artist but

T Colors

so pictures that are painted with just

soft

kind of soft painting style do you like

paintings of nature

I do like paintings of nature I

especially like paintings of flowers

and animals okay and places that have

water like lakes or rivers or the sea oh

that sounds like you had a great weekend

yeah it was good thanks

okay

so I know you're from Portugal all right

yeah right okay because

um I'm actually thinking of going to

visit Europe this summer and I thought

Portugal would be a great place to visit

oh yeah Portugal is great especially in

the summer it will be really warm and

you can go to lots of places in Portugal

you can go to the north where we have a

lot of mountains and you can do all

kinds of activities like artery and

horse riding oh wow that's interesting

well actually I was thinking of going to

the beach can you can you give me some

advice for what's the best time of year

to go when perhaps there are not too

many tourists around oh yeah if you want

to avoid tourists you should definitely

not come in August August is really

crowded and there are just so many

people in the south of Portugal you can

try to come in June June is already warm

but there are not too many people so it

will be easier for you to find

accommodation there are some really nice

hotels and hostels around

so

um what kind of place were you thinking

of staying in well actually I don't

really mind too much

um I I think I'd like to see what it's

like to maybe for for for for normal

people in Portugal what it would be like

to go on holiday and and have an

authentic Portuguese experience so maybe

maybe I I don't really want to stay in a

big International Hotel what what's a

typical Portuguese place to stay in

that's nice for a summer holiday that's

interesting yeah in that case you should

definitely avoid the big hotels or any

hostels there are some apartments that

you can rent so you can just live in an

apartment by the beach and

um yeah they're just in a normal

building with other Portuguese people

but you can rent it and stay there and

it's really close to the beach it's like

a one minute walk so it will be really

convenient for you and is this this is

by the Atlantic Ocean

yes yes it is

all right that's a that's uh sounds like

a very good idea staying at an apartment

um how much should I budget for that

I am not really sure

um

it will probably be a bit more expensive

than a hotel but not in the long term

you can pay about 30 Euros per night I

think wow that's a nice location yeah if

you come with friends though you can

also rent a villa we have some Villas

also by the beach I just have a swimming

pool it does have a swimming pool and

they have plenty of room so if you want

to come with a big group that's

definitely a better option that sounds

like a great idea I can invite my

colleagues along

so do you have any final tips for me for

my holiday in Portugal well I mean if

you want to stay in the south in The

Algarve then I definitely recommend you

check out the nightlife it can be really

Lively and there are night markets and

where you can buy lots of souvenirs and

people just hang around so I definitely

recommend that okay and what was the

name again the old girl The Algarve yeah

that's the southern part of Portugal so

you can't miss it gotta remember that

thank you very much

so Anna you're from Portugal uh what can

you tell me a little bit about your

country yeah sure um Portugal is a

really small country actually it's uh

right by Spain in Europe and we have

really nice weather there it's really

sunny most of the year and uh really hot

in summer it can get really cold and

really rainy in Winter

um but yeah overall it's a really nice

country to live in and I've heard you

have nice beaches in Portugal yes we do

I used to go to the beach every day with

my family in the summer it was really

great but the beaches can get really

crowded

um lots of people so you might want to

be a bit careful when you choose where

to go all right I see and um where do

you live in Portugal

I live in a small village actually you

probably don't know it it's called

Pamela but it's it's south of Lisbon and

it's by the coast so it's really nice we

get a nice view of the mountains and of

the river so I really enjoy living there

it's it's really quiet not a lot of

people a lot of wine farms actually and

really nice food you should come and

visit sometimes I like one

um and so you have you have a good one

in Portugal what sort of food do you eat

in Portugal

um let's see we we get a lot of fish

because we're by the Sea and so cod fish

is a traditional and sardines and

mackerel yeah it's really good and we

also have really good desserts so for

example coffee cake yogurt cake

we've got

um pastel de natta which is kind of a

egg tart thing so I really recommend you

try that without coffee when you go

there all right and um and you speak

Portuguese as your first language yes I

do I speak Portuguese it's a it's not

the same as Brazilian Portuguese but

it's really close and we can understand

each other so that's really great um can

you can you understand Spanish as well

yeah I can understand a little bit of

Spanish but

um there's some differences between

Portuguese and Spanish so how do you say

how do you say hello in Portuguese oh

you can say hola hola yeah it's fun you

should learn some Portuguese oh I'd love

to

hi I'm Mari I'm here with Ron Ron is

from Hawaii so Ron what's so special

about Hawaii

well Hawaii is my home

but to people not from Hawaii I think

Hawaii is famous for its nice weather

uh warm all year round also it's known

for its beaches the beaches are very

nice

and it's also known for its warm

hospitality

the people are also very nice

so can you tell me more about the

weather it's always sunny it never rains

it does rain but often it rains and is

sunny at the same time so we have a lot

of rainbows so Hawaii is also famous for

rainbows

it's nice

um can you tell me more about the beach

we have beaches on all shores of the

island of all our Islands so there's

many beaches to choose from and often

some some beaches have big waves some

beaches have small waves and you can

choose which beach to go to

depending on whether you want to surf in

big waves or you want to swim where

there's no waves

can you tell me maybe about the nature

in Hawaii

we have forests so there's lots of

animals like birds and small animals

like

um

wallabies we have Hawaiian wallabies

and they live in the forest

what's a wallaby wallabies

um they're those little mammals they

came from Australia and they were

introduced to Hawaii and now they're

wild in Hawaii and they've become their

own species

what do they look like they look like

Little Kangaroos I think

interesting

uh any other interesting interesting

animals in Hawaii we have a lot of pigs

wild pigs

we like to go hunting for them and we

like to eat them

are there any animals that live in the

sea we have nice coral reefs so there's

lots of beautiful fish in our coral

reefs and many people like to go

snorkeling to look at our reefs we also

have Turtles

and um

seals in Hawaii

are there any

whales we do have whales during the

months of

March until

February I believe

they come from Alaska

and they come to Hawaii

during those months and then they return

to Alaska

wow there are a lot of animals that live

in Hawaii

sounds like a great place to visit

hi I'm Mari I'm here with my friend Ron

today we're talking about food so Ron

what's your favorite cuisine

my favorite Cuisine has to be Hawaiian

food

I grew up eating Hawaiian food so

every special occasion we had Hawaiian

food so now when I eat Hawaiian food it

always brings back good memories

uh what exactly is Hawaiian food

traditional Hawaiian food is usually

cooked under the ground in a hole with

hot rocks and it cooks for maybe six

hours or seven hours and when you take

it out it's very salty because we use a

lot of salt and it tastes really good

usually meat usually pork and other

vegetables like taro and potato

so then what's your favorite Hawaiian

dish my favorite Hawaiian dish is called

Lao Lao

it's pork or fish wrapped in leaves and

put inside the underground oven and it's

very salty and very good

so the flavor is just salt the flavor is

salt and with also the leaf flavor that

it's wrapped in

uh what's your favorite dessert or junk

food

my favorite dessert has to be cake and

ice cream together

I love to eat cake and ice cream

together what's your favorite ice cream

flavor favorite ice cream flavor is

strawberry and I eat and I like to eat

that with chocolate cake

sounds good

um

do you like vegetables not so much I

don't like to eat vegetables but I can

eat them if somebody Cooks them for me

what's your favorite vegetable

favorite vegetable

I don't have a favorite vegetable but I

can eat vegetables like a asparagus

broccoli carrots those types of things

do you eat your vegetables raw like

salad or do you prefer them cooked I

prefer them cooked

thanks Ron welcome

so after Laos where did you go after

Laos I flew to Vietnam

and actually

I took the bus into Vietnam okay yes and

in Vietnam I traveled from the north

from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City

but because my time was so short

I could only spend one or two days in

each City

ah what city did you like the most

I think I prefer Hanoi the most

the food the street food is amazing

it's a very Lively City lots of

motorcycles and traffic so it's reminded

me of Nigeria where I was born a little

bit oh cool yes and what did you do in

Vietnam

I spent time in Hanoi

I also went to visit Sapa which has a

lot of Rice Terraces so these are

mountains

where they've planted rice fields so the

scenery the view is really beautiful

and you also get to meet the native

peoples the local peoples there so I

enjoyed it

and then from there I went to Hoi An

which is a very historical City

very beautiful

um

night scenery by the river

and then I went to Ho Chi Minh City but

I could only spend one night there

before leaving for Myanmar okay and then

how was Myanmar what did you do there

Myanmar was my last stop

and

I didn't have so much time there

but I managed to go

but I managed to visit some of the

places I really wanted to see

like Yangon Bagan and Mandalay

man I would say that Bagan was the

highlight

they had many temples

from the past

and just seen that many of them

it was very impressive

fantastic yes

so what country was your favorite

it's hard to see they each have their

own good points

but

I think I would definitely like to visit

Thailand again okay Thailand so that's

in a great place

anyway thanks ABI Demi thank you Todd

what did you do for summer break

for summer break

I went to visit some countries in Asia

ooh what countries I visited Thailand

Laos

Vietnam and Myanmar oh great

what did you do in each country

in Thailand I was there for about a week

I ate a lot of delicious food

and I met many nice people

I love Thailand so I hope to return

again what foods did you eat

I don't remember the names but I just

remembered that they were all good

Thai food is so good

um did you go anywhere in Thailand like

the beach or the forest I was more

interested in nature so I traveled from

Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai

and I wanted to check in and rode

elephants

so that was one of the highlights of my

trips oh nice how long was the Trek the

Trek was about a day

it was at track for two three hours but

then we also stayed overnight

in uh

community

in the Hills

and then the next day we checked for a

little bit to come back to the city nice

so was Thailand the first stop yes it

was my first stop

it was supposed to be the shortest stop

but I loved it so much that I spent

more time there

after Thailand where did you go

from Thailand I moved on by land

to Laos

and what did you do in Laos

I mainly was in the northern part of the

country and I went zipline lying ooh fun

it was fun
so ziplining is going flying from tree

to tree that's correct so that was about

two days worth

of uh zip lining

and we stayed overnight in a big tree

house

oh how fun it was quite

nice I really enjoyed it

hey Todd can I ask you a favor sure

anytime

um I really need a place to stay and I

heard that your house is on Airbnb it is

on Airbnb I do rent my house but for you

it's free oh amazing yeah can I stay

there then you can how long maybe a week

or two weeks okay uh when uh from next

Monday yeah actually you can do that

that that works excellent thank you so

much how about uh how about a car can I

park my car Ah that's a problem you

can't park your car because there's no

space but there is a cheap parking lot

about

maybe two blocks away okay so it's only

a couple dollars a day okay I guess I

are there how about cooking there can I

cook of course yeah you can cook I have

a stove refrigerator you can bring your

own food you can do whatever you want

excellent thank you can I use the

internet you can use the internet

um there's a password I will write down

the password before I leave and I will

write down the password before you get

there excellent thank you so much I was

thinking about asking my friend if he

can stay could my friend stay over yeah

sure so your friend can stay

um not a problem I don't think he has a

dog can he bring his dog ooh that is a

problem

uh does the dog have a cage

um no but we can get a cage

I'm not sure about the dog if the dog is

in a cage

it's okay in the house but I think

yeah you can't have the dog in the house

okay

how about smoking my friend is a very

heavy smoker can he smoke outside yeah

he can smoke outside just please pick up

cigarette butts but of course he can't

smoke inside okay he can't smoke inside

no okay

how about if we want to have a party can

we have a potty yeah you can have a

party that's okay but please be quiet

don't be too loud the neighbors live

very close to my house

all right that sounds good thanks

dang question uh-huh

can I use the washing machine yeah of

course you can use anything you can use

the washing machine

um you can use the internet you can use

the TV you can use anything you like wow

excellent that sounds great thank you so

much yeah I am I will write down

directions for my house and I will send

you a map

and you can check it out and get all the

information

and just um I will leave the key for you

with my neighbor excellent thank you

very much sure no problem

so Meg are you busy this weekend

yes I'm so busy because I'm moving oh no

yeah there's a lot of work to do what do

you have to do

first I have to prepare my apartment so

I need to pack all of my things

that's not fun no takes a long time

do you need help

yeah do you have time to help me I can

help you on Sunday oh are you busy on

Saturday yeah on Saturday I have to work

I have to teach two classes

and then after I teach

I have to grade papers

um it sounds like you're really busy too

yeah plus I have to meet my friends

that evening oh what will you do with

your friends I'm helping my friend also

my friend has car problems so I have to

take him to the mechanic

[Music]

but on Sunday I can help you

okay that would be great because on

Sunday I have to take some trash to the

dump

and I have to

finish some paperwork at City Hall

to prepare for moving to a new country

oh now because you're moving do you have

to go to the Post Office

I do have to go to the post office I

almost forgot at the post office I have

to submit a form to say my new address

that's good because I have to go to the

post office too oh really I have to send

my mom's birthday gift to her when is

your mom's birthday it was one month ago

ah so you have to send it quickly yes I

have to get on it okay well let's go

together so I'll see you Sunday what

time should I be here

I have to go to City Hall by 3 P.M so

can you come at two okay but if you want

to go to the dump

The Dump closes at noon so we have to

leave earlier uh okay can you come at 11

yes okay so I will see you at 11 o'clock

great see you then bye bye

okay Katie yeah let's take an

international test oh okay how

International are you let's find out

let's find out okay first

have you ever eaten Greek food Greek

food

uh I've eaten how do you say it Buffalo

oh is that Greek I think so okay I've

had that but apart from that I've never

eaten Greek food okay how about you have

you uh I think I have

well I've I've eaten Greek yogurt does

that count that counts that counts okay

okay have you ever eaten Russian food

what's Russian food I think like Russian

food like is it borsh borders is like a

soup a cabbage soup I've I've never

eaten Russian food yeah maybe I haven't

eaten Russian food either

okay last one have you ever eaten

Vietnamese food

ah I I see it written down it's is it

full faux the noodles yeah I've eaten

faux before yeah I've been to Vietnam so

I've eaten Vietnamese food a lot and

follow the noodles is really good it's

yeah it's delicious I've had that too

okay now let's talk about languages okay

have you ever studied French I have

studied French

can you still speak French nope

yeah me too I I once studied French

years ago but I haven't spoken French in

so long I can't remember anything I

can't remember

yeah have you ever studied an Asian

language

um um I've studied Japanese oh okay I

can still speak it a little bit now

and I studied a little bit of Korean but

I don't speak Korean oh really okay wow

like I've studied uh Thai okay because I

lived in Thailand for five years and

like you I've studied Japanese but my

Japanese is terrible how about your Thai

My Thai is okay

uh it's okay I can talk a little bit

okay so have you ever met a Spanish

person

a Danish person I

think I have

really I don't think I have met a

Spanish person oh interesting I've Been

to Spain so I've met a few and we have a

Spanish teacher at my school

oh maybe I have met a Spanish person

then

maybe maybe I've met a secret Spanish

person okay have you met a Chinese

person oh yes I've met lots of Chinese

people okay and have you met a Brazilian

person

probably met a

person yeah I've met a few people from

Brazil so they're always very nice very

friendly people

hey Todd are you healthy do you eat lots

of fruits and vegetables

I guess I am healthy I do eat lots of

fruits and vegetables but I also eat

junk food sadly but I try to eat lots of

fruits especially to stay healthy well

what kind of fruits do you like to eat

well I like all fruits I love all fruits

except pineapple I hate pineapple I

don't know why I just don't like

pineapple I don't like the taste I don't

like to chew it it just feels funny

but I love apples I love bananas I love

oranges I usually have an apple every

morning for breakfast it's very easy to

eat and I just love Apples because you

can take them to school you can eat them

quickly they're very easy to eat

I also like oranges and I love orange

juice so sometimes I make fresh orange

juice in my kitchen so oranges are great

but my favorite fruits are bananas and

strawberries I love bananas and

strawberries and I love to eat bananas

and strawberries together so my favorite

snack is to cut up some banana and then

cut up some strawberry and mix them

together and then eat them well it

sounds like you really like a lot of

fruits oh yeah I do what about

vegetables do you eat vegetables every

day

I do I try to have a salad every day and

I have a special salad I make and I call

it

my chunky crunchy salad and it's carrots

cucumbers and tomatoes and I cut the

carrots and cucumbers into small little

squares and then I cut up the tomatoes

and I mix them together and the carrots

tomatoes and cucumbers mix together the

colors are really pretty and when you

eat the salad it's very crunchy

and it's very chunky because it's all

little squares so I call it my crunchy

chunky salad well that sounds delicious

do you ever share it with someone else

no I don't but I want to because I

really I like it so much and I can't

cook so when I go to somebody's house

and I need to bring food

I think oh I should bring chunky crunchy

salad

that's a good idea another idea is to

cook vegetables do you

do you too much I do cook asparagus

asparagus is probably my favorite

vegetable and it's very easy to cook

because asparagus you just have to cut

up into small pieces and then you can

put the asparagus in a bowl with some

water in the microwave and you can cook

asparagus in about 30 seconds so I eat

asparagus a lot

also I eat broccoli I love broccoli

sometimes I have broccoli and lettuce

together for my salad and then sometimes

I cook eggplant I like to cook eggplant

because I like the taste and it's easy

to cook

I don't really like eggplant really I

don't oh no why not it has a strange

flavor to me so I prefer not to eat

eggplant well as long as you eat your

veggies mmm

so Monica you are from New Zealand yes

that's right so for people going to New

Zealand what would you recommend

what are three or four places that you

must see in New Zealand oh okay three or

four places you must say well depends

what you're looking for really

I think a lot of people that come to New

Zealand

enjoy an outdoor lifestyle so there's

lots of outdoor activities and places

you can go to to enjoy in New Zealand

um personally I find the south island of

New Zealand very Scenic in comparison to

the north island so for me a must do is

the west coast of the South Island it's

very pretty the West Coast yeah

um in particular there's two glaciers

Franz Joseph and fox glaciers

um which are very stunning to look at

and you can either have a look at them

by foot or you can pay for a helicopter

ride that takes you up and shows you an

aerial view of them now do people ever

walk across the glaciers

um there are guides that can

across

so what else would you recommend for New

Zealand what other places should people

see

[Music]
thanks

rural New Zealand it's quite a nice idea

to drive the length of the country and

then you can see

um

the interesting farming that has taken

place in particular in the South Islands

the lower part of the south island and a

lot of the North Island as well there's

a lot of sheep in New Zealand and

there's a lot of cattle as well

so

I think it is always interesting to go

for a drive and to see that firsthand

so you just start up in Auckland in the

north and drive all the way down south

yeah well there's many ways you can do

it but

um I recommend one way of doing it is to

arrive in Auckland and to have an

experience of a big city well a big city

for New Zealand and then drive down the

center of the north island and maybe

have a farming experience somewhere

um

there's a lot of farm stay opportunities

available for tourists who come to New

Zealand so depending on how you do it

you might want to stay two or three days

with a family and experience a farming

lifestyle

so that's yeah one thing I'd recommend

and another is to maybe go to a city

like Rotorua which is really in this

center of the north island and

experience

Maori culture

um

there's uh Maori Village there near the

facade whatever Forest which hosts a lot

of tourists and you get to experience

Maori waiter which is uh Maori songs

and you get to see

um

the hot springs in New Zealand and

thermal mud pools

so yeah Rotorua is a nice city to go and

visit and then work your way down to the

capital of New Zealand which is

Wellington and I think if you want to

experience the cafe lifestyle of New

Zealand that's a good place to go

so Monica a minute ago we were talking

about Tai Chi and about how it helps

longevity helps you live a long life

one time when I was in Bangkok I met a

guy and he was doing Tai Chi and he

looked really young but he said the

secret to his old life

he said the secret to looking young was

Tai Chi and cold showers he took a cold

shower every morning

oh wow could you do that ah no I don't

think I could actually yeah you know I

actually tried it for a while I tried it

for about a week and I did feel so

energized and it was easy in Bangkok

because that's really warm but I I

couldn't keep it up especially now that

I'm in the cold climate there's no way

yeah

I'm but when I was young my mother used

to teach me to

um Splash my face with cold water in the

morning

because she believed that helped wake

you up and I remember as a child not

liking that at all because I just found

it too cold so I preferred to Splash my

face with warm water

so have you heard of any other secrets

to having a long life

um

to having a long life

um

I guess one secret that a lot of

different cultural groups seem to share

is uh diets if you take the Japanese as

an example

um and Japanese people do have

um

a long life expectancy in comparison to

other people from other countries

um I think the Japanese eats a diet

that's quite low in fat and reasonably

low in

salt as well

and I think their fluid intake is quite

healthy because they drink a lot of

green tea which has antioxidants in it

and they drink a lot of miso soup

which has a lot of vegetables in it and

is made from fermented barley so I think

that's very healthy

I've also heard that people in the

Mediterranean they also often have a

long lifespan in certain regions and

maybe the combination of wine just a

little wine not too much but wine and

olive oil and then a lot of Fish seafood

is also maybe beneficial to a long life

yeah that's true I've heard um

French people for example

live a long life and that has often been

said due to a glass of red wine a day

and

um

I know people think differently about

alcohol and

its effect on the body

um these days right

yeah because alcohol used to be

considered quite a bad thing

um and discouraged in all forms but now

people tend to think that a glass a day

is actually quite beneficial to to your

health

I've also actually heard that laughter

that people that laugh a lot tend to

live longer oh yeah I've heard that too

actually because um

laughing releases Natural end of things

and

I think that helps you physiologically

and also I think psychologically you're

happier if you're laughing so yeah I

think um that long life is related to

how you're feeling and I think a lot of

it's psychological

as well as physical for example how much

you're eating and what types of food

you're eating

yeah I guess I'm kind of in the same

boat but I just don't know if I laugh

that much maybe I'm in trouble

so Monica you do tai chi ah yes I've

just joined the Thai tea Club what made

you join the Tai Chi Club

well I wanted to do something that was a

lot different to what I usually do

which is High Impact Sports like

basketball and tennis

so you wanted to do something that was

slower

yeah well I don't usually enjoy

exercise that is quite slow

um

such as yoga but I decided to join this

club and I'm really enjoying it

so what exactly is Tai Chi what what do

you do in Tai Chi well there are

different types of Tai Chi um

there's the original Tai Chi which

involves quite quick fast movements and

then there's a slower form of Tai Chi

which is quite popular in Japan I think

it's called Mr Young Tai Chi and that

involves very slow

um

pronounced movements and that's the Tai

Chi that I'm doing

um how do you feel like after you do tai

chi do you feel tired do you feel

energetic

um after I've done tai chi I feel quite

energetic actually I don't really feel

tired because I haven't had a really

hard workout

but I feel that my mind is very relaxed

and very focused and I'm very

um

motivated to do whatever I need to do

for the rest of the day

now uh you actually are a tennis coach

so you teach Sports would you recommend

he for other athletes

yeah I do recommend Tai Chi for other

athletes it's quite difficult to know

exactly how you would benefit from Tai

Chi and how it can directly relate to a

specific sport but I I've heard that it

works on your energy levels and

focuses your mind so that everything's

in balance

and I think that can help any kind of

sport because even in a sport like

tennis

it's important to have balance when

you're hitting the ball when you're

volleying when you're getting ready for

a smash it actually involves having

balance in terms of where your center of

gravity is

so yeah the concepts are similar

hey George actually it's really yeah

it's funny that you mentioned

relationships because I'm actually

having a problem with Joe

is that the guy with the curly hair yeah

that guy he's really nice and everything

but like I really don't think it's

working out why what's wrong well he's

really narrow-minded and I'm really

different we just he's nice and

everything he's kind and sweet and

it's just not for me like we're totally

different people I see

yeah so what are you gonna do I think I

have to rip the Band-Aid

and I I think I'm just gonna send

an email but you've been dating for a

while now and you like him right yeah

yeah looks together but it's just I

don't see a future but isn't an email

just a little too cold and uh yeah you

might tell other people about it I mean

rumors spreading and whatnot ah uh-huh

okay then what do you what do you think

I should do how should I do it well you

should probably just you know meet him

face to face and oh face to face

okay what where where should I meet him

like do you think I should just invite

him over to my place yeah

yeah you should probably do it in public

where
you know oh good good good good I think

that's I don't know maybe a that Cafe oh

that Cafe yeah

while I'm having my date you could be

breaking up with your boyfriend

it'll be great

I'm sorry that wasn't called for

eign

less

I gotta say honesty would be the best

policy honesty

um okay so this is what I'm gonna say

Joe

you're great

but we're not meant to be

yeah it's it's great it's great okay so

okay okay I'm done I think I think I'll

meet him at the cafe and okay things

things will work from then I'll I'll

improvise

great

hey Crystal I need some advice here

what's up George so

there's this like red-headed girl in

class and I kind of got a crush on her

but

[Music]

um

but yeah I I don't know you know how to

ask her out

I don't I don't even know if she knows

my name but yeah you got any advice

um

I would personally just be natural and

just go straight forward

go straight forward and ask her out

how I do that

um I don't know for my personal advice I

think you should just go straight

forward and say hi my name is George and

give her an appearance hold on I'm gonna

write this down okay okay

is if you are free no you always have to

check if she's either married or if

she's a lesbian or if she is single

okay so number three is what you're

looking for okay number three

so if she's single just

say hey how about we go out for a cup of

coffee or something and coffee and yeah

that's how you get her

so yeah what if she doesn't like coffee

though I mean

what what else could we do on a date

assuming she will say yes

what's fun to do on a date anyway

fun to do on a day is just the fact that

you're being with her and just try to

get her to know her more

wait wait wait one sec do I need to pay

for this or

[Laughter]

um I don't think you should pay on the

first date I I think sometimes that can

be offensive to women oh that's great

because I'm totally broke

I think you should just ask her casually

not like a date date just say hey I

would like to know you a little bit more

and just go out for a small little drink

like go to that new Cafe that's open

like like a lot of girls think that

place is so cute I think you should take

her there but I think cafes are boring

face are boring men women don't think so

oh this is the point write it down all

right

um so we're talking about going local as

we're in a different country how much of

the local culture

do you absorb how much like local

because we both live in Japan right yes

how much in percentage for example how

much Japanese food would you say you eat

oh I would say like probably 80 of my

food is Japanese food yeah I I like it

because most of it is healthy and it's

actually what I can get in the cafeteria

at work so yeah it's convenient it's

convenient what about you I mostly make

my own food

and Japanese food is really difficult to

make I think I'm I'm really challenged

when it comes to cooking anyway I'm

really bad at cooking and to have to try

and learn a new style of cooking is just

too much for me I'm really lazy so I

would probably say if I'm cooking food

myself I never cook Japanese food zero

percent of the time I never but if I go

to a restaurant then I'm sure I can eat

some Japanese food sometimes I sometimes

watch the TV and learn how to cook

um Japanese food or some easy recipes so

do you ever watch the Japanese

television uh

but yeah like I said it's a lot of

cooking programs there's a lot of that

was out what about to say tons of

cooking TV shows programs yeah and I

watch cooking programs and I just get

angry that I can't cook I can't do it

like that so I just get frustrated so I

stop watching oh yeah

what about other kinds of shows so like

not just cooking shows

well they have I guess they have pretty

funny shows but I don't understand

what they're saying but I tried to

follow them and yeah sometimes they're

very interesting uh they also talk about

um clothing season was trending in Japan

what young people were doing they have

some interviews sometimes very

interesting interviews and they're

always teaching you something so there's

something that I like about Japanese TV

you're always learning something from

other countries as well that's true

uh so how about like your friendship

circles how much how much percentage of

your friends would you say are Japanese

versus International oh I would say

probably 40 are Japanese yeah the rest

of them are international people because

I work with International people so I

spend most of the time with them and

when you're with your Japanese friends

do you speak mostly in English or mostly

in Japanese oh I would say like probably

70 Japanese and the rest would be

English because normally when they know

a second language is English not Spanish

so I like zero percent Spanish with

Japanese but um yeah like I would say 70

of the conversation is in Japanese also

because I want to practice my Japanese

right yeah what about you

um well I'd say out of my friends

recently I've had like no time to

socialize so probably about 30 of my

friends are Japanese but when I speak

with them it's mostly in Japanese I

don't like speaking in English oh it's

just like throw me for the same reasons

as you like I want to practice my

Japanese but I will say that from my

Japanese friends like most of them

probably like 80 of them always want to

speak in English because they want to

practice English too

so it's like a give and take like we

speak a little bit in Japanese but

sometimes we speak more in English yeah

it depends also the topic and what are

you talking about if it's a topic you

can talk about then yeah go for it in

Japanese but if it's a difficult topic

yes exactly yeah

so Gilder we're both teachers and we

both live and work abroad right from our

home countries

um I'm from Scotland and you're from

Venezuela so I'm sure we both have to

deal with homesickness because we're so

far from our home

uh how do you deal with homesickness oh

it's very difficult because as he said

I'm so far from my country yeah and like

special Seasons like Christmas or during

the Holy Week is something that we

celebrate okay a lot

um I feel really homesick especially

because of the food we have yeah

particular food and and also meeting

with your friends hanging out with them

going to the beach so all those things

that I don't have here is yeah it really

makes me feel homesick but

um one thing I do is I always try to go

for things in the country where I'm

living so what what do what do the the

locals do is there any interest in and

it's it's sort of like an adventure

because you're doing something new so

you're kind of replacing something that

you're used to do yeah by something new

so in a way is it's nice dealing with

homesickness yeah what about you well

that's kind of what I was going to say

um you said replacing I was going to say

just distract yourself with the other

activities obviously we've met new

people living here and you know I've

made some new and wonderful friends and

um it's not the same as your life back

home but it's uh it's a good distraction

I think

um you mentioned activities so yeah just

exploring the new culture that we're in

and you know if feeling homesickness

um in regards to food you know there's

there's a lot of delicious food here

um here in Japan delicious food so we

can distract our our needs I guess yeah

that's one of the good things of being

in Japan is the fact that you get to

know people from all over the world yeah

and try so many different things so yeah

it's a it's a distraction it's a good

distraction yeah

um one I guess one strategy I have as

well for homesickness is whenever

someone

um comes to visit

which is very rare but it does happen I

I send them a list of things that they

can fill their suitcase with to bring

over for me

um foods from home and just tea bags

from the local supermarket and uh you

know some Cosmetics or toiletries I

cannot buy Here particular brands that I

like and um it's little things like that

that I that helped me I think deal with

not having them basically having them

that helps me deal with not having them

I also do that sometimes like um my

family tried to visit me once a year so

their suitcase packed of stuff from

Venezuela which is very important for me

and also I try to find those um

supermarkets from South America like

Brazilian supermarkets right yeah or

sometimes the Filipinos supermarkets

they have stuff that we have yes

Venezuela yes yeah it's very nice I

actually used to live up in a different

part of Japan where there was quite a

large Brazilian population and there

were many

um like a Brazilian convenience store

yes

um wonderful braids the meat was good

too yeah lots of really good products so

I guess a shop like that would would

help you in particular yes I guess

Brazilians they don't have the same

issue that we have with homesickness

because they they can get a lot of stuff

from Brazil here in Japan yeah of course

you know there are international stores

around I'm lucky enough to even in a

small City like this I have a an

international store that's reasonably

close so

there are a few products that you can I

feel happy about I guess maybe I

wouldn't even buy them at home but when

I see them in the shop here I feel like

oh I can't get other things so I'm gonna

buy these biscuits or something you can

read Yeah well yeah that's who just peel

the peel the language sticker off the

top and read the English below

yeah there are different ways to cope

with it I think yes

so do you think that we should send

people to Mars or the moon to spend all

this money on space travel

well I think we should

um space travel can give people hope for

the future

and space travel can unite people from

different countries

for a common goal

um

work together

to travel in space Oh certainly the

International Space Station has

astronauts from different countries

working together

um

and I think that a joint effort is the

best way to do space missions

I think that we could go back to the

moon and learn much more

by going there

then we can learn if we don't go there

I see what you mean

we could learn more

and we could improve more

if we can

help the people on earth

think of everything we could learn from

the children that can't get an education

these days maybe the next Einstein is a

poor little girl who doesn't have the

money to go to school

if we spent more money on school and

clean water and vaccines

maybe we could learn more from ourselves

than from going to space and going to

Mars

I I agree with you that more money

should be spent on education but we

don't need the next Einstein if we're

not doing space travel

um

the problem is

what are people with money willing to

spend it on

I think that it would be nice if we

could have
all the rich countries spend money on

education for poor people

but

if you look at the numbers the cost of

one space mission

is much cheaper than the things we spend

money on now like what well the first

example that comes to mind is war

one day of war is so expensive for all

the governments and militaries that are

involved

one day of War costs more money than one

space mission

but War goes on and on for days

yeah in years

so if you think about the money

in terms of

um

sorry so

the money for a space mission seems

expensive by itself but when you compare

it to other things it's actually kind of

cheap

I see what you're saying you're

comparing the cost of space travel to

war

but I would compare the cost of space

travel to the cost of for example

getting rid of malaria

I think we could get rid of a terrible

disease like malaria for as much as we

would spend on a trip to Mars

hmm

getting rid of malaria or going to Mars

well of course I would also choose that

we should get rid of malaria maybe we'll

have to agree to disagree we might have

to disagree this time okay

we've been hearing a lot about Mars in

the news yeah NASA keeps coming out with

announcements every year we just found

out that there was there's water on Mars

liquid water

yes recently they revealed that there's

evidence of liquid water

last year they announced that they

definitely found ice solid water in the

soil in the soil on Mars surface they

found frozen water

now they found evidence of liquid water

flowing

do you think do you think people can go

to Mars

you should send people to Mars

I definitely think we can go there we've

already sent

a number of spacecraft to Mars

starting with satellites

many decades ago then there were

Landers

where a satellite landed on the surface

and sent data back to Earth

then we sent The Rovers little robot

cars that drive around on Mars

so we've already

successfully sent many missions to Mars

I'm sure we could do one with humans

but

the satellites or Landers or Rovers

they've never

come back do you think we could send

people and they'd come back safely

well that is a problem

we could definitely send people to Mars

but bringing them back

having the astronauts come back to earth

would be a much more difficult problem

to solve

think maybe we would send astronauts to

Mars and they would never come back

safely

well

if you think about the old explorers in

the olden days

explorers used to leave their home and

find new regions

and not plan to go back

people used to take a risk that maybe

they couldn't return

so

I think there are people

there are people who are willing to go

on a one-way trip to Mars I'm sure there

are people willing to do that

but

are the rest of the people willing to

send someone on that mission

um

I think people would some people will

say yes and some people will say no

I don't know what the percent would be

but

I'm I'm willing to allow someone to do

that

if someone says I want to go to Mars I

know it's a one-way trip but I want to

go

I think that's okay we should let them

go how about you would you volunteer to

go oh no not me I'm staying here on

Earth okay

so what are three foods that you can't

stand three foods that you hate uh

number one would be chocolate chocolate

yes that's crazy I don't like the the

filling that you have when you put a

piece of chocolate inside your mouth is

like too hot like if I ate a piece of

chocolate I need to drink

a lot of water right it feels it I don't

like it yeah I will gladly eat all of

your chocolate if you have chocolate you

don't want I'm here it's weird because

when you know chocolate is very popular

as a gift

somebody's always giving you chocolate

and I I take it because I don't want to

say everybody like I hate chocolate

actually but yeah what about you what's

something you don't really like well I

have something I don't like that I think

is really popular and every time I say I

don't like it I always get the same like

what kind of reaction but I don't like

ice cream

yeah yeah I don't like ice cream I don't

think food should be that cold

I don't like it food shouldn't be too

cold to eat not

you don't know what you're missing I'm

ice cream is a really really good

special inside chocolate is really good

chocolate I'll take chocolate over ice

cream any day or you can try um

chocolate ice cream oh chocolate ice

cream is the worst chocolate ice cream

is the worst yeah what about a second

one do you have any second food that you

don't like I don't like tomatoes oh

which is strange because I eat lots of

pasta with tomato flavored stuff in it

but just Tomatoes by themselves is not

something I enjoy whenever I have like a

hamburger with a tomato in it I always

have to take it out and give it to

someone else just I don't like it it's

just juicy and not a good juicy way I

don't like garlic you don't like garlic

I like garlic in food but I don't like

to

um see it or eat it and have this the

taste of garlic I don't like it once

you've got the taste of garlic you don't

get rid of that for about three days

exactly that's another thing yeah so

when my mom is cooking and you

after that she had to remove it she

cannot leave any evidence that she was

using garlic in her food yes is there

another food that you don't like hmm

I would say

um

a Sprouts brussels sprouts yeah no one

likes Sprouts it's Beta And even though

some people say it's good for your body

I I don't like them I think yeah Sprouts

are just universally hated no one likes

Sprouts yeah well but when you are a

child your parents for some reason I'm

always giving you that yeah yeah cruel I

don't like it it looks like I feel like

like a cow eating those things yeah yeah

I can imagine how about you any other I

have one more but it's really strange

I've never actually eaten them but

looking at them makes me really

uncomfortable

and that's olives I hate olives I can't

stand olives just looking at them makes

me want to scream I think it's the whole

I don't like the hole in olives I'm like

scared of Olives it's really strange but

I know them

green black oh no if I see them in a jar

no oh no no no no no no no don't like

them scared of Olives it's the craziest

thing ever but no don't like olives keep

them away from me

oh good

so what are three foods that you

absolutely have to have that you can't

live without

I would say that I couldn't live without

arepa is is like my daily breakfast in

Venezuela all right guys it's made of

corn flour and

um it looks like a hamburger so you put

anything you want inside and it's very

tasty and I would say like 95 of

Venezuelans eat a wrappers every day

um well it's it's kind of like a high

carb diet in my country so I need rice

also for lunch

and bread bread is another thing in in

the afternoon a piece of bread sweet

bread with coffee is kind of like a

mandatory so lots and lots of carbs in

your diet what about you what about in

England

uh well English breakfast is

not the healthiest of breakfasts it's um

like a big big plate with fried eggs

fried sausages hash browns like hash

potatoes

um beans just oh everything fried and

everything delicious and I would say

that I can't live without that but if I

ate it every day then I would probably

not be able to leave my house because I

would be so so fat but it's definitely a

food that

is in my top

foods of all time that's probably my

favorite but recently I've been eating

lots of tofu

it's breakfast yeah so a little bit of

tofu a little bit of soy sauce just for

breakfast

which is just

it's a bit of a boring breakfast but

it's really healthy I guess so I've been

eating that a lot every day so I

probably can't live without that

recently

and also Pizza Pizza I think everyone

can't live without Pizza yes Pizza is

the best pizza is definitely yeah

Pizza probably

um

once a week I would say yeah what's your

favorite topping

ah that would be cheese cheese classic

bacon cheese and bacon oh that sounds

good very very tasty just cheese and

bacon or anything no no

um uh I'm going for anything actually

but I will always need to have cheese

and bacon on my pizza pizza's not pizza

without cheese yes it has to have cheese

now what else do you have so you said

tofu Pizza what other food can you eat

without well my grandma is part Italian

so we have lots of like pasta and

lasagna in our family so I try and eat

well I try not to eat a lot of pasta

because I'll get really fat but pasta is

definitely something that I can't live

without yeah it's so good yeah and again

lots of cheese yeah we we also do a lot

of lasagna but well we call it pasticho

pasticho it's a different name but it's

the same lasagna and it's also very

tasty so good

like a real like real comfort food isn't

it lasagna yeah so good

so uh what would you say is your comfort

food

my comfort food hmm that would be a

wrapper again yeah definitely you said

you can have lots of like fillings in

that yes

um so my favorite would be

um black beans

with cheese cheese so it sounds a little

bit like my mix-up of things but it's

it's really really tasty we do eat a lot

of black beans every day in in Venezuela

yeah it's very common what about you

my comfort food I can't eat it as much

as I would like to these days but it's

probably my Mom's spaghetti bowling maze

so good so good like lots of pasta lots

of tomato lots of herbs lots of cheese

sounds good oh it's amazing I would like

live with my parents if it meant I could

have spaghetti bolognese every day

so good so tasty but yeah it's the best

hey Katie I'm having a party uh Super

Bowl party at my house on Sunday in a

couple weeks would you like to come over

um okay but I have absolutely no idea

what the Super Bowl is well you know the

Super Bowl is our big sporting event and

we have it um once a year but it's okay

if you don't know anything about

American football because actually the

Super Bowl is kind of like our

unofficial holiday okay yeah so what

happens is everybody comes over to

somebody's house and you have a big

party and you watch the game but nobody

really watches the game there's lots of

other stuff going on so it should be

good do you have like Super Bowl food

exactly exactly so it's kind of like a

big Feast so we'll have

um you know like hamburgers and stuff

that will barbecue and we'll have lots

of like chips and dip and stuff like

that so you don't have to bring any food

but it's potluck so if you do want to

bring something

um yeah

I I would recommend it do you have to be

like a supporter of one of the teams in

the final no and actually the game's not

for a couple weeks so we don't know who

the two final teams are going to be they

still have to decide but um actually

there's a bunch of things that have

nothing to do with football on the Super

Bowl that you'll probably like

um the first is they have the halftime

show you may have heard about the Super

Bowl halftime show okay you like music

right I love music right so they always

have a really big musical act

um and actually this year I don't

remember who it is I'll have to check

but it's usually somebody like Bruno

Mars or YouTube or somebody like that I

think last year was Katy Perry was it

not it might have been yeah but it's

always a really really big person

um another thing that's really cool

about the Super Bowl is the commercials

okay so the commercials you know the

company's spend a lot of money on the

commercials and they're usually really

good so the commercials people are often

more into the commercials than the game

okay especially if one team is kind of

if it's a lopsided win so yeah so the

commercials are fun what kind of

commercials do they have oh you know

like companies like Pepsi or Coke or

like really big name companies really

big ones yeah they'll spend like

millions and millions of dollars these

are usually the most expensive

commercials uh because it's one local

game in one local audience like the

World Cup is a more watched event but

the commercials are Regional for all the

different countries whereas the Super

Bowl the commercials are just for

Americans yeah so yeah these are usually

the most expensive commercials like

around the world so they're usually

really well done is it just American

teams in the Super Bowl yes it's very um

you know Americanized that you might say

um but you know like I said the game's

really not that important but there is

one way that you can make money okay I'm

interested so what happens is we have

like a pool and you can draw numbers and

like you don't have to know anything

about football but you can have like you

know draw numbers for the first person

to score a touchdown or the first player

to get a penalty or things like that and

you just fill out the chart and then if

your player get then you can get money

so you have to contribute you have to

pay like 10 bucks to play but then it's

in a pool and then you could win money

at different points during the game have

you ever won at the Super Bowl before

yeah it's kind of like how it works out

where everybody wins a little money and

everybody loses a little money so you

know gambling technically is illegal but

um yeah but it's like just one of those

things that everybody it's not for big

money no just for a little bit of money

just a little bit of money that's okay

just to have fun yeah

so um uh and then up once I find out

what teams are in the finals then I'll

tell you about the colors and it's

usually best that you choose one team

that you're going to support okay so

I'll fill you in about who the teams are

later in all right so are you willing to

come yeah sounds like fun okay cool all

right so it's going to be at my house at

three so if you can show up around

two-ish should I bring some food you can

like you can bring some type of maybe

salad or

um like a bean dish or something like

that if you like but we'll like the main

food we'll provide we'll have pizza

we'll have Burgers oh and it's BYOB okay

so if you want to drink you have to

bring your own alcohol all right but we

will have some beers and stuff do you

drink sometimes okay cool like 10

all right so see you there glad you can

come no worries

so

so we've been talking about women's

roles in society and are you a

stay-at-home mom or a working mom

well I guess again I'm both

um right now I

and I'm on month six of maternity leave

what does that mean so maternity leave

is when you have a job but then you

become pregnant or you're gonna have a

baby maybe adopt too so you're gonna

have a baby and so you take time off of

work to stay home with the new baby

oh I see

do you still get paid

I do I get about half of my wage so I do

still get paid and I'm very grateful for

that

so I've been at home with the new baby

for six months and I'm going to go back

to work next month oh

what will happen with the baby

so I have two kids actually I have a

toddler and a baby and both of them will

go to daycare during the day

I see so I signed up for the daycare

before the baby was even born

it's really hard to find good daycare

that you can afford that's near your

house so you have to start planning

before the baby's even born if you're

the type of person who wants to go back

to work

I see

I don't think many men worry about

getting good day care for their children

when they think about their jobs no

even when there's a family and the

mother and father both work

still it's the mother that has to do

everything with the kids usually

usually the mom has to for example get

the bag ready for the kids to take to

daycare they have to arrange the daycare

they have the daycare has the mother's

phone number usually

and so the mom has to do a lot of extra

work even though Mom and Dad both have

full-time jobs

I see you

are you saying that things should be

different yes I think things should be

different I'm so lucky my husband agrees

with me and my husband he drops the kids

off at daycare and he picks them up and

he does the laundry and the dishes and

it helps me to be

and it helps me focus on my career so

that I can stay late at work if I need

to I can go to an extra meeting on a

weekend and it makes me

feel more fulfilled

that it's not my husband's job that

comes first a lot of times women make

less money than men and they put their

job second to their husband and it's not

equal and it's not fair and so I think

that people should work on making things

more equal

well I agree with you thank you

okay so Sarah

you said you participated in rodeos

before but I thought only men ride

horses in rodeos

yeah like 99.9 of the time the men do

all of the rodeo Sports there's like two

sports for women and the rest of them

are all for men oh when I said I wanted

to do the traditionally male events they

said you can't do that you're a woman

you have to do these other events that

are not dangerous they're safe

for example the men do calf roping you

work with a baby cow calf that's about a

hundred pounds the women do

goat roping and they work with a tiny

goat that's about the size of a small

dog

so I just always thought the difference

was stupid I don't want to do the easy

safe event I want to do the difficult

event

and

people were really surprised and first

they said you can't and I said I'm going

to anyways

and the first time I did the saddle

bronc they said look look we got you a

girl horse because you're a girl oh my

and I thought well you didn't need to

draw more attention to it I just want to

compete like everyone else right

and

my first time I fell off the horse and I

was really injured

and I was laying there and one of my

friends came running out and he said I

thought he was going to help me up and

help me leave because I was really hurt

and instead he said hurry up you gotta

get off the you gotta get out of the

Arena because the next person wants to

go oh wow and I was really happy that he

said that actually because he was just

treating me the way he treated any other

competitor oh get up be tough you're

fine and I didn't want anyone to help he

didn't help you right and I I was really

glad that he was treating me like

everyone else

and when you see a rodeo you'll see that

the women do events where they can dress

really nice they always wear nice

clothes beautiful hat they even have

earrings and things on

and when the men do events they're doing

the events that they really have to use

their muscles and get dirty and

I really liked doing those instead I'm

not saying one is better than the other

I'm just saying I liked to do the other

one and I think that maybe other women

like to do the other events too

so do you think is the situation is

improving are more girls joining Rodeo

now

I don't think so

I think the sport of rodeo is becoming

less popular

so I think in the future there won't be

more women in Rodeo there will just be

fewer people in Rodeo oh I see because

the the rodeo events

they're not very kind to the cows or the

other animals and as people

get older maybe they get more

soft-hearted like me and they don't want

to make the animals get tied up or chase

the animals and so I think fewer people

are interested in Rodeo these days

so Sarah you talked about competing in a

rodeo have you done any other sports on

horseback

yeah

yeah well not a sport I used to have a

job and my job was to take people on

Horseback into the mountains in Wyoming

and it was really fun job every day we

would saddle up maybe 15 or 20 horses

and then we would take beginners people

who had never ridden horses before

and we'd show them how to lead the

horses and get on the horses and then

we'd go up into the mountains for two

hours or four hours or sometimes all day

well that sounds great yeah that was

your job that was my job and it was

really fun we would walk along these

Cliffs and people would get nervous and

they'd say oh no isn't my horse gonna

fall down the cliff

and I'd say no your horse doesn't want

to fall down the cliff just like you

yeah right

and the horses were really good and to

be honest the horses mostly ignored the

people on their backs the horses they

knew the path that we were taking and

sometimes people would want to do

something that's dangerous like go too

fast or

Go a different way yeah and the horses

would ignore the people and go the way

they're supposed to oh

that's probably better yeah what about

wild animals you're going on Horseback

trail rides through the mountains right

yeah

and the area we went through

was famous for Elk

we saw lots of elk and you know where

there's elk there are also the animals

that eat elk

so there were mountain lions and bears

bears I never saw a bear but I always

told the people I was with I said don't

worry guys if you see a bear you don't

have to be faster than the bear you just

have to be faster than the slowest horse

hahaha

oh that's a good one yeah did the did

the visitors like that joke they did

they thought it was really funny until I

pointed out which horse was the slowest

and then that person got really nervous

did you ever see a mountain lion I never

saw a mountain lion but one time the

horses were all acting really nervous

and they wouldn't go forward

and I didn't know why they were acting

this way they refused

and so I ended up turning around and we

went off the trail and we had to make a

big circle really and then later I found

out that there had been a warning that

there were mountain lions in the area

and so I think that's why the horses

refused to go

wow those horses sound pretty smart yeah

sometimes in the morning when we are the

first people on the trail I would see

tracks like wolf tracks or cougar tracks

but I never saw the real animal oh

that's probably lucky

sounds like you had a really fun time at

that job yeah it was really fun and we

were we were Outdoors every day that was

my favorite part the air was so clean

and I loved working with the animals and

being in the sunshine it was great

so Sarah I was wondering what kind of

sports do you like to play

well I love riding horses

and actually when I was in college I

took a lot of classes about horseback

riding so I can do all sorts of sports

on Horseback wow that's amazing don't

you think riding horses is scary

I think it's part of the fun

for example

I used to be in the rodeo and I did a

sport called saddle bronc writing

and

the way you do this is they put the

saddle on the horse and then they let

the horse just go crazy and the horse

runs and bucks and tries to get you off

and you try to stay on

and it's really scary but it's also

really exciting

wow

that's

that's what's called a bucking bronco

right yeah and it's really hard to stay

on in fact you win if you can stand

eight seconds oh that doesn't seem very

long it's really really long

when I was it's really long when you're

on the horse my first time I only stayed

on about four seconds and then I fell

off in the middle of the ring and I got

knocked out oh yeah and the rest

yeah and I had a big black eye for about

two months

wow from falling off a horse that's why

it seems scary isn't it really dangerous

it is it is really dangerous and they

don't make you wear Helmet or any safety

gear I didn't wear a helmet

my first time I think it was pretty

stupid

the

you start so the horse starts in a metal

cage so the horse can't move and then

you sit on top of the horse on the

horse's back in the saddle

and then you say I'm ready and they open

the door

and the horse explodes and just starts

jumping and turning and twisting

and the horse did about three or four

jumps and I fell off

wow how many seconds did you make it

three probably about three seconds so

you'd have to do that more than twice as

long yeah

had it but I never could stay on for

eight seconds

did you try any other rodeo events

yeah I tried to do calf roping

what's that this is a sport where you

have your horse and your horse is

trained it's not the wild horse from

before and there's a calf and you try to

throw your rope so that you catch the

calf

and a calf is a baby baby cow

and so what do you have to do if you get

your rope around the cow

then you have to run up to the cow and

you have to tie the cow's legs together

and when you finish tying the cow's legs

together the timer stops so you want to

do it as fast as you can

that sounds really fun

and it doesn't sound as dangerous as

the saddle bronc competition no it's not

as dangerous but after a while I started

to feel bad for the baby cow I see it's

just he's a small little baby and he's

really scared and he's trying to run

away and I've I started to feel bad

about catching him with the rope and

tying him up so I stopped doing it I see

it

so we're talking about ideal hotels what

do you think is an ideal hotel for you

uh that's a tough question but when I

choose a hotel I would

um look at where the hotel is located

right and also the food so as long as

the hotel is

surrounded by Nature

um you know preferably

on the water

and maybe some mountains in the back and

um if the food the breakfast and

dinner and you know all the food that

they have it's amazing I'm good I'm set

now what about facilities I mean you

know hotels have various facilities

whether it's gyms or

um movie rooms or computer rooms that

allow you to do you know internet and

various things

um you know some hotels have pools would

those be things that you would want in

your Ideal Hotel oh yeah

um Jim I'm not so interested in because

I can you know play sports outside when

I'm surrounded by Nature why would I be

you know inside working out right

but in terms of swimming pool I'm

actually interested because when I was

looking at pictures I don't know which

country it was but there's

um an outdoor pool like infinity pool

that looked like it was connected to the

ocean and it was just so beautiful and

you know before I thought why would I

swim in the in the swimming pool when I

have an ocean in front of me but you

know if there is an um swimming pool

like that at the hotel definitely stay

there for a long time

right now what about

um Spa facilities you know massages and

different spot treatments is that

something that would interest you and

your Ideal Hotel oh yes yes for sure I

am so into massages and

um yeah I would definitely want massage

room and spas in the hotel that'll be

perfect oh okay

and uh you know there are some really

expensive hotels that offer the service

of a personal Butler

do you think that would be necessary for

you in your ideal hotel or would that be

um one amenity that you could do without

um I think it depends but

um I don't really when I'm staying at

the hotel I would usually you know want

to be alone and want to enjoy my time

with my family or my you know my husband

or myself that I actually don't want

anyone following me everywhere I go so

you know to a lot of people might be you

know that's a good idea you know it's a

nice treat to have but I am personally

not up for that okay well sounds like a

pretty nice hotel you've just described

so Mike you know the other day my

friends and I were talking about ideal

hotels what is your ideal Hotel

well there are many hotels that would

appeal to me but I'd say my ideal Hotel

would number one have to have a gorgeous

view from the room

and if we're talking about idealistic

I would choose a hotel that is suspended

over the water just off the beach

and Maya D Hotel would be not a hotel

where the rooms are all connected but

rather rooms being separate Villas or

bungalows

and those Villas to be situated just

above the water

so when you wake up in the morning

you're literally

above the water already you're already

on the beach and to get from your room

to the beach you have to walk out and

you Wade In The Water until you get to

the beach
so a place like that definitely my ideal

Hotel would you know something like that

um my ideal Hotel would have to be

situated in nature and I would really

love it to have

a location that would provide me with

opportunities to do a lot of cool

activities you know perhaps Adventure

stuff in nature dealing with animals

that type of thing being able to see the

local color of the area

so that would probably be my ideal Hotel

one other point I'd like to make is that

the hotel would have to have

unbelievable food

and I think

a hotel with good food and not just good

food but a lot of options for food so

when you wake up in the morning and you

go for a breakfast buffet you have a

choice of virtually any different type

of food that there is

a lot of good hotels are limited to what

kind of food they offer even if the food

is high quality so that would be another

aspect for me that would be quite

important for my ideal Hotel yeah sounds

like a nice hotel that you just

described yeah absolutely

foreign
hey Todd I'm going and looking for a gym

actually I hear your you've joined a gym

which one yeah actually there's a real

nice gym downtown it just opened

um about maybe a month ago two months

ago it's really nice okay what's the

name of it uh the name is Fitness club

ah good name so um and uh it pretty much

has everything I mean it has uh you know

free weights of course and it has all

the latest machines oh good yeah

actually some of the machines are kind

of tricky I really don't know how they

work yet so I have to I have to ask the

staff so it's more than a treadmill it's

a whole big machine that you don't know

what to do exactly I'm actually afraid

to get on the thing I don't want to

break it you know is there people there

that can help you yeah actually

um that's part of the problem is you

can't use any of the equipment unless

you get trained for it they're really

specific so you have to have guidance

it's kind of annoying actually because

you know everything they have a system

and they know based on you know your

membership What machines you can use and

what you can't and yeah okay but what

happens if like I've been to a gym

before do I still need to get the

training before I start yeah that's how

I was I told them that I'd you know had

been lifting weights for a while and

they didn't care so you have to get

certified to use all the equipment it's

kind of inconvenient Okay so

did I have classes though they do

actually they have uh pretty much

everything they have yoga kickboxing

spin classes dancing so

um and the the schedule looks you know

pretty diverse oh that's good I do

prefer classes than the whites yeah only

one thing that's bad about the classes

though is that because it's new and it's

a new gym there's lots of people and it

looks like it's pretty crowded in there

I think you have to reserve what classes

you're going to join oh really yeah it's

not terrible oh days I'm usually just

like to walk in right right yeah when

you feel like going to the gym you go

right right one thing that is nice

though is they have um they have an

actual gym floor like a basketball gym

so you can play basketball they have

volleyball tournaments

um so I mean if you like more

traditional sports like tennis they also

have tennis courts you can do that as

well oh that's good I do like tennis I

love tennis actually yeah well actually

if you're interested I'd be glad to you

know take you down the gym and and show

you you know I think you get a free

trial workout oh that's good that's good

so how much would it cost per month well

because it's new it's kind of expensive

um it costs about fifty dollars a month

oh wow yeah but if you buy a membership

a two-year membership you can get a

two-year membership I think for eight

hundred dollars

so it saves you some money so it's kind

of reasonable and I suppose if you pay

no you have to go then right right it's

um 800 for two years five hundred

dollars for one year or fifty dollars a

month okay so yeah oh one thing that's

really cool too is they have a social

Center they have like a an area where

you can get like fruit drinks and coffee

and stuff like that and just hang out

yeah it's quite nice that's good so

after after the workout go and have

coffee right right lovely okay so yeah

I'd love to come have a look at it okay

well uh next week anytime just give me a

call I'll take you there all right great

thanks

now you were saying that you worked in

radio and at a young age but then you

went back to it much later in life can

you talk about that I did well when I

was 21 years old I got head hunted to do

a show this show was basically a

freelance show that had to be done in

three different languages at the same

time so the range of audience was quite

Broad

and the the show was basically anything

I wanted anything I wanted to talk about

so quite often I talked about music

current event current events anything

political anything non-political

anything that that came to my mind I

would talk about

so what were the three languages of the

show

okay and what was the city where was

this at this was in Auckland okay so

this is one of these kind of Blended

radio shows where you slip from one

language to another it was well the show

was catering for

for a criteria

even if they don't speak the language so

the trick was to say one-third in

English the rest in Hindi and Punjabi

where I could and somehow it just made

sense

how do you go about doing that like did

you plan it or does it just kind of roll

off the roll off your tongue for me I

think it's quite natural because my

parents

when you hear languages being switched

back and forth like that are you

conscious of it or sometimes are you not

even conscious that you're speaking one

language or the other

I don't think I'm conscious of it at all

it

it's a slip of tank all three languages

I'm quite fluent in so for me to switch

from one to the other is is just a

natural course of a day

so since you have experience in the

music industry what do you think makes a

good DJ

a good DJ is one that's neutral when it

when it and one who can switch sides

very quickly and make things

controversial

from being neutral what I mean by that

is if you have an interesting topic and

a caller calls you up and it's very

positive about it a good DJ would be

able to flip it over very quickly and

say something that would make it

controversial

now do you think there's a certain

balance like how much you should talk

and how much music should be played and

there is absolutely a balance quite

often people listen to radio for music

so you need to make sure that your music

ratio is more than how much you talk but

the amount you talk has to be

interesting but quite Limited

all right thanks a lot you're welcome

so it's your funny you were saying that

you actually worked in radio from an

early age can you talk a little bit

about that that's right well I worked on

the radio at the age of 12. what

basically happened was that I used to

call up the radio station quite a lot

answer questions and quizzes and all

that sort of stuff and uh one of the

announcers thought my voice was nice and

they wanted me to come and work for him

without realizing that I was 12 years

old he called me in and had me on

so were you a little scared I mean

you're only 12. it was very daunting at

first so the first couple of days I had

no idea what was going on there was a

massive microphone in front of my face

and I was told to make this show fun and

interesting so yes it was very daunting

did you have any prep or did they just

stick you in front of the mic and have

you react no actually there was there

was no problem but there were no prompts

it was all up to me I had to come up

with stuff on the spot which was quite

easy really because the topics were

simple it was mainly about music robots

like teen stuff yeah exactly or anything

that people called up and talked about

it's a very very

how did your parents feel about it very

proud of me obviously at the age of 12

their daughter was a DJ what could be

better than that so they really enjoyed

it I remember they would listen to it

every single time record it and then

listen to it over and over again when

they could oh that's fantastic

so uh were you like a little celebrity

at your school

I ended up

because a lot of my friends

everything to be a radio person and

being only 12. so my friends thought it

was absolutely fantastic and they would

take it to school and quite often play

it around so yeah I ended up getting a

celebrity status

so when you were young and you were this

DJ did you envision yourself of being a

DJ for a long time

it was a hobby it was never something I

wanted to do as a profession

so in the future if you had a a child

and they wanted to do this would you

encourage them to do it I absolutely

would because if they enjoy it and they

enjoy it so much that they want to take

it up as a career why not with me it was

a hobby

now what about podcasts like would you

encourage young people to maybe have

their own podcast I think that's a

fantastic idea I think it's really good

to be able to express yourself and

through podcasts they can do exactly

that

hey Warren hey how's it going good I

thought today we could talk about

childhood dreams when you were 10 years

old what did you want to be when you

grew up right uh well actually it's a

little embarrassing I I wanted to be a

truck driver I thought it'd be really

neat because you can just travel around

everywhere and see different places all

the time and you're always on the move

but you know I I didn't

become a truck driver no you didn't

become a truck driver

uh why why is that when did your dream

change well probably when I was around

15 I I thought it would be a lot cooler

to be a rock star

rock star yeah rock star I I really

liked uh electric guitar at the time and

a lot of my friends were into music as

well so I I didn't actually start a band

but I played with a lot of different

people and sometimes I would play with

some bands but I never really stuck to

it but I I did keep playing guitar and I

ended up getting pretty good

what kind of rock star did you want to

be did you want to be like a heavy metal

rock star or grunge rock star uh well I

guess

versatile would be the word I like

playing a lot of heavy stuff and uh

maybe uh maybe some some folk music as

well so kind of eclectic so maybe a

hippie rock star yeah maybe a hip

so then when you were 20 did you still

want to be a rock star no I didn't but I

still played guitar then I I actually

wanted to be a classical guitarist by

then okay what what is classical guitar

well it's funny you say that because

it's not just classical music uh

classical guitar is

um for one thing it's a type of guitar

it it has nylon strings not the steel

strings like you see on a folk guitar

okay and there's different styles you

can play on it uh like Spanish music or

Flamenco uh South American Music some

classical music like Beethoven and

things like that or Baroque music like

does it have a singer with it or uh

sometimes there are singers usually uh

it's solo but you can play some chamber

music with with other instruments as

well and uh yeah I played some some

pieces with uh vocalists but it wouldn't

be pop music

and so now you're older uh are did your

dream come true did you become a

classical guitarist I did uh but I

actually decided to change my dream

after I became a classical guitarist so

what's your dream now well my dream now

is to become a university Professor oh

and are you making

steps to achieve that dream I am

actually I'm working at a university now

not as a professor uh as a part-time

lecturer but I'm taking some courses and

studying hard and hoping that my future

will will uh

will allow me to become a professor okay

okay well unless you change your dream

again I bet you'll achieve your dream

more so good luck oh great thank you

so Lindsay what about your dreams what

what did you want to be when you were 10

years old well when I was 10 years old I

wasn't very realistic but I knew I

wanted to be very powerful so I thought

the dream job would be Wonder Woman

she can fly anywhere she has the powers

to do good and to help everyone and

she's very uh

badass

so I wanted to be just like her

unfortunately didn't come true as I'm

not Wonder Woman right now

no I can see that but it seems like you

had a good imagination as a kid but I

guess that that probably changed as you

got older what about when you were 15.

well then when I was 15 I still wanted

to be very powerful

um and very strong but I had more

realistic idea of what I wanted to be

but I still didn't know a lot about the

world so I just wanted to be a very

powerful businesswoman I had no idea

what kind of business and I had no idea

what that actually meant but I wanted to

wear all black suit and have a brief

case and go to work in a nice office and

drive a nice car and do something that

was very powerful I had no idea really

what a powerful businesswoman does

oh well that seems like a pretty good

dream for a 15 year old

but I guess you probably had a better

idea when you were 20. so what about

them so when I was 20 then I still

wanted to be powerful and strong I guess

you can see the common theme here uh but

then I had even more realistic idea of

actual real professions so at that time

I was quite uh social I really enjoyed

going to parties uh and I was living in

New York at the time so I thought the

perfect job for me would be a public

relations specialist I thought I could

be one of those people that plans

parties or does handles the pr the

publicity for celebrities

I I had a dream of maybe working for

Madonna or working for a famous TV show

and handling all their publicity

representation oh well that's great it

seems like you had a better idea by the

time you're 20.

but I guess you probably have some

dreams now even so what kind of dreams

do you have now well then uh when I was

20 I was quite

egotistical I just wanted only thought

about myself and how I could have more

money and be more powerful but then

something changed when I started

traveling and seeing the world where I

decided that I'd rather have a job that

does something good for the world and

gives back to the community and to the

people

so now I'm a teacher and I really enjoy

that the idea of making a difference in

people's lives

and in the future maybe when I get older

I hope to start an animal shelter so

that when animals are left on the street

or abandoned they can come to my shelter

and I can provide a happy home for them

wow that's a great vision for the future

thanks
so we're talking about camp today uh did

you ever go to Camp when you were a kid

I did I usually went to Cub Camp you

know like Boy Scouts okay was it during

the summer yeah it'd always be in the

summer and was it for a week or a month

or I I can't recall it probably was

about a week about a week what'd you do

at Cub Camp well we do different things

um one thing I remember is uh archery

archery yeah like bows and arrows so we

would have a Target and we would

practice trying to hit the target and I

was really bad at it I I remember always

um it's quite difficult and I would hurt

my my arm yeah okay with the with the

boat

um but then after the we were trying to

get the target I remember we did

distance as well and I was actually

pretty good at that I I figured out how

to get along a long shot away and I I

think I I might be lying but I think I I

maybe got the longest shot than anyone

else oh wow congratulations

um okay besides archery were there other

games you play or Sports you did yeah

well we would uh learn how to uh canoe

and we'd swim and uh we'd go on Hikes

we'd learn how to navigate through the

forest with a compass okay things like

that did you learn how to start fire

without matches we did yeah we would uh

use um two sticks rub them together

start a fire wow yeah

uh what would you guys do at night would

you um play games or have campfires yeah

we'd always have a campfire at night

we'd sing some songs like Kumbaya and uh

yeah put on some skits and tell ghost

stories but my favorite thing to do at

the campfire was roast marshmallows oh

that's the best yeah I'd spend hours

trying to find the perfect

stick to carve and roast marshmallows on

and sometimes we'd even make the the

chocolate s'mores with the marshmallows

uh so that food was good how was the

other food

um I don't have any memories of it being

good

so I don't

think it was very good we would all eat

together in in a mess hall much like

yourself and actually I remember getting

really sick one time and my parents had

to come and pick me up and I think I I

got a bit of food poisoning oh wow from

the food yeah Scout camp wow okay

um final question so you were away from

your family right was that hard or easy

oh it was it was easy I I remember

feeling a little Freer and more

independent away from my parents less

rules less regulations you weren't

homesick at all I no I never did get

homesick even when my parents came to

pick me up that time when I was sick I

really didn't want to go home oh it's so

bad you got food poisoning yeah yeah

okay thanks Warren

Lindsay we're both teachers and you know

sometimes our our students uh go off to

Camp over over the summer break did you

ever go to Camp when you were younger I

did go to camp the camp I went to was

called Pilgrim Pines oh what was that

like uh it was great uh it was one week

away from my family and each person got

to take care of an animal some people

took care of horses some people took

care of sheep but I got the lucky task

of taking care of Xanadu the Llama what

was that like oh it was awesome I when I

was a kid my favorite animal was a llama

so that's why we looked into this Camp

to begin with and I had to brush it and

I had to feed the llama and it was such

a sweet llama that I really fell in love

with it and every day I'd wake up feed

the llama and brush it and then in the

afternoon I'd also come and visit the

Llama Xanadu was his name but um a

couple times he got mad I'm not exactly

I can't remember why actually he was

upset but uh when Mamas are mad uh do

you know what they do I don't know they

actually spit

yeah and you have to be and then they

get if they spit you that means they're

really upset and they can be dangerous I

mean I was only 10 at the time so the

Llama was a lot bigger than me uh and

one time it spit at me and the spit got

stuck in my hair and it was this really

thick gross mucousy spit

um and that really uh struck an image in

my mind I can't ever kind of forget that

llama spitting at me and then after I

think for a day I was afraid of the

Llama

um and then my counselor my camp

counselor who was in charge of all the

children had a talk with me and told me

how you know sometimes llamas get mad

just like people get mad and I need to

forgive the llama and uh I did and then

the next day I went and uh and fed the

llama and brushed llama and everything

was back to normal but it was a really

good experience to learn how to take

care of a pet and a good experience to

be away from my family for the first

time

um so I guess there were other kids at

the camp too did you guys all eat

together uh yeah we had the like a mess

hall they called it which is basically

cafeteria the food was disgusting I

remember losing a lot of weight when I

came home and my mom would send me

packages of chocolate and cookies and I

would eat it all but yes we all ate

together this like gross cafeteria slob

food like sloppy joe for

lunch or

you know just imagine like turkey and

gravy for dinner but the turkey was kind

of a blue color or something everything

was just a little bit gross but and at

one time we had food fight and that was

absolutely amazing

this one kid get got upset the other kid

threw some mashed potatoes and the next

thing you know turkeys flying mashed

potatoes flying everything everyone's

getting involved and uh that was really

fun
hi Jake how are you today good how are

you Shirley not too bad thanks

um I thought we might talk about folk

Heroes today sure I don't really know

much about American folk heroes are

there any that you have a favorite or

well actually my hometown in the United

States happens to be known as one of the

hometowns for Paul Bunyan

yeah I think I've heard of that name but

I don't know anything about him Paul

Bunyan was a lumberjack like he would

cut down trees and he was supposedly a

very giant man he was huge

and I don't know if he actually ever

lived in some time in the past but maybe

he was just a very large man but somehow

the stories have been passed down to say

that he was as large as a house or as

large as a skyscraper or it completely

depends on who you ask wow so not sure

whether he's a mythical character or

real character no one really knows for

sure

what did he do well

um some people say that he took his ax

and he dragged it behind his back across

the United States and he made the

Mississippi River
ah so it's a kind of story to explain

why something exists that's part of it

and also uh he had a pet too his pet is

very famous and what kind of pet his pet

was an ox but it wasn't just an ordinary

Ox it was a blue ox and it was also

oversized to fit with his size what did

his pet do

well his pet I think would just carry

lumber for him or something

so

when did people know about that story

well I'm not exactly sure but like your

country the United States is a very

young country and has a very young

history since the European settlers came

there so I think it's maybe from a

couple hundred years ago maybe at the

most

um okay

hmm you've lived in three different

parts of the world so is there any

difference between each part in terms of

physical

yeah I have lived in Hong Kong Guam and

the US

um Hong Kong is in Asia Guam is in the

middle of the Pacific Ocean and the US's

American culture

so in Hong Kong I think most people

would not touch each other just give

each other a little bow I find that a

bow is very common in Asia

um if you're very good friends you

wouldn't really hug hugging it I think

is a very American thing to do I think

you would just touch each other on the

shoulder or give each other a side

Embrace

um a mini hug

in Guam you would definitely greet your

friends and family with a a kiss on the

cheek

um a handshake is much too formal for

Island culture because Island culture is

so relaxed and laid back you would only

do a handshake with business partners or

in a really formal setting but usually a

kiss on the cheek

is what you receive and give when you

see your family and friends

in the U.S hugging is most common I

think for friends and family but if

you're not friends and family

a handshake would probably be the most

common

it's a handshakes always the same or is

there different styles of handshake from

what I've observed

um Guam has American culture so Guam

handshakes and U.S handshakes are

the same I think in Hong Kong it's got a

bit a British background

so that's also very similar I don't see

any difference with the handshake

so what about young people is there a

different way they interact physically

with each other yes definitely

um in Guam I always see people do a fist

bump for close buddies of theirs girls

would definitely hug and give each other

a kiss

um in Hong Kong

I don't see the fist bump often I don't

think I've ever seen it at all actually

but for close friends I think a side

Embrace or a semi-embrace would happen

but mostly just some form of touch or

acknowledgment of the other person

I think it's also very common for

people of the same sex to hold hands in

Asia

and just be friends

woman and woman hold each other's hands

if they are very very good friends

and uh it's apparently very normal I

don't know about a guy holding another

guy's hand but if a woman and a woman

hold each other's hands

it does not signal that they are

together as a couple it might just

signal that they are very very good

friends or sisters

in Australia that would be very strange

yes it would wouldn't it even in America

in Guam

so Nick let's talk about

touching and holding hands and physical

touch with your significant other do you

and your partner hold hands when you go

out in the street we hold hands all the

time initially we when we first went out

holding hands was the first thing we did

they're progressively moved on from

there to kissing but holding hands was

certainly the first thing we did in our

relationship

do you remember when you first tried to

hold her hand or did she try to hold

your hand first I made the first move we

were sitting on the couch watching a

movie and I was getting a bit nervous

and I couldn't quite

um couldn't quite concentrate on the

movies so I moved my hand over to hers

and

she reciprocated and moved on from there

so
you know that's funny that you bring

that up because one of the most common

moves

um that is made fun of in movies as well

is when the guy takes a big yawn a fake

yawn and he opens his arms wide and

places it around the girl's shoulder and

thus Embraces her

but he had to do it because he yawned

in my experience like my first

um

my first hug was like that as well so it

was just a bit of an excuse for us

reaching for something and then suddenly

my hand went around and she didn't mind

so that was very good

and what about

um kissing

do you kiss a lot in public in the

streets uh really in public because we

find it makes other people uncomfortable

yeah that's true

I find that when I see couples kissing

or making out in public I usually think

to myself

why don't you get a room

so you don't want to see that you just

want to be having a conversation with

them or yeah you don't want them to be

constantly distracted
so surely we were talking about

childhood memories and you're from

Scotland there's anything from your

childhood that you can tell us

um I know I've got a really funny story

actually maybe I was about 10 years old

or something and we used to have this

this little kind of Shack in the

countryside that we were dragged to

every weekend and away from civilization

you know and no running water no

electricity so we kids had to make our

own fun I've got uh my brothers myself

and a couple of cousins we would always

go there at weekends or school holidays

or something

and I mean one of the highlight of our

weekends was to go to the Sunday Sunday

school the Sunday morning church service

and the reason one of the reasons this

was attractive to the kids was because

they bribed us to go there by giving us

sweets when we got there so it was great

so we always went anyway it was a church

service for about an hour and singing

hymns and stuff like that anyway this

one Sunday we arrived early

about half an hour early there was

nobody there the church wasn't open yet

so it was as most people know it rains a

lot in Scotland so on that rainy day we

all were wearing our kagools which is a

kind of a rain jacket with a big pocket

in the front

and while we were waiting for everybody

else to arrive we started just kind of

playing around in the trees there was a

little river nearby and it was at the

time of year when the tadpoles were

turning into baby frogs

so we got this crazy idea to collect all

these I mean I'm talking hundreds of

frogs were around so we all got a big

handful of baby frogs uh put them in

this big pocket of our kagool

went off into church

so there we are we're kind of in the

middle of the crowd you know we weren't

at the front of the back kind of in the

middle and uh everybody's standing up

singing the hymns

and really getting into you know the

church singing and stuff like that and

then we decided that we would uh get the

frogs out so each of us one at a time

each of us kids one at a time kind of

crouched down as if we were tying our

shoelace and let all these frogs out of

our pockets so these tiny little frogs

started jumping all over the church

and there's all these ladies in their

Sunday Best and started squealing and

screaming and the the minister didn't

know what was going on and he's trying

to keep everybody calm and we're just

singing along with the hymn you know

we're really innocent and they had no

idea because they didn't see us do it so

they had no idea what happened and

um yeah I mean we got away with it we

didn't get told off because we didn't

get caught and uh yeah when we after the

church service you know we had such a

laugh after the church service and yeah

that's one of my my greatest childhood

memories getting up to Mischief with my

brothers

Monica you mentioned a farm Homestay in

New Zealand have you ever actually lived

on a farm

um I haven't lived on a farm as such but

I've visited family friends who have

lived on farms

oh did you like it yeah I remember

loving visiting my family friends on

farms yeah especially riding horses

I loved riding horses when I was young

so are you uh good are you in an

equestrian

um I wouldn't say that I do remember one

time

um my mother always seems to tell people

the story about when I was young and we

were at her

friend's Farm I was on a horse and the

horse took off

and I was only about I think 10 at the

time and I was hanging off the side of

the school so my mother was really

worried for me yeah and then when the

horse finally stopped she um you know

she came running up and asked me if I

was okay and things and apparently I

said to her oh it's okay I wanted it to

go fast

that's cute you're lucky you didn't get

hurt though yeah wow I guess I just

didn't sense the danger

actually I kind of grew up on a farm uh

my grandfather had a ranch growing up so

I spent every summer on his Ranch so I

have quite the I don't know I guess I

have a lot of experience oh okay

yeah it's good I mean I remember when I

was young I thought the life on the farm

was just the best I mean I had it so

good and I loved everything about living

on a farm and I thought when I was going

to get older I would want to be on a

farm but now that I'm older I couldn't

imagine doing it ever again

oh what can't you imagine doing uh I

don't know I I guess I just couldn't

imagine all that work but I think I'm

just so addicted to City Life or

Suburban life

and living in a house and just you know

doing work on computers and things like

that I I couldn't go back to that

lifestyle but when I was young I have to

admit I enjoyed it a lot

so how about you could you see yourself

moving and living on a farm

um well yeah I think my thoughts are

similar

to I'm very used to being

inside using a computer and I'm used to

a very different lifestyle to one that

involves being on a farm

but yeah I've never

had a long period of time where I've

stayed on a farm like you so yeah maybe

it's a bit different for me

in Australia there's lots of snakes as

well is there snakes in Guam oh yeah

there's plenty of snakes in Guam one of

which is very famous is the brown tree

snake now the brown tree snake was

brought over to Guam a long time ago in

cargo ships when it hid in the cargo and

the cargo was unloaded onto the docks of

Guam

so when these Brown tree snakes were

accidentally released onto Guam soil

they subsequently destroyed most of

Guam's bird population can you believe

that oh that's amazing it's like yeah

introductions like that can cause

disasters yeah yeah exactly and because

these Brown tree snakes destroyed most

of the bird life on Guam we've lost a

lot of beautiful tropical birds that

used to live on Guam

um another thing that I can think of

that was introduced to Guam but isn't a

wild animal is a wild plant

and we call it a Japanese Bonsai Leaf

actually and I believe Bonsai means uh

suicide or something in Japanese but

what these leaves do is that they grow

and grow and they look like Vines so

they cover loads and loads of trees and

good Wildlife that are out there

um I mean plant life and they keep these

plant life from growing because they

essentially Ambush them and keep

sunlight from ever reaching them

that's really interesting yeah so if you

can imagine a building covered

completely in really thick line that's

how these uh these Japanese bonsai

leaves work they completely shroud and

cover all of the good

um plant life that we have on Guam

so we've lost a lot of good plant life

beautiful

different types of uh leaves and bushes

and flowers flowers yeah

so in addition to losing all of our

birth life we've also lost a lot of this

uh plant life to this introduction of a

foreign plant species to Guam

is there any natural disasters which

happen yeah there's plenty of natural

disasters Guam is actually

right on the coast of a Reformation

called the Mariana's Trench and

underneath in this trench is the lowest

part of the world the deepest part of

the world wow

yeah so if we joke about it we joke that

Guam's highest mountain Mount lamb lamb

is actually the highest mountain in the

world if you count off from its base

which is in the Marianas Trench the

lowest part of the world wow that's

amazing

so there must be good diving if you talk

about barrier reefs yeah there's plenty

of good diving

um it's got really great diving like and

you would find in Hawaii or in the Great

Barrier Reef

um and many many tourists from all over

Asia come to Guam to scuba dive because

uh there are great spots and it's the

closest U.S soil they can get to I see

but in Australia in the Great Barrier

reefs there's lots of dangerous animals

is that the case in Guam as well well

actually

um that's funny you should ask uh there

has been a recent article about a guy in

Guam

um a very young guy who was scuba diving

and he got stung by a lionfish but that

is the extent of the the dangerous

animals of Guam you'd have to go out

into the deep sea to find more dangerous

animals

but I think the most dangerous ones we

have are quite small things like the

lionfish which I just mentioned he just

got stung but uh it wasn't anything

terrible

we do have uh reef sharks but they are

not great white sharks so they're quite

small

um and smaller poisonous things like

Triggerfish those you just have to be

careful about when whenever you're scuba

diving but other than that there's not

much dangerous in the sea

great

so Clan you're from uh Trinidad and

Tobago and you were saying that your

country has a very diverse Multicultural

mix yes can you talk about that oh sure

um Trinidad and Tobago mostly

we're made up of people from Africa

African descent to came as slaves and

Indians who came from India mostly I

think we also may have some from parts

of Bangladesh Pakistan and Sri Lanka

um but they came as indentured laborers

um closer to when sleepy was being

abolished

and these two groups actually make up

the two largest ethnic groups in

Trinidad however

there's a lot of mixing there it's very

difficult to find someone in Trinidad

and Tobago who is extremely purely of

one ethnic group because everyone is

kind is sort of mixed

we have also a lot of whites or

Caucasians who are native to Trinidad

and Tobago who speak exactly like me

with my Caribbean accent and many people

find it very strange because

they will walk around in Trinidad and

think that they're tourists and But

realize that they're actually native

trinidadians and many also come from

Europe to settle in Trinidad after

retirement and have their families here

so

um this is how they came to stay here

we have a very large Chinese population

and it's growing because now the

government is encouraging immigrants

from China to come in to help us with

our development to build our capital

city

so we have a lot of Chinese

we have a lot of Colombians Venezuelans

uh people coming from South and Central

America migrating to Trinidad because

Spanish is now being

um promoted as a second language for

Trinidad so street signs in our Capital

City are in English and Spanish

so with all of this mixing of different

of different people it's it's very as I

said very difficult to find one person

who is of just one ethnic group and it's

reflected in our food it's reflected in

the kind of music we listen to sometimes

in the way we dress

um for me for example

um I am mostly of African descent but my

dad is mixed with uh people from South

American uh ethnicity and Chinese

so

as I said although I am mostly African

everybody still has a little bit of

something in them

okay Monica we're going to debate

winning and sports especially for young

people

um so do you think that winning should

be stressed with sports with let's say

high school athletes

um well it depends on the situation and

what they're training for but generally

I think that winning is overemphasized

in sport I think that participation is

more important

hmm

yeah why would you say that well I think

um if you concentrate too much on

winning then the problem is if you don't

win you don't enjoy the sport

so um the emphasis is is shifted from

enjoyment to uh basically results so I

think it can be quite um

damaging

right well I I kind of agree with what

you're saying um and actually I played

High School sports and I was never very

good and I always wish I participated

more than I did but I I actually think

that the the focus on winning in some

ways is quite important and that that it

does serve a good purpose to have a

focus on winning rather than on

participation

I think the main reason is because when

you focus on winning that drives

everybody to be better so if you want to

if you want to win if you want to be on

the team Etc you have to force yourself

to be better and it's the carrot on the

end of the stick

and it it makes people train harder work

harder it sets a goal for them and it

kind of prepares them for life that

sometimes you fail and sometimes you

don't get what you want and so that's

why Sports and the whole focus on

winning is good because it's exactly how

life is in the real world

[Music]

tend to argue the other way and say that

actually sporting doesn't reflect life

in terms of winning and losing I mean

let's take a work situation it's not

about winning or losing it's about

cooperating with people that you work

with and so if you have

had an upbringing where

you've been in a sports team that has

been overly competitive you could

transfer that competitiveness into a

workplace and it can be

counterproductive because it may mean

that you you're just not very good at

being a team player in a work

environment

that's actually a really good point but

you could also argue that actually you

know even a work environment is like

Sport and that you have teamwork and you

have to work together and if you don't

work together

in a very productive way maybe you'll be

out of a job or your company will be

productive so you need to have that that

instinct to continually drive to be

better to be better than other people

and it sounds really brutal but I think

that's just how business works

well you're talking about work being

business but I mean I'm a teacher and um

it brings me to quite an interesting

discussion that's taking place now in

teaching which is two different

um kind of political views really in

terms of teachers because

um

people want high standard high standards

in terms of their teachers and one idea

is to

write teachers in comparison to other

teachers and basically give the top

teachers incentives

um so that they get paid more than

teachers who aren't as good as them but

um the counter argument to that is that

it creates a really hostile environment

in the workplace and in a school where

you really need teachers to work

together

um I'm not sure that that's the best way

to go

yeah well that's that's another debate

for another day

is that a cop out or what

so Monica you actually are a trained

physical education teacher ah yes that's

right so we often hear about how kids

today are not fit

and they don't exercise enough do you

think that's true

um I think it is true yes I think kids

these days spend a lot more time on the

computer than they used to so of course

that means less time outside and

getting fit um

now in in some countries there's a big

debate about how much Fitness kids

actually do in school

so in your country in New Zealand do

kids still do a lot of Fitness actually

in school

um

recently recently the

the curriculum got Amalgamated with the

health curriculum so

PE and health were considered to be

important in school and the health side

of the curriculum is often taught in the

classroom and of course the PE side is

often taught outside the classroom

and there's always debate about how much

um

kids should be doing inside School

in fact very recently now that it has

become quite a big problem

and New Zealand for teenagers there has

been talk about increasing the number of

PE lessons that students have

but

um the current prime minister I think

believes that the emphasis should be put

on out of school activities like clubs

and encouraging students to become more

involved in that side of things

what do you feel do you think that it

should be

um I actually agree to be honest because

I think if you increase the number of PE

lessons that students have in a week it

doesn't actually necessarily increase

their motivation to be involved in

physical activity but if um like he's

suggesting you increase the

opportunities outside of school

um students maybe become

involved in a sport that they choose

that they like to do and they um

hopefully can take it on as a lifetime

sport yeah which is important

but wouldn't the counter argument be

that

all the kids that actually have a

natural inclination to play sports will

want to join those clubs and of the kids

that are more sedentary or don't enjoy

physical activity

won't join a club and so you need to

actually make them do Fitness in school

yeah that's true that is a counter

argument and a very good one

some other occasion of course I can talk

about that side of the um argument as

well if you want me to no it's okay it's

okay so basically you say there's a it's

both sides make a good point

so Chantal you were saying that you grew

up in a small town and had a very rustic

life but then you moved overseas to

Italy correct yes I moved to Bologna

Bologna Italy wow that's like that's

such a huge transition what was that

like in like why did you move to Italy

oh wow

um so I moved to Italy because I was

studying abroad during my junior year at

University and so I was to do a

immersion program at the University of

Bologna which means all of my classes

were in Italian all of my homework all

of my exams everything was completely in

Italian and I also had to find my own

housing which was also the first time I

found housing on my own because I had

always lived in the University dorms at

my university in the United States and

so yeah to navigate one a new city a

city in general and then finding my

first apartment and learning how to

survive a new University system it was

exhilarating and very exciting and um

yeah I loved it that's so cool so what

was it like when you first got to Italy

like the did you have culture shock I

mean could you

you came from a small town environment

and now you're living in a big city in

Europe I think

um I think my friends would probably say

that I was very quick to trust everyone

um as I mentioned before growing up in a

small town I I knew all my neighbors and

I was very trusting of of strangers and

very welcoming and I I still am but in

hindsight when I moved to Italy I think

I was maybe a little too naive sometimes

and especially not knowing the language

it was easy to sort of

put my trust or my faith in someone if I

and I when I needed help because I

needed help often whether for

translating or even just grocery

shopping and so sometimes I I think I

look back and like oh maybe I should

have walked away a little bit sooner or

something like that

yeah oh so I mean compare life

in Italy to life in in the States what

was it like how was it different

life life in Italy feels so much slower

it

um people are still very productive and

they're very passionate and they they go

to their jobs and they go to work but

there's just this sense of

how important it is to enjoy your time

and to enjoy your time with family and

with friends so

for example I feel like in the United

States people and this is very general

but I feel like people have their jobs

and they work really hard and to the

point where maybe they're so tired they

go home and they just want to watch

Netflix or watch TV and relax and and

that's their way of relaxing is being at

home and in Italy it feels like the way

people recharge and the way that they

relax and get their energy back is being

in the company of their friends and

being in the company of their family so

they'll finish work and everyone will

meet up for a drink in the center of

town and it's it's not to drink a lot

it's really just to have a glass of wine

eat some delicious food and just sit and

talk but about nothing really just enjoy

the time and eventually people decide to

go home but it'll be hours later even

though they're exhausted from work but

that's the that's how they relax and

that's how they get their energy back

and they go to work the next day and are

productive and I really enjoyed that the

most I can relate to that I I was in

Spain for about two months just

traveling around and the one thing that

I still remember the most

is that I would go into a little Pub or

a bar at late at night 10 o'clock at

night and there would be old people and

I'm I'm not talking like 50 or 60. I'm

talking like 75 years old maybe and

they're well dressed and they're sitting

at a table with their friends and I

could never imagine that happening in

the United States and it was so

impressive I was so impressed by that

that people really in the in the later

years of their life still had that

social Spirit they go out they socialize

they have a good time and we're talking

late at night like 10 o'clock you would

never see that in America ever yeah I

completely agree and it's very similar

in Italy too

so what about the food I hear the food

is fantastic everyone you know Raves

about Italian food yes

yes so good and I I probably

food I love the cheeses there's just so

many different kinds of cheese and I'm

I'm a huge cheese meat

um jam person and so the combination of

of having all of that available in Italy

and especially the different regions are

known for different foods so sometimes

you can't even eat a specific type of

food unless you're in that City and or

otherwise you'd have to pay a lot to get

it at a different part of this of us of

the country so yeah I I mean pizzas were

delicious too I know it's stereotypical

but the pizzas were awesome and they're

so different than the US they're so thin

super super thin there's no like deep

dish pizza in Italy or or double crust

or cheese filled crust that doesn't

exist exactly like it melts in your

mouth right yeah yeah and it's it's so

delicious and pastas of course are great

and they're wines are delicious too and

yeah I I miss Italian food a lot a lot

well I am thinking of going there so

you'll have to give me some tips I would

love to
go so

um I'm here with Chantal and we both are

from the United States and we both are

teachers in Japan so I thought we would

talk a little bit about some of the

stereotypes that people might have in

other countries uh for example Japan or

other countries about Americans

so first we're going to talk about

hamburgers

okay okay so

hamburgers

how often do you actually eat a

hamburger ah hamburgers I would say

it's actually

not that often although I love

hamburgers I love them very much but

maybe only a couple times a month or so

yeah I agree I think hamburgers is the

one thing that does not meet The

Stereotype that we don't eat them that

often like I never have hamburgers in

America ah okay pretty much never like

I'll have them if somebody's barbecuing

it

maybe for a picnic or something

um

yeah and if I do eat fast food it's

usually not a hamburger I eat something

else like I eat tacos or burritos right

I don't eat hamburgers so that's one I

think hamburgers don't really match The

Stereotype myth yeah I agree I agree

especially because I know many many of

my students here in Japan they will ask

me often what I eat for lunch and before

I respond because they're playing a joke

on me they'll say like oh hamburger

hamburger and yeah I have to tell them

that you know I I now I do live in Japan

but in the United States I don't

typically eat hamburgers every day but

that is a lot of what they think they

think that I eat hamburgers regularly or

at least fast food but their image of

fast food is only hamburgers so true

then actually the the funny

um Side Story to that or contrary story

would be you know sushi so we both teach

in Japan and I think most people think

that you eat sushi all the time Japan

and it's almost the equivalent of the

hamburger you don't eat it that much

that is so true right so true I cannot

say how true that is or another one

we're talking about stereotypes would be

Sumo so Japanese people are not that

into Sumo really right but it's an

iconic thing so that brings us to the

point of baseball

ah yeah so do you actually like baseball

I I do I love baseball I do and I used

to go to some games in the United States

in San Francisco I went to several

Giants games growing up

um yeah so I do enjoy baseball do you

enjoy baseball I do I have to admit like

I I played you know baseball when I was

younger I loved baseball

um but I do think it's not as popular as

people think it is you know what I mean

I think that like a lot of people like

it you like it I like it but a lot of

people could care less yes about

baseball most the time I think I people

say it's it's a slow sport it's boring

no one wants to watch it they're much

more inclined to watch basketball or

football instead of baseball so true

um so I want to ask you about when is

the right age to have stuff or to start

doing stuff what do you think is the

right age to start having a phone

oh I think for security reasons

to

you know keep the child safe perhaps

maybe about 11 or 12. when they start

going around places without their

parents yeah
um it would be a way for me to contact

my daughter

um even No my daughter's only six and

she doesn't have a phone and that's far

too young I believe however she walks to

school by herself yeah and walks home by

herself and that stresses me out

um

for her safety so there are there are

times where I wish I could phone her or

text her

but she doesn't have a phone and I do

believe that your six is far too young

to have a phone a little bit too young

yes

so purely for security reasons

um

I think probably around 11 or 12. how

old were you when you first got your

phone oh well I'm an old person so you

know people didn't have mobile phones

um I was reaching the end of high school

I was I think 17 when I got my first

mobile phone

and it was a big brick but again that

was for you know I guess security

reasons yeah my parents got it for me

um I was going out you know I'd started

going out um at night going to concerts

and I was beginning to be allowed going

into to bars and things 17 18 so

um yeah it was a good security thing my

parents were appreciative of being able

to contact me oh yeah

yeah how about you how old were you when

you first got your mobile phone oh

goodness I was about

12 or 13. I was really young okay

um and I only got my first mobile phone

on my first cell phone because my best

friend had got the same one and I wanted

to send like picture messages to her

because back in the old days where you

couldn't send photos you couldn't take

photos picture messages I couldn't even

send picture messages mine was just text

like pressing the same button over and

over again oh yeah so I never really

used it as like a way of security I just

used it to send really overpriced

picture messages to my friend

absolutely no reason it was such a waste

and to play Snake do you remember snakes

oh yeah a little game that you could

play on your phone yep yep yeah I didn't

use it for

a good use I think I just use it to

waste time

well you're 12 you said right 12 13 yeah

that sounds age appropriate I think

age-appropriate use yeah it's a good

time to start wasting your time yeah

it's a good age to start wasting time

yeah

so what do you think is a good age for

girls to start wearing makeup

hmm

I think it depends on the kind of makeup

that they're wearing and the purpose you

know because to me it seems like there

are two different kinds you know they're

young children young girls young

children who wear play makeup you know

it's it's a toy it washes off easily

garish colors very mild on the skin and

it's you know literally just coloring in

their face yeah it's not you know

enhancing their features or trying to

look

as Society thinks a beautiful you know

they're not covering up any pimples or

spots you know it's not like that it's

just coloring in their face trying to

look more like a princess and I have a

six-year-old daughter and she loves

makeup

um she has her own like young like toy

makeup and she asks permission to wear

it and um I I let her wear it I bought

some for her

um I make sure that she can only do it

if she has a clean face and Clean Hands

and that she washes it off properly at

the end and that she tidies it away

afterwards that's good she's actually on

a final final warning because she used

to leave it out and I've I've warned her

I will throw it in the bin

because there I have a toddler and she

wants to see what her big sister's doing

and she wants to play with it so she

grabs it and makes a mess everywhere so

yeah six-year-old is on her final

warning so I guess to answer your

question my six-year-old is waiting her

play makeup already so it doesn't

yeah it doesn't bother me how old were

you when you started wearing makeup wow

I I love makeup and that's probably

where my daughter got it from

um I wanted to wear makeup

from a young age the way my daughter

does I wasn't allowed it was forbidden

and I first actually

managed to buy a secret lipstick when I

was about now I had to hide it from my

mom and she would only let me wear lip

gloss when I was that age and I wasn't

allowed to wear any lipstick so I had to

buy a secret one and I was always so

interested in my grandmother's makeup

and

and my mom's makeup as well but she

never really wore much they she has a

very simple sort of beauty routine um my

I'm I'm much more interested in it than

she is she ever was

so I don't know where I inherited that

from but my daughter's definitely

inherited that from me

so

maybe because it was forbidden

for me that's why I was drawn to it more

makes it more tantalizing I think so

that could be it but yeah it's a real

it's a real hobby for me I really really

love it I wish I had more money to

purchase more you can never have enough

I never have too many lipsticks I know

it's true what do you think about boys

wearing makeup if they want to remake up

then they should like it it annoys me

this horrible idea and concept of like

men and boys have to be manly like what

is manly for me makeup is an art it

really is is artistry and um if you know

if they want to if they're feeling bad

about their skin the way I feel bad

about my skin right if I have pimples or

Spots I'm lucky I get to just cover up

with like foundation and concealer a bit

of blusher make it makes me feel better

but you know if there's like a boy who

has

you know going through teenage years and

he's got bad skin and he wants to cover

it up and his Macho friends catch him

wearing it or whatever people in school

catch him wearing it and it can be a

really bad situation for him and I think

that is awful

it is really really terrible I think

boys should wear makeup as they like

um I actually follow quite a lot of

makeup artists on social media and I I

look at many many pictures of different

products and the art that they produce

and I follow I follow male makeup

artists as well and the skills they have

are unbelievable the blending skills

contouring oh my goodness the blending

skills and like covering up you know

basically just like covering up their

whole face and putting a new face on top

of it it's pretty impressive it's really

impressive it's so amazing I could I

would really enjoy a makeup lesson from

from some of the artists that I follow

on different social media sites

absolutely

so your favorite age group is the junior

high school age yeah do you have much

experience teaching younger children

younger children like toddler age uh

well have an elementary school yeah

Elementary School I've been teaching for

about five years five or six years

they're fine you just have to be a bit

silly with those kids

yes just have a good time can't really

be too serious when you're teaching

young kids because

they're still kids that's true so how

about younger than that how about the

kindergarten age how are they for you

um they're probably my Achilles heel

I'm not great with kindergarten students

or younger than that

because they don't respond to reason

yeah

so they're I mean yeah they're difficult

for me to teach I prefer teaching older

students

how about you what kind of age age rage

do you like teaching

um I think I appreciate all parts of all

age groups everyone every group has its

pros and cons

um recently I've been teaching

University students and I I think I've I

think I'm remembering how much I enjoy

it because you know they are adults and

you can treat them like adults and you

can still have a bit of silly fun with

them too yeah so these days I think I

prefer teaching the the older students

University age students you can you know

you can really go into topics quite

deeply yeah and you can

get some interesting answers from some

students

um other students of course

you can't

everyone's different right yes you just

have to find a way of teasing

teasing very

um potential of all of them I think is

there a group that you don't like

teaching

hmm

I'm not used to Junior High School

children Junior High School students I

don't have any experience with them so

that would make me nervous I think

how do you think they would be different

to University students
I think from what I mentioned before the

the teenagers the hormones I think that

would be different there you know

there's

bubbling inside them all of these

changes of feelings and emotions and

they have so many things to deal with

pressure of growing up and I think that

is can be more challenging

um

but I think it's important as a teacher

to try to remember what it was like when

you were that age yeah I think that's

the the biggest thing that will help you

absolutely

so what do you think about teaching

young children like babies how are you

with that I I do really enjoy that

babies are awesome they're um they have

their own set of needs

um but usually the very young classes

come with you know the parents are there

too so it's kind of a group-led

situation teacher-led group and um yeah

it's it's good fun for me they're very

cute and Squishy and uh

and a very

um

not uncontrollable what's the word uh

uh unpredictable that's it completely

unpredictable uh you know one day they

can be in the best mood ever and then

the next day they're just a nightmare so

that's why I'm terrified of them

because they're so unpredictable I don't

like it yeah that's true and the bodily

functions too you know no thanks there's

all of that

yeah I'm not prepared to deal with that

no thank you no thank you no bodily

functions so Katie you're a teacher yes

um what is your favorite age group of

students

um probably my favorite age group is

around the junior high school age so

from about 11 to 15 okay I think they're

the most interesting to teach

what makes them so interesting well they

already have personalities and they're

like almost adults but not quite adults

so it's interesting to see like

I think it's just really interesting to

teach them and see how they respond to

stuff it's very different from adults

and it's very different from children

but it's kind of

almost there but not quite yeah that

sort of bridging yeah bridging each

group yeah I guess so there's still like

they're still young kids so I can still

teach them stuff but they're old enough

to also do stuff by themselves yes it's

like the perfect age group to teach I

think yeah Independence yeah that's

right what about

um things like behavior and attitude do

they I just imagine that each group to

be quite challenging I mean there's a

lot of hormones going on and you know

personalities are forming so usually

when

in their first year of junior high

school they're fine because they're all

still like they're still babies they've

gone from being the oldest kids in

elementary schools like the babies at

Junior High School but when they get to

second year second year yeah that's when

they start getting like a bit Moody a

bit hormonal a bit grumpy in class but

then when they go to third grade yeah

that's when they start becoming normal

people again I think so second year is

the challenging year yeah the terrible

twos yeah yeah that works in both ways

um so do you have any particular

strategies or tips for dealing with that

difficult age
I think

why they're so moody is because they're

again they're almost adults like they're

becoming adults so if you stop treating

them like kids and start treating them

like adults talking to them like adults

right treating them like you treat an

adult then they respond better to that

than if you've like just shouted them

like you would a kid or if you

discipline them like you would a kid

yeah yeah just treat them more like

adults and they respond to it really

well I think

so you find the um they step up to the

the expectations

most of the time

um have you ever had any particularly

challenging moments in the classroom

uh yeah yeah silly question really is of

course yeah um I mean I've had kids like

throw textbooks out the window or really

kids like punch their fists through

walls like just yeah I've had lots of

angry kids but they're very rare

I've had lots of them but they're that's

yeah an interesting interesting yeah

yeah in terms of like overall in a class

there's usually only one in each class

that's a troubled student but

I mean that's anywhere that happens

anywhere that's true

so how how do you deal with troubled

students I think that's a very difficult

question every there's no like textbook

way of dealing with troubled students in

general because every kid's different

every kid has a different problem every

kid is acting out for a different reason

so you have to find out why they're

troubled why they're acting out and

trying to deal with it in the best way

you can

yeah don't get angry it's probably my

best advice even though you feel like

strangling them sometimes but just try

and be patient try and figure out why

they're acting out just deal with it

from there yeah nine times out of ten

stay income is

probably the best option isn't it

the one time out of ten is when you

really need to get really angry that's

the scary time yeah sometimes they just

need to know because there may be

um children with you know just

personalities strong personalities and

they just are maybe showing off to the

class yeah uh being a clone and they

just need that one moment where you show

them you have to listen to me I am the

boss kind of thing just yeah get your

power back okay so Meg we're talking

about baking and in the last one in the

last interview you mentioned cake pops

and some other stuff now you also

mentioned

truffles but what is a truffle a truffle

is

um

it's a little chocolate candy or it can

be not so tiny but it's not huge it's

like bite size bite-sized chocolate

candy with something on the inside

that's called ganache which is uh can be

a chocolate or a different flavor kind

of creamy or a little more firm and then

coated in chocolate so it's a chocolate

candy basically okay now I sometimes

hear the word truffles like something

that pigs find under trees is that the

same one no well same word same word but

those are a type of mushroom I think

yeah yeah so there's truffles mushroom

and then there's truffles chocolate

candy so I guess be careful which one

you're ordering if you're at the store

right they have nothing to do with each

other no I mean maybe someone has made a

mushroom chocolate truffle before I'm

not sure but not me okay so our truffles

easy to make uh they are they're time

consuming so I don't think they're

difficult to make but you have to have

the time to put in because you need to

make the inside chocolate part first and

mix together the ingredients and then

form I always did it by hand form all

the little balls so that you can dip

them in chocolate and so one batch I

could usually get maybe 60 truffles so

probably I had to spend a few hours

working on a batch of truffles well can

you go through the process like how do

you make them from start to finish so

probably my favorite ones are like an

espresso chocolate kind where um you

would I need some chopped up chocolate

more like baking chocolate or really

dark chocolate or if you want milk

chocolate you can use it and then mix

that with some heavy cream and butter on

the stove and if there's any flavor

you're going to add and so if it's like

a coffee flavor you can add some coffee

grinds and later strain them out so it

has that flavor and that's the the inner

part right that's like what's that

called again ganache ganache okay and so

um then you you've made that and so it's

still pretty thin more liquidy and so

you need to put it in the fridge to let

it firm up for it can take that recipe

can take a few hours before it's ready

and then once it's ready I just use like

a small spoon to scoop a little out and

then use my hands to roll it into like a

ball shape and then let that sit and

when I had to put it back in the fridge

because your hands kind of warm the

chocolate back up and then once it's out

you can can use a special dipping fork

or just a regular small fork and have

some melted coating chocolate that you

can get at craft stores or there's fancy

kinds or cheap kinds or whatever and

then you need to dip each ball

individually and put it down on wax

paper like a special paper that won't

stick to and then you let them if you're

going to add anything on top like

sprinkles or anything you can do that

then and then that's it you're done wow

then you just put them in the fridge you

chill them right

fridge then you

the shoes with it going from cold to

warm and chocolate you might not know

chocolate if it gets too cold sometimes

or like Frozen little white spots can

come to the surface and so it kind of

ruins the prettiness of the chocolate

okay yeah so you can just leave them out

that's good to know yeah thanks well

I might give it a try but it still

sounds pretty hard I'll help you

so Mega here that you're quite the baker

you like to bake brownies cookies things

like that yeah

for me and kind of fun kind of a

creative Outlet baking well everybody

notices it in the office when we see you

bring in brownies for your students and

we're all jealous we wish we were in

your class

so what's what's it with baking like is

it just something you do to relax

um yeah well personally I love sweets

like I'm

would eat only sweets if my body could

handle it but I try to eat regular food

too so I think I inherited that from my

mom but so because I love sweets so much

it ends up being really fun making

something uh like brownies or cookies

and for the creative Outlet aspect I

love to make cupcakes or cakes and I

don't know if you've heard of cake pops

and no what's it what's a cake pop a

cake pop is like a little piece of cake

on a stick coated in chocolate oh really

that sounds pretty good so in America

right now they're getting pretty popular

there's some people are saying it's the

new cupcakes I don't know if you know a

few years back cupcakes got pretty

popular and so now we have cake pops

um and I was in the process of starting

a little cake pop business before I

moved to Japan so

um it's really fun because you can make

the cake pops and it takes a while but

then you can decorate them in all these

really creative ways for different

holidays or parties or birthday or just

cute things so

um yeah so the creativity plus something

sweet makes it fun for me that's awesome

but what cake pop is it like a corn dog

but like a cake

like a little red

cake like normal yeah and then sift it

up so it's just tiny little crumbs so

ruin the cake that you've made sift it

up until it's just crumbs and then mix

in just a little bit of like cream

cheese frosting and it makes kind of a

formable moldable dough and then you

mold balls put it on a stick dip it in

chocolate and then you can decorate it

so it can be chocolate or like a vanilla

a colored type you know you can have

different colors wow cake pops yeah yeah

so cake pops are probably my favorite

thing to make but also decorating cakes

I took a couple of cake decorating

classes and making frosting and you know

using the special frosting tools to

swirl it on your cupcakes or whatever so

um so yeah have you ever made a like a

wedding cake or anything like that I did

actually make one wedding cake I never

really wanted to make wedding cakes

because they're very

complicated and there's so much pressure

for it to be extremely perfect because

it's someone's wedding yeah and so but

there was a couple that I knew who were

just doing really like low budget cute

wedding and they weren't too concerned

about it being a huge cake they just

needed something smaller and so I did a

couple of tears and it was actually a

chocolate cake so it wasn't even white

but so I did one chocolate cake but I've

done cake pops for a few weddings as

like favors for the guests wow the cake

pops are just the same yeah because they

come out so cute I actually have a cake

pop set that I can make where it looks

like a little bride and a little groom

like a little tuxedo and so those are

probably my most popular ones for

weddings and I also before cake pops I

was making truffles

so that's another thing that you can

also decorate in a cute way wow well

actually we'll talk about that more in

the next interview I'd like to ask you

some questions about truffles sure

so sorry talking about ocean Sports and

being on the ocean maybe you could talk

about your ocean swimming experience you

know

yeah I love swimming you know it's so

peaceful to be there in the ocean and

um

and the oh the ocean in yogasawara was

very clear and you could see so many

fishes and I'd love to go swimming and

and be immersed in the ocean it was like

another world it was very beautiful but

there was one time

oh that time well well what happened

um my friends had come to visit and so

we went to we went fishing but we before

they started fishing I decided to go for

a swim

and I I swam

and I could see all the way

to the bottom of the ocean

and I see this fish but they're actually

not fish there were sharks

they were white tip sharks

there were four of them at the bottom of

the ocean

and I just remember

in you know that one thing you have to

do is to keep calm so I did that I swam

out I told my friends there are four

sharks down there so get me out of here

so they got me out of there

but my heart was beating so fast I was

so scared were they dangerous those

sharks well they're um they're not

dangerous they might be able to to like

bite a finger off but I didn't want that

to happen either so

I as soon as I saw them I came out of

the place

yeah but that was so scary

sounds beautiful and amazing and

dangerous all at the same time that's

right

so Mark uh what about you do you have

any encounters with fish with fish

well I remember that fish in don't you

remember when we saw it together we were

swimming in that Beach called cominato

and we swam out around that those rocks

where we always went and we're looking

we had our snorkels on it's all peaceful

and pretty and like just tranquil and

we're looking at all the fish and then

suddenly that freaky fish

that started staring at us do you

remember that yeah with huge eyes huge

eye and then it's like coming towards us

that's right so in the middle of the

ocean we decided okay let's just split

we were swimming away from it it was

swimming after this little fish like it

was it was very small it was like 30

centimeters long but it looked really

scary yeah we were quite far out from

the from the beach and we did slow

didn't we and then I went that way and

you went that way and guess which way it

went my way and then she chased you all

the way into the sea into the beach so I

was I was swimming really quickly

and trying to get out of the beach and

it was very close to me and I thought it

would bite my my my toes but it didn't

do anything
but I can't forget that time that a

small fish

got me out of the ocean it was so weird

wasn't it like fish don't do that I

don't and it was the only fish like

there were no other fish around

strange mysterious

okay Julia we're talking about types of

people we have some more that we can

discuss so the next one is worry wart

are you a worrywart

I guess when it comes to some things

maybe uh like sometimes I get insomnia

and I know it's because I'm my brain is

worrying about stuff right you just

can't let it go yeah which is kind of

why I took up yoga meditation because uh

just calming down those you know those

thoughts that are just going crazy

around in your head so

I would be a worrywart if it wasn't for

my yoga practice I think the yoga helps

me keep my mind calm how cool but I have

that natural tendency I think

okay so what about things around the

house are you a clean freak

no

uh messy like ridiculously messy I don't

see mess I don't see it it's like a

blind spot so you're a slob yeah kinda

yeah and this is the one thing that

drives my husband crazy because he's

very tidy he's very clean very neat um

yeah he likes things to go in the proper

place and he likes things to be tidied

up put away

and for him it's very a sort of a

therapeutic thing it's

I guess the mirror of his mental state

if there's a mess going on he feels

uneasy so he needs to tidy up in order

to kind of be focused and calm

I'm kind of the opposite if everything's

too tidy and neat I get a bit freaked

out I like I'm comfortable in math very

comfortable a mess comfortable in chaos

yeah

well uh that leads us to the next one

maybe this relates to your husband is he

a control freak yes

absolutely he is yes so can you explain

what a control freak is control freak is

someone who likes to be English has to

be in control all the time of all things

and if there's not if there's disorder

or something's left it causes him stress

it causes him stress so just simple

things like maybe like a house guest

while he's a very friendly and generous

and warm person having an extra person

in the house

makes him uneasy because it's a factor

that he's out that's out of his control

yeah

yeah so how about uh other things like

uh are you a like a video game junkie or

a TV Junkie

um there are certain games that I have

to take off my phone because

they will eat away my time right like

Angry Birds and stuff like that the ones

that just really simplistic ones things

like Tetris and putting squares in boxes

and and Bejeweled where you've changed

you know moving things around

those kind of games I can get very

readily addicted to so I have to I have

to be careful

I had a I had like a brief intense fling

with Tekken there's like fighting games

I was really into fight fighting games

and playing yeah that's hardcore yeah

but it was short-lived and I I felt it

was like an unhealthy Obsession that I

had yeah yeah you can just yeah

yeah but it was yeah it was great I mean

enjoyed it when I did it

fun

so Julia uh let's talk about types of

people okay

right first one

are you a fitness freak

Fitness freak

huh I'm fairly fit but I'm not Freak no

I'm not a fitness Freak No No so you

exercise but it's not like you do it all

the time no and I do some unhealthy

stuff as well I like to drink and I'm a

former smoker and yeah no I'm not a

fitness freak right yeah I think uh yeah

Fitness Rick is like somebody who does

it who exercises compulsively I indulge

in bad stuff too so no I'm not a fitness

freak

okay so that leads us to the next

question are you a party animal

uh not anymore

I'm too old now but when you were

younger you were a party animal uh yeah

I'd say that was probably the type that

I most uh

I was never a party no no I've always

been pretty pretty

uh we're both team I've always been

pretty tame yeah I was pretty wild I was

younger yeah so you used to drink smoke

stay up late yeah yeah whole lot and

more yeah yeah come home in the wheat

hours of the morning oh yeah oh nice

that's cool

okay uh next one would be

um do you know anybody in your family

who's a couch potato

couch potato

because I know that you're not a couch

potato I'm not a couch potato

my brother sometimes demonstrates Couch

Potato traits I like to play video games

and stuff like that and he'll spend a

lot of time watching movies and so you

just spend a lot of time sedentry

compared to me he makes me look like a

fitness freak I guess because he doesn't

do so much exercise right and so for

people listening to couch potato is

somebody who watches a lot of TV and

sits on the couch she spends a lot of

time on the couch yeah

um well how about the similar

personality trait of The Bookworm are

you a bookwormer a book no but I think

my husband's probably a bookworm yeah so

he just has a lot of time reading books

he reads very fast so he gets through a

lot of books he's a speed reader reader

yeah he's just a very fast reader and he

has to read all he has to a book with

him all the time he cannot

a waiting room or on a train or any

situation where you've just gotta sit

around he cannot do it if he doesn't

have a book

yeah you know I live alone and that's

that's a terrible trait that I have I

cannot sit and eat and just eat without

something occupying my attention I have

to read or I have to be like watching

something on the computer

and if I go to a waiting room or

anything like that or I'm on a plane I'm

the same I have to have something to

read it drives me nuts

see I can't read on transport because I

get sick makes me sick makes me nauseous

yeah yeah so I don't have a habit of

reading on a trip a bus or a car oh my

God no I can't read no way but my

husband reads everywhere all the time

now there's a couple that are kind of

that are not as nice they can be

positive or negative like for example a

helicopter parent a helicopter parent

what's that so a helicopter parent is

basically a parent that just hovers over

their child all the time they're always

worried about their child they they

follow them everywhere they want to know

what they're doing at all times and they

just worry a lot

they're always where their child's going

to get hurt or something you know or

that they just are are just

overprotective I guess

so are you a helicopter parent

um no I don't think so no no I'm very

happy for my daughter to have

Independence so yeah that's good yeah

that's good so you don't like if she

goes outside for a few minutes or if

she's you know uh you hear some clinging

in the Next Room you don't go rushing

over no no I wait for the the tears

then recently because of a very popular

book we have What's called the tiger mom

tiger mom yeah tiger mom sounds cool is

it a positive term or it is kind of it

actually comes the tiger I think comes

from the Asian reference it's like for

an Asian mother and it's basically

really strict really driven like really

push your kids make them study hard

demand good grades

demand that they do extracurricular

activities really push them to have high

paying careers or successful careers do

well academically and stuff like that

from uh from very young does this is

yeah from very young the woman who the

woman wrote a book I think it's actually

called tiger mom and she was a Yale

professor and I think she was a Chinese

ancestry and she raised these very

successful daughters and so she wrote a

book and basically saying you need to be

strict and push your kids and demand

Excellence I think that's what she wrote

is the tiger is it reference to like the

Chinese horoscope then maybe like the

characteristics of the tiger for that

year no actually I just think it has to

do with uh

being a tiger comes from Asia okay I

think that's it well Italia does have a

pretty kind of

aggressive or driven sort of image like

when a tiger gets something in its

sights you know like yeah yeah totally

no I'm not so much a tiger mother so

you're a soccer mom more of a soccer mom

I think yeah yeah that's good yeah

that's what I would want the soccer ball

soccer mom

yeah so Julia you know you are a parent

that's right and uh have you heard of

all these terms that we have in the U.S

for different types of parents I wonder

if you have them in the UK you mean like

soccer mom stuff like that exactly

that's the only one I've heard of

actually okay so what what do you think

a soccer mom is what have you heard my

my image

and also drives a big vehicle my images

are like a big SUV or a big four-wheel

drive

right I think it's also it's like a

parent that has mini scheduled events

for their child okay so like maybe they

have swim class soccer practice ballet

stuff like that oh maybe I'm a little

bit of a soccer mom yeah I think yeah

yeah I think it's actually it's a good

term like it's I think a soccer mom

usually is consent considered a caring

parent okay and they try to have their

child do like pretty it's been pretty

quite an affluent middle class kind of

thing yeah exactly exactly

now we have the equivalent that's called

a NASCAR dad

yeah some kind of car racing yeah

basically it's just these cars they run

around it right around in the circle

it's kind of like horse racing for cars

they just go round and round

um but yeah so I guess it's the same

thing it's just a dad who's really you

know really into his kids spends a lot

of time with his kids

would this be a stay at home dot like uh

no no it's just kind of like a good old

boy father like a dad who's kind of blue

collar

um not rich you know maybe lower lower

middle class maybe but just kind of like

your typical sitcom TV sitcom dad I

guess but that's nice takes his kids

everywhere that's nice yeah you're

involved in the yeah like a NASCAR dad

would probably take his son's hunting

and maybe take his daughter shopping and

stuff like that

well actually speaking of extreme sports

we're talking about extreme sports have

you heard about ultra marathon

I'm reading a right now that

the vibe of ultra

ultra marathon yeah I mean what does the

book talk about

the book talks about this very old tribe

who

can run for days Days yeah and

some of the members of this tribe are

already in their 80s the 90s and they

scale mountains and they have a very

frugal diet they run Barefoot Barefoot

in the desert on rocks yeah yeah wow

they are bought like they run from

well from they don't as soon as they

learn to walk they they're running and

they run their whole lives and they run

like 100 miles is just like a walk in

the park to them they just that's insane

at speed at very high speeds

I mean do they have some some Secrets

some traditional scene well yeah yeah

they they do their very mystical tribe

and then

that who investigates and he

records his story of how he gets to me

and just even finding them and meeting

them is a huge ordeal in itself because

I mean physiologically it sounds like

that's impossible like the human body

can only run so far because it needs

water it needs food it needs rest

I don't know I think the part of the

philosophy of the book is that we're

limited by our belief in that and that

in fact this tribe don't have that

belief therefore they don't have those

limits they kind of surpass those limits

simply by they just do it nobody told

them they couldn't so they they just did

they told them they needed an entire you

know 100 shoes in order to

run they just they just it's like it's a

natural

thing and it's like an atavistic thing

wow

you know humans we can run down gazelle

we can run faster than hot I mean we can

run further than horses and these Creek

creatures that we think have and are you

sure about that absolutely yeah yeah

really yeah

I've never heard that before I you know

people who it's quite dangerous to run

with you with with a dog for example

dogs can't run as far as humans really

yeah and dogs Can't Sweat

humans can run and run and run for days

that's how they they that's how they

killed prey when we were

okay they just never gave up they know

that you can you can outrun an antelope

because Antelope can only have short

sharp bursts or speed but a pack of

humans can run down any animal on the

planet

well that's good to know if I ever need

to uh kill an antelope obviously God you

know stick your shoes on and set off and

wow

good stuff though so but would you like

to try it someday try one of these Ultra

marathons I think

I think that ability to run for that far

I'd like to have yeah I'd like yeah I'd

like to try and develop that stamina

yeah I think maybe maybe in my younger

days but uh no I know or another life

but I'm gonna pass I think that that

running actually that requires a lot of

maturity so the older you get the better

you are running because

you give up on stuff when you're young

in your brain it's quite you know you

can't concentrate you learn

concentration and discipline and they

come with age and maturity so I think we

get better Runners as we get older

that's what I'm banking on anyway yeah

me too also I got that on my side

foreign

hey Todd how you doing good good now

Julia um you were really fit and also

you are a yoga instructor and a runner

so you're the perfect person to talk

about

um extreme exercise extreme I wouldn't

say I'm an extremist but go on okay so

um first of all I thought I would ask

about this yoga that you do in like

really hot rooms or something like that

yeah the big big crumb yogurt it's cold

yeah actually I never tried it myself

um I know it's kind of a growing craze

maybe Madonna Brooke made it really

popular

um as far as I know you do it in a sauna

but it can't possibly be a song that

like not a real song yeah I don't know

what the temperature is but I think the

philosophy behind it is to try to

recreate the same climate as you'd find

in India where yoga originates oh right

right so you want it to be really hot or

humid yeah oh wow and also people who

like

get the kind of the the stretch value

but also like to sweat at the same time

if you want to sweat yoga then yeah to

crank up the temperature is going to

help you wow that's intense

well what about have you heard about

CrossFit

CrossFit yeah crossfit's the big rage in

America CrossFit no no I haven't had

that CrossFit is like people do all of

these really old school exercises like

push-ups or pull-ups
um they do like jumping jacks they do

really weird things like deadlifts stuff

like that

um but they do it one after the other in

really short time intervals and yeah

like you're supposed like the workout

only takes 12 minutes

but if you do it right I think you you

know some people actually get so

fatigued they throw up so like you

really push your body to the Limit well

that is Extreme it is Extreme although

I'm probably saying it wrong yeah

so but it's actually this big craze

where people do more natural body

movements and you never do the same

thing twice you're not supposed to get

into a routine you always do things

differently like spontaneously or you

say

well there's a whole website you go to

the CrossFit website and they explain it

all yeah but it looks pretty cool it's

like not your typical gym type workout

CrossFit sounds like something you do

right right exactly

what about your personality or your

characteristics

[Music]
um

studies for school because

I am I'm not that much of um

yeah stay home all night to study person

I look at my textbook and I really try

but then I realize I could be doing

something else so I just go out and do

something else and I don't do my

homework and I I don't fail because I am

at least smart enough to

pass but sometimes it's it's a struggle

to get through

um so yeah I would like to be more

studious and more

maybe hesitant in my answers because I

talked before I think at some point

and sometimes

um

I do like my my open personality though

like being

like for example when we went out

partying yesterday I was talking to

everybody which was very nice and people

seem to like that open attitude as long

as you're not being open and arrogant

because I try not to yeah if you're

being open and

I mean open because you're interested in

the person you're talking to then you

get more positive responses yeah so I do

like that

but being so open has caused you

problems as well I remember that guy

thought that you liked him because he

was so so nice to him

there was a

probably in his 40s who went over now

and talked to me and I I it's just

impossible for me to say go away so I

ended up giving him my phone number and

now he calls me every night half past

12. on my phone which is very loud and

very annoying

every night and he when I pick up is

well he he stopped now because I don't

pick up anymore but in the beginning he

just I pick up the phone and he said Hi

and then

I said what do you want and then he said

nothing much but how are you like really

he didn't even want anything he just

wanted to talk to me and

yeah that's kind of problems happens

more than often because I can't help it

what would you like to change about your

status like a new house job boyfriend

anything like that I would not mind

finding a nice guy I would not at all I

don't know about the specifics and I am

not even sure I can handle a

relationship right now maybe I just want

to meet somebody to try and work it out

work it out with

but that's probably the most important

thing because I love where I live I love

my my study I don't have a job and

that's really nice I do have I've saved

up money before traveling so I do have a

lot of money right now

so I don't need to work and that's nice

at the moment at the moment

so Maria I thought we'd just talk about

things like what would you like to

change about yourself so what would you

like to change about your appearance

well I don't like the like I don't like

to think about changing myself I like

how people look from the birth

if you can say that

um but if I should choose I would like

to change my height because I'm very

tall and it does like cause a problem

when I'm looking for a guy

especially since in the past I happen to

fall for shorter guys and I got issues

because they were always being

intimidated by my height even especially

when I wear heels

um so I would like to be like have my

body because I do like my long legs but

just be shorter

and not be

taller than everybody as I am at the

moment all of my friends

I guess that would also lead to you

having problems finding shoes and

clothes yes I have

to watch out well in in my country it's

uh it's not a problem to find shoe sizes

because we are very tall people normally

um so shoes are big and clothes are big

but when I travel

I went to to China to um to try to like

visit a friend and I wanted to go

shopping and it's impossible to find

shoes and long long pants and fitting

bras if you can imagine

so that I would I would like to change

my height but otherwise I

I might change like my weight for

example or I have changed my hair color

several times I went from black to

blonde to Black to Red to blonde

so otherwise I think I'm fine with me

uh are you happy about it oh now like

looking back are you glad she did it was

it was tough love

um at the time I hated her and I was

getting picked on a lot at school about

it because I just didn't realize that

you know as a female you you have to do

these certain things it's like this is

what's acceptable in the community you

have to do this so it's like I didn't

realize it because I always played with

the boys and none of them did this crap

like why do we have to worry about that

it sounds really kind of old-fashioned

doesn't it yeah um but I was actually

you know now thinking about it I'm happy

that she did because

you know it it brought it home to me

that to a certain degree you do have to

at least you know live with what your

community you know accepts as standards

like if you walk outside you know the

community accepts that you have to you

know wear a shirt when you go outside

you can't go out topless you probably

should wear the shirt or you'll get

looked at funny

so if I don't want my daughter to wear

makeup I should actually buy her some

makeup and force her to wear it so

she'll do the exact opposite I have

heard that children do tend to do

exactly what their parents tell them not

to do
um I I just I don't know

um I didn't want to wear makeup so my

mom was concerned

um I know a lot of people though who

have had the opposite problem like when

they're younger like they're maybe seven

or or eight and they want to wear makeup

because Mommy does and you know I had a

lot of friends who would play dress up

they would sneak into Mom's closet steal

all their you know her dresses and her

high heels and steal all her makeup and

you know play dress up and it at a

certain age it was cute

but

um my cousin actually was one of them

and she would wear makeup she was to

school she was only in elementary school

or wow so that's pretty young yeah there

was a lot of uh a lot of anger about

that from the teachers and uh it was not

at all acceptable so I don't really know

when the correct age is to wear makeup

but um I think at least if they're more

mature or more adult-like I guess maybe

it's all right once they become they're

no longer little girls any more then

maybe they can let them wear makeup if

they want but oh cheers thanks for the

advice and I'll use it wisely

you're welcome

okay so Rebecca um we just talked about

kids and kids in technology I uh and and

you asked me about um whether or not I

should give a cell phone to my son yeah

um now I would like you to give me a

little bit of advice for my daughter

um I have a daughter and she's only

seven months old but I I am I'm worried

about when she's older uh when she gets

a boyfriend and and when she has her

first day and when she'll start wearing

makeup

so

um could you could you kind of give me

some advice about this oh well I think

maybe I had a bit of an unusual

experience um my mom actually made me

wear makeup when I got into High School

it was like you know I in middle school

I was the kid with you know braces and

glasses and stuck in a book and my mom

was like you can't do that in high

school you'll never meet anyone

so she took away my glasses and made me

get contacts and I couldn't do anything

about the braces but yeah as long as you

cover your mouth or do something weird

when you smell it wow that sounds quite

the opposite to many of my friends like

they they all wanted to wear makeup and

uh

their parents wouldn't let them

no I was a tomboy my mom was actually

kind of worried like she's like do you

have any interest at all in girly things

I was like no I don't like shoes I don't

like clothes I don't need a purse I'll

just go climb a tree

so do you think it's important as a

parent to steer your children I like to

kind of sculpt them and make them into

more rounded people or do you think you

should just let them go

time I think I actually resented my mom

for it

because like she would she waxed my

eyebrows

my mom uh removed my eyebrows she's she

peel she sat me down was like you have a

unibrow that is not acceptable and she

pinned me down and ripped them out and I

screamed and I hated her for weeks oh

wow how old are you when she did that oh

God it was the end of Middle School

sometime but in middle school high

school somewhere in that area so like

15ish yeah
and I didn't shave either my mom my mom

actually shaved my legs the first time

she's like you need to shave this now

yeah

actually I remember that one time you

had a party and you made that really

nice pumpkin dip

what do you need for it it's really easy

all you need is one can of canned

pumpkin

um one eight ounce block of cream cheese

powdered sugar and a few spices

is it easy to make

it is you just let the cream cheese melt

a little and then you blend it together

with the pumpkin and the powdered sugar

and then after you get that really

smooth and creamy then you put in the

nutmeg ginger and cinnamon

that sounds yummy

it is it's great and then I usually put

a few cinnamon sticks in for appearance

and then serve it with ginger snaps and

with green apples cut into slices it's

good with both of those

cool I'm going to try that sometime

what else can you make well like I said

I'm not much of a cook so I don't cook

much I put things together I can you

know what I have a blender and I do a

lot of smoothies I love making smoothies

yeah I buy the fruit and then keep the

fruit in the freezer that's the trick

you've got to freeze the fruit and then

you don't need ice so it doesn't taste

watered down so you take the frozen

fruit put it in the blender and then you

just mix it with yogurt or fruit juice

and it's delicious

what kind of fruit do you like to use

well my favorite is just really simple

it's just frozen strawberries frozen

banana orange juice and a little honey

if you want but you don't even need the

honey

and then I have another I like with

mango and papaya and pineapple and

yogurt

well between your smoothie and pumpkin

Dip in My eggplant Curry we can have

throw quite a party

let's do it we'll do it on your rooftop

with your cats sounds like a good idea

I really like that eggplant Curry you

made the other night what's in that oh

he did okay

um it's actually really easy there's

um this eggplant and you need some

potatoes
some tomatoes and onions

and a few spices

okay what's by

well

um I use about half a teaspoon of

turmeric powder and a teaspoon of

coriander powder red chili and

cumin are those easy to find at any

grocery store

you can find them at most grocery stores

nowadays if you can't find them at the

major ones then you might want to look

for an International Food Store

and

all of those carried the Indian spices

okay

I have a really small kitchen what kind

of equipment do you need to make it oh

nothing at all you just need a stove and

you need a saucepan

okay I can handle that

so how do I make it well first of all

you heat some oil in the saucepan and

when the oil is hot enough then you add

the chopped onions

and a tablespoon of garlic paste and a

tablespoon of Ginger paste

okay

and you let those cook for a few minutes

until the onions are turned brown

then after that you add the tomatoes

and let those cook for a bit until the

tomatoes have gone soft

and then you add all the spices the

turmeric the red chili the coriander the

cumin and the salt of course

and just mix it up well at that point

and add some water okay the water

prevents the spices from burning

after that add the potatoes and then add

the eggplant

and then pour in about a glass of water

just to make sure that the the potatoes

and the eggplant are covered and then

you turn it to low heat and put the lid

on and let it cook for about 15 minutes

okay I'm not much of a cook but I think

I can do that I'll give it a try

oh good luck thanks maybe I'll have you

over and let you try it yeah I'd love

that all right

so what about you you're still in the

same place right yeah I'm still there

good how's it going oh it's it's great

um I'm actually quite satisfied with it

now oh good because I thought you wanted

to move at one point

yeah I thought about it for a while but

then I decided to stay there there's a

lot of there's a lot of good points

there

um it's a quiet neighborhood it's not

too far from the train so

I can get to work easily

for a while I thought it might be a

little too expensive just slightly above

my budget but

um

I've gotten used to it and

my cats love it they're really

comfortable there so I think I'm gonna

stay

oh great I love your cats do they have a

lot of room to roam around

they have enough room of course they

they're better off in the house right I

was living there last year but they've

adapted pretty well so there's a roof

there I can take them up and they run

around

there's plenty of places for them to

hide

now what about your neighbors are you

still living near

um

actually it's really funny

um they've they've been there for about

four months and last weekend they

invited some people over but five or six

of their colleagues and they had a

little party I think they played poker

and a lot of booze around

but unfortunately the land the neighbors

complained to the landlord and the

landlords were just really angry

this really harsh email and said that

they wanted them out by the end of the

week

so yeah Matt and Laura have been kicked

out of the building you are kidding no

no and just five people over yeah it was

like five or six people and but

apparently it was loud enough

I think it's because the neighborhood is

kind of family oriented so

um people aren't used to loud parties

all right maybe the voice is scary a lot

and yeah there's a lot of echo in the

building actually for some reason so

well that's too bad for them where did

they move

they just moved down the street to

another apartment building

it's smaller so I don't think they're

happy about it but oh well

tell them I said hey when you see them I

will

so Ginger I hear you have a new

apartment yes it's great I just moved in

last week nice where is it it's near

Victory Monument do you know where that

is yeah I do

um how do you get to work from there

well I take the sky Train oh that's

really convenient it is it is it's just

a five minute walk okay and what's the

neighborhood like

it's a crowded neighborhood there are a

lot of people lots of cars just lots of

energy in general

conveniently located

it's very convenient it's about a five

minute walk to the Sky Train Station

okay why did you decide to move

well it's near a park and I love living

near a park and it's also just a five

minute walk to my gym

and have you made any new friends in

that neighborhood

I have I've met a couple of people in my

apartment building and I've gotten to

know the person who owns a restaurant

across the street there's some great

restaurants on the street also what kind

of restaurants

well mostly Thai restaurants a lot of

Thai people live in the area

um but there's also a western

restaurant and a Japanese

and is it a safe neighborhood

I feel very safe there

um I've heard that there's some

deaths on some of the quiet streets

where the motorbikes will ride by and

snatch your bag off your shoulder but

I've never actually seen it myself and I

feel very safe sleeping there

what about traffic

there is a lot of traffic oh no yes the

traffic

um and a lot of Street traffic too

lots of people walking on the street so

it can be tough to get around

but there's still a lot of excitement in

the area so it's fun to be out and

people watch

it doesn't sound like a quiet

neighborhood

no it's not quiet at all unless you go

into the park and then it's very quiet

how often do you go to the park

almost every night

every night after work I'll take a walk

in the park and there's a pond with a

water display with music so it can be

very soothing

surely one question please I'm a bit

confused now one thing when when about

sports sometimes I can see UK play

something with the team sometimes you're

all divided why is that so we are

essentially still four countries four

separate countries in a United Kingdom

so

um yeah basically each country's just

wanted to keep their national team

in the case of the Olympics for some

reason and I'm not sure of the exact

reason but the Olympics committee didn't

want

um four divided teams from Great Britain

they wanted a representative of the

United Kingdom so they they basically

made the rule that Great Britain had to

send a team and not teams from the four

individual countries

um so yeah so we are a United Kingdom

but we're still very much for

independent countries uh and each

country is very proud of their their own

national teams for football and for

rugby and things like that

and um yeah but uh it's good that we get

together for for the Olympics and and we

can perform as one United Country

okay thank you very much

so surely we were talking about politics

how is the situation in your country

well you know I'm pretty much an on the

fence kind of person and politics is is

not my forty it's not something I like

to get into a conversation about so uh

I'll just change the subject if that's

all right I will I'd like to tell you a

bit about

um uh the United Kingdom you know I'm

from Scotland and you know where is

Scotland I get this question so often is

that in Norway and um is it a region of

England

so just to clarify

um it's pretty complicated but uh in the

United Kingdom the UK

we have uh Scotland England Wales and

Northern Ireland

and then people know Great Britain

yes

Great Britain is Scotland England and

Wales

to to give the the country its full

title it's the United Kingdom

of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

that's the full title for for the UK or

Great Britain or GB or um England is

just one country within four that are

united it sounds really it is the

biggest one right England is the biggest

country with a population of 40 million

Scotland's about 5 million

um no I correct myself England is I

think 49 million

Wales is about 2 million Northern

Ireland about two or three million so in

total the whole of the United Kingdom is

about 60 million population

how did that come about uh go back 300

years

or more even England and Wales United

over 300 years ago

and then Scotland was invited to to join

the union between England and Wales uh

Scotland agreed with actually many

conditions

for example one of the conditions was

the the money the the value of of the

pound uh in Scotland we have Bank of

Scotland

pounds and in England it's Bank of

England pounds it's all the same

Sterling currency of the UK just uh in

it's very difficult in England to spend

any money that's got Bank of Scotland

written on it even though it's all the

same money anyway that's another issue

so um yeah 300 years ago Scotland joined

the the union between England and Wales

to become Great Britain and then I think

early in the 1800s that's when the

Ireland joined

um of course now it's just Northern

Ireland and um there's other history

related to that we could go on all day

talking about uh how how it became

Northern Ireland

um

so yeah so when people think of the UK

they generally think the UK is England

but uh it's it's actually four countries

so

so Rory in the last conversation we were

talking about changing your personality

and you never said what you thought of

that well I think I think when you learn

a language often your personality does

change I noticed with my students that

they they often seem quite different

when they speak English to when they

speak Japanese I'm not sure if that's a

language thing or a cultural thing

I mean you speak more than one language

yes I do do you think your personality

is different in each language

that's a really good question just

thinking of it right now

I think maybe for me it's more a

question of the culture

because I think when I am in an

environment where I'm expected to be

more extroverted

I tend to try to live up to that right I

tend to try to be more cheerful more

open more friendly more friendlier I

should say but when I'm somewhere where

I know that it's expected of me to be

quieter

I do tend to become more quiet right so

I don't know that's a really good

question and do you think there might be

something in languages which make them

like a more extroverted language or a

more introverted language like I think

about

Italians maybe it's a stereotype of

Italians but they seem to be very

extroverted and the language seems to

help them in that extroversion that's

true that's very true

that's that's a good question because

I'm just trying to think of culture and

languages in general and there's that

debate of how cultures and languages are

intertwined is it the culture that came

first or is it the language that made

the culture the way it is

so I don't know I really don't know but

I would love to read more research and

find out yeah I mean I noticed when I

since I moved to Asia to countries like

Japan and Korea the people do seem more

introverted and the language also seems

more introverted

so I wonder if the language like you say

I wonder which came first the language

or the culture

I think to add on to that when I think

of Asian students that I've noticed

speaking English which to some people

isn't is a more extroverted language

they always seem more confident yeah

more they seem friendlier they seem more

open to talking about themselves their

family life

but when you talk to them in their

native language it seems like they

revert back to that their cultural norms

which is going to be less

um yeah so maybe there is something

there yeah I guess the culture over here

in in Asian countries is is people are

less likely to share information there's

less I mean in the west especially

recently there's quite a pressure on you

to to be more open that's true whereas

uh maybe in Korea Japan China people are

more closed and just have different

boundaries I'm just trying to think of

African countries like being a Nigerian

myself we've had the issue of

colonization and where the Western

British culture is valorized so coming

from that aspect

I wonder before how we were were we more

introverted because in a lot of ways

we're very similar to Asian cultures and

Asian values we have a lot of that as

well but now it's true that being able

to speak English and express yourself in

a more Western Way is a law it weighs a

lot it means a lot so people really

enjoy that people really take up their

value from that right so yeah I think

it's a really interesting topic because

it I mean people often see England's or

British people as a bit introverted

a bit quiet a bit cold and yet we share

the same language as America

and people tend to think that people

from North America are quite Brash and

extroverted that's true so I guess it is

more cultural than language based yeah

maybe maybe we've come to a solution

then okay we found it it is the culture

more than the language then

hi
so Rory yeah hi hi are you an introvert

or an extrovert I'm not sure you know

sometimes I think that I'm basically an

introvert yes like

like as I get older I much prefer my own

company interesting I don't really like

going to parties that much if there's

going to be new people there if it's my

friends I'm happy to go out but

I know what about you

it's funny what you said I feel the same

way I think sometimes I'm an introvert

and other times I can be an extrovert

but maybe in Reverse to what you said

I feel like the older I get the more

extroverted I become it's interesting

when I was younger I was a lot Shyer so

I preferred my own company but now I

find that sometimes too I really enjoy

people so I like to meet new ones yeah

so in the classroom

a teacher I'm quite an extrovert I think

I quite like being up in front of

students

showing off but I would never do that in

front of

other teachers or my friends interested

in my personal life but it's something

about the classroom maybe because

it's my environment and I'm in control

yes that I feel more comfortable like

being more extroverted and showing off

camping up I think it would be a little

difficult to be introverted if you were

a language teacher I think it certainly

helps to be extroverted or to act to be

able to become more extroverted when

you're in the classroom yeah for sure

for sure and have you ever done have you

ever done anything really extroverted

like performed public or

before I used to sing actually and I

have sang in concerts right and it's

true I think that's where my introverted

self really comes out because although I

enjoy singing

and I like

the attention to a certain extent but I

get really nervous right really really

nervous when I'm in front of a large

crowd and sometimes I'm like why am I

doing this to myself why am I here yeah

but yeah I don't do that so much right

anymore and do you think people can

change do you think people because

people seem to want to become more

extroverted it seems to be like society

says extroverted people are successful

people it's true do you think people can

change or do you think people should try

to change

I've heard of actually people saying

that depending on the language that

people change with language

I've heard of some of my students saying

that when they speak in a different

language their personality actually

changes right where maybe in their own

language they may be quieter but when

they speak the different language they

become a lot more extroverted right it's

as if they change so whether or not it's

a real change I think you can fake it

quote unquote even if you're not an

extrovert or an introvert maybe for a

few hours or for the occasion yeah you

can pretend and then go back right I

wonder if when we speak a different

language we don't have the same

connections with the words that's true

it makes it easier to maybe speak more

honestly and not worry about what other

people think of us that's true hi Sarah

hi today we're talking about bucket

lists things you want to do before you

die

do you have anything

no
because I have already done or

I'm currently doing the things that I

want to do

in addition I

um

like to live in the now so like the

present of like what's happening so I

really don't

think of the distant future very much

just like what's right in front of me

for example I'm going to Singapore soon

um in about 10 days

and really looking forward to that and

the new adventure and things that I'll

get to do there

what sort of things do you have in mind

to to explore in Singapore

uh first of all swing dancing my

favorite kind of dance currently is

Lindy Hopps swing dancing and Singapore

is one of the places in Asia that has

several swing dance meetup groups

so I look forward to dancing several of

the nights while I'm there but also

trying all the delicious food and just

exploring a country that I've never been

to

wow great what are some of the things

that you

have wanted to do in the past that you

have accomplished already

I think living in foreign countries

um I've already lived in two foreign

countries and I plan on

living in foreign countries probably the

rest of my life so

that's a big one and I think just

everyday things like finishing college

and getting to master's degrees and

um being able to support myself it's all

things that are important to me

yeah that those are really great things

what are your two degrees in uh my first

degree is in teaching English to

speakers of other languages

this degree allows me to be able to live

in other countries and to teach English

and then my other degree is in Global

Studies so it's like an Intercultural

degree where I learned about different

cultures and religions

whoa that's really great have you ever

eat eaten anything

um exotic or or had any really

interesting experiences that that most

people might not have have had when

you're traveling to these different

places and fulfilling your

your goals
I've definitely eaten a lot of different

things most of which I'm not really sure

what a lot of it was uh the strangest

probably

jellyfish maybe

um also gotten a chance to ride

a lot of different animals I've ridden

camel donkey horse elephant and even an

ostrich

so that's pretty exciting yeah that's

really interesting have you done any

other extreme activities

yeah I've been skydiving before I've

been volcano boarding

um

trying to think what else I've done

I haven't been bungee jumping I think

that's probably

one of the only ones that I haven't done

as of right now but I really have no

desire to do that one so

wow that's great

you've lived a good life

So Adam we're talking about black list

so things that you would like to do

before you die so what's your number one

thing on your bucket list

oh difficult question

number one I'd probably have to say

oh skydiving Maybe
I've wanted to do it for a long time and

I went bungee jumping in New Zealand

that was fun but I still have not yet

been skydiving and jumping out of a

plane just sounds like an awesome idea

to me

what other kind of Adventure Sports have

you done

uh this summer I was

gonna do

um sandboarding in Peru

that was fun

when I was younger I did a lot of

snowboarding and skateboarding

and

yeah I really enjoy

extreme sports I ride a motorcycle

currently

if I could I'd love to race cars

professionally although I don't know how

good I'd be at it but just looks like so

much fun

yeah well it's never too late to start

something you want to do so you should

add that to your bucket list

so tell me what else is on your bucket

list

um I really want to write a book

be the author of a of a novel

I'm always in the process of writing

something down but it never seems to

come to uh Complete Book type uh

uh end result but maybe eventually all

of these little things that I've written

down will come into a book form and I

can publish it and complete my goal what

kind of things do you write like what

kind of genre or is it kind of all the

same or do you write many different

styles

uh I write a lot of different things uh

one thing that I write is travel stories

from my from my travels abroad or or

antidotes that I that I come across when

I'm traveling

recently I've been writing jokes

I'm I really enjoy watching stand-up

comedy and I've got kind of inspired

from from them

to to write some stuff down although

I've never really presented it

um and I also write

I guess fantasy

stories as well I have a few short

stories but it's it's been difficult for

me to try to put them into a book like a

longer version of them the details

are are tricky to write down

wow that's really interesting hopefully

one day we'll be able to read a book

written by you yeah that'd be great yeah

so tell me what else is on your list uh

the other things would be traveling to

Europe

which I plan to do hopefully next summer

so I can cross that one off the list

I've always wanted to go to Europe

especially Italy and Spain

so I'm excited to to get that one done

and I'd also really like to go to Africa

and go on a safari

and see you know lions tigers

in the in the wild in their natural

habitat

I've also heard that you could see

sharks great white sharks in South

Africa on the coast

I had some friends that went and sat in

a cage in the water and and had great

whites swim by

that sounds like a terrifying and

once in a lifetime experience that

I'm terrified of sharks but it would be

quite amazing to see yeah I am terrified

of sharks as well so I probably will not

be adding that to my bucket list but

yeah I hope you get to do everything

that's on your list there thanks me too

so do you dream a lot do you remember

your dreams

I usually do although I have to admit

I'm now that I'm older I don't dream so

much it's pretty rare that I have a

dream

but I will have dreams if I'm really

stressed

or if I'm really sick so usually every

time I get sick I notice I'm sick

because I have a dream

and I'll wake up in the middle of night

from some crazy dream and then I'll

notice oh wow I'm sick

so yeah that's about it

that's very interesting yeah although

you know when I was in um when I was

younger I used to have all these dreams

related to work I guess they were stress

related

and the craziest dream was I was a

waiter at a very fast-paced restaurant

and it was very stressful and you had to

wait on about 10 tables and people would

come in and you had to get their food

fast and if you didn't you'd get yelled

at by the boss or the customers would be

upset so I used to have this dream and

this is when I was in college that I

would be sleeping and there would be a

table in my room and the customers would

be sitting there watching me sleep and

they would be furious because I wasn't

bringing their food and I was like just

sleeping in the bed right next to their

table and it was the same nightmare I

had for like again and again and again

it was crazy

that's really interesting and kind of

funny too yeah I know it's weird how you

have the same recurring dream I used to

have another dream a nightmare when I

was young and it would be I was riding a

bicycle up like a mountain and the

mountain was like had a path that just

kept going around and around the

mountain and you had to be really

careful wash your bike would fall off

the cliff and then my bike of course

would go off the cliff and I would fall

fall and you would wake up right before

you hit the ground I had that dream many

many times when I was a little kid wow

yeah yeah do you ever have nightmares or

any dreams like that yeah I don't dream

very often but I have this one

reoccurring dream also where I am in

school and it's the end of the semester

and I suddenly realized that there's one

class that I haven't been going to the

entire semester and I'm going to fail it

so I panic and I'm running around like

trying to find my professor to like try

to figure out what I need to do or what

I need to study for the final exam

so that I don't fail this class

but what's really interesting about this

dream is I found out a few years ago

that my father has the same reoccurring

dream wow you know this is going to

sound crazy I've had that dream too I've

had a dream of like I I registered for a

course in college and I never went to

the course and I'm gonna get an f and I

don't even remember when I registered or

where the class is but I didn't finish

the class is that the same dream exact

same dream wow I wonder what it means me

too maybe there's somebody out there

that really knows what it means and

they're like oh those two people are

doomed

there must be a lot of people with the

dream yeah maybe that's it like there's

certain structures like I know that the

the bike dream that I had about falling

off the cliff I've heard that many

people have that

yeah have you ever heard about the dream

I had it a couple times a dream where

you're in class and then you suddenly

notice that you don't have any clothes

on and you're afraid that people are

going to notice you don't have any

clothes on no I've never had that one

yeah that was one when I was really

really little but yeah huh I've heard

that some people a lot of

selling out

like they're afraid of like losing

something in their life really something

that's really important to them oh yes

if your teeth are falling out you're

gonna lose something yeah

or you're afraid of losing something

because most people their teeth are

really important to them

huh interesting

well I don't

so Sarah let's talk about sleep

um how many hours of sleep do you

usually get every night

usually at least eight depends on how

late I stay up but usually about eight

hours I try to get every night

and you're pretty consistent like even

on the weekends you get eight hours yes

even on the
way do you need an alarm clock to wake

you up or do you just wake up naturally

every day I definitely have to have an

alarm clock even though I wake up very

easily I don't wake up at a routine time

easily so I usually set two alarms

and that'll usually get me out oh wow I

actually have this kind of weird mental

ability

um I thought that everybody could do

this but I found out it's not the case

but I can wake up exactly at the minute

I want

anytime so like if I have to get up at 5

43 before I go to bed I can say okay get

up at 5 43 and I'll wake up at 5 43

exactly

I don't know yeah I don't know I guess

your brain

disc can keep time I I when I tell

people this sometimes they think oh come

on that's not true but really like I

ever since I was a kid I could just tell

myself what time I want to wake up and

I'll wake up exactly at that time

that's really quite amazing I wish I

wish it was that way for me but it's not

yeah what's weird because like I I don't

use alarm clocks and I I can't like an

alarm clock the idea actually I can't

have a deep sleep if I know that it's

going to ring and wake me up like it's

going to jolt to me an alarm clock is

like somebody throwing cold water on you

you know so I yeah I don't use alarm

clocks at all

two just in case like one doesn't go off

but I can sleep any time of the day like

it really doesn't matter what type of

day it's very easy for me to fall asleep

for as long as whenever so that's why I

have to have an alarm clock because I

could sleep 12 or 14 hours and not wake

up

that's like you do like sleep yeah so do

you take naps no because then I feel

really like groggy and really like

irritable if I take naps for only

because I just want to sleep longer than

that amount of time so I don't take naps

like can you sleep with the light on yes

really yes yeah I can't actually that's

probably why I I always wake up so early

as soon as the light comes through the

window I wake up I can't sleep if it's

not dark I can sleep in any situation

light noise sitting up doesn't matter I

can sleep oh wow so you're a deep

sleeper yeah
I'm so jealous like just a little bit of

noise or a little bit of light and I

can't sleep

well and actually I probably only get on

average six hours a night but I do

sometimes take naps okay how long do you

usually nap for usually an hour I found

out if I go over an hour then that's the

danger zone because then if you sleep

like two or three hours then you wake up

and you're just groggy for the whole day

like you can't it's like you've been

drugged you know so yeah at 40 45 minute

naps about it yeah when you were a child

did your did your parents make you take

naps they did and uh oddly enough when I

was a kid though I couldn't sleep like

you know you would cry I don't want to

take a nap you know and then you'd be

like you'd conk out but yeah I do

remember do you remember having to take

naps in school

I didn't go to school actually I was

homeschooled so I I remember taking naps

when I was really little but beyond that

and like school age I never had to

anyway this is all this talks making me

hi Sarah

today we're talking about do-overs so if

you had a time machine and you could go

back to your college Years

is there anything that you might change

or do differently

I really wish that I would have had a

chance to study abroad I chose the wrong

major initially I was a nursing major

for two years and worked really hard at

a major I was really bad at and then

after two years I switched schools and

switched majors and because of that I

had so many credits to take that I

couldn't study abroad or do really any

extra classes that were fun

hmm that must have been challenging

where would you have liked to study

abroad

really anywhere I've always loved to

travel so

um

I would have been open to going anywhere

so you said you studied nursing what

what would you have studied otherwise

well I first went into nursing because

everyone since I was really little told

me that I would be a good nurse so I

thought it was my calling in life and

then after taking lots and lots of

science classes which I'm really bad at

I decided to switch Majors to education

and then I ended up liking that major so

I'm really happy that I switched

is there any other major that you would

find interesting that you might study if

you went back or you're satisfied with

education

I'm glad I did education because I

really like that work wise but if I had

to go with things that I'm interested in

I probably would have been some sort of

art major both my siblings are artists

so

of friends in the family a little bit

what kind of art do you like

Finley dance

so do you have any friends that were

interested in art or or dance that you

had in

in those times

not really no actually

do you wish that you you if you were in

a a group of people that like dissimilar

similar things that you might have

pursued different interests definitely I

wish I would have done more with dance I

was a ballerina for 12 years and I gave

up on that when I was 14 so I got to the

level where I either had to train

professionally to do that

for a job or stay in a class where the

younger girls would keep moving up and

so at that time I quit and although I

don't wish I was still doing ballet I

wish I would have continued some kind of

dance so Sarah any funny haircuts or

anything like that

uh one week before I moved away to

college I cut my hair boy short

and

um then after that like during my first

semester I dyed it all different shades

of red

and my hair has actually been pretty

much every length and every

natural-ish color

wow

how did your friends and family respond

to your red hair

my

my she thought I was gonna diet like a

natural red color but it was more of a

fuchsia red color

so she didn't like it very much but my

friends and like my siblings understood

because I've always been very different

and didn't really care what other people

thought about how I looked

how long did you like it

uh for a while and so I want to change I

love change so I'd always switch it to

something else wow that's great

thanks Sarah

So Adam today we're talking about

do-overs

so what is something that you wish you

would have done over for example maybe

something in your University life

uh yeah there are a few things I might

have I might change my major

um I studied education

and while I enjoy what I'm doing right

now

um

I my

my free time I I really like watching

movies about

science and astronomy and if I would go

back to school and start my studies over

I'd probably study

something along those lines astronomy

and uh

metaphysics or something I think that

those topics are really interesting and

on The Cutting Edge of Science and

um just just fascinating to explore

interesting anything else you wish you

would have done

I might have been more involved in the

the sports clubs at my my school for

example the American football team I

played in

in high school

but in college I

I wanted to play but I didn't have the

motivation to to push me over the edge

to actually go out and and really put my

heart into it

I went to one

training

uh day

and kind of tried out but I I didn't

really pursue it as much as I would have

liked I think it would have been fun to

be part of that culture and that

environment

how about something that you did do that

that now you wish you would

you have um um

I pierced my ears in in high school

because that was the cool thing to do

but

now I don't wear earrings and

uh

yeah looking back on it kind of just a

silly thing to do that uh trying to

follow the trends that that you know

Trends usually pass so

um
yeah that would be something that I

wouldn't do again

anything else you would have changed

I might have

uh made different decisions about my my

girlfriends at the time

um I had a I had a really good

girlfriend in in the beginning of of

college and and things didn't work out

because

of uh a variety of reasons but I think

if we would have worked on it

um we could have we could have made it

made it happen and and uh so yeah that's

something I think about sometimes

about life in college

it's kind of it's always you know

college love is kind of crazy thing so

uh yeah we're we're too much like kids I

guess I think at that age

okay thanks Adam

so thanks for telling me about the

ballet and all that kind of stuff but

I'm really more into sports and things

like that do you know of any other

things you can do in New York oh

absolutely there are a lot of events for

for sports and food enthusiasts in New

York

um we've got uh basketball the Knicks

play they're an NBA team we've got

baseball the Yankees and the Mets play

and there's a feud

Yankees fans hate Mets fans and Mets

fans hate Yankees fans right they have

two baseball teams that's right wow

exciting we even have a Subway series

well it used to be a Subway series

because the teams would play at

different stadiums so they'd go to

different stadiums for about a week or

so and the fans would just switch back

and forth from one Stadium to the other

but I think they recently built one

stadium for both teams oh do you think

one team is more popular than the other

fortunately all the Yankees yeah my

family was a Mets fan and don't tell

anyone else in my family that I said

that oh so I guess they don't get along

with each other oh not at all oh wow

well I'm from Canada I really like

hockey I know you guys have the Rangers

yeah we do have the rangers they play at

Madison Square Garden so you could

easily uh find buy tickets to see a game

there uh that's the same place where the

Knicks play so oh they both play at the

same place yes they do well maybe I

could go to a basketball and a hockey

game you probably could if you stayed

long enough I think they have different

seasons right oh do they yeah Madison

Square Garden is pretty big though so

maybe there's more than one Arena I'm

not sure I've only been there two or

three times in my life oh okay

well we also have the US Open if you

like tennis right um yeah that's held in

Queens not in on Manhattan oh okay and

what about uh the the

there's U.S tennis open but there's also

the U.S golf open

is that in New York New York I don't

think the you is it I'm not sure I don't

think that the US uh open for golf is in

New York I think

no I don't think that's New York yeah

yeah oh okay have you seen the tennis

before yes I have I saw uh Serena

Williams

oh she's great she is yeah powerful

woman yeah I'd like to see her play yeah

hey Antoinette why don't you tell me

about growing up in New York New York

Warren why do you want to know about

that well uh growing up in New York was

lots of fun I loved growing up in New

York I couldn't imagine growing up

anywhere else

um yeah really uh the fun things I did

well lots of movies to go see but I

guess you can see movies anywhere uh in

in the US anywhere in the world for that

matter

um I enjoyed being able to go to Lincoln

Center for concerts or Carnegie Hall and

even play in Carnegie Hall

so I did play in Carnegie Hall wow wow

that's exciting have you ever been to

New York I have you have yeah I've been

there twice oh okay what did you do when

you were there uh the first time

um I was with my mother I was 12 years

old and uh we went to uh Central Park

and we

saw some museums around Central Park you

didn't go into the museums yes we did go

into homes okay yeah that's my Park

Central Park how did you how did you

find my Park did you like my Park well

it was great I was surprised how big it

was it is a big park that's what I like

about it you can get lost in the park

and almost forget that you're in a city

yeah that's what I found really neat

about it is sometimes I felt like I was

in the countryside but then I would see

large buildings yes yeah I enjoy that

too did you know that you could ride

horses in the park no I didn't did you

know about the skating rink in the park

yes I've seen the skating rink on TV

okay what time of uh year did you go

what season uh I've been there in summer

and in Fall oh okay but not winter uh

it's beautiful in any season I think I

love Central Park yeah me too it was

great it was a memorable experience I'm

glad to hear that

what other places did you go to uh well

when I was older I went with my friend

and we went on top of the Empire State

Building

they allow you to go up there now

um that was

around 2000

four okay and we went were you able to

look over the edge

um

I don't know if I was looking over the

edge I think it was it's it's inside

okay but you're at the top okay so yeah

things have changed a bit since I was a

little girl oh what did it used to be

outside you could go outside there were

uh is binoculars or I don't know what

they're called but you put a little

change in right yeah you can see yeah

they had those okay yeah yeah we could

see Central Park okay and uh

um you could even see the Statue of

Liberty from there oh wow I've been

there yeah actually I never got to go

both times I went to New York we wanted

to go to the Statue of Liberty but we

didn't have enough time oh well you

should plan another trip I'd like to

yeah sunscreen

so Megan the last one we were talking

about idioms but we didn't cover them

all let's go over some more idioms okay

all right so the first one is what

activity is in your blood

I would say anything with nature is in

my blood so hiking or especially

kayaking I love going kayaking

um and so it's hard for me to resist if

I'm in a place with beautiful nature I

need to go outside

so what about baking isn't baking kind

of just natural for you that you would

just love to bake isn't it in your blood

I do I do also love to bake yeah I guess

hiking and baking are both in my blood

together kind of two different

activities so baking especially when I

can make very creative and decorative

desserts to share with people so I don't

like to bake for myself but sharing with

others it's quite enjoyable for me do

you have any activities or things that

are in your blood

well I think one is actually just

teaching I love teaching I just want to

teach all the time even if I won the

lottery I'd be a teacher I just like

thinking of lessons thinking of new

ideas for lessons trying technology with

lessons so even on my free time I like

thinking about it

um and another thing is jogging even

though most people are surprised because

I'm a little fat I'm about 20 pounds

overweight but I run almost every day I

think I've seen you running before yeah

I literally run every day like if I

don't run I feel terrible like it's the

most relaxing thing for me yeah I can't

go two or three days well two days maybe

but I can't go three or four days

without running so jogging is really in

your blood yeah and I started when I was

a kid

um you know the movie Forrest Gump where

he just starts running right yes yes

yeah that was me as a kid I literally

yeah I would just run out of my driveway

also in the country and just go running

for an hour wow just to run I thought it

was fun well that's great yeah it's

definitely in my blood

okay so we'll talk a little bit about

feelings so when you get criticized do

you take it to heart

um I think my first reaction is to take

it to heart so sometimes I might be a

little over sensitive when I first get

criticized but after some time passes

and I'm able to think about it usually I

can see how that criticism can be useful

and I can try to make a change or

improve something or I can decide that I

don't care about that person's opinion

what about you

um how do you respond yeah I used to

take things to Heart a lot but as I've

gotten older as many people do now a lot

of it just rolls off my back as we say

like water off a duck's back so it

doesn't bother me at all yeah yeah I

just realized that everybody has

different opinions and don't worry about

it yeah I think that's a good attitude

to have yeah

okay so the next one also about feelings

and opinions

so are you more likely to bite your lip

or speak your mind when you disagree

with somebody

I think it depends on the situation so

if I feel like someone else is being

treated unfairly or there are some

rules that are there for a reason that

should be followed I am more likely to

speak my mind but if it's something

personal or just related to me I might

bite my lip to try to keep the peace

what would you do about your lip or

speak your mind well I have a big mouth

so no so I always speak my mind so I

have a really big mouth I just never

keep it inside

um yeah it's really hard for me to bite

my lip yeah so

that's going to be a bad thing but

sometimes good yeah

um say it like it is as they say Okay

Meg let's talk about

um

idioms related to the body oh so we have

lots of idioms in English that we use

for specific meanings so to learn these

idioms we'll just talk about them by

asking each other questions okay okay

the first one is about dating so should

a man always foot the bill on a date

I'm a little bit of a traditionalist in

that maybe at the beginning or the first

date the man should foot the bill but

after that if you're in a relationship

doesn't really seem fair for the man to

pay all the time

do you agree yeah I agree I mean on a

date I feel awkward if I don't pay the

bill so yeah the man the man should foot

the bill on the first date

okay so the next one related to feet is

when you dance do you have two left feet

yes I definitely have two left feet I'm

not a good dancer by any means and I

don't really enjoy it so I think I look

a little awkward when I'm dancing

what about you yeah I definitely have

two left feet

um I

yeah I just look like a mess on the

dance floor so and I don't enjoy it and

I think because I'm nervous I want to

get out of there so yeah right I

understand your feeling not lying okay

so also related to uh feed is the leg so

in your city what costs an arm and a leg

in my city where I live right now I feel

like fruit costs an arm and a leg it can

be quite expensive especially if you

want fruit that's out of season but in

my hometown in America you can usually

get fruit very cheap so it feels like it

costs an arm and a leg here what about

for you yeah the city I live in now is

in Japan and it's also very expensive

taxis cost an arm and a leg so to take a

taxi ride is so expensive in America

where I'm from I would say healthcare

costs an arm and a leg it's so expensive

yes

crazy expensive right you never want to

get sick yes even health insurance costs

an arm and a leg it's very very costly I

agree with that yeah

all right so let's now talk about

feelings so

is it okay to give people the cold

shoulder sometimes

well nobody likes the cold shoulder

right nobody likes the cold shoulder I

don't think that we should give people

the cold shoulder however

I have to admit that I have sometimes

given a friend or a family member the

cold shoulder when I've been upset about

something yeah the whole thing about the

cold shoulder is you're actually you do

want them to talk to you you just want

them to feel bad yes right yeah it's

kind of passive aggressive exactly like

I'm mad at you but I really want you to

see that I'm mad at you and then you

give me attention and I'm happy yes you

want to make it clear that you're mad

yeah exactly by giving the cold shoulder

right have you ever given someone the

cold shoulder oh yeah I can be very

moody so I've definitely given people

the cold shoulder and then I'm

embarrassed sometimes afterwards I'm

like why did I do that that's so bad

yeah I feel a little guilty later yeah

so we're both teachers do you ever give

a student the cold shoulder no I don't

think I would ever give a student the

cold shoulder because if they have

questions or need help I want to be able

to assist them so that's a little

different I think what about you yeah no

totally like the students give me the

cold shoulder right yes so you know that

something's wrong but yeah a teacher

can't give students the cold shoulder

yeah it's impossible or it shouldn't be

done

all right those were some interesting

points
okay so uh Meg this week we're talking

about just grooming habits and stuff

um so let's go now to like our teeth uh

now the dentist says you should floss

every day do you floss every day now I

do actually I'm pretty consistent with

it because a couple years back I had

some cavity issues that I didn't want to

go through again and uh I wasn't so good

about flossing before that but the

dentist said that if I flossed and used

mouthwash regularly probably it could be

avoided and so ever since then really

every day I do it oh well that's good

yeah what about you well they the

dentist always says you should floss

more I'm pretty good about every other

day and then every now and then I'll get

it on the binge and I'm like oh I'm

gonna floss every meal like I I'm

supposed to

um but uh you know I'm pretty good I

brush my teeth twice a day I know some

people at work I see them brushing after

lunch

um are you one of those people that

brushes their teeth three times a day no

I do twice a day also do you do morning

and night yeah and actually my dentist

told me uh don't do it three times a day

because if you do it too much it could

do damage to your gums so plus he said I

was brushing my teeth too hard so like

you I was pushing my gums back I

actually had the exact same experience

earlier this year I went to the dentist

because I felt like I maybe had some

cavities because I had sensitivity in my

teeth and it was I was also brushing too

hard because I was working so I really

want them to be so clean and so my my

gums also were receding a little bit oh

yeah that's so painful when it happens

you realize you have to reverse it you

know yeah so what about the the tongue

scraper do you do little tongue scraper

thing I don't have like a tongue scraper

I just kind of use my toothbrush and

just brush it a little bit I guess do

you use tongue scraper I have one I use

it sometimes what how does it work what

does it do it's just like you're raking

leaves you just put it in your mouth and

you just like scrape your tongue and you

do get some stuff that comes off of it

and you're like oh wow but uh sounds

kind of gross actually it is a little

bit gross yeah but but good for your

mouth yeah definitely good definitely

good so then the other thing I guess we

can talk about is a shaving now

um so I'm a guy so I have the facial

hair right so but I'm pretty lucky I

only have to shave maybe one twice a

week oh really I can get away with it

yeah yeah I don't have the full-on you

know manly beard thing that comes out so

yeah yeah some people have to shave like

twice a day so that seems like it would

be inconvenient yeah so do you I do I

guess you're because you're a woman you

have to do the leg thing yes

shave my legs pretty much every time I

take a shower really yeah how annoying

Yeah well yeah it is annoying I actually

really don't like it I wish I didn't

have to do it and I mean I guess I could

choose to stop but yeah uh I'd rather do

it so

um yeah usually every time I take a

shower because then if you're wearing a

skirt or shorts uh it's visible so

yeah careful and you know honestly for

from a guy's perspective when I looked

and I think about uh women shaving their

basically their calves below their knees

it looks like it'd be very easy to cut

yourself because your legs are kind of

hard yeah you know what I mean yeah I

think for

a kind of a straight

it's more smooth

the knee part you have to be careful

right yeah so it's like a shape it's in

ankles uh oh yeah and feet yeah yeah

yeah that's like for guys our problem is

right under the chin and then the Adam's

apple the Adam's apple is brutal because

you kind of have to go around it so it's

very easy to cut yourself yeah do you

use an electric razor no I should I'm a

very environmentally unfriendly I use

those plastic razors because they're

just so easy yeah and actually I kind of

get away with it because of the gym I go

to they offer it they they have free

razors in the men's room so I just do it

there save a few bucks might as well

yeah interesting well anyway I'm

I guess we're somewhat healthy

exactly

so Meg I have an interesting question

for you okay

um so the other day I was talking with a

friend and she asked me

about you know showers like how many

showers do I take a day and I think I

had mentioned I take three showers a day

that's why that came up and she thought

that was absurd that nobody should take

three showers a day

yeah it seems a little crazy to me

that's odd like you know I thought that

was kind of the norm actually really

these days yeah because you take a

shower when you wake up then you most

people go to the gym you take a shower

when you're done at the gym which is

usually mid-afternoon or early evening

and then I usually take a shower before

I go to bed

I don't think I've ever known anyone

who's taken three showers a day really

do people that you know take three

showers a day

I I think I just assumed all my friends

kind of did the same thing because

they're guys and they also play sports

so they also take a shower

damn when they wake up before they go to

bed and after they work out yeah well

working out definitely my friends

I might totally frighten you with the

with the showers that I take because I

do not shower three times a day

typically I shower once every two days

really yeah because uh especially with

my skin it gets pretty dried out if I'm

showering so often with the soap and the

water and everything so I have to be

careful with that but if I played sports

or something where I got sweaty I'm

definitely taking a shower after that an

extra shower but

um yeah I've never taken three showers

in one day I don't think well so you

even when it's hot in summer you just do

it once every two days

I get sweaty then maybe more than that

but I I don't sweat very easily so I

usually don't have to worry about it oh

wow no I think it must be what your skin

gets conditioned to because one of the

reasons why I always take showers is not

that I feel dirty it's like I feel like

my skin gets itchy unless I take a

shower yeah yeah and it might be because

um well and I think there's a difference

too with where I lived in America and

living here in Japan like the the

humidity is different and so my skin

gets more dry here actually it has the

opposite effect so I had to be more

careful here maybe than I did in America

yeah that's true so what about so

washing your hair you wash your hair

every two days uh yes yeah wash my hair

every two days use conditioner maybe

once a week my hair would also get super

dried out I don't know if you can see it

but it's a little frizzy right now yeah

so it does it that's how it naturally is

my hair type too so maybe your hair type

handles well getting showered washed

three times a day yeah I mean I will for

one I wash my hair usually twice a day

sometimes just once but always you know

after I work out I have to to wash my

hair but one thing I never ever do is

use conditioner and I don't understand

why people use conditioner on their hair

well sure

about it as much oh okay but with longer

hair and especially earlier this year I

had hair quite a bit longer than this

even and the ends get dried out very

easily and they don't replace like the

hair oils because it's coming from the

roots and so you have to add some extra

moisture into the hair if you want it to

stay looking decent so uh yeah probably

more important to condition long hair

than short hair okay yeah because I've

never understood why people use

conditioner because when I use it it

just makes my hair seem waxy yeah maybe

you're using too much or not washing it

all out baby I know I have to learn how

to have to learn how to wash my hair

okay cool

uh so Rachel I thought we would talk a

little bit about

um items and their shelf life like how

how long will you keep something for

example like a book or like clothing

because like yesterday I was talking to

my students and they were surprised when

I admitted that the shirt I was wearing

I had had for over 10 years

now they're young and I can't imagine

that no that might be a function of

being young right exactly because of 10

years ago obviously too small yeah um

are you do you like to keep your clothes

a long time if I really like them I

might yeah how often do you toss out

your clothes

I toss out clothes once or twice a year

I'll go through my wardrobe and throw

out things that are too small or have

started to look um shabby

um but there are other things that I

just keep year after year after year

probably

things people don't see as often like

pajamas like last a little longer yeah

some people advise that if you haven't

worn something for six months you should

throw it out but that seems to me to be

not logical given that there are four

seasons and they last a year yeah you

haven't won something for a year maybe

you should consider throwing it out but

yeah definitely at the start of the

Season not in the opposite season right

you have to yeah think about the weather

um yeah well what about food so we live

in a Japan we're both teachers in Japan

so one thing I often wonder about is the

sashimi and the sushi the raw fish like

how long can you keep it before you eat

it they say You're supposed to have it

that night but I sometimes eat it the

next morning or even for lunch

with a fish

as well as other meats um I think it's

very easy to tell because you can tell

by the smell

whether something's good or not I

actually think the rice is more

dangerous oh really yeah because it

um will grow bacteria because it's been

warm it'll grow bacteria easily at room

temperature the rice is the part you

need to be careful about

well what about like other foods like

are you somebody who's really strict

about the expiration date or I'm not I

think the expiration date on most

products is

um airs on the side of safety

another thing is people confuse the best

by date with the expiry date right the

best by date is just about freshness

flavor for example that's the date they

put on the package in the store on the

date that people sell by yeah yeah sell

by and Best Buy for example spices might

have a Best Buy date after that they

might they might Clump a little they

might lose a little flavor but they're

not dangerous they can still you can

still eat it you can still use them yeah

my role is always three days so I'll eat

anything with if it's within except for

meat maybe but anything of if it's

within three days of the

expiration date or the sell-by date on

those stores

to me it makes an enormous difference

what it is for example uh moyashi

um which is bean sprouts we'll eat them

on the day or the day after but not

after that they start getting bad really

quickly but for example a jar of pickles

that's going to last a lot much longer

than that three days after

um I think the big one I guess you're

right about time is is dairy the wine

milk is obvious because milk you can

smell yes it just turns into yogurt

right yeah so that's the other one is

yogurt so yogurt I'll see it in the

fridge and I'm like how long can I keep

this like sometimes it'll be past the

expiration date but it smells fine it

looks fine no yogurt is sourd milk right

yeah it's difficult to say at which

point it

sours because it's already sour yeah and

cheese too lasts forever it seems like

pretty much you can see the mold on

cheese yeah

so what about if you see bread and

there's a little mold on the bread no

are you old school you cut around it or

um I used to and I used to cut them all

off cheese but Having learned more about

the visible mold is only a small amount

of it and it um parts of mold you can't

see are branching into the food oh I see

yeah so that makes it a little nudgier

so no I probably wouldn't eat um bread

that had any kind of mold on it and um

dodgy about cheese too

that's got the wrong sort of mold on it

right right sort of mold

a blue cheese and that's fine right and

I actually clarify here neither of us

are medical professionals so take this

advice but we're just talking about our

own habits here so what about juice

what about juice like how long can you

keep juice can you smell when juice is

bad I'd actually buy juice so I don't

really know

yeah maybe you can smell it maybe you

can smell it

yeah I'd probably toss juice because I'm

not um experienced enough with it yeah

obviously to to have made my own mind up

about it so I'd probably go by the date

for that one what's interesting is when

you see some foods that you think will

last forever but actually they won't

they just have an expiration date that's

way in the future like canned goods yes

sometimes it's surprising when you're

like oh there actually is an expiration

date on there there is

but

it's way in the future way in the future

as long as the Cane's not dented I think

or Rusty right liberal for that yeah

yeah

interesting topic

so I'm here with Rachel and we were

talking about expiration date so you're

saying that you throw out your clothes

regularly mm-hmm fairly regularly do you

donate them or just toss them

I put them in their Recycling

and hope they're going to be remade into

something else

yeah I

guess

yeah I always like take it out on the

day that they'll say that they'll pick

up clothes the reason for that is

because I usually throw clothes out when

they've started to look a bit shabby so

I don't think anyone else wants to wear

them right by that stage what about

furniture how often do you try to get

new furniture almost never that's

something I don't

yeah I'll put I'll put up with what I've

got yeah it seems like such a waste to

throw out such large things

yeah but you never want to replace the

couch or the chair you're just being

replaced since three or four times right

that's a that's a big one but we've

still got the same kitchen table we had

did get some new chairs yeah I've never

been a big furniture guy but I just when

I see something that's really cheap

like I would never buy new furniture I'm

always amazed like who buys new

furniture because when you walk by a

store

and you see the furniture it's so

expensive and I'm gonna sound really

cheap but it's like I'm like wow why

would you pay

hundreds of dollars or thousands of

dollars for that when you can just buy

one used or whatever for 10 bucks or 20

bucks definitely a used furniture person

now when we moved into our house we did

go to a furniture store and bought all

new furniture it was just it's easy at

the start and everything looks new and

it's kind of nice but I almost

exclusively buy second-hand Furniture

now you can depending on which store you

go to you can get some really good

Bargains on some beautiful old antique

that look really nice in your house and

cost a fraction of something new

yeah that's why you like anything that's

made with metal or wood because usually

you think it's going to age well plastic

not so much no no I've definitely sworn

off plastic I think Plastics are fill in

if you need something quickly yeah and

cheaply but definitely don't like to to

buy plastic now

so what about like electronic Goods like

getting a new TV new refrigerator stuff

like that like how often do you think we

just wait until that um breaks down

that's a pretty easy one what about the

TV though the TVs don't break down they

go on forever like how often do you

think oh I want a new TV I want a new

nicer TV the last TV broke

um it did well we had lightning hit the

house oh and we lost several electronic

um items wow a keyboard and a computer

um I think we lost two out of we had

three had this um DVD players so it was

an electrical surge that like fried all

the circuits and they ride the house

yeah pretty much wow I did not know that

could happen yeah

so Rachel you said that in your home

country of New Zealand there's lots of

birds that don't fly yes there are a lot

of birds that don't fly wow see I'm I

only knew of the kiwi and of course the

the penguin but I didn't know of other

ones so first the Kiwi doesn't fly right

the famous one right then it fly but

they can run very fast right

and like are the Kiwi all over like are

there different types of kiwi yeah

they're several different varieties

they're very rare though and they're

nocturnal

oh nocturnal I'd say most new zealanders

have never seen one in the wild I've

only seen them in uh kiwi packs oh

really yeah okay so I thought they'd be

like kangaroos in Australia or something

you go and there's one very precious and

very rare oh wow one that you see more

often is a pukeko which is

um it looks a little bit like a stalk I

suppose except it's dark blue what's it

called

pukeko uh yeah and they're a lot more

common when and takahe is another one so

the first one though let's see them

along the side of the road when you're

driving through the countryside they're

much more common so this fukeko does it

fly no they don't fly really and it's

like a stork it has long legs it has

quite long legs yeah it's a very cute

little bird but it's very dark how tall

is it like up to your knee up to your

hips maybe up to your knees really cute

little bird that's that's awesome and so

what was the other one you mentioned

takahe it's a very similar looking to

that one it's a little different

difficult to tell apart really and it's

also like in a dark bluish yeah

um another one so kakapo is a very

famous one it's New Zealand's flightless

green parrot

it's kind of like a large fat parrot

that lives on the ground really

extremely rare I I'm not sure what the

numbers are now but around 20 years ago

I think they're only 45 left

oh that is rare wow there's an intensive

breeding program for them

and of course nobody's seen those in the

wild

well yeah you have to be careful it'll

go like the way of the the Tasmanian

Tiger yeah they breed and they nest on

the ground they'd lay their eggs on the

ground so they're very vulnerable to to

introduced predators to any animals

yeah I know that like you don't have

snakes but I know that snakes when they

got into Guam like decimated the bird

population yep that's what would happen

and that's why New Zealand immigration

or Customs is very strict about what

kind of animals you can bring in we

don't even have snakes and zoos

that's smart yeah Michael Jackson

famously came to New Zealand in the

1980s and wanted to bring his pet snake

with him and he wasn't allowed to oh

good on you there were no exceptions to

that rule

are there any other birds that don't fly

like for example do you have penguins oh

yes there's lots of penguins in New

Zealand in the South right yeah in the

South oh they come up to the north

sometimes really that far far north yeah

occasionally the the big colonies are

down south

oh that's amazing how cool any other

birds that don't fly

not that I can think of off the top of

my head to look it up on the internet no

that's still though that's still that's

that's quite a few that's exactly so

nice

um

ostrich-sized bird oh really yeah but

they were

they were killed off before Europeans

arrived in New Zealand oh easy hunting

they were easy hunting yeah yeah and a

big Feast yeah

it's funny how when you go to a place

you really want to see like a local

animal so last year I went to the Middle

East I went to UAE and Oman and I just

wanted to see a camel I wanted to see a

camel so bad and I thought like you know

the road there'd be a camel and I was

actually kind of going out in the

countryside I wasn't just in the city

and I never saw camel and I was asking

people to work there they're like oh

yeah you do see them but I was just so

heartbroken that I never saw a camel no

yeah it's one of my favorite animals I

just think they look so cool so when I

go to New Zealand I have to make sure I

see a kiwi but you'll have to go to the

Kiwi house the Kiwi house kiwi house

it's cool we'll just look up zoos and

they got them yep they got them there

but you won't see them just driving

around so Rachel uh you are from New

Zealand correct yes that's right now

when I lived in London many years ago my

roommate was from New Zealand really

nice guy and he had the coolest job he

would ride around a motorbike in New

Zealand in the bush as he called it the

wild as we say the bush the bush and his

job was to just kill invasive species

that was his job just go out and plant

traps for rabbits and yes that's right

actually I have a friend who does that

now really yes so it's that big of a

problem you have to like it's a huge

problem yeah really like so what animals

are a problem rabbits like you mentioned

possums are a big problem in the bush

because they eat a lot of the native

plants

um we have possums too in America and

Northern California and they are

disgusting they're I love animals but

they're one animal I don't like they

just they're nasty there is a big possum

hunt in many areas every year and

they're starting to sell the the pelts

as fur because it's not a protected

species so there's there's no limits on

how much you can catch and how much fur

you can sell yeah and they often have

rabies right at least in the states we

have to be very careful we don't have

rabies in New Zealand oh that's good to

know yes so

yeah we have crazy stories of uh possums

or raccoons having rabies and so when

you see one like you know they tell you

do not touch it Don't Go Near it because

if you get bit you're not good and I got

bit by a dog when I was in Thailand and

had to get the rabies shot and it was

not fun oh that sounds awful yeah and

then good luckily for me I went in to

get the shot because I didn't know

really about rabies I wasn't educated

about it and I thought well the dog just

bit me a little bit but I better go and

check and then the doctor was like oh no

I can kill you like yeah you better get

it checked out so this is one of the

reasons we have very strict import laws

in New Zealand because we've seen the

damage that can be done and we're very

strict now and rabies is one of the

diseases that we don't have I'm very

keen not to ever have yeah you hope so

so you have a problem with

um possums and with rabbits anything

else on farms

um there's also wild

um deer and boar in the forests who also

do a lot of damage and stray cats and

dogs as well also kill a lot of native

species there's no

native animals in New Zealand the only

mammals that are native to New Zealand

are dolphins and bats

so there's no natural Hunters except for

Hawks

so the birds a lot of the birds have

lost the ability to fly and they nest on

the ground

so they're enormously vulnerable to

predator species like cats and dogs

they've almost completely decimated many

bird species so there's

that's why they're

um you know there are Hunters throughout

New Zealand who are basically given free

reign to to shoot whatever they can find

because they are so destructive to the

natural environment

yeah I think I read somewhere that you

have some campaign

to have like no Predators by a certain

year right like a new thing in New

Zealand

but um I wouldn't be surprised I think

that's always been a goal I think that

was I was in the news lots of checks I

could be wrong but I think it was 20 50

is the goal of the government to have no

predators and yeah amazing and they say

the big the big one is dogs and cats

that's like the sticking point yeah it's

starting they're starting to become much

stricter about

um controlling cats and dogs now keeping

cats inside and keeping dogs leashed

yeah so that they don't run off into the

bush and cause a lot of problems

but dogs I think are more domesticated

they're probably not as dangerous but

cats are basically they're not really

that domesticated they're still natural

Hunters yeah that we keep them with us

to hunt to hunt you know pests like mice

they live with us

yeah so they catch a lot of birds but

with the birds nesting on the ground and

unable to fly it's very easy for the

dogs to kill them as well oh I see so

and dogs just can be kind of naughty

sometimes I think yes

they run off wow

so what do you think do you think uh

your country can achieve this goal no

Predators by 20 50.

it sounds very challenging I think it

presents only some of the offshore

islands are completely pest free

um

well no Predators yeah that's not quite

the same as no pests that's because

pests also include things like um

rabbits and possums and

um

deer and that don't eat the native

species so maybe just Predator free

might be a bit more achievable I think

well Warren you know we've been talking

about the fact that we both live in

Japan and that we're both from Western

countries

um tell me how do you feel about uh

Western eating utensils compared to

Japanese eating utensils well you know

even in Japan they they use Western

utensils sometimes

um but overall I do like Chopsticks I I

think it's very handy

um it's just easier to to pick up

certain things when I when I first came

to Japan and saw people eating salad

with chopsticks I thought it was very

strange but if I try to eat it with a

fork now it's actually very difficult to

pick up things like lettuce and I prefer

using chopsticks for things like that

when you first started using Chopsticks

did you get hand cramps

um not so much because I I I can't

recall when I started using them but I

actually I became comfortable with them

before coming to Japan

that's good to know

well what about

how do you sleep

dead or do you prefer the Japanese style

well it's funny you say that at first I

I hated the idea of this thin little

mattress

um but I do find it it's actually quite

nice for my back

um I actually prefer it to Western beds

because it's better for my back but I I

don't like sleeping on the floor I like

being higher up

so a high stone if if I could get like

you know to Tommy mat that's raised with

a futon mattress on top that would be

best for me you know I think I've seen

things like that in the stores platform

bed with tatami oh that sounds nice I

should look for that yeah I should find

one for you and point you in that

direction well what about bathing uh the

Japanese are famous for their onsens and

the way they bathe so do you prefer a

Japanese style uh bathing situation or

western style shower and well I actually

much prefer the Japanese style now when

I go back home I find it quite difficult

um I I like uh to be able to clean

myself before going into the bathtub

that's a good a good thing I do enjoy

that as well

uh what about the custom of taking your

shoes off uh before going into a house

well that doesn't bother me too much

when growing up in Canada I always took

my shoes off

um coming inside anyways I I don't think

it's as much of a ritual in Canada but

many people do it just to keep a clean

house but sometimes if I run out and I

forget something like my car keys and I

want to just run back inside I'll tend

to want to keep my shoes on rather than

taking them on and off every single time

okay tell me confess now do you

sometimes keep your shoes on and go into

the house yeah sometimes I have but I

I've caught my wife doing it a couple

times too and she's Japanese so I guess

I'm not that bad I don't think so I do

it too what about sitting on the floor

versus sitting in chairs which do you

prefer oh again I

I really dislike sitting on the floor it

isn't very comfortable for me I'm a

little bit tall I have long legs and

they I don't seem to have a place to put

my legs when I'm on the floor usually My

legs will fall asleep quickly and my

back will start to bother me so I prefer

to sit up in a chair oh that's too bad

uh well I guess my last question is

I guess my last question it refers to

eating habits well meals and how they're

served do you prefer to eat meals that

are served to you individually or do you

prefer to eat uh

and share your food

well

that's a good question but I don't know

if I have a preference I like the idea

of eating all sorts of different things

so it can be fun eating in a Japanese

style sometimes but there are times

where I do like to just have my my own

meal in front of me as well

so Antoinette you've been living in

Japan for a while now right yes that's

right oh well can you tell me

do you like to use chopsticks or forks

and knives more

it depends on what I'm eating really uh

uh part I enjoy using Chopsticks they

are easy to use I don't have to worry

about cutting anything and especially if

I'm eating Japanese food which tends to

be chopped in small pieces small

bite-sized pieces Chopsticks are perfect

but when I'm eating Western food or

spaghetti I prefer using western style

utensils oh okay that makes sense what

about sleeping do you like to sleep on

like a western bed or a Japanese futon

actually it depends on the season in

summer well in summer I prefer sleeping

on a stone it seems cooler than a bed

but in Winter I love a cozy

plush bed with lots of pillows and

quilts or duvets and yeah okay

okay how about having shoes on or off in

the house

I like to go

barefoot well with socks my feet get

cold oh do you use slippers no oh okay I

find slippers uncomfortable unless they

are the kind that fit your foot

they're not actually the correct size

for my foot oh I see so Japanese

slippers are are different size they're

they're one size fits all and I just

feel like just

how about uh you know in Japan a lot of

times people sit on the floor but you

don't really do that very much in in the

United States do you like sitting in

chairs or in the floor more I like both

actually again it depends on the season

the floor is so nice and cool in summer

and I like just just feeling that

coolness but in Winter I want fabric

underneath me and I want cushions that

tends to

act provide a barrier for cold wind

right right eating out is a little

different too I think in in Japan you

tend to share all the meals that you

have but maybe back home you usually

just buy one meal that's true uh maybe

I'm a germaphobic American I don't know

I like eating my own food I don't like

to share if it's one huge serving plate

that's meant for several people then

fine but I like just having my own plate

of food oh okay what about having a

shower or a bath I think in Japan they

usually have like a detachable shower

head and and

you can shower yourself before going

into a bath

what do you prefer

well I like showers

either way as long as the water is hot

whether it's detachable or not as long

as the water is hot I like showers

and I like having water run down my body

that's a pleasant feeling

so

but I also like sitting in a hot tub of

water but not for too long what about

the the bathtubs because I think they're

they're different sizes aren't they they

are I like the fact that Japanese baths

allow you to sit in water up to your

neck

but I also like the fact that western

style baths allow you to recline in the

water right you can stretch out you can

stretch out yeah oh okay I see

that's a hard hard call

so Jeremy uh you mentioned earlier that

you've been back to Canada with your

baby how is that experience

well I mean until you fly with a with a

toddler you really not never get to

appreciate all of those times that you

flew across the ocean uh you know

watching movies or reading magazines or

just sleeping on the flight because

those days are over wow

um I mean it's it's not that bad but

when you're on the plane you say never

again

um I remember about halfway into a

10-hour trans-pacific flight I thought

well I can maybe do this every three

years yeah not more than once a year for

sure I mean first of all our boy was was

bigger than most children at for his age

so he was about one years old and you

know they have these uh bassinets that

you're you're allowed to put your child

in and you know the baby will hopefully

sleep for a while so the stewardess sets

up the bassinet we're all ready to put

him in there and then she says how old

is he and he was 12 kilos and this was

for 11.5 maximum oh and they wouldn't

let us put them in there so they'd had

to take the whole thing apart and

basically we had to find some way to

have him sleep on our laps for the next

nine hours so I mean you know

one-year-olds like to crawl around they

like to scream they like to cry

other people on the flight don't like

that so much so you know it's it's it's

it's basically every minute of Silence

you just save her and just pray that

this will keep going and it never does

but um yeah you know once he falls

asleep and and uh

the plane's quiet and they turn off the

lights then you know it's okay but it's

too long it's too long for a

one-year-old so
um I I can maybe manage it once a year

but that's that's about it I remember my

sister she has two kids and she told me

a story a few years back when one of her

daughters was still a toddler and they

went to Disneyland from Canada and she

said it was just horrible and they would

never do it again and I just smudged I

didn't have that experience I was just

thinking what could be so bad about it

but hear your story now wow I can only

imagine well I think that actually most

people most passengers on a flight are

usually quite understanding and I think

it's just you know in the parents head

that everybody's judging them

everybody's looking at them

um because you know I get so worried

about what other people are thinking

that I'm inconveniencing others but I

just work myself up so much and my

wife's the same way but you know talking

is actually we did have people say to us

like

um you know don't worry about it and

they would just go out of their way to

say oh what a cute baby and stuff like

that so I think people were kind of

aware of how stressful it is for parents

and they just you know some people

actually make an effort to make parents

feel like everybody's not silently

judging them or maybe not even silently

not saying anything

you had an advice one advice to give to

a parent that would travel with a child

in the future what would you tell them

my best advice is if you can fly

uh in the morning so after baby wakes up

and you have your breakfast and your

flights maybe at I don't know nine or

ten in the morning I think that works

out best if it's to say a 10 hour flight

because you'll you'll land and it'll be

probably around bedtime like it's normal

bedtime the first time we did it the

flight was in the late evening so

basically he'd been up all day and then

there was another 10 hours on top of

that so uh you know when we landed the

Readjustment to his his normal schedule

was really really difficult but when we

flew in the morning and it was a 10 hour

flight we landed he just basically went

to sleep okay like a normal schedule so

that's a small thing but it really makes

a big difference thank you

okay

Jeremy I I heard you have a new baby

congrats on that thanks so how has uh

fatherhood changed you in any way uh

you know it's changed me probably in

every way

um

you know when you think of how your life

is different it's basically from when

you wake up until well you eventually

get to go to sleep everything is

different

um but you know everything about it is

positive even things that you'd think

would annoy you

um actually aren't really that annoying

like having a

a toddler come and wake you up at six

o'clock in the morning when you've

um when you've got a cold and you've

taken a bunch of sleeping medication the

night before like which happening this

morning and even that having a toddler

wake you up and just looking at you and

laughing

it's it's awesome it really it really is

awesome so you know I always kind of

worried before when I when you know when

I was thinking about having a kid about

all these things oh I can't go out at

night or I'm gonna have to wake up so

early in the morning and I'm going to be

woken up in the middle of the night by a

screaming child

all of that stuff really doesn't bother

me it's it just you know it's part of

the the experience and yeah sometimes

maybe I'd like to sleep a little bit

longer but yeah waking up and then

having a little guy sit on my lap while

uh he plays with the remote control and

changes channels over and over again I

mean that's that's somehow a very very

enjoyable experience but

um you know it's it's you get to see a

little person change every day and start

figuring things out and of course every

person every parent thinks that their

child is the smartest child in the world

he can turn off and on the lights which

it's those types of things that you just

marvel at so

um

you know I can I can say like most

people that it's everything about it is

is very positive but it's often just the

really really small things that that

make you appreciate okay this little

Little Wonder

and looking back on the experience now

what are some things that you would uh

wished you had known you wish you had

known before your little boy came along

yeah that's a good question

um you know I was so stressed out for

the first couple of weeks after he was

born and from the from the moment he was

born

um until you know he came back home and

then for the first number of weeks that

he was home we basically just hovered

over him for weeks and

um you know of course you have to be

protective and careful of a newborn baby

but not everything was as serious as we

thought it was and you know crying we

were worried about waking up our

neighbors or we were in that you know

something was seriously wrong babies cry

if you if you really get stressed out

about it then you're gonna make your

life miserable so you know having done

it once just realizing that you know

kids cry kids get sick kids throw up

kids need their you know their nappies

changed

um

I would just take a deep breath if I had

to have to do it again and just realize

okay this is just part of the experience

and uh you just gotta roll with it so

okay

great

so Amy I was talking to somebody the

other day and they they told me that

you'd had uh quite a number of like

um interesting little odd jobs

um so like I'm interested do you tell me

a bit about that I don't know how odd

how odd they were I don't know when I

was in university

um part-time jobs I used to work in

restaurants and you know usual stuff

restaurants and I think my favorite was

working in a nightclub

um it was a really really big nightclub

and I used to work on the floor just

kind of cleaning up

um looking after all the drunk patrons

and my first night there it was it was

actually one of my favorite DJs was on

so that was great

um I got to listen to really good music

whilst finding money on the floor and

cleaning up after folk it was really

good

you found some money on the floor yeah

you know it's a busy Club really really

full good couple of thousand people in

there and um I guess people were doing

whatever they were doing and they would

drop big Wards of cash and because I was

the person to clean up all the the glass

bottles then I would find the words of

cash on the floor so it was it was good

I get my wages I'd get tips and then I

would get my own personal tips from

finding finding money on the floor so

like you must have found like a whole

range of like

you know different things like what else

did you what else did you find yeah

little wraps of things and packets of

things

um yeah I had to I had to work hard for

the money it wasn't easy uh because the

place was full absolutely rammed of

people everybody's incredibly drunk or

whatever and

um they're all just wanting to dance and

have a good time and I have to make sure

there's no broken glass

and for safety reasons obviously so I'm

pushing my way through the crowd and

keeping my eyes on the floor constantly

with a torch and uh alongside the broken

glass that I would sweep up would be

yeah words of cash sometimes little

purses little bags things like that when

I found like identification for things

when it was a purse I would you know do

the right thing with it hand it in but

if it was just a ward up like a rolled

up

set of notes I would just put them in my

pocket for for me basically it's

difficult to know what to do with cash

because you know you hand it into

someone who well it's cash isn't it I

know yeah yeah when I phoned um I

remember finding some uh driving license

and a student ID and I took it was

actually the same University that I went

to at the time and I just took it to UNI

when I was going in during the week and

I handed it in to make sure that it got

back to the owner because you know

that's the worst thing about when you

lose your purse or your wallet

um the cash you can kind of just say

goodbye to it's a given really that it's

going to be gone but it's your ID and

your cards and everything it's such a

hassle trying to get them back again so

I wanted to make sure that whoever

whoever drunken idiot dropped them in

that club that got back to their hands

safely oh that's nice so you're a thief

with heart then

it's on the floor

no I would have done the same

so Paul what's the most memorable job

experience that you have hmm

well I think the most memorable was the

um is the volunteering

time that I spent in Australia

and I was up in the northeastern corner

where there's um well relatively small

rainforests

and I was helping with a research

station

that's located in the rainforest

so

we do a range of different things

um

going from trying to control

uh coconuts coconut trees control yeah

because like believe it or not you you

imagine these kind of tropical paradises

to have coconut trees but they're

actually very invasive and they're not

native to that that area

and basically if you let a

um you know a population of coconuts

coconut trees to go out of control

nothing else can grow oh uh you know

they drop their funds and they they drop

their obviously the coconuts and uh

nothing else can grow so you basically

lose a lot of the Native species there

so trying to keep them under control

well we there was also

um caring for bats that had been

orphaned sometimes they're born you know

with um physical disabilities that mean

they can't survive in the wild so like a

sanctuary it's like a sanctuary yeah

yeah so they'd take care of what size

are bats

what size are they uh they're pretty

like one once they spread they're like

little monkeys big wings yeah so what's

their wingspanic

um hello let's say maybe I guess up to

probably four four feet does that sound

too much about a meter yeah like the

some of the big the the big you know the

big dudes yeah yeah they got huge

wingspan uh the only bats I've seen in

real life are really tiny they're just

like little knives it's a microbes

they're like little birds you know you

see them flying around you think oh

that's Birds no the bats so these guys

sound pretty bad

but they're completely like

um

herbivorous they only eat fruit right so

like they're really you know do they eat

the Coconuts uh well the Coconuts are

kind of tough for them to to get into

you know you need to be able to make a

whole I suppose together yeah but they

or mostly like fleshy fruits you know

apples or whatever they can get really

berries and they're really important for

spreading because obviously the the

Flesh of the fruit but they don't eat

the seeds Okay so they just kind of pass

through them okay and they're really

useful for dispersing seeds yeah so uh

you know rainforests

um regeneration

um they're very important you know

animals so look they're like the the big

bumblebees of the rainforest it's them

yeah I guess you could look at it like

that yeah yeah

um so yeah that was an interesting

uh uh volunteering kind of um

odd job that I had I suppose yeah that

sounds really good really cool I really

like to go back there someday

so we were talking about climates Amy

um you know are there any sort of

climates that you you'd like to live in

I would like to live in

Iceland or Scandinavia

interesting why why why would you like

to to live in in that sort of climate

um I

the snow is just so beautiful and my

image of those countries is that their

infrastructure is sufficient enough to

keep you warm when you're inside you

know

um but outside is just so beautiful the

snow is amazing it quietens everything I

think it's glorious I just really like

it um I used to ski when I was younger

so I always I like skiing and I like the

hills and yeah this snow on Hills is

just beautiful for me how about you

um well I I love snow too but I don't

like it when it gets all slushy and

sloppy you know it's like and your feet

are freezing and you know I think like

the ideal of snow is really appealing um

I'm not sure about you know

uh living in it I prefer

um

I don't know maybe the the climate of

like

um southern Italy kind of Mediterranean

climate I think that would be really

quite Pleasant you know uh not too hot

um
by the Sea

um although yeah in the summer it does

get hot but I don't think there's the

humidity like here in Japan right I was

thinking about that what kind of heat is

it as a dry heat so I think it's a drier

heat yeah yeah where's the heat

obviously we get here is

yeah

unbearable at times right yeah it's yeah

it's really bad yep

so

um what's the what's the the highest

temperature

um what's the range of temperatures do

you think in southern Italy that kind of

climate do you know I'm not sure I guess

maybe at this time of year it starts

getting up towards uh 20 degrees C

that's nice and then I think it does you

know places like Sicily I think it does

get pretty hot probably like

um you know

um high 30s

yeah yeah so and then I think the

winters are probably quite mild

um unless you're up in the north of

Italy of course near the mountains yeah

I think down in the South I think it

remains kind of pretty

um

mild you know uh-huh if it's in the med

then

it must my yeah my image of that I've

never been to Italy so I don't know I've

been to the south of France and that got

really hot that was a nice temperature

and it was dry and yeah the night time

wasn't too hot either it was really nice

during the day that was a nice climate I

think