10 Hours of Listening English Practice Video @ESL English Learning

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 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