1.5 Hour English Conversation Lesson

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Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa
from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Today, I have a special guest, my husband, Dan.
Dan: Hello.
Vanessa: Today, we are going to be having a long
English conversation, because over two years ago, back in February 2020, we made this conversation
and millions of you loved this and said that it helped you to immerse yourself in English
and have a fun time. Today, we are going to be doing something similar. We'll be talking about
at least 10, possibly more, topics. We'll be giving our opinions and stories and ideas.
Dan: Answers.
Vanessa: Yes, whatever comes up
along the way. There will be subtitles for key phrases down here, but you can also click CC to
get the full subtitles so that you don't miss any words. All right, are you ready to get started?
Dan: I'm ready.
Vanessa: Let's do it.
But wait, before we get started, like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet for this lesson
that you can download. Never forget what you are about to learn. You can click on the link in the
description to download this free PDF worksheet today, and you will have a chance to answer all
of today's questions too. Dan:
Oo. Vanessa:
Okay. Are you ready for question number one? Dan:
Yes, I'm ready. What is it? Vanessa:
All right. Question number one ... Dan:
What is the meaning of life? Vanessa:
Oh, that would be a good start. Topic number one is family. I'm going to be putting the timestamps
for all of these topics in the description, so if you want to rewatch any of these sections you can
easily skip to them. My first question is about family, and that is what is an interesting fact
about your family history? Dan:
Interesting fact. Well, I don't know too much about my mom's side of the family. I know they've
been in the United States for a long time, but they just didn't really keep any records. On my
dad's side, on the other hand, I have a, well, I had a particularly detail-oriented grandmother who
would remember everything about her childhood. She went back and looked at, I don't even know how she
found documents about where they came from. Her family was in Germany, near, I can't remember,
I think it's Hamburg, Hamburg. Grandpa was also from somewhere in Germany, and both of them
just happened to move to eastern Kansas, which is if you've ever been to Kansas, it's just corn
fields and that's it. It's not a very beautiful place, but somehow they ended up in Kansas.
Dan: My grandma would always give lots of details
about growing up there on the farm and how they didn't have electricity. She would go on about
these stories about, this is how she would talk, one time, me and my brother Bern,
we went to the backyard and filled up the tin bucket with hot boiling water,
and he took all the hot water, Daniel. Vanessa:
She remembered it was a tin bucket. Dan:
Yeah, and it was cousin Bern, and it was Uncle Freddie, people like that.
I think her father's name was Freddie. Vanessa:
Oh, that's her son's name. Dan:
Yeah. I don't know how interesting that is, but it's the only
cultural knowledge I have about my past. The other side of the family, they just, we lived
in Virginia a long time ago, and my great grandfather was a coal miner apparently so
kind of interesting, I guess. Vanessa:
Yeah. I think that's pretty cool though that because in the US everyone has heritage from
other places around the world and it gets lost sometimes. In fact, that's what I was going to
talk about too in a moment. That area in Kansas, I remember your grandma saying that there were
German-only churches. Dan:
Oh yeah. Vanessa:
So they would speak only German. Did your grandma know any German?
Dan: Very little. I don't think she knew a lot.
Vanessa: I think that's kind of the generational thing,
like her parents knew it. Dan:
She's probably the last generation that spoke German, or her parents were the last generation
that spoke German. Vanessa:
Yeah, but then for her she just understood probably some German. That community was,
for some reason, where lots of German people moved to and that's where your family's from.
Dan: Yeah. They went through a lot of
really challenging cultural changes. There was a lot of German mistrust and hate during that time,
obviously, for reasons that we can understand. Vanessa:
Political reasons. Dan:
We were at war with Germany a lot, so I think they were trying to scrub out a lot of the super
German sounding things. Apparently our last name was more German sounding at one point.
I don't know how they said it, and speaking German would certainly be one of those things.
Vanessa: Yeah, so they tried to assimilate to
life and that's similar to my ... Dan:
Tell me about your family history. Vanessa:
...similar to the interesting point I wanted to tell you about. My family history is that
on my dad's side, my great grandma and my great grandpa, they
are from around the area of Naples, Italy. First, my great grandpa went on a boat,
came to the US, married someone, had three kids. Dan:
It was a good story. Vanessa:
Then his wife died. Dan:
Oh, that's the bad part. Vanessa:
He had three kids and no wife and he's working, I'm sure, a really difficult job. That was not a
time when you could be a single father. Dan:
This was in Pittsburgh, right? Vanessa:
They were either in New York or Pittsburgh, but by the time my great grandma came, they
went to Pittsburgh. We're getting a little ahead of ourselves. He wrote a letter to his mother who
lived back in Italy, and he said, I need to find a new wife. Can you help me to find a new wife
from our hometown that will come here to live with me and help take care of my three kids.
His mom said, no problem. I'll find you a wife. I got her. Here's her height. Here's her dimensions.
Get a wedding dress for her. My great grandpa got a wedding dress made in the US, the right size and
everything for his future mysterious wife. We call this a mail order bride. He basically ordered her
in a letter like you would a package. Vanessa:
I don't know what he did with his kids, but he went to Italy, and as legend has it,
one day he was in the house. They were preparing things for the wedding,
and he looked out the window and a woman walked by, and he said, oh, that's the woman I want
to marry. Dan:
Who is that? Vanessa:
Was that his mail order bride? Nope, that was my great-grandmother.
Dan: Was it her sister? The original woman's sister?
Vanessa: One of the legends is that
it was his, well not his sister ... Dan:
Adds to the drama. Vanessa:
But my grandma clarified. This was her mother. She said, oh, he saw her outside the window.
Dan: Just a random lady?
Vanessa: Uh-huh. Well, this is all a little vague
because this is going back quite some time. Dan:
Excuse me, ma'am? Will you marry me?? Vanessa:
Basically. She was taller than his other supposed to be wife. He married her. Her name
was Antoinette. He married her. She said, yes, I'm going to move to the US with you, leave my family.
She must have had a really tough situation, I imagine. They were all farmers. I'm sure that
was a really hard life, and that could give her some hope for the future. In the wedding pictures,
her dress is a little bit too short because it was not supposed to be her dress. It was
supposed to be the other lady's dress. I'm glad that happened because otherwise
I would not be here. Dan:
That's Vanessa's origin story, really. Vanessa:
Yeah. This lady, Antoinette, she moved to the US. She had three kids and then her husband died,
so she had six children in a new country. Crazy story. She raised them. She's what we might call
the matriarch of my dad's side of the family. Dan:
Antoinette Manolfi. Vanessa:
Everybody who is from that side of the family knows her and reveres her. Oh,
she was so amazing. Oh yeah, she just helped us survive. We might say she was a survivor.
She really went through a lot, and she was the right person for the job because
she made it work. Dan:
Nice. Vanessa:
Yeah. That's an interesting story about my family. I'm sure everyone has those
as well. I want to ask you the same question. Let us know in the comments,
what's an interesting story or an interesting fact about your family history. We'd love to know.
Let's go to question number two. This is about childhood. I'd like to know what's something that
you did as a child that you still do now. These are kind of personal questions to start off with.
Dan: Well, we laughed before
this because she said everything. I am a little bit, let's just say, youthful in my approach
to life. That's the positive way to say it anyway. Something that I directly do, especially now,
because I have kids, is catching critters. Vanessa:
Oh yeah. Dan:
Catching critters and keeping them. I would say critters are generally small animals.
When I was a kid, I spent, I would say 50% of my life trying to catch frogs, lizards,
grasshoppers, snakes, bugs of any kind, and I would keep them in cages.
I would use nets to catch butterflies, terrariums, aquariums, fish, anything like that. I caught and
kept lots and lots of critters. There was probably a five-year phase where we didn't do that very
much. Funnily enough, even when we first got married, and you're into this too, I don't know
where she got this. Maybe it's infectious. Vanessa:
We caught tad poles as kids. Dan:
We would catch tad poles as just a married couple. We'd go down to the pond and scoop
in and get some mucky, gucky tad poles and watch them change into frogs. It's the miracle of life.
Vanessa: You know what? I have a
distinct memory on our honeymoon, we were taking a hike, and you saw, I think this was the first time
I'd ever caught critters with you because, I don't know, maybe when we were dating ...
Dan: She didn't know what she was signing up for.
Vanessa: Maybe when we were dating, we just
weren't in those situations. I remember we were on a hike and you were in a stream picking up rocks,
and you were so excited. This is a good salamander spot. There might be salamanders. Then you found
one and I was so impressed. Dan:
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Vanessa:
How did you find that salamander because I caught tad poles maybe like every summer as a kid,
but I never caught salamanders or whole frogs or fish. We had nets and caught fireflies and stuff,
but I think you take it to the next level. Dan:
Yeah. Especially as a kid, I took it to the next level. One time I caught a five
foot snake. I didn't even know what kind it was, I just reached into the bushes.
I didn't grab it the right way. I was like swinging it through the air. That was probably
the dumbest thing I ever did honestly catching critters as a child. It extends beyond that too.
I've always liked keeping fish. I love making fish tanks and the environments. Obviously you can do
that for frogs and reptiles. I have big dreams for my son because he's also very into this.
Vanessa: Oh yeah.
He is crazed about his net and catching stuff. He just loves that. I mean it's treasures in nature.
Dan: Soon enough,
our house will turn into a menagerie of critters. Vanessa:
I just have one rule. I would ... Dan:
Scorpions. Vanessa:
I don't mind keeping frogs and lizards and fish. Dan:
Snakes? Vanessa:
But I don't want to keep any snakes. Dan:
Oh, come on. Vanessa:
I know a lot of snakes are harmless ... Dan:
They're cute. Vanessa:
... but I would rather the snakes live under our shed than live in our house.
Dan: That's more dangerous.
Vanessa: Well, if they're not poisonous.
If they're not venomous, then they can catch rats and catch things and keep our chicken safe,
that type of thing. Dan:
That's what snakes do? Vanessa:
Yeah. A lot of chickens ... Dan:
They protect chickens. Vanessa:
Yeah. A lot of people, and this is getting a little deep ...
Dan: Are chickens critters?
Vanessa: I don't
this so. When I think of a critter, I think of crawling, like something that goes like k-k-k-k,
like a little crawly thing. Dan:
Am I a critter? Vanessa:
That's a good question. I was going to say some people, we have chickens, you might have seen
this on our YouTube channel before, some people purposefully have a rat snake or a black snake,
a garter snake that lives in their chicken coop, and they eat like one egg per
two weeks or something. They don't eat that much. Dan:
Is that good? Vanessa:
They do it for protection. They're keeping rats away. They're keeping other things away from the
coop. There's a whole, let me tell you ... Dan:
You want me to bring snakes into our family, well, but outside?
Vanessa: As long as they are outside,
that's okay. I don't want snakes in my house. Dan:
I have lots of good stories about snakes in the house. One snake escaped in the house.
Vanessa: Oh, don't tell me that.
Dan: My mom found it under the couch months later
and it was dead. Vanessa:
Oh no. Yeah. Dan:
It was one of those classic situations of mom screams in the other room, and we're
like what? What? Vanessa:
You kids have that snake in here?
Dan: Daniel,
gee, what is this thing? That's what she'd say. Vanessa:
Well, do you want to share also while we're on this topic, your first memory, the frog?
Dan: Oh my very first memory.
Vanessa: Yes. This will drill in the point that Dan
loves critters. Dan:
Yeah. I caught a toad probably when I was two years old and I was, for some reason,
holding it off my deck and I dropped it down into the bushes. I remember thinking, no, my toad. Then
I went down to look for it and I couldn't find it. Vanessa:
This is Dan's first memory in life. Dan:
Yeah, literally one, at least as far as I know. Vanessa:
Well, there you go. Dan:
Yeah. That's the point of it? Vanessa:
A lifetime of catching critters started at a young age. Well, I think ...
Dan: Yeah. How about you?
Vanessa: For me?
Dan: What do you still do besides catching
lots of critters? Vanessa:
I do catch tad poles still. That's fun. I think the thing that first came to my mind,
and I tried to think about just like the first thing that came to my mind for each of these, is
when I was a kid I loved to dig in the dirt. My sister and I had two best friends who lived
right across the street, and we spent hours in the backyard just digging in the dirt. We built
things in the dirt. We had little inventions. We made homes in the dirt. We did so many things.
Now I dig in the dirt, but I call it gardening. Dan:
I think we have the wrong YouTube channel. We just need to be covered in mud with like
snakes and gardening. Vanessa:
Maybe that will be YouTube channel ... Dan:
Number two. Vanessa:
Number two, Dan catches critters and Vanessa digs in the dirt and gardens.
I remember when I was in seventh grade at school, we had a class, I think it was Home Ec., which
is like home economics. You learn about cooking, and sewing, and those types of things. There was
a hygiene section where you learned how to take care of your hair, how to take care of your nails.
I remember specifically ... Dan:
How to take care of your nails? Vanessa:
I know. Dan:
There's a class about that? Vanessa:
Well, it was like how to, I don't know, some people maybe don't learn that at home, like how
to trim your nails and stuff. This lady was one of those people that as a middle schooler, most
middle schoolers just roll their eyes at, like, oh, you think I'm going to do that? Oh, I'm not
going to be like you, but she was our teacher. She was telling us how to clean our nails and paint
them in this type of thing. I remember asking ... Dan:
Was it for ladies only? Vanessa:
Yeah, we were split by gender, so there was boys in one class, girls in the other just for Home
Ec. I remember her saying how to clean your nails and make them look nice. I
remember asking in the class, I said, but what if I always have dirt under my nails?
Dan: You raised your hands and asked that?
Vanessa: I asked that question. I was so
naive. I always have dirt under my nails. I can't get them clean like that. She looked at me like,
what? Like I had three heads on my head. What? Why would you have dirt under your nails? You're
a seventh grade girl. I think after that ... Dan:
Be proper. Vanessa:
... maybe when I was in eighth grade or so I had a phase where I stopped playing in the dirt
and did other things. Now I have come full circle and well, I took a shower recently,
so my nails are actually clean, but they're almost always full of dirt. Just like our kids.
Dan: I'm sure you put in more
effort to get the dirt out now. Vanessa:
Yeah. Kind of. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I have the same mindset as a
seventh grader of, well, my hands aren't going to be completely clean because ...
Dan: You really do.
Vanessa: ... I was just playing in the dirt.
What's the matter with that? Dan:
If you look at Vanessa's wardrobe, I have more clothes than her
half the time. Vanessa:
I don't really care about those kind of things. Dan:
Yeah. She's not you're a typical girly girl. Let's put it that way. A girly girl.
Vanessa: That's okay.
Dan: That's my sister.
Maybe we'll talk about her later. Vanessa:
Okay. All right. Well, let's go to our next question. But before we do that, I want to ask
you, what is something that you did in childhood that you still do now? Let us know in the
comments. All right. Let's go to question number three. Question number three is about hobbies.
I'd like to know if you could wake up tomorrow and magically have any kind of education,
talent, or skill set, what would it be? Dan:
Education or skill? Vanessa:
Yeah, this is very broad. Dan:
Yes. Well, when I think skill, I mean, I think that I would want to be, and this is
a little stereotypical, an athlete of some kind, particularly a hockey player. When you are playing
a sport and you really like that sport, you get into the flow and you just live in that moment
and you just have so much fun. I can remember as a kid, one time I scored a goal to win the
game in hockey, and that's just the greatest feeling ever. Now, if you add to that, a big
stadium full of fans cheering your name ... Am I egotistical? I don't know. That would just be the
ultimate thrill to score a goal and hear everybody cheering. I would say, yeah, either an athlete of
some kind or a performer. I think you get the same kind of feeling if you are acting, if you're maybe
a standup comedian and you're making people laugh. Dan:
Even to a certain degree, I think being a really great teacher,
being a really great teacher probably gives you that same kind of feeling of you're performing
and bringing value and people are entertained. If I were to have like, I wasn't thinking so much
education, I was thinking more skills, so I would wake up tomorrow and I'd be the best hockey player
on earth. Vanessa:
Wow. Dan:
Maybe that'd be a little bit boring just beating everybody right and left.
I'm sure you still have to work though. Yeah, I'd have great athletic prowess.
Vanessa: Cool.
Dan: How about you? What would you
want to wake up tomorrow with? Vanessa:
Well, I said something a little bit stereotypical too. I had my primary answer and then
a maybe cheat answer. I think if I could wake up tomorrow with a skill,
maybe I said something a little more realistic. I said, I'd like to be able to play the ukulele
really well. Dan:
The ukulele? Vanessa:
I don't play the ukulele. I play the flute. I don't know. I just thought if I could have a
cool skill, I mean, that's something that I could take outside. I could be playing while the kids
are playing. Dan:
This is a very humble dream. Vanessa:
Maybe it is. I didn't want to think for too long about this. I wanted to give you
my initial response. Yeah, I think it would be cool. A guitar is pretty big to take somewhere.
A piano would be amazing, but it's not quite as portable. I just feel like sometimes when you're,
I had this image, like you're sitting around a bonfire and the sun setting and you're just
chatting with your friends, just having a ukulele and playing some music, oh, that just brings the
atmosphere to a very warm place. Dan:
You could play Wheels On the Bus for our children. Vanessa:
I could maybe play Wheels On the Bus in five minutes.
Dan: That's the first song that comes to my
head. The version we listen to, It's like do, do, do, do, and I just hear ukulele.
Vanessa: Yeah. Well, if you
play the ukulele and you have any recommendations, let me know in the comments, but my cheat answer,
because I wasn't sure if it was a skillset or a character trait, but I said unlimited patience.
If I could wake up in the morning ... Dan:
That's an education. Vanessa:
... and oh, I guess you can learn patience. If I could have unlimited patience with my children,
that would be amazing, and with myself. Dan:
They'd get away with you too much though. Vanessa:
I don't know. I think you can be firm and also be patient. It doesn't mean you have no standards,
but I think that I would, yeah, just be able to be a little bit, I think you're always a better
parent when you are more patient. Dan:
They certainly test the patience. Vanessa:
Yes. Unlimited patience would be awesome. What about you? If you could wake up tomorrow and have
any education, talent, or skill set, what would it be? Would it be speaking English fluently,
or maybe it would be something else. Let us know in the comments. Let's go to question number four.
Question number four is about travel. I'd like to know where is the next place in the US that
you'd like to visit? Dan:
Oh, I've got to travel in the US? Vanessa:
Yeah. I wanted it to be a little more specific and it might be interesting to
some of our international students to learn about places in the US.
Dan: I'm joking because there are a lot of amazing
places in the US, but I really love international cities like Europe and Asia. I just think they're
so interesting. Vanessa:
I know. Dan:
But the US has lots of beautiful natural environments, so I would probably travel
to Washington or Oregon. Vanessa:
You know what? Dan:
You'd say the same thing. Vanessa:
My first answer was the northwest, Seattle, that area, Oregon, and I crossed it off.
Dan: Did you think that I was going to say that?
Vanessa: No, I thought of somewhere
I would rather visit first. Dan:
Oh, I'm with you. Okay. Vanessa:
I'd like to go there too. Dan:
Yeah. The Pacific northwest because I've never been there and it just looks so stunningly
beautiful there, at least for part of the year. It has really big mountains and really dense green
forests, and it has the ocean as well. I really love a landscape that has lots of rocky features,
but also the ocean. That's one of my favorite kinds of landscapes. I would probably go there,
and it has really cool cities too. Seattle is a really awesome city and you could jump up,
I mean I've never been there, but it looks really cool, and you can jump up to Vancouver as well
and get that full Pacific northwest experience. That's where I would choose. I could do lots of
outdoorsy stuff. I could see a different side of the country and even do some urban things as well.
Vanessa: Yeah. That sounds like a fun place. In fact,
one of my options too. Dan:
Yeah. What did you choose instead? Vanessa:
Well, I thought about that. Dan:
Wait, let me guess. Grand Canyon. Vanessa:
Close. Dan:
New Mexico. Vanessa:
A little more general. Dan:
Arizona. Vanessa:
I said I want to rent an RV and have a big tour of the west, southwest, national parks.
Dan: Oh this is a regional thing.
Vanessa: Yeah, because there's so many
amazing national parks in the west, southwest, not even southwest, but just the west of the US.
I think that would be an awesome two month journey where you say I'm going to book a bunch of camping
places and you're not having to like tent camp. I think that might be a little too intense for us
for two months, but in an RV with ... Vanessa:
... Were intense for us for two months. But, in an RV, it would still be in cool locations,
maybe closer to the national parks, and you get to see a lot. Because,
two months ago, we went to Colorado, in Colorado Springs and I'd never seen
the Rocky Mountains or that area of the U.S. And I was blown away. It is so beautiful. Yeah,
I've been reading some books about that area of the U.S., and historical fiction about the
history there. And yeah, I'm fascinated. I think that would be really cool to check out some of
the history, check out some beautiful places. We like hiking, so it seems like a good fit.
Dan: Yeah. And it's very different
from where we live now. Vanessa:
Yeah. Surprisingly, so. Dan:
Yeah. So, I chose the wettest part of the country and you chose the driest.
Vanessa: Yeah. Yeah. I think
that was really shocking to me, when we went to Colorado. It's super dry there.
And I've been in dry climates before- Dan:
And, Arizona is way drier. Vanessa:
... Oh, I bet. Yeah, there's deserts there. Dan:
Mm-hmm. Vanessa:
But I feel like, being somewhere like that, even though the U.S.
is the same country, it feels so different, that it does feel like you've gone almost into
a different world when you visit different climates like that and different geography.
Dan: It is very
easily could be many countries. Vanessa:
Oh, it could very easily be. Dan:
Maybe it should be. Vanessa:
Many countries. So, I want to know for you, if you live in the U.S. or if you got the chance to
visit the U.S., where would you like to visit? Where's the first place that you would like to go
if you got to come to the U.S.? Let us know in the comments. And, let's go to question number four. I
actually meant question number five. Dan:
Whoops. Vanessa:
So question number five, the topic is food. Dan:
Yes. Vanessa:
Something that we love. I would like to know what is a food from
your travels, our travels, that you wish you could have again?
Dan: Man, this is the hardest question,
because we've had so many delicious meals in our travels. And we just love different food as well.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: And this is very tied up in nostalgia for me too,
because we lived in South Korea for three years. And, the meals were so different from America,
and distinct, and we actually enjoyed them. So, now I can't get them the same way. So, if you
go to a Korean restaurant in America, you're going to spend a lot more to get something that isn't as
probably as quality as what you'd get there. Vanessa:
It's a different atmosphere, all of that. Dan:
So I had a tough decision to make. So, I chose a meal called [foreign language 00:27:46].
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: Which means three layered flesh in Korean.
Vanessa: Thick bacon, basically.
Dan: It's bacon. It's thick bacon. But,
you would cook this on a grill in front of you in a restaurant with lots of people and you'd
hit a little bell and it goes dingdong. And then waitress says, " [foreign language 00:28:05]." And
she fills up your water. It's more a whole experience than just the food. But if-
Vanessa: If you finish your side dishes, they'll bring you
endless amounts of other side dishes. Dan:
... Yes. Endless side dishes. So, it's not really just one thing, it's more of the whole experience.
And it has a lot of nostalgia for us, because you can't really get the same thing here. You can,
but it's just not quite the same. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
And it was always delicious, especially in South Korea. Even us, relatively thin people,
we lost weight when we went to South Korea, because it's just way less rich food in general,
compared to American diets. And, we didn't have very much money, so we didn't eat this all the
time. We just ate it sometimes. So, that was always a winner. And, I have to add another one,
because we have traveled in Europe as well. And, technically this meal is tastier,
I'm thinking of... Can you guess? Vanessa:
Cinque Terre. Dan:
Yep. Vanessa:
Cinque Terre. Dan:
Yes. There was a seafood meal we ate in Cinque Terre that had... I don't even remember what we
ate, fish, pasta. Vanessa:
I had a octopus. Dan:
Amazing wine. Vanessa:
And pasta meat thing. Yeah. Dan:
Yes. Vanessa:
Crazy. Dan:
And, that was also a good vibe. Nostalgic experience. Because, when I think back to it, we
did a lot of beautiful hikes on that trip. And then, we ended in the last little town and ate at
that restaurant and it was really delicious. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
So, it all worked out perfectly. Vanessa:
Even if we go back there, it will be a different vibe and different feel, because like you said,
I think, food is really tied to nostalgia. So, the atmosphere and you can't just eat the food
separately from anything else. Dan:
Bing bong. Vanessa:
Yeah. We don't have bells on the table to call the waitress.
Dan: If you're Korean and watching this,
you're like, "What's the big deal about that?" Vanessa:
But for us- Dan:
But for us, it's just so, "This is so funny and-"
Vanessa: ... It was so great. And yeah,
we love that experience. Dan:
... Yes. Vanessa:
Mine is- Dan:
So how about you? Yes. Vanessa:
... Very similar. In fact, yeah- Dan:
Was it the same meal? Vanessa:
... No, I thought about saying, not specifically some [inaudible 00:30:22], but just eating
outside. It's basically on a sidewalk, there's little plastic tables and you're cooking this
type of thing that Dan's talking about. But, the one that I thought about was also in Korea because
there's a lot of nostalgia. Dan:
Is it [inaudible 00:30:37]? Vanessa:
I almost said [inaudible 00:30:39]. Dan:
I thought that too. Vanessa:
I almost said [inaudible 00:30:40]. Dan:
It's not always the best food, but the environment was perfect.
Vanessa: Yeah. But what I said also because I like
the food so much is a meal called dak-galbi. Dan:
Oh. Vanessa:
And, there was a restaurant specifically the restaurant that we went to often in Incheon, which
was the city we lived in for the first two years in Korea. And, our first week living there, it was
my birthday in September. And, we went there with a bunch of new friends. And, I had never
eaten something like this before, where we sat at a table, and they had a burner on the table,
and they had all the ingredients there, and it was uncooked chicken,
cabbage, rice cakes, all of these things, carrots, the sauce. It was all in this thing. And,
the person who was the server was helping to- Dan:
She tossed it up. Vanessa:
... Helping to cook it. And we were all just sitting there and watching
it. It's very different from an American hibachi experience. That's a similar
experience or similar idea where someone is cooking in front of you, but this was different,
much more casual. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
And I remember sitting there for my birthday, surrounded by all these
new friends, in a new city, eating this food that I thought was so exciting, and they're cooking it
in front of us. And it is amazingly delicious. Dan:
Mm-hmm. It was very yummy. Vanessa:
And, that place is, yeah, full of so many memories. So, whenever someone came to visit us
from the U.S., or we made a new friend, we would always go to that restaurant. And then, the third
year we lived in South Korea, we moved to a city called Suan, which is about an hour away.
And, after that year, that restaurant closed. No. Dan:
No. Vanessa:
So, when this question says, something you wish you could try again,
this will always be just a wish. Dan:
I'm sure that lady opened up another restaurant, right?
Vanessa: I hope so. I
hope she is world renowned as amazing dak-galbi restaurant, because we had dak-galbi also in Suan,
and that was nice. That lady was super nice. We talked through Google translate a lot.
Dan: Yeah. Their dak-galbi was good too.
Vanessa: Yeah, but there something about
that first place that really- Dan:
It had the nostalgia. Vanessa:
... It has a special place in my heart. So, that's what I would say.
Dan: It is funny though,
we would take Korean people there and they'd be like, "Yeah, it's pretty good."
Vanessa: But for us, that was-
Dan: We're like, "This is so awesome."
Vanessa: ... So fun. Yeah. Anyway, you can see,
we get very excited about food. Now, maybe I know why our children are also excited about food.
They're crazed about food, so. Dan:
It's because their kids. Vanessa:
Yeah. But some kids are very picky. Dan:
Well, that's true. Yeah, they do like more food than average kids.
Vanessa: Our kids love all this type of stuff
just as passionately as us. All right. So I have a question for you. What is a food from your travels
that you wish you could have again? It might be because it was good. It might be because of the
vibe, and the atmosphere, and the memories, the nostalgia, like what we talked about. Let us know
in the comments what food you wish you could have again, and we'll learn about food from around the
world. All right, let's go to the next question, question number six. I think we're on six.
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: All right, question number six.
Question number six is about nature. This is maybe a little silly of a question,
but that's okay. Dan:
We like critters, so that's okay. Vanessa:
Yeah, as you can tell. So, this question is, if you could have any defense mechanism of an animal,
what would you have? So if you could have that type of defense mechanism
in your body or become you- Dan:
In my body. Vanessa:
... Yes. What would it be? So can we maybe explain quickly what a defense mechanism is?
Dan: Yeah, sure. So, a
defense mechanism is something that an animal has or uses a feature that protects it from predators.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: Or is a way to either get the predator
to go away or escape the predator. Vanessa:
So maybe quills on a porcupine, something like this. And we can even say humans have a defense
mechanism. We might use that emotionally. Dan:
Oh yeah. Vanessa:
To say, "Oh, why is he always making jokes?" It's actually a defense mechanism because
he experienced a lot of trauma in his life, and joking, and laughing helps him to
not feel so vulnerable. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Or something like this. It's a more of an emotional thing. So you can have a defense
mechanism as a human, but I want to know, in a silly way, if you could imagine having an animal's
defense mechanism, what would it be? Dan:
Mine would be... This is a little bit of a cop out.
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: Flying.
Vanessa: Oh.
Dan: Because now we don't really
associate flying with just defense, but it can certainly be used as a defense,
so a bird will fly away when you come near it. And we were talking about it earlier and saying that
flying probably evolved as a defense mechanism for an animal to get out of the way from a predator
really efficiently and effectively. Vanessa:
Yeah, I almost said flying too for this one. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
It's a good one. Dan:
So, I mean, but who doesn't want to fly? Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
I mean, of course then you have to be really lightweight
and you're probably not very intimidating. And then, you have to be a bat or a bird.
Vanessa: You could be an Eagle.
Dan: But, if I could still be me and fly,
then I would choose that. Vanessa:
Yeah, just imagine, you're walking down a dark alley, I don't know why you're walking down a
dark alley, and then somebody dangerous steps out and all of a sudden your wings
open up and you fly away. Dan:
Ooh, they pop out of my back like an angel. Vanessa:
That's it. Yeah, that's it. I think there's some X-Men or superhero or something
that does that. Dan:
Oh, yeah, probably. We don't know about that stuff.
Dan: Bird man.
Vanessa: Bird man. Is that a-
Dan: Or Batman, squawk man.
Vanessa: ... Eagle man.
Dan: Eagle man.
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: Raven man. Robin man.
Robin. Vanessa:
California condo man. Dan:
Blue bird man. Vanessa:
These are all the birds we know. Okay, well- Dan:
And we're not into superheroes, so. Vanessa:
... Flying is a good one. I almost said that. And you know what? I think, I have something
different I'd like to share. But, I think for me actually flying is probably more realistic. Not
like I can actually fly, but because if I'm faced with danger, I'm probably more likely to flee.
Dan: Oh, yeah.
Vanessa: Than to fight. So, we call this fight or flight.
When you're in a dangerous situation, either dangerous physically or dangerous emotionally,
we say, "Oh, your fight or flight kicks in."
So, either you fight and you try to win or you flee. So, that's-
Dan: Run away.
Vanessa: ... The flight part. You're not actually flying,
but maybe you try to run away from that dangerous situation. And I think for me, that's more true.
I'm more likely to run away from danger. Dan:
Lady folk, in general. Vanessa:
But I said something dinner... Dinner? Different. I said something different.
Dan: Food is still on her mind.
Vanessa: Oh, food. I said something
different. I said, a horny toad, which is actually a type of lizard. A horny toad has something very
interesting that they do. They, when faced with danger can stop their blood flow to their heart.
Their blood fills up in them and they shoot blood out of their eyes at their aggressor. What?
Dan: Into their aggressor's eyes?
Vanessa: At least at their aggressor. And the blood
isn't venomous or anything like this, it's just shocking. So, I thought it would be hilarious.
Dan: That would shock me.
Vanessa: If, "Oh, hi, I'm Vanessa. Nice Vanessa."
And then, somebody is a bad person and I just went bzz and shot blood out my eyes at them.
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: I think it would be so shocking
that I could be saved. Dan:
Sure. Vanessa:
But, maybe flying is something I would realistically be more likely to do.
Oh, I probably would fly away instead of fighting. But, shooting blood out of your
eyes if you're in danger? Dan:
It's not going to win you a lot of dates. Vanessa:
No. Dan:
"Hey, baby." Vanessa:
"Look what I can do." Yeah, but isn't that crazy, that it's actually a lizard, but the horn toad
can shoot blood out of its eyes? How in the world-
Dan: And how does that even help it?
Vanessa: ... Did even nature decide to do this?
Dan: I don't know.
Vanessa: I mean, it must be
in danger in some ways that it goes away, it makes stuff go away because of that. Anyway, crazy, so.
Dan: The animal is just so disgusted,
it doesn't want to eat it. Vanessa:
I know. "You got blood shooting out of your eyes. What?" So, I want to know for you, if you could
have any animal's defense mechanism, what would it be? There are many crazy things out there. There
are ants that shoot acid, there are porcupines that have quills. This is a great way to expand
your vocabulary in a fun way. If you would like, you can type into Google amazing animal defense
mechanisms. And you'll see many lists of cool things that animals do if you like that stuff.
So I want to know, let me know in the comments, what would you like to defend yourself with?
All right, let's go to our next question. Dan:
"Caw." Vanessa:
Question number seven is about holidays.
The question is, what is your favorite holiday tradition? And I have a feeling that we might
have the same one. Dan:
We had to have. Vanessa:
So do you want to say it at the same time? Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
On three? Dan:
Yes. Vanessa:
Okay. 3, 2, 1, Dan:
Christmas tree. Vanessa:
Decorating the Christmas tree. Dan:
Yes. Decorating the Christmas tree. Vanessa:
Yeah. Okay. Why don't you explain first? Why do you like decorating the Christmas tree?
Dan: Man. There's probably
a lot of reasons. One primary reason is that this is a tradition that our family always did.
Vanessa: Mm-hmm.
Dan: So it has a lot of nostalgia tied up into it.
And we don't have a lot of other traditions that our family always did. So there's Thanksgiving,
which is, you have a meal and you talk about what you're thankful for. And that's another
big one. But, maybe it's just because you put presents under a tree that, as a kid,
you just can't get enough of Christmas. Vanessa:
And now? Dan:
Yes. And now, I really enjoy picking out a Christmas tree. We're really nature-y. So,
we get a real Christmas tree and I like the smell of the pine. It just hits all of the
right senses and feelings. And then, you get to decorate it. So, your kids are excited,
and you get to hang up all the stuff, and put up the lights, and there's a whole process. And,
it's funny because it's probably the most useless thing that we do, but it's one of
the best things. Vanessa:
Yeah. I think, even before we had kids, this was a big deal for us.
Dan: Of course.
Vanessa: In our marriage,
because yeah, it's something that you do with your parents growing up. And then, for us,
when we got married and we started doing that with each other, it felt like,
"Oh, this is our new life. This is us. We're doing this together." And you're-
Dan: We're starting the new generation.
Vanessa: ... Yeah, our new traditions. We're doing this in
our own way. Yeah, it felt different. I said that for me, because when I was a kid, we didn't have a
real Christmas tree, we had a fake tree. But even in that, I was so excited about it. First of all,
I'll set the stage, my mom popped popcorn. So, we ate popcorn and it smelled great. We listened to
Christmas music. Dan:
Always good. Vanessa:
And then, we all sat in the living room, and because we had a fake tree,
there's different fake trees, but the kind we had, there was a stem in the middle and it had
different holes and you could hook the branches in and the branches had different colored rings
on them, so you could see the big ones are on the bottom. But, because these were closed in a box
the entire year, they were flat. So, we would all sit around the Christmas tree,
bending the branches to look realistic. So, we would bend each of the little branches on it and
then put it in. And we'd look at each other's and say, "Oh, that one doesn't look good." Or, "Oh,
that was really great." Dan:
This is all blasphemy to me. Vanessa:
Because you always had a real tree. Dan:
It had to be real. Vanessa:
And then we- Dan:
If there's not a fire hazard in your living room,
it's not Christmas. Vanessa:
... Yeah, that's a big reason why we had a fake tree is because when my dad was a kid,
they had a real tree. Dan:
Oh, yeah. Vanessa:
Maybe for one Christmas, I don't remember if it was for longer than that. And they had
a train set going around it so they could turn on the electric train and it would go around the
bottom of the Christmas tree, not in the branches, but just on the ground, and it caught fire.
Dan: Oh.
Vanessa: And my dad said one of his first memories
is him as a little kid, getting a cup of water and throwing it on the Christmas tree fire. This is
huge hazard. And there's so many warnings. Dan:
I mean, I don't think so much anymore. Vanessa:
Yeah, this is a big deal. Dan:
Christmas trees are safe. Vanessa:
Christmas trees are not safe, because they say now, I think it's more known now that you should
always keep water, so you have the Christmas tree that's cut and you put it in a little basin of
water, and if there's not water in there, the tree will dry out and it will catch fire really easily.
But, if it's filled with water, then the tree is hydrated and it won't catch fire as easily.
Dan: But also, 60s electronics, versus-
Vanessa: Okay. That's true.
Dan: ... Today's electronics. They're not
going to catch fire the same way. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
Probably. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
Christmas trees are safe and the best. Vanessa:
Dan loves Christmas trees. So, I remember, yeah, we would do that, and then we would
decorate the tree. And my mom always had one ornament, which I now have that was the first
ornament we put on the tree. Dan:
Which one was that? Vanessa:
It's the ball that has lots of little beads on it. And it's got-
Dan: Ball with beads.
Vanessa: ... Ribbons, and knots, and stuff on it.
We have it. Dan:
Well, I love Christmas trees and I can't remember this ornament.
Vanessa: Oh, well it's in our house.
Dan: That's good. It'll be refreshing
this year to see it later. Vanessa:
And, she put that on the tree and that signified, we can start to decorate the tree.
So yeah, we would decorate the tree together and it was just a nice time to do that.
Dan: How did you guys sit back and not decorate
the tree right away? Our children are like, "Bah, get all the stuff. Put it on right away."
Vanessa: Yeah, we did the ornaments. We
were busy doing the branches. Dan:
Maybe because it's two girls versus two boys. Vanessa:
I don't know. But, we did it and it was fun. And I remember when we got married,
that was my first real Christmas tree. We went to a place and got a real tree and-
Dan: That was your first?
Vanessa: ... Yeah.
Dan: Oh, we got the little one.
Vanessa: We got a little tree. Yeah.
Dan: That we planted later.
Vanessa: Oh, yeah.
Dan: That's another thing you can do
sometimes in America, but it's more difficult. Vanessa:
Yeah, you can get it with the root ball on the bottom. The first year we were married-
Dan: It's a lot heavier.
Vanessa: ... Oh my goodness, it was
so heavy. I remember it took three of us. Dan:
It was three feet tall. Vanessa:
Me, you, and your brother to take it
out of the car and drag it into our house. Dan:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Vanessa:
Because it was so big, but we wanted to plant it later, we didn't want to just cut a tree down. So,
we got this tree with a root ball, but ever since then, we've just gotten
a cut tree, and put it in our house, and decorated it. And yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Dan: Always a happy time.
Vanessa: Yeah. Well, I want to know for you, what is
your favorite holiday tradition? It might not be about Christmas. It could be about any holiday.
But, I want to know about your experience. Let us know in the comments, what's your favorite holiday
tradition? And we'll go on to our next question. Question number nine is about sports and exercise.
What is the most recent sport that you did? Dan:
Well, this happened just about a week ago actually. And it's the first time I ever did this
outdoors. It was rock climbing. Is this a sport? I guess, it's a sport.
Vanessa: It's considered exercise.
Dan: Yeah. And so, my brother-in-law is,
let's just say, obsessed with rock climbing. And, he's gotten pretty good at it lately. And so,
he met us in between where he lives and us. We live about eight hours away. And,
we were in West Virginia, which has actually a lot of good rock climbing. And we chose a spot and he
had all the gear, he's got the ropes, he's got the shoes, he's got the backpacks, he's got the
harness, and all this stuff. And he actually... Oh the helmet too. Don't forget the helmet.
And, he geared me up to do it. And, I was actually pretty nervous about it,
and not because I'm afraid of heights actually, he's more scared of Heights than I am.
I think it's funny that he likes doing this so much. He says every single time he does it,
he's scared. Vanessa:
Oh. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Interesting. Dan:
But I'm not afraid of heights, so I wasn't really worried about that. I probably should have been
more worried about it. Vanessa:
What were you worried about? Dan:
I'm a perfectionist, or a completionist. So, it really bothers me if I try something and I
can't finish it. Vanessa:
Ah, so you wanted to be able to make it to the top.
Dan: So, I knew I could probably do some easy stuff,
but he's a lot better than I am. So, I knew that he would be wanting to move on to something
more challenging. And, I didn't really know if I wanted to have to just watch, or try it and only
get partway. In the end, I did do that. So, the first one was a easy one. I don't think it was-
Vanessa: I'll show you a picture here of Dan
making it all the way to the top. Yes. Dan:
... Yes. So, I do naturally have a good body type for climbing. I'm lightweight. I climb a lot of
trees. I like to hike and do all that stuff. So, I can figure it out. But, the hand strength is just
on another level to rock climb. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
And so, I did the easier one and I made it to the top. But, all the other ones, I made it partway.
And, I actually remember, we were with another guy too, his name was Jim. And,
Jim was really inspiring, because... And don't worry, this was totally safe. There was a rope
tied to the very top. They call it top climbing? Top rope? I don't remember the terms. There's a
lot of terms in rock climbing. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
And so, he was tied to the top and if you fall that will catch you right away and it's not a
big deal. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
But, for me, if I fall one time doing that, I'm like, "All right, I'm done." That's how I feel.
But he fell probably 15 times on a climb and just kept on trying, and trying, and trying,
and he made it to the top and I was like, "Wow." And, when he got down, I said, "I have to try
a lot more than I would, because I just saw him persevere." So, it's a very good
perseverance sport. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
So, I tried, and tried, and tried, and I got one third of the way, because it was really difficult.
It's called crack climbing. And there's just a crack in the wall. And, you got to put your
hands there. And, just- Vanessa:
That's so hard. Dan:
... There's nothing except for a crack and little tiny ledges. So, their experienced,
so they got up the first part really easily. So, the girl who was with us, she said,
"Yeah, that was tricky." But, I was stuck on the first part for...
It felt like 20 minutes, it was probably more like 10 minutes. They just got up that part. But
it was literally just a little thin rock you had to put your fingers in, barely any foothold. But,
I saw Jim fall, and fall, and fall, and I kept on trying and I finally did it. Yes.
Vanessa: Wow. Man, that is not up my alley at all.
Dan: Yeah. Brad asked me... Brad's my
brother-in-law. He said, "Do you think Vanessa would ever do this with you?" And I was like-
Dan: Brad's my brother-in-law. He said,
"Do you think Vanessa would ever do this with you?" And I was like, "I don't think..." I can't
imagine you wanting to do that. Vanessa:
Yeah. I don't like heights like that, and I feel like I can't just do something like that like you.
I would need to go to the climbing gym and feel comfortable with it, because at least for me,
that takes a lot of upper body strength, your abs, your arms, your fingers. I think
maybe for you, you were able to make it to the top of the easier one and halfway up or a third
of the way up the other ones because you're not afraid of heights and your strength is distributed
differently than mine. Dan:
Yes. Vanessa:
But I think for something like that, I would need to massively feel more comfortable with heights
and go to the gym in advance. Dan:
The girl who was with us was the best one there.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: She was
amazing. Vanessa:
I bet. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
I mean, you can practice that and do it. Dan:
Women can definitely do it. Vanessa:
Yeah. That's the cool thing. Dan:
She was kind of like spider monkey, though. Vanessa:
Going everywhere. Dan:
She hadn't had any children yet. Vanessa:
Yeah, maybe. Dan:
Children does a number on you. I speak from experience.
Vanessa: Yeah? In any case, I think that seems like
the kind of exercise or sport that I would need to practice in advance before going outside to do it,
and inside where there's, I don't know, maybe more predictability-
Dan: Mats.
Vanessa: ... or practice, that would be better for me.
Dan: I thought it was more fun outside.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: Because I've done climbing gyms before,
and it's okay, but outside's a whole adventure. It did take forever though.
Vanessa: Yeah. You have to hook up everything.
Dan: We did four climbs and we were there all day.
You're watching other people go, and also one person has to be the... I forget what it's called.
Vanessa: Belay.
Dan: Belay. Yeah. One person's holding you,
making sure you're not going to fall down, so they actually hold you up from the other end.
Vanessa: Cool.
Dan: I don't know all the terms,
but you can imagine it, right? Vanessa:
Yeah. It seemed like cool camaraderie too with everybody who was there.
Dan: Yeah. That was probably the best part.
Vanessa: As in we all went together,
and then I went on a hike with Dan's sister and our kids and Dan's parents. We were
at the same place, but hiking instead. But we were going back and watching them too. It seemed like
everyone who was in this area climbing just was chill. They were all the type of perseverant,
motivated type of person, who's like, "I'm going to climb this rock," a personal challenge.
Dan: It's a culture, for sure.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: Yeah. One guy walked up and there was a climb,
they all have funny names, and he was like, "Did you do chalk line? Cool, bro." It was totally-
Vanessa: Trying to size each other up.
Dan: Surfer vibes.
Vanessa: Yeah. I could see that. Well,
sounds like a fun time, even though it was hard. Dan:
Oh, it twas very hard. Very hard. Vanessa:
Bonding together. Dan:
Yes. How about you? Have you tried any sports recently?
Vanessa: Yeah, I was trying to think about this,
and the answer is not really, but- Dan:
Baseball. Vanessa:
I was going to say baseball. Dan:
Really? Vanessa:
Because our four year old, almost five year old, maybe by the time you're watching this
he'll be five, our five year old son has been into hitting the baseball with a baseball bat lately.
In June, we visited Pittsburgh when Dan went- Dan:
Rock climbing. Vanessa:
... rock climbing. After that, we went to a baseball field with
Dan's sister and their cousins and some family, little kids. We tried to kind of
play a baseball field. Dan:
Tried. Yes. Vanessa:
There's bases, and we were all hitting. The kids hit, we hit, and I've always liked hitting a
baseball. I think it's pretty fun. Dan:
That's when you realize how many rules there are in baseball.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: "Don't run with the bat." "First base is over
there." "No, you have to stop on the base." "Wait, he's going to throw the ball to you." It's like,
forget about it. Just let him hit the ball. Vanessa:
Yeah. It was really funny to see our son hit the ball. He was just so excited that he hit it
that he was holding onto the bat and he ran to third base. Like, "No, no, no. That way drop the
bat. Go that way." Dan:
Yes. Vanessa:
We were just having fun. Yeah, it was fun, and I like hitting. Yeah. I've always liked
hitting a baseball. Even though it wasn't organized, like an actual organized sport,
I think that was still a sport. It wasn't too much exercise, but it was fun.
Dan: I have a funny story about
baseball. Can I share it? Vanessa:
Yes. Dan:
When I was a kid. Vanessa:
Go ahead. Dan:
When I was a kid, I played baseball up until coach pitch, which is where the coach is pitching,
not the players. Then I started getting scared of how fast the ball was coming.
At least back then, that's how I felt. But one time I was the first baseman, and in baseball,
it's a very slow sport, right? For kids, you just start getting distracted when they're not
hitting the ball and you're just waiting out there. So, I was pretending to be Darth Vader
with earth fader with my glove over my face. I was literally standing on first base going,
and the player hit the ball and hit me on the glove,
and we totally missed the play and it was because I was pretending to be Darth Vader
on first base. Vanessa:
There you go. Dan:
That's my story. Vanessa:
Wow. Dan:
That's why I quit baseball. Vanessa:
Oh, man. Dan:
Actually, that's not why. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
It's because I would practice with my brother and he would throw really hard and
I didn't want to get hit by the ball. Vanessa:
Yeah. I mean, I don't blame you. Dan:
Baseball. Vanessa:
I wouldn't want to get hit by a baseball either. In the US, it's pretty common for kids to do,
they call it little league, so there's different stages, and one stage might be like a parent is
throwing the ball to the kids, or it's sitting on a tee, it's sitting on a little stand and the kids
just have to try to hit the ball. Then the next level might be another player is throwing it, or
then the coach is throwing it as you get more and more advanced. So, it's kind of working you up to
being a better player. Dan:
To the majors. Vanessa:
To the majors. Well, that was your first answer, right? You wished you could be
a famous sports player. Dan:
I'd take the best baseball player,
or just really great. Vanessa:
Cool. Okay. Dan:
Yeah. Any sport. I love sport. Vanessa:
Well, I want to ask you the same question. What was the most recent sport that you've played?
It could be an organized sport like baseball, or it could be something that's just more
exercise, like- Dan:
Like rock climbing. Vanessa:
... rock climbing, but some people might say it's a sport. Let us know in the
comments what's the most recent sport you've played, and we'll go on to our next question.
Question number 10 is about electronics. This is another hypothetical question. If you could
invent any new electronic device, what would it be and what would it do?
Dan: When I first
was thinking about this, I thought gadgets, like a new toaster that never burnt the toast.
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: But I think when I think of
noble uses for electronics, I think of the medical field. My electronic invention would be a tiny
robot that kills cancer. Vanessa:
Oh, okay. Dan:
A cancer killing search and destroy robot. Vanessa:
Wow. That's noble. Dan:
I think they might be working on this. Vanessa:
Yeah. I don't know much about that field. Dan:
I think there is some kind of tiny robot, for lack of a better word, that can find
certain diseases or cells in the body. You know, I do not have a background in biotech at all,
but I would almost guarantee somebody's trying to figure out how to get tiny robots that can find
and kill cancer in people. Vanessa:
That sounds great. Dan:
That would be probably the best use of an electronic gadget.
Vanessa: Mine is very selfish compared to that.
Dan: Yeah, because
nothing sucks more than cancer, I think. This is just the worst thing.
Vanessa: Yeah. Well, if you are in biotech or if you are
a cancer related doctor or surgeon- Dan:
Send me your number and I'll tell you my plans. Vanessa:
Yeah. Let us know. Does something like this exists? Is this something that's in the works?
Yeah. Never know. Dan:
Yeah. How about you? How many cancer destroying things are you creating in your spare time?
Vanessa: Oh, sorry. Mine's very selfish.
I was thinking more personal. In our house, to go to our deck, we have a sliding door. There's
a glass sliding door, and then there's a screen that you can just push through. It's a magnet,
you can just go through it. But in the summer, we try to keep the glass sliding door closed because
there's air conditioning in our house and it's super hot and muggy, humid outside, so we don't
want that air to get inside. We want it to stay cool inside. We go in and out a lot in our house.
With young children, it's kind of tricky to get them to keep that glass door closed.
It's also kind of heavy. Dan:
The sliding door. Vanessa:
Yeah, for them to pull it open is okay, and then they bust through the screen door and they're
outside like, "I'm going to go do something," and they don't think about the glass door.
And for me too, sometimes if I'm carrying something, I have to open the door.
My electronic gadget would be a button that you can push that would open the door,
and then automatically within 30 seconds, it would close the door, so you have time to go through
and it would close. It might be sensor by your body, so if you're still
in the doorway it wouldn't close, but that way it would always close behind us.
Dan: Couldn't you just use in the grocery
store where it automatically opens? Vanessa:
Yeah, something like that. Dan:
A sliding automatic door. Vanessa:
But people don't have that in their house. Dan:
Oh. But it's only a matter of money. Vanessa:
I mean, maybe we could get something like that installed in our house now,
but I was kind of envisioning, I imagine people who are handicapped or in a wheelchair, maybe they
have something like this that's automatic. Dan:
Probably. Vanessa:
I'm sure it's a big system you have to install. It's probably a lot of money or kind of a hassle,
but I'm sure there's some kind of system. Dan:
Well, we could go to a closed down grocery store, and every time it opens, it says,
"Welcome to Aldi." Vanessa:
As in we would take Aldi's doors? Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
And put them in our house, and it would have a speaker that says, "Welcome to the grocery store,"
every time we open our house's doors? Dan:
It'd be the most charming thing we could possibly add to our home.
Vanessa: Maybe we could have it say,
"Welcome home, Vanessa." Dan:
Oh, yeah. Programmable. Vanessa:
I don't think I would like my doors to talk. Dan:
And it also takes off your hat.
Vanessa: Wow.
Dan: With an arm.
Vanessa: Maybe it also feeds you food and gives you water.
Dan: And it's a conveyor belt too,
so you don't have to walk through it. Vanessa:
And maybe it is also your brain, so you don't have to think.
Dan: And there's another arm that
puts a soda in your hand. Vanessa:
That's weird. Yes. I would like our glass sliding door to be closed more easily so that it is not a
personal hassle or an annoyance in our home. But I must say that Dan's cancer fighting robots are
probably a better idea. Anyway, I thought about this question for about 4.2 seconds.
Dan: And I thought of it for four minutes.
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: To be fair.
Vanessa: Yeah. So,
maybe if I thought about it for four minutes I would've come up with a better idea. Anyway,
what about you? What kind of new electronic gadget would you like to invent, and what would it do?
Let us know in the comments and we'll go to our next question. Question number 11 is about money.
I'd like to know what is something that you can justify spending more money on and why?
Dan: Yeah. Justify. I mean, probably speakers.
Vanessa: We always talk about speakers.
Dan: I'm kidding. I like audio stuff a lot.
I would say maybe once a year I just start looking into some audio equipment or some kind
of electronics, usually. I'm like, "Vanessa, do you think we could?" She's like, "No, we have 10
speakers," or headphones or something. You know? Vanessa:
We talked about this in past videos. Dan:
Yes. This is not actually my answer. I said property.
Vanessa: Oh, okay.
Dan: Yeah, because I know for sure
we want to have another property. Vanessa:
Like in the woods? Dan:
Yes. We would like to own, it might just be land, but maybe just a cabin.
This is a little bit nostalgic for me because my grandfather actually gave my parents
or I guess gave us access to a very simple cabin that we would go to in the mountains in Colorado,
and that was our little escape from the hubbub of normal life
going to that cabin. Vanessa:
No electricity, no plumbing. Dan:
Yes, but it has to be like that. It has to be off grid, basically. I mean, it had electricity.
Vanessa: Oh, yeah.
Dan: But it didn't
have running water. Vanessa:
Ah, that was a thing. Dan:
I mean, I think I'd take electricity. That's kind of nice.
Vanessa: That is nice.
Dan: I don't know. We'll debate the details later, but
I know for sure I want to have some more property. You can always justify it by saying, "Well,
this is an investment too. You can always resell it." Usually with property you'll at least make
back what you bought it for. Vanessa:
Hopefully. Dan:
Especially in this area, it's always growing,
so I can make a lot of justifications for why we need to own many beach homes. I mean-
Vanessa: Mountain-
Dan: ... mountain homes.
Vanessa: ... cabins. Yeah. When you were a kid-
Dan: Many.
Vanessa: ... you would
just go to the mountains with your mom and siblings and play in the woods and
catch critters. Dan:
Yeah. There was acres of land there. There wasn't as many critters as I would've liked there.
Vanessa: Oh, yeah.
Dan: But there was a pond and there
were dragon flies and fish. Vanessa:
Oh, that sounds fun. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
I think that's a beautiful childhood too, being able to do stuff like that. We go hiking a lot,
but there's something special about staying there. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
In the cabin and you go back to the same place, maybe different seasons, and get to know the
seasons there. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
That's cool. Dan:
Yeah. The best thing about the cabin that we had was it had a loft. It doesn't seem very safe
thinking back to it, because my memory of it is it was like a plywood deck hanging from the ceiling.
Vanessa: Did it have a-
Dan: It was hanging down, and you climbed a ladder up
to it. It had plywood walls, but there were gaps in the walls too, where you could just jump down,
which we didn't jump down. But what we did was because it was a one room cabin, if my parents
were there with some friends or my grandparents, they would play cards, and they would send us to
bed, but we could hear everything, so we'd spy on them and we'd drop stuff down on them and stuff.
Vanessa: That sounds fun.
Dan: Yeah. That was fun.
Vanessa: Wow, so maybe we can recreate this
rustic experience. Dan:
We need a loft. Vanessa:
Do you think it would be just as fun as an adult? Because you were a kid doing it,
do you think that- Dan:
To sleep in the loft? Vanessa:
Well, for us, because we're adults now, so having this rural experience, would it be as
fun for us as it would- Dan:
I think it would be. Vanessa:
... as for kids? Dan:
Yeah, because one benefit of being in a place like
America and the United States is that you can usually find some place that is very rural
and quiet. Vanessa:
Quickly and close. Dan:
We live close enough to a highway and stuff that it would be nice to
just only hear the birds chirping. Vanessa:
Yeah. I think that's really possible. I mean- Dan:
And get away from electronics and stuff. It would have to be an intentional, this is not a place
where we have a TV, for example. Vanessa:
Yeah. I think you can drive about 20 minutes away from our house and be very much in the woods.
Dan: Yes.
Vanessa: But anyway, that's a
specific discussion for another time. Dan:
Yes. Vanessa:
Cool. So, you'd like to have- Dan:
More property. Vanessa:
... a cabin, and that would be a investment, an investment that you could justify.
Well, I think for me, when I thought about this, I thought more of something that we already do
that we have justified spending more money on, so- Dan:
Garden boxes. Vanessa:
I spend too much money on the garden. That's true.
These are the world's most expensive tomatoes. Dan:
We are now a small scale farm. Vanessa:
That's not what I was saying, but that is true. I thought of something more
in our daily life. I think this is different for everyone depending on how much money you have. At
some point in our marriage, we bought the cheapest food. This is all that we could afford and
that was it. But then as we made more money, we wanted to intentionally buy better quality food.
Dan: We prioritize it.
Vanessa: Yeah. So, instead
of just buying expensive food, we wanted to buy, especially we kind of made an intention to buy
better quality animal products specifically. In the US, you have a lot of options. You could buy
organic carrots or conventional carrots, and not so much that I'm thinking more about meat
and yogurt and cheese and milk- Dan:
Where the creatures are involved. Vanessa:
Yeah, because in the area where we live, there's a lot of options for buying
local grass fed beef, for example, where there's a farm down the street and it's
much more expensive than buying the cheapest beef at the grocery store. But for us,
as we've made more money, this has been something that we justify spending more money on.
If we didn't have money, then I would not spend money on that, because that wasn't a priority.
Dan: It would be hot dogs and canned tuna.
Vanessa: I mean, maybe not hot dogs, but some beans
or just rice, something very simple. Dan:
Rice and beans. There you go. Vanessa:
Yeah. You can live off of that. Lots of people do. But for us, this has been something that
we have been intentional about. When we buy milk, we try to buy
good quality, not just expensive, but either local milk or something that's whole milk,
grass fed, something local, these types of things. We have our own chickens, so those are certainly-
Dan: They're free range.
Vanessa: Beautiful quality eggs. But this
type of thing, because I feel like it is directly impacting the farming world and the animal's life.
We are not vegan, we are not vegetarian, but I don't like conventional farms and
factory farms, big scale farms. Dan:
From the standpoint of the animals? Vanessa:
From a lot of standpoints, the environment, animals, all of that, maybe you're eating
too much meat, but I completely understand that if you don't have much money, you buy food. You
just have to buy the food that you buy and you have to survive. Then as you make more money,
you make different choices about what you buy. For us, that's been increasing the quality of
the animal products that we buy for a lot of different reasons. But anyway, that's something
that I can justify spending more money on. Dan:
Yes. Better food. Vanessa:
Yeah. That's something that we've chosen to spend more money on over time. That is probably
different for you. Let us know in the comments for you, what is something that you can justify
spending more money on, maybe in the future, like Dan's answer, some cabin or property, you could
justify spending more money on that, or maybe it's something that you already spend more money on,
like my answer. Let us know in the comments. I'm curious. What are your financial priorities?
Let us know in the comments, and let's go to the next question. Question number 11 is about games.
We like games. Dan:
Games. Are they fun? Vanessa:
Yes. Dan:
I don't know. Vanessa:
I would like to know what is a game that you play that you're very competitive about. The
word competitive means you want to win. You feel serious, you can still have fun,
but you want to win. Dan:
The real question for me is what is a game that I don't feel competitive about,
because I have a game switch in my head. I start playing a game and I'm like, "Strategy on,
let's win this thing," and I feel very competitive about it. I would say, especially any game that
has strategy where you can actually make decisions that will really impact the game,
there's a lot of games that are just roll the dice and it's random chance. It's a little easier not
to be competitive about that. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
Like when I played shoots and ladders with my son the other day, 100% luck,
which he didn't necessarily understand. He was like, "Look, I'm going to jump over the slide."
Vanessa: You can't jump over the slide.
Dan: That's not part of the rules.
But that was very interesting that he thought about that himself. But anyway, yeah,
the question is, what am I competitive- Vanessa:
Yeah. Give an example of some games, because maybe our students too would like-
Dan: What am I super competitive about?
Vanessa: Yeah. Maybe they'd like some
examples that they could play. Dan:
A recent example is there's a game called Code Names, and it's one of the best games
ever, I think. Vanessa:
Actually, I have a YouTube video where Dan and I play this and I teach you how to play it and teach
you vocabulary along the way. Dan:
Is very challenging, it scales, so if your group is very smart,
they'll play it very smart. If your group is dumb, it plays to the level of the players.
I've had to train myself not to get competitive about this game, because for example, we first
played this. We literally went to bed that night and had an argument about it.
Vanessa: "But why did you say this thing?" No,
I meant that." "How could you not get this?" Dan:
Yeah. It feels really bad to lose that game, I think.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: So, that one really got to me.
The last time we played, I have to usually tell myself I'm not going to get super competitive.
I'm just going to have a good time, and if I lose, that's okay. I have to prep myself because
I really like to win games. Vanessa:
Yeah. Yeah. Dan:
Actually, I've gotten better with that over time. Vanessa:
Yeah. I think Code Names is a good one for English learners. One that
we play often or we play maybe three times a year is Settlers of Catan.
Dan: Yes.
Vanessa: You can play the simple version of sellers
of Catan, or you can use the expansions. Dan:
We go a little crazy. Vanessa:
The original game, it might take one and a half hours, but the way we play, sometimes it takes
five hours, and it can be very intense. It depends on who you play with. I've played this game with
people who are so serious that they are not fun to play with, as in if you set the dice down,
they'll say, "Oh, your turn's over. It's my turn now." "What? Give me some slack. Cut
me some slack." But when we play with us, and the people we usually play with is Dan's sister
and her husband, Brad- Dan:
That's the only people we play with now. Vanessa:
Dan rock climbed with, yeah, when we play with them, we're all competitive, but we're nice.
Dan: We're lighthearted at the same time.
Vanessa: Yeah. We have a good
time still. Sometimes at the end of the game, when it's about two o'clock in the morning-
Dan: We've gad arguments though.
Vanessa: Okay. We've had big
arguments, the four of us about it. But when it's getting really late at night,
everyone's really tired, and we know we have to wake up early with all of our kids, so it gets a
little more stressful. But that's a fun one. Dan:
Yes. Vanessa:
Those are neither- Dan:
You feel competitive about that? Vanessa:
I feel competitive about- Dan:
You're a quiet competitor. Vanessa:
I feel competitive about those games, but I feel most competitive when I play Carcassonne.
Dan: Oh,
just against me? Vanessa:
Against you, mainly because- Dan:
You beat me a lot too. Vanessa:
That's why. Dan:
I don't like it. Vanessa:
Because I have probably a 50% chance of winning.
A lot of games, depending on what they are, if I play them with just Dan, I either won't win often
or it'll be like 30% of the time I'll win. But with Carcassonne, I win about 50% of the time.
Dan: It's not just luck.
Vanessa: It's not just luck. There's a lot of
work and strategy. If you miss up a move, you can lose the entire game, and your three hour
experience is lost. I like Carcassonne a lot because of that. It's fun to me, I can win.
Dan: We can play one on one.
Vanessa: We can play just us,
and I think that's a good... there's not many- Vanessa:
Play just us, and I think that's a good ... There's not many good strategy games that you
can play with just two people. It's based off of a city in France, Carcassonne, the same name. And
the game looks like that city. Dan:
You build city walls and roads and stuff. Vanessa:
Yeah. It's quite fun. There's also expansions on that.
That can make it longer. Dan:
Theo would love that game. Vanessa:
I think he could play it. Dan:
Yeah. We got to play that with my son. Vanessa:
Yeah. That'd be fun. Anyway. Dan:
He's going to like games too. We're going to get in a lot of family arguments
Vanessa: About being competitive. Actually. He played
Settlers of CATAN Jr. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Which is the kid's version. Dan:
He did amazing. Yesterday. Vanessa:
Yesterday, for the first time and you were playing with him.
Dan: I helped him a lot, but he still got it.
Vanessa: Cool. That's a new
phase in parenting. When we can- Dan:
He's not even five yet and he still sat through turns and listened to the rules and he looked at
the little chart and figured it out and stuff. Vanessa:
That's cool. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
That sounds fun. I would- Dan:
It was impressive. Vanessa:
I like little kid stuff, but I really like- Dan:
Big kid stuff. Vanessa:
... playing baseball with your kids or playing Settlers of CATAN with your kids. Stuff that I
enjoy too. Like for example, we're going to an aquarium for our five year old's birthday. I like
aquariums and this isn't something that's just for kids. It's for us too. And it's for his birthday.
So a new stage of the ... Dan:
The giant critter museum. Vanessa:
That's Dan's favorite. Dan:
Yes. Vanessa:
Anyway, that was a little detour. So I want to know for you, what game do you feel competitive
about? Or maybe you are a non-competitive person. You play a game and you're like,
"I can win. I don't have to win. It's okay." Or maybe you are super competitive. Let us know in
the comments what's a game you feel competitive about and we'll go to our next question. Question.
Number 13 is about celebrities or maybe they don't have to be celebrities. Interesting people.
Dan: Famous people.
Vanessa: This is a common-
Dan: Infamous people.
Vanessa: ... question, common conversation question
to spice things up. I'm having a special dinner party. Who is someone dead or alive
who you would like to invite? Dan:
Yeah, I feel like I've answered something similar to this recently.
Vanessa: Oh, okay.
Dan: And I give this answer a lot,
so I'm very current. I just want to know what's going on in the world now. So I would
just invite the current president. Okay. So Joe Biden, I would actually take Donald Trump too,
just because I can't believe these people exist and are so annoying and dumb. I want to see what
they're really like. Are they really as ridiculous and empty as they seem? Are they faking it? I want
to ask them tough questions and see if Joe Biden just falls asleep in the middle of dinner, or if
Donald Trump just ... I guess he seems pretty ... Yeah. He'd probably just blow if he ate something.
But yeah, I want to get into their heads or try to, and just see how ridiculous they are in real
life. Because again- Vanessa:
You're just curious. Dan:
I live my life and then I see these are the people running the country and I just can't put that
together and it makes me feel upset usually. Vanessa:
They don't seem like real people. Dan:
Yeah. They're not. Vanessa:
So having a dinner conversation with somebody can bring out the real them, the real inside look.
Dan: Sure. Oh yeah. That's another key
element. I'd get them really drunk. Vanessa:
Okay. Dan:
Got to spike their drinks a little bit more. And this is not what I'd really do,
but this is the hypothetical world where I get Donald Trump at my dinner table or Joe Biden.
Vanessa: Okay.
Dan: Joe Biden would just fall asleep. I'm
convinced. He's old and just not with it. Vanessa:
Okay. Well. Dan:
But he'd probably share a lot of information if you got them tipsy.
Vanessa: That would be very interesting.
Dan: Yeah. Just how close are your fingers
to the nuclear buttons, Mr. President? Vanessa:
Do we want to know? Dan:
No. Vanessa:
Well, I feel like for my answer to this question, I chose to go much more personal.
And that's usually when I think about this question, I always
think that more. Dan:
This is the difference between you and me. Vanessa:
Yeah. Because if I met with the current or past presidents of the US,
I don't know what I would do with that information. Okay, so this is what they're
like now, what do I do? Dan:
Share it to the world. Vanessa:
But I think- Dan:
Nobody'd believe you. Vanessa:
I would be very interested from a personal standpoint to meet, on my question number one I
mentioned Antoinette Menifee, my great grandma who came from Italy. I would be very interested to sit
down and have a conversation at dinner with her. Dan:
That would be very interesting. Vanessa:
What kind of woman is she that she met a random man,
moved to another country, left her family, never saw them again and raised six children in
the US? And here we are. Dan:
I have a question. Vanessa:
I'd be very interested. Dan:
Would you go back in time or would she come to current time in this hypothetical universe?
Vanessa: She would come to current times.
Dan: So you want to show her the future?
Vanessa: I wouldn't show her
anything. I would just be eating dinner with her and she would have her entire life experience.
Okay. So I don't want her to be like, so maybe it doesn't matter 90 years old when she
can't remember things, but I don't want her to be 30 years old and she hasn't had a lot of
experiences yet. So this is a magical question. Dan:
60? Vanessa:
I don't know. Dan:
How long did she live, anyways? Vanessa:
I don't know. I met her when I- Dan:
You did? Vanessa:
There's a picture of me on her lap as a baby. Dan:
Oh. Vanessa:
So she lived at least till like 1987, 1988. I don't know how old she was,
but I'm sure she was- Dan:
She was probably pretty old. Vanessa:
She had a lot of life experiences and I'm always curious about what life was like back then. And
I think it would be a personal touch to be like, "Oh, this was someone who is part of me
and some roots." Anyway, that's my answer. So I'm curious for you,
if you had a magical dinner party, who would you like to invite someone dead or alive? Let us know
in the comments. I'm curious to see what you have to say and let's go to our next question.
Vanessa: The 14th question is about
pets. What kind of pet would you like to have? Dan:
What kind of pet? If I could have any pets. Vanessa:
If you could have any pet. Dan:
In the world. Vanessa:
Yes. Dan:
That I don't already have. Vanessa:
Well, we have chickens. Dan:
We have cats and chickens. Vanessa:
Tadpoles that turned into frogs, cats. Do we have anything else at the moment?
Dan: Well, okay.
I can think of one ... Vanessa:
A caterpillar. Dan:
... that does not really fit our family. Vanessa:
Okay. Dan:
And it is a smart dog that doesn't bark too much. Vanessa:
Our child hates barking dogs. Dan:
Well, I hate barking too. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
But I really like dogs to a degree. Certain dogs I really like, because I just feel like humans and
dogs, they really are man's best friend. But when I think about how much work a dog takes and it's
like almost taking on another family member. Vanessa:
Oh yeah. Dan:
And it just doesn't really fit. Not to mention
our oldest son is extremely afraid of dogs. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
And he really, really does not like them. Vanessa:
Yeah. If you have any tips about how to help kids feel more comfortable with dogs without
traumatizing them, I need some help. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Let me know in the comments. Dan:
We're working on. It. It's a work in progress. Vanessa:
Yep. Dan:
But also, I don't think you like dogs as much as I do.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: I don't think you would put
it on a bucket list. It's almost a bucket list thing for me to have a dog someday. A cool dog,
like a Border Collie or an Australian Shepherd. Something that's noble, smart, fast, cunning and
difficult to keep. Because border collies are notorious for needing lots and lots of exercise.
Vanessa: Yeah. If we were farmers,
maybe. We worked on a farm. Dan:
We're getting there. Vanessa:
But we have a big garden. We worked on a farm in the south of France and they had a Border Collie
that was so fun and so smart. Dan:
You could see the intelligence in that dog's eyes. Vanessa:
Oh yeah. That dog was amazing. But that dog was living in the perfect place. It had
endless stimulation, endless exercise. Dan:
Never went inside. Vanessa:
That dog could work there. Yeah. It was great. But I think it's also smart to know what animals
don't fit your life. And for us, at least at the moment, we have a lot of smart, fast
running around creatures in our house called children. So we're at our capacity.
Dan: Yes. Yeah. And there's also more
dogs that I actually dislike than like. There's a lot of dogs I'm just like, "No, thank you."
Small yippy dogs, no. No, thanks. No. Vanessa:
It's not your style. Dan:
Not my thing. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
It'd need to be bigger, smarter, noble, cunning. These are the words that come to my mind when I
think of a cool dog. Vanessa:
Okay, yeah. A dog that helps you in some way too. A working dog, maybe.
Dan: Sure. That's not even necessary.
Just one that can catch a Frisbee. Vanessa:
Oh, that sounds fun. Cool. Well, our kids are getting there.
Did you have another one? I thought you said you had a second one.
Dan: Oh, well, so I also said some fish.
Vanessa: Oh.
Dan: Like a giant fish.
Vanessa: What's giant mean?
Dan: This is-
Vanessa: Like a whale?
Dan: Both of these are unrealistic.
Because you said any pet. Vanessa:
Yeah. It's okay. We can dream. Dan:
When you get into the aquarium world. Let me tell you about the aquarium world. You can get
pretty detailed and intense about it. And there are some really cool fish. There's one, I think
it's called a arowana. Vanessa:
Okay. Dan:
I want to say, and they can get like this big. Vanessa:
What kind of tank do you have to have? Dan:
They're shiny and they can be gold or red, but they'll literally sell for $10,000.
Vanessa: What? And you probably have to
have a tank the size of this room. Dan:
And you need a big tank. Probably not the size of the room.
Vanessa: Oh my goodness.
Dan: I wouldn't want to spend money on it.
I'd never bring myself to spend money on it. Vanessa:
You can't justify spending money on it. Dan:
If somebody just gave me the supplies and the fish, I'd set it up and be happy.
Vanessa: Okay. That's a good dream. Yeah. Like my dream.
Dan: Yeah. How about you?
Vanessa: I said-
Dan: A dinosaur.
Vanessa: No, I said a cow.
Dan: Oh.
Vanessa: Yeah. I think it would be cool to have a cow, but-
Dan: Daisy.
Vanessa: The only way I would have a cow is if basically
I was just the owner and someone else came every day to milk the cow. Somebody prepared, took care
of the cow. I don't want to take care of it. Dan:
And in this scenario you're a noble woman. Vanessa:
Yes. Dan:
Living in her manor. Vanessa:
Yes. And I would say, "Go take care of my cow down there." Basically. I just want lots of milk.
Lots of milk- Dan:
Free milk. Vanessa:
... to make ... It's not free. There's a lot of work into a cow.
Dan: Okay. Not so free.
Vanessa: I have to pay the person
who takes care of the cow. Dan:
You're not touching udders. Vanessa:
Having endless amounts of yogurt, cheese, milk, that's from your fresh dairy cow. That's cool.
But it's also extremely hard. Dan:
They poop all over your yard. Vanessa:
Well, I don't even need to keep it in my yard. Dan:
So do the chickens. Oh. Vanessa:
It would be on my farm.
Dan: Oh.
Vanessa: It would be
in someone else's farm and I would just own that cow.
Dan: On your manor.
Vanessa: But there's actually,
I was thinking about this the other day, we stayed at an Airbnb that was a farm and they have some
cows and horses and chickens and they have a milk sharing program where you can buy part of the cow.
So you're not actually like I buy the leg of the cow, that kind of thing. They're saying, if you
buy part of the cow, the ownership of this cow, you will get a certain amount of milk
per month from that cow. So it's what I'm thinking.
You don't have to do any work, but you get the milk. Yeah. And you pay for it. But it's local
and it's going back to justifying, spending more money on high quality animal products.
Dan: We could just do that.
Vanessa: We eat a lot of yogurt and I hate
to buy all the yogurt. We buy a bulk big yogurt container, but we go through so many of those.
We eat yogurt a lot. Our kids eat yogurt a lot. Dan:
Our kids love yogurt. Vanessa:
Yeah. I think that if we had something like a milk sharing program, we would,
or I would be more inclined to just make some yogurt in the Crockpot or something and have
that at home. Anyway. Dan:
That's a very Vanessa answer. Vanessa:
That's a dream. Dan:
A cow that you don't want to take care of. Vanessa:
No, I don't want to take care of it. Dan:
Those people that had the cow at the Airbnb, they looked really tired.
Vanessa: They said-
Dan: They had three cows,
two cows? Vanessa:
They said the word we would use to describe having a cow is relentless. They said rain or shine,
sick or not. Dan:
You got to milk them. Vanessa:
Christmas or Thanksgiving, any day, twice a day, they have to go to the barn and milk that cow.
Dan: Yeah. And it's just two people there.
Vanessa: Yeah. They didn't hire anyone to
help them, so they never get a vacation, which they could hire someone to help occasionally.
Dan: I will just say-
Vanessa: Anyway. Not my style.
Dan: I saw a twinge of regret in her eyes
when she was talking about this decision. Vanessa:
Yeah. They loved those cows and they took good care of them. But they're like, "Oh,
this is relentless." Dan:
Yeah. Because in their previous life, they weren't ... Well life. Jobs or careers,
they weren't farmers at all. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
They made a conscious decision to go back to
farming. Vanessa:
Yeah. Anyway, that's my answer, a cow. Dan:
That could be you. Vanessa:
That could be me. We'll see. Anyway, what about you? What pet,
if you could have any pet in the world, or any animal really, it doesn't even have to be a pet,
what would you have? Let us know in the comments. And we'll go to our final question. Are you ready?
Dan: Ready.
Vanessa: Let's go. The final question. Question number 15.
We've made it this far is about books. Something that's a love of my life. The
question is- Dan:
And not as much mine. Vanessa:
Yeah, so I'm very curious what you have to say about this.
What is a book that you would recommend everyone read because you loved it so much?
Dan: Yeah. My answer's definitely a cop out here.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: Because I don't read that much. And
the most I ever read, we had a book club and it basically required me to read. And I like reading
a lot. I just don't do it. I find myself listening to something or watching something first.
So my cop out answer is some parenting book. Vanessa:
Oh, okay. Dan:
So the one that comes to my mind is called Peaceful Parenting, but I don't think it
specifically has to be that. It just has to be something that is not too modern, but not just
handed down generationally, like, "I just do what my parents did." Something intentional, training
people basically how to be better, kinder, gentler parents for their children. How to talk to them
better. There's a lot of strategies and tips you can get for talking about or talking to children.
And the book also needs to have like a lot of what's that child psychology informing it
scientifically because the more you learn about children, the more you learn that they are
developing at different times and rates and you might think they can handle something,
but in reality, their brains literally can't handle it. So that gives you more patience.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Dan: Because there's a lot of people,
a lot of parents who just think their kids are stubborn or just want to yell at them for things,
but they don't really get the full picture about the child's development and their needs.
Vanessa: Yeah. Yeah.
Dan: So that's my answer even though
it's not really one specific book. Vanessa:
Don't worry. Dan:
I have other books that I really enjoyed, but maybe aren't as relevant to people. One that came
to my mind is called Educated. Vanessa:
Oh, that was an interesting book. Yeah. Dan:
But that feels really relevant to me because I was homeschooled. And so this girl was homeschooled,
but in a really bad environment. And so it's that story basically of being extremely sheltered. And
basically even in that terrible environment, there's almost pros and cons to it.
It almost made her stronger in some ways, even though it was awful.
Vanessa: That's an interesting story.
Dan: That was a very interesting book to me.
Vanessa: Yeah. I would say for the parenting books,
I have an Amazon link. Dan:
She's got a list for you. Vanessa:
I do. It's a Speak English With Vanessa Amazon book storefront. So I've chosen a bunch of books
that I recommend because I've made a lot of videos about books on this channel. So in the description
of this video, you can see the Amazon link for my book recommendations and there's different
folders. There's children's books, there's beginner English books. If you've never read
a book in English before, this is what I recommend reading there's intermediate books, there's
nonfiction books. Vanessa:
And in that children's book section are books for children, but also parenting book recommendations
that have really impacted us and have been useful in our lives. For example, a book called
Hunt, Gather, Parent. There's another book called Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids. And if you
have more than one child Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings is amazing. We've read a lot of these
styles of books. And I think it's just changing your mindset about how to respect your child,
but also still be the authority. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
Anyway, like Dan said- Dan:
It's a tough balance. Vanessa:
... some psychology as well. So there's a lot of recommendations. If you click on that
Amazon link and you would like to dive into the world of a better relationship with your child,
Dan: Especially if you got kids out there.
Vanessa: Oh yeah. Or you are interacting with children.
Anyway, it's very insightful. My recommendation was also on a similar nonfiction route. Because
I've read a lot of fiction that's personally made me feel passionate about different topics.
And I love reading fiction and diving into different worlds, especially historical
fiction where you're learning about something in history. But I would say the book that made me
within the last two years, the most passionate, can you guess?
Dan: Something about Native Americans?
Vanessa: No, I do read a lot about native Americans
though. Is a book called Digital Minimalism. Dan:
Oh yeah. I thought you were talking fiction. Vanessa:
Yes. Which is- Dan:
Or nonfiction. Vanessa:
Oh, this one is not fiction. Dan:
This is nonfiction. Vanessa:
It's ironic because we are here sharing this on social media.
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: But if you feel like you
look at your phone too much, or if you feel like, "Why did it seem like life was so much more simple
in the 1990s?" Dan:
It was. Vanessa:
This is a wonderful book to read, Digital Minimalism. It confirmed everything that I
suspected or that I thought about, especially about phones, but about media in general.
Dan: Technology.
Vanessa: But it gave a better
plan for what to do because you can't just cut out YouTube from your life. I need-
Dan: I don't know about that.
Vanessa: You can't cut out Vanessa's videos. When I need
to, for example, do something with the garden, what do I do when I don't know? I Google it. I
watch a YouTube video. It's very useful in many ways, say for education or even for entertainment,
but this book helps you to have a good plan so that you are the one in control of your media use.
It's not just social media. It could be watching the news all the time. It could be listening to
podcasts all the time, whatever it is. I feel like this book helped me to create a better
plan for myself so that I felt more in control. So I highly recommend this book because I feel
like it's ubiquitous that everyone, especially if you're watching this on YouTube in some way ...
Dan: Struggles.
Vanessa: ... uses technology more than they would like.
Dan: Yeah.
Vanessa: And technology's not a bad thing.
Dan: It's a modern problem.
Vanessa: Yeah. It's just something that can easily
get out of hand, which is a great expression. Dan:
So do you have any fiction books though? Vanessa:
Oh yes. But that is ... Dan:
Recommendations? Vanessa:
... a whole nother rabbit hole. Dan:
Yeah. Vanessa:
I would recommend if you want to read- Dan:
We didn't mention fiction. Vanessa:
Yeah. Dan:
You got to say one thing at least. Vanessa:
Well, I do recommend watching my videos about fiction book recommendations.
Dan: She's got a whole video
about it right here. Vanessa:
I have four videos. Dan:
Or is it here? Vanessa:
Three videos I think so far about book recommendations. If you would like to
watch my video about books to learn about America. So they're American books about American
culture or they're books that are popular about the US. There's books I mentioned about
beginner English books. If you've never read a book in English before I made a video about those.
Nonfiction books, I think I did an advanced book video as well. There are a lot. So I
will put those links in the description. Please dive into that if you're interested in reading.
It's something I'm passionate about, so I'm always happy to share more about it.
And I'm glad this last question was something that is so exciting for me. Yes. Well,
thank you so much everyone for joining us today for this very,
very long conversation. Dan:
Yes. We hope you enjoyed it. Vanessa:
Yes. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that you can dive into it a little bit deeper if you would
like to download the free MP3. I mean not MP3, PDF. It's been a long morning making this video.
If you would like to download the free PDF worksheet for this video, there is a link in
the description. You'll get access to all of the questions, some of the key sentences that we said,
and if all goes well, next week I will be making a video specifically focusing on some key vocabulary
from this video. We'll expand. I'll be explaining- Dan:
Dive into our ramblings. Vanessa:
Yes. Explaining some of the key expressions that we talked about in this video. Not all of them,
but the ones that I deem the most important. So stay tuned next week. You can download the
PDF today and then join me next week to dive into the vocabulary a little deeper. Well, thanks Dan.
Dan: You're welcome.
Vanessa: This has been a journey this morning.
Dan: Many questions.
Vanessa: Many questions.
Dan: Many answers. Did we solve the meaning of life?
Vanessa: Oh, that's a
good question. Let us know. Do you think we solved the meaning of life? What is the meaning of life?
Dan: I think we did as best we could.
Vanessa: If you made it to the end of this video,
I would like to give you a little ... Dan:
High five. Vanessa:
A high five, and also a little surprise. Dan:
Oh. Vanessa:
If you made it to the end of this video in the comments, I want you to write
blue water bottle. And when I see that in the comments, I'll know you finished this video
because you wrote blue water bottle. Dan:
You saw the blue water bottle. Vanessa:
Oh, it's here. Okay. Well that's our little secret nugget at the end of this video. Thank
you so much for joining us. And I will see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my
YouTube channel. Bye. Dan:
Bye. Vanessa:
The next step is to download the free PDF worksheet for this lesson.
With this free PDF, you will master today's lesson and never forget what you have learned. You can be
a confident English speaker. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube
channel for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye!

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it

Exam Level

Level

Exam Level

Level

stuff

basically

experience

conversation

nostalgia

property

mechanism

similar

cabin

fiction

competitive

defense

justify

place

kind

hit

spend

dirt

education

learn

slide

lot

catch

patience

amazing

electronic

question

great

remember

interesting

area

restaurant

world

cancer

pet

kid

video

smart

yogurt

cow

download

grandma