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  • Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

  • Dan: And I'm Dan.

  • Vanessa: My husband, who is also going to be giving another perspective in today's conversation.

  • Today we're bringing you an amazing, long, English conversation, so prepare your ears,

  • prepare your mind.

  • We're going to be talking about 12 different topics, and hopefully providing some new expressions

  • and new ways to think about life.

  • I don't know about that, but at least some English help for you.

  • Dan: Yeah, it's going to get personal today, so get ready.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • All right, are you ready to get started?

  • Dan: I'm ready.

  • Vanessa: Let's go.

  • Our first topic is family, and my question is, who do you think that you're the most

  • like?

  • Dan: Who am I the most like, in appearance?

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • Dan: Both appearance and character?

  • Vanessa: Yeah, both.

  • Dan: Okay, so appearance I look mostly like my mom, I think.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: I have more of her skin tone, I have her eyes.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: And on her side of the family, most of the people are pretty skinny, and I'm a rather

  • skinny guy.

  • My dad's side is German, and they tend to be a little bit bigger.

  • So yeah, I definitely got my mom's side.

  • But character wise, I think I'm a little more like my dad.

  • Would you agree?

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I'd say you have shades of your dad.

  • Dan: You know me so well, so you can answer this, too.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Yeah, I think you have shades of your dad.

  • Yeah.

  • Dan: Shades, yeah.

  • I think I'm more silly than my dad, that's not very hard because my dad is pretty serious.

  • Vanessa: Ah, he's got a silly side though.

  • Dan: He does, yeah.

  • But for the most part, I think I'm more like my dad because he has a very calm demeanor,

  • he's very patient, and he doesn't get stressed about anything.

  • And actually, my dad gets so unstressed about everything, I can't even understand it.

  • I'm like, "How are you so calm right now?"

  • And everybody I know thinks that I'm the most stress free person they know.

  • Vanessa: But your dad is even more stress free.

  • Dan: Yeah, but we're similar, like growing up when my parents would be going somewhere,

  • and needing to get out of the house, me and my dad would be the last one out of the house

  • every single time.

  • Then we would be like, "What?

  • We'll make it.

  • We'll be okay.

  • No problem."

  • Vanessa: And your mom, and brother, and sister were saying, "Come on, hurry."

  • Dan: And my mom is like, "Ah, let's go."

  • My mom is much more high stress, anxious kind of personality.

  • Vanessa: That's kind of a typical family situation, I think.

  • Dan: Yeah, how about you?

  • Vanessa: I think I have both my parents in me as well.

  • I think I look a lot like my mom.

  • Dan: Yeah, she looks exactly like her mom, though, like to a T.

  • Vanessa: Sometimes when I see pictures of myself, and then I look at a picture of her

  • at the same age, I think, "Whoa.

  • We look really similar."

  • And she looks a lot like her mom, so I can kind of imagine what I'll look like when I'm

  • getting older.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • I mean, you have darker hair, and darker features.

  • You got that from your dad.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, somewhat.

  • But I think a lot of my features are similar to my mom.

  • But I think I also got my facial expressions from my mom.

  • Dan: Yes.

  • Vanessa: A lot of comment that, "Wow, Vanessa, you have a lot of expressions."

  • Dan: Your mom is very expressive, just like you.

  • Vanessa: And I think it's true that I use a lot of expressions, but it's just natural

  • for me.

  • I do this in daily life as I'm talking about things.

  • And I think that I get that from my mom, sometimes I see some of her expressions and I realize,

  • "Oh, I do that too."

  • Dan: Yeah, I remember when we lived in South Korea, every single Korean person was commenting

  • on Vanessa's expressions.

  • They're like, "Your face, it's so exciting.

  • How are you making so many faces?"

  • Everybody was surprised.

  • Vanessa: I don't know.

  • Dan: I guess in Korea they don't make as many faces.

  • Vanessa: I don't know, maybe it's just not.

  • Maybe it's just an unusual trait.

  • I'm grateful for that, especially as a teacher, I can hopefully help to explain some different

  • concepts with my face as well.

  • But I feel like I also have parts of my dad.

  • My dad is a pretty rational guy.

  • Dan: You're rational like your dad.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, but I think I also have his sense of humor, sometimes a little strange

  • sense of humor, but we laugh at the same things, we enjoy playing games, and being competitive,

  • so I think that that side of me, maybe some of the character side of me, is similar to

  • him.

  • But I feel like I also have parts of my grandma.

  • My grandma is a go, go, go, go person.

  • Dan: Oh, that's true.

  • Yeah.

  • Vanessa: She never stops, and I think my biggest flaw is that I have difficulty slowing down

  • and relaxing, I just keep going and I think that-

  • Dan: That's why she's with me.

  • Vanessa: ... I need help relaxing.

  • Dan: I help her relax.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, so I think that my grandma's like this too, that she's always going, and

  • always doing things, and it's healthy to slow down every now and then.

  • And so, I need to do that, she probably needs to do that too sometimes.

  • But I don't know if I learned that from her, but maybe that's just part of my-

  • Dan: I think it's your personality.

  • Vanessa: ... DNA, my character.

  • Dan: Yeah, I can remember even when I first met Vanessa, she was more go, go, go than

  • she is now.

  • Vanessa: Oh, you think so?

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • More like so this thing, then the next, and the enthusiasm was always, she was like bouncing

  • everywhere.

  • Vanessa: I always have a lot of enthusiasm, that's true.

  • Dan: Yes, it was off the charts.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, so I want to know for you, who are you most like in your family?

  • Is it maybe your physical traits or for your character?

  • All right, let's go on to our second question.

  • The next topic is childhood.

  • I want to know when do you think childhood ends, and when do you become an adult?

  • Dan: When does childhood end?

  • Vanessa: This is a deep question.

  • Dan: Well, I don't think it can be a specific age, I think it's different for everyone.

  • I think it's at any point you can leave this house of your parents and live on your own,

  • take care of yourself, and you're not dependent on somebody else.

  • Like if you're living with your friends and bumming off them, you're probably not an adult

  • yet.

  • So if I had to pick an age, I'd probably say 16.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: Yeah, I'm saying kind of young.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: In an ideal world, I think a 16 year old should be ready.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Okay.

  • I get it.

  • At 16 were you ready?

  • Dan: No, of course not.

  • Vanessa: Ideally.

  • Dan: Ideally, yeah.

  • I don't think our society prepares us to be ready at 16.

  • It prepares you to be ready at 18.

  • Vanessa: Or later.

  • Dan: Right, or later.

  • But you know, in an ideal world I think you could be ready at 16, but it's a kind of complicated

  • world now, so maybe 18 is an acceptable age.

  • Vanessa: I feel like, for me, I have less ideas about childhood ending and adulthood

  • starting that are physical.

  • I feel like it has more to do with making your own decisions.

  • There might be a lot of reasons why you have to live at home, or you have to be dependent

  • on someone else, but if you are making your own decisions you are not a child, you're

  • an adult.

  • And I'm sure as our children get older and become teenagers, that's going to be a little

  • bit harder for us to make that line for someone else, but I know for myself-

  • Dan: Well, this is- Vanessa: ... making more decisions.

  • Dan: ... assuming you are capable as a person to live on your own, of course.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Yeah, I think you can still be an adult just making your own decisions, but we still need

  • help from other people as adults, so there's a... it's a gray area.

  • Dan: Sure.

  • Yeah.

  • I would- Vanessa: Yeah, it's not so clear.

  • Dan: ... also add, I don't know, for myself personally, having children really makes you

  • an adult.

  • It doesn't have to be true for everyone, but I think it's easier for some people to just

  • kind of be really selfish, and do their own thing, and kind of live like a kid, especially

  • nowadays because we have so much entertainment, you could just watch TV every day.

  • A lot of guys I know play video games a lot, and I'm not knocking on video games but playing

  • video games every day is a good way to remain a child, at heart anyways.

  • Vanessa: Sure.

  • Dan: This is my opinion, it's a little judgemental, but-

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I think if you are a good person, and you have a child, then you feel forced

  • to be become an adult.

  • Dan: Yes.

  • Vanessa: There's still bad people who have kids, who remain children themselves-

  • Dan: That's true.

  • Vanessa: ... and then they're bad parents.

  • But I think if you're generally a good person, when you have kids, it's kind of a shock.

  • Dan: Yeah, well- Vanessa: Like, "Whoa, this child is so dependent

  • on me.

  • I need to be responsible.

  • I have to organize myself somehow."

  • You have to change.

  • Dan: ... I think being an adult, part of it is having a burden of responsibility of some

  • kind, whether it's a job, or your house payments, or whatever it is.

  • Some people add those burdens of responsibility anyways without children, but I don't know,

  • for me, it's just different.

  • Like, "This is the person I'm taking care of in my life."

  • People now- Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: ... because we've got two.

  • Vanessa: Well, two coming up soon.

  • So I have a question for you, when do you think childhood ends?

  • When does adulthood start?

  • It's going to be different for every culture, too because this is a pretty cultural specific

  • question.

  • Maybe in the U.S.- Dan: Yeah, maybe you have a-

  • Vanessa: ... it's different than your country.

  • Dan: ... maybe you have a rite of passage in your country.

  • Vanessa: Oh, can you explain what a rite of passage is?

  • Because that's kind of a nuanced thing.

  • Dan: Yeah, a rite of passage is something that every boy or every girl does to become

  • an adult.

  • Vanessa: Oh, like some ceremony, or activity.

  • Dan: Yeah, like a ceremony.

  • Yeah, I mean, we don't really have this in the U.S., some people say college is a rite

  • of passage, but not...

  • I mean, more and more, almost everybody goes to college now.

  • Vanessa: A lot of people do, but- Dan: Yeah, so it kind of is, but it's a really

  • bad one because usually people just go, and they have parties, and they live really irresponsibly.

  • Vanessa: It's not a way to become a responsible adult.

  • Dan: Yeah, and then you do more school.

  • Vanessa: Ah, yes.

  • Dan: It's not really becoming a man.

  • Vanessa: Changing your life completely.

  • Yeah.

  • So I'm curious, in your country is there something that signifies, "Now you are an adult.", this

  • kind of rite of passage ceremony, or festivity, or party that you have.

  • In the U.S. we don't really have that, but I think it's kind of a cool idea that you're

  • celebrating- Dan: I wish we did.

  • Vanessa: ... this big change, going from childhood to adulthood, and it is a gray area, at least

  • in the U.S. it's a really gray area, so it's nice to celebrate that as parents, that your

  • kids are adults, hopefully.

  • And that as a child, "Oh, great, now I'm an adult.

  • Society sees me as an adult."

  • So I think it's kind of a cool idea, but maybe it's something we can do with our future kids.

  • All right, let's go onto the next topic.

  • The next topic is jobs.

  • I want to know what was your worst job ever.

  • Dan: Worst job ever?

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: Well, I have two competing jobs.

  • Vanessa: Hopefully it's not your current job, making English lessons.

  • Dan: It's video editing and doing these videos.

  • Vanessa: Oh, no.

  • Dan: I can't stand working with my wife.

  • Just kidding.

  • It's the best.

  • Yeah.

  • So yeah, really my worst job, if I had to pick just one, it would be being a dishwasher.

  • Vanessa: Oh, okay.

  • Dan: Now notice, there's no differentiation between the machine, a dishwasher, and the

  • person who is a dishwasher, it's the same word.

  • Vanessa: So you were like the machine, you were washing dishes.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • I mean, you did have a machine, so you'd have something on the side you'd slide the dishes

  • in and all that, but it's just, I was also like, I think I was 16 at the time, an adult

  • and I had no friends in the restaurant.

  • They were all older and they were all really tough.

  • I don't know, in America, when you... the kitchens have a reputation for having really

  • kind of tough kitchen cooks, and they all... they swear a lot, and they make foul jokes-

  • Vanessa: They've had a lot of life experiences.

  • Dan: ... and I was just like a little Christian 16 year old kid, washing dishes in the corner,

  • trying to look like relatively normal.

  • But I didn't talk to anybody- Vanessa: And you were homeschooled.

  • Yeah, no experiences.

  • Dan: Yeah, well at that time I was in high school.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah, yeah.

  • Dan: But it was a small, private school.

  • Anyway- Vanessa: You were very different from the

  • other people.

  • Dan: ... not only was that really awkward, it was also bad because washing dishes just

  • kind of stinks.

  • You just get all the dishes, and some of the guys used to make fun that I wasn't going

  • fast enough.

  • One guy said, "Dan, you have two speeds, slow and stop."

  • Vanessa: You're like a turtle?

  • Dan: Yeah, I'm like a turtle.

  • Vanessa: Well, sometimes I still say that.

  • Dan: I wasn't fast enough, and another time I reached into the mucky, dirty water and

  • I cut my finger on a broken glass and I was bleeding in the water.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Things you don't want to know when you visit a restaurant.

  • Dan: And I was paid under the table.

  • Vanessa: Oh, really?

  • Dan: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

  • Vanessa: Why'd they have to pay you under the table?

  • Dan: I don't know, because it's an Italian restaurant-

  • Vanessa: Because you were too young?

  • Dan: ... in rural Pennsylvania.

  • Vanessa: They didn't want to pay taxes on their employees or something?

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: Plus who wants to pay taxes on a dishwasher?

  • Vanessa: I wonder if it was because you were 16, like was there an age limit?

  • Dan: I might have even been 15 at the time.

  • Vanessa: Okay, maybe you were under the legal age that they could hire someone-

  • Dan: Could be.

  • Vanessa: ... so they just paid you under the table.

  • Dan: Yeah, so that was pretty bad.

  • Vanessa: That sounds pretty bad.

  • Dan: Yeah, it was an awkward job.

  • Vanessa: Especially as a first job, it just seems uncomfortable.

  • Dan: That was my second job.

  • Yeah.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Well- Dan: How about you?

  • Vanessa: ... I feel like- Dan: Could it beat that?

  • Vanessa: Well, I feel like my worst job wasn't bad because of the social situation like yours,

  • it was bad because it was so boring.

  • I worked for a summer at this office, I was like a temporary employee just for the summer,

  • working kind of like a call center job.

  • But every day they gave us these scripts and we had to call companies who maybe this company

  • bought a printer within the last couple months.

  • Dan: I'm bored just listening about it.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, and I called the company and said company and said, "Oh, I saw that you

  • recently bought the HP Inkjet printer, and we have a upcoming training session on this

  • day.

  • Would you like to attend the training session about this printer?"

  • Dan: She does have a really good call voice, though.

  • Vanessa: And I called so many companies again and again, talking with secretaries, talking

  • with other people, just saying, "Do you want to go to this seminar about..." some electronic

  • device that they had recently bought.

  • Dan: If you called me, I'd be like, "Yeah, I do.

  • Can I buy more?"

  • Vanessa: Well, people were generally nice to me, it was just... it wasn't a subject

  • that I was interested in, it wasn't something I was trained to do, so I didn't feel like

  • it was my specialty, it was just a temporary job to make money.

  • Dan: And you were sitting in an office all day, right?

  • Vanessa: Yeah, it was my first office job.

  • Dan: Vanessa doesn't like to sit very long.

  • Vanessa: No, I have to go, go, go, like we talked about.

  • So sitting in that office desk, it was just not my thing.

  • But the office, on the other hand, did really try to make it interesting for the employees,

  • because they knew most of the people I worked with were in a similar position as me, where

  • it wasn't their life-long dream to work in that job.

  • So about once a week, we had these game show competitions-

  • Dan: That sounds fun.

  • Vanessa: ... where at lunch, during the lunch break, everyone would go to the lunchroom,

  • if you wanted to of course, and they had these competitions kind of like Wheel of Fortune,

  • or Jeopardy, and the company just had them for the employees.

  • Sometimes we had dress up days where we dressed up like cowboys, or dressed up like... they

  • were trying to make it interesting.

  • Dan: Come on, this is better than being a dishwasher.

  • Vanessa: It's probably better than being a dishwasher, but I just felt like they were

  • trying so hard to keep employees- Dan: To make it interesting.

  • Vanessa: ... to make it interesting- Dan: All right.

  • Vanessa: ... because they knew this is not an interesting job.

  • Dan: Yeah, can I say my second worst job?

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah.

  • Sure.

  • Dan: Can you guess what it is?

  • Vanessa: I know you worked at a lot of coffee shops, but those weren't that bad.

  • Dan: Working at a coffee shop is good.

  • It's fun.

  • Vanessa: Okay, well what was it?

  • Dan: It's the sharpshooter.

  • Vanessa: Oh, can you explain about that job?

  • Dan: Yeah, so I don't know if you've ever seen this in your country, but have you ever

  • been to a place where somebody takes your picture, and then later they try to sell you

  • that picture?

  • I was that guy.

  • So we took the same pictures, it was going onto a boat on one of the rivers in Pittsburgh.

  • Vanessa: So it was kind of like a cruise boat, but a river cruise.

  • Dan: Yeah, kind of.

  • It was very kitschy though, like not high class at all.

  • So people, before they got on the boat, we forced them to stop and go through the line,

  • and we'd take their picture.

  • And it was required, but people were like, "I don't want to get my picture taken."

  • Vanessa: And everyone had their own cameras and phones.

  • Dan: And this is...

  • Yeah.

  • Mind you, this is in like 2010, where people already have phones on their cameras and stuff.

  • I mean, that's at least getting more popular.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, they didn't need your picture.

  • Dan: No.

  • So I had to take everybody's picture, and then when they got off the boat, I stood at

  • the side and said, "Hey, come over here, buy this picture."

  • And they were like $20 for one picture.

  • Vanessa: Crazy.

  • Dan: A terrible rip-off, even I knew it was a terrible rip-off, just not a worthwhile

  • business, at least in 2010 when I was doing that job.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, maybe 10 years before that it would have been cool.

  • Dan: Yeah, it was a viable business like 30 years ago.

  • Vanessa: But not now.

  • Dan: Yeah, but not any more.

  • That was really bad, and one time somebody stole one of my pictures and I actually got

  • fired from that job.

  • Vanessa: Because they stole a picture.

  • Dan: Because they stole a picture and I couldn't...

  • I didn't catch them on time, and I was like, "Good riddance."

  • Vanessa: Yeah, "Goodbye to this job.

  • Goodbye forever."

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • The only reason this was better than the other job, than dish washing, is because I worked

  • with some people who were funny and we got along pretty well.

  • Vanessa: And you were outside, you were by the river.

  • Dan: It was okay.

  • Vanessa: Except you did have to drive an hour to get there, that's crazy.

  • Dan: I did drive an hour to work.

  • Vanessa: You should never drive an hour to get to a part-time job.

  • Dan: But that was my fault, I wanted to work in Pittsburgh, and I still lived... did I

  • live with my parents?

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I think so.

  • Dan: I think I did.

  • I wasn't an adult yet.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Oh.

  • All right.

  • Well, I'm curious for you, what is the worst job that you've ever had?

  • Let us know.

  • And let's go to the next topic.

  • The next topic is travel.

  • I want to know what are three locations that you would like to visit or revisit in the

  • U.S.? Dan: In the U.S.?

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • Dan: Why just the U.S.? Vanessa: Well, the world's a big place, so

  • I had to narrow down the question somehow.

  • Dan: Okay.

  • All right.

  • The first place I'd say is the Grand Canyon.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: Because of course you have to see the Grand Canyon, right?

  • I've never been there.

  • I used to live in Colorado, but my family never made a trip to the Grand Canyon, and

  • it just would be an amazing sight, I'm sure of it.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Yeah.

  • Dan: Second would be the Pacific Northwest, just in general.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: Because I've heard it- Vanessa: Not like Portland, Seattle, and specific?

  • Just- Dan: I think I would like to go to Seattle

  • because it's a big city and the city sounds cool.

  • Not many cities in the U.S. are that interesting to me because I've traveled in other places

  • in Europe and in Asia.

  • And those cities are so much more vibrant, except for New York City, which is an awesome

  • city.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I'm sure a lot of students- Dan: Sorry, U.S.

  • Vanessa: ... want to visit the U.S. and they want to see these places.

  • Dan: But I'm also from America, so it's like not as-

  • Vanessa: It's always less interesting, yeah.

  • Dan: Yeah, it's less interesting to me.

  • But Seattle seems like a really cool town, and it's higher on my list than, say, Los

  • Angeles, which just kind of seems like a big, sprawling, stinky place.

  • Vanessa: It seems like a lot more- Dan: No offense, L.A.

  • Vanessa: It seems a lot more intimidating, at least.

  • Dan: Okay, that's a nice way to put it.

  • Vanessa: Like there's a lot going on there, but Seattle feels more comfortable.

  • Dan: Yeah, it seems pretty hip, too.

  • Vanessa: The Northwest.

  • Dan: Yeah, the Northwest also because there's big mountains there, and then there's really

  • lush and green forests.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Okay, cool.

  • Dan: And I love taking hikes, and if you go at the right time of the year, because I've

  • heard it's very rainy in the Pacific Northwest, I'd like to go and take a nice hike up to

  • a big mountain- Vanessa: Yes.

  • Dan: ... and maybe hop over to Canada, go to Vancouver, Vancouver Island.

  • Vanessa: That'd be cool.

  • Dan: All of that area sounds really, really cool to me.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I'd be up for that.

  • Dan: Yes.

  • Vanessa: Let's do it.

  • Dan: Let's do it.

  • Vanessa: Tomorrow.

  • Dan: Okay.

  • Vanessa: Maybe not tomorrow- Dan: Okay.

  • Vanessa: ... but I think that'd be really cool.

  • Dan: And third would be Colorado.

  • Vanessa: So revisit Colorado?

  • Dan: This is a revisit.

  • I used to live in Colorado.

  • I grew up there for five years of my life, and it was when I was a kid, and I used to

  • really consider it my home.

  • But now I haven't been back in probably 15 years, or so.

  • Vanessa: Oh, that's a long time.

  • Dan: It's been a really long time since I've been back, and I'd like to go and maybe travel

  • to where I was when I was a kid.

  • It's gotten so much bigger than it was when I was a kid, so I'm sure there's so many more

  • people there.

  • But also, there's really great nature, there's a lot of really big mountains in Colorado,

  • there's the Garden of the Gods, which has really interesting rock formations.

  • As you can tell, we're very nature driven, we want to go see natural places.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, yeah.

  • Well, a lot of my places have to do with nature too.

  • Dan: Yes, let's hear them.

  • Vanessa: I almost said the Grand Canyon, but- Dan: You knew I was going to say it.

  • Vanessa: ... I kind of figured you'd say, and I think it would be really cool to camp

  • in the Grand Canyon, or go for a long hike in the Grand Canyon because you can't just-

  • Dan: With two children?

  • Vanessa: Well, maybe when they're older, or maybe we'll just leave them at home.

  • Dan: They can take it.

  • Vanessa: Because when you are just... when you're looking down at the Grand Canyon, that's

  • incredible, but I imagine going down into the Grand Canyon, that would also be just

  • another part of that- Dan: Oh, yeah.

  • We'd have to- Vanessa: ... it would be so amazing.

  • Dan: ... hike down in the Grand Canyon.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, that'd be really cool.

  • Dan: I should have mentioned that for sure.

  • Vanessa: Maybe with a donkey.

  • Dan: Because we're big hikers, we like to hike everywhere.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Yeah.

  • Well, one of my places is kind of the opposite of yours.

  • It's not a big city, but you said the Pacific Northwest, and I said the Northeast.

  • I've never been to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, this area.

  • And I feel like one of the best road trips would be driving all the way up the East Coast

  • of the U.S., and going around Maine, and coming down through Vermont.

  • I think all of that geography is just really different than everywhere else I've visited

  • in the U.S. I've heard the coasts, like the Northeast coasts are really rocky, and lots

  • of just kind of rugged coastline, that I think would be really cool to see.

  • And the forests, I've heard the forests in Vermont are amazing, just a different type

  • of feel.

  • We live in the mountains here in North Carolina, which is also a great place to visit-

  • Dan: Yes.

  • Vanessa: ... but we already are here.

  • Dan: We live here.

  • Vanessa: But I feel like the mountains, and the forests, and the coast, and other places

  • are pretty various.

  • Dan: Yeah, it's also close to Canada.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, that'd be cool.

  • Dan: Got to hop over to Quebec- Vanessa: Yeah, maybe do that.

  • Dan: ... because that sounds like a really cool place.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: Vanessa speaks French, so- Vanessa: That'd be cool.

  • Dan: ... she'd like to speak some French to some Quebecois.

  • Vanessa: That would be fun.

  • Well, one of my others was kind of similar to what you were saying with Colorado and

  • that area, is going to Yosemite National Park.

  • I feel like it's just a classic place to visit in the U.S. because there's so many national

  • parks on the West Coast, it's kind of hard to choose.

  • So I feel like- Dan: Yeah, well that one's a must, I think.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, it's kind of one of the top three.

  • Dan: Although I've heard it's gotten crazy popular.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah.

  • Dan: You have to be on lists to get in.

  • Vanessa: Whoa, really?

  • Dan: Maybe it's to just camp, I don't know.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah.

  • Dan: Your dad went through a lot of stuff, didn't he?

  • Vanessa: Yeah, when they camped, they had to...

  • I think the camping spots were opened, say like May 3rd, the camping spots were opened

  • and you had to go online to sign up, and the website opened... or the camping registration

  • opened at 6:00 AM, he booked at like 6:05 and there were two spots yet.

  • Everyone was cramming to camp in that spot.

  • Dan: Camping season.

  • Vanessa: So yeah, I guess it's really popular.

  • And that was for the whole year, that wasn't just for that day.

  • That was to book a spot to camp for that whole year.

  • Anyway, that's crazy.

  • So maybe we'll do that.

  • Maybe we need to book it five years in advance, but I think it'd be cool to visit national

  • parks in the west because most tourism, well there's a lot of city tourism in the U.S.,

  • but I feel like a lot of tourism is natural tourism.

  • Dan: Yeah, the meat of our tourism is nature.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Yeah, because I feel like the U.S. is such a young country that we don't have Rome, we

  • don't have these old cities, and this kind of stuff you can visit in cities, it's more

  • nature, which is also old.

  • Dan: Except New York City.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, except New York's got a lot of cool stuff.

  • Dan: As you can tell, I'm a big fan of New York.

  • It's just- Vanessa: It's a cool place to visit.

  • Dan: ... it's a wild animal.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: There's some quote about New York City, it's like, "You'd be crazy to live here, you'd

  • be crazy to leave."

  • Which is perfect.

  • Vanessa: Oh, well I heard another quote that said, "New York is twice as fun, but it's

  • three times as expensive."

  • So it's really fun, but it's even more expensive.

  • Dan: That's also true.

  • Vanessa: Especially if you live there.

  • Well, my third and final place is, can you guess?

  • Dan: I don't remember.

  • Vanessa: Hawaii.

  • Dan: Oh, I read your list before, but I don't remember.

  • Vanessa: Well, I feel like Hawaii, it's in the U.S., but it's not.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: It's so far away, but it's still part of the U.S. and it would be incredible

  • to visit Hawaii.

  • Dan: It's kind of like cheating, it's like, "I'm in the U.S."

  • Vanessa: And it's so far away from the U.S. Dan: But it's like, "This isn't America, come

  • on."

  • Vanessa: Yeah, it would be really cool.

  • I'm curious, if you've ever been to Hawaii if you'd recommend it.

  • I know your parents are planning on going there next May.

  • Dan: Yeah, and get this, my mom was like, "And I booked these extra rooms just in case

  • somebody wanted to join."

  • She winked at us.

  • Vanessa: We will have a two month old baby when they go.

  • Maybe we'll go to Hawaii, I don't know.

  • It's a little soon, I think.

  • Dan: I'm saying, "Yes- Vanessa: We'll let you know.

  • Dan: ... let's go."

  • You'll find out.

  • Vanessa: I think it'd be really cool to go to Hawaii, just to see volcanoes, and hiking,

  • and moving around, and scuba diving, and it's so different.

  • Dan: That would be the problem.

  • Trying to do all we want to do.

  • But if my parents are there, they can watch the kids.

  • Vanessa: They can watch our kids, so we're going to crash their vacation and make them

  • watch our kids- Dan: Yes.

  • Yes.

  • Vanessa: ... while we go have fun?

  • Dan: Vacation crashers.

  • Vanessa: Sounds great, so I'm curious for you, what are some locations that you'd like

  • to visit in the U.S.? Or maybe somewhere that you've already been that you'd like to go

  • back to.

  • Let us know.

  • Let's go on to the next topic.

  • The next topic is food.

  • Dan: Yes.

  • Vanessa: I want to know, what are some of your favorite foods, specifically to cook

  • at home?

  • Dan: To cook at home?

  • Well- Vanessa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

  • Not to eat, not that someone else makes, but that we cook at home.

  • Dan: Yes, usually I go for bulk items.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: Not bulk items, bulk meals.

  • Something that I can get for days, and days, and days.

  • Vanessa: Or you could put it in the freezer and have the next week.

  • Dan: This is a very, I think, a male way to think about it.

  • You've got to make a bulk and make it last.

  • Vanessa: Ah, utilitarian cooking.

  • Dan: Yes.

  • Although, you're kind of similar, I think.

  • Vanessa: I don't like making a new meal every single day.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: If we have a soup that's in the freezer that we made the week before, that's great,

  • save some time.

  • Dan: Sure, yeah.

  • The first thing I like to make, I think we have the same one-

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah?

  • Dan: ... is chili.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah.

  • Dan: Yeah, we both like to make chili.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, some people call this chili con carne in other countries, but in the U.S.

  • we just say, "Chili."

  • Dan: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

  • Usually I make the chili, so I mean, it's so easy to make, you just ground up some beef,

  • then you chop a bunch of vegetables, add a ton of spices, throw it in a pot and make

  • it boil, and it's done.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Yeah, it's great.

  • And it gets even better as it kind of melds those flavors together over a couple days.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • And you throw in some cheese, and sour cream, and some kind of grain, some rice or something.

  • And yeah, it's always very satisfying, it reminds me of fall and winter.

  • It's a very nice, cozy meal.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Hot tip, don't leave it on your counter for three days and then try to eat it.

  • It should always go in the fridge after you eat it.

  • Dan: Who did that?

  • Vanessa: Dan did that in college- Dan: Oh.

  • Vanessa: ... and got sick.

  • Dan: I didn't leave it on the counter, my roommate left the chili out.

  • Vanessa: Oh, and you just ate it?

  • Dan: Yeah, he left the pot out.

  • It was already like, this is college life here, it was already probably a week old and

  • he left it on the counter all day, and he didn't tell me-

  • Vanessa: Not a good idea.

  • Dan: ... and then I went and ate it that night, and then I got really sick.

  • Vanessa: But you still like chili, so it didn't- Dan: But I still like chili.

  • Vanessa: ... taint your idea of chili.

  • Dan: It probably did for like a year.

  • Vanessa: Really?

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Yeah.

  • Vanessa: I feel like we're especially thinking- Dan: TMI?

  • Vanessa: ... thinking about those types of foods because it's getting colder here, so

  • making lots of warm, hearty foods, as opposed to in July-

  • Dan: Yes.

  • Vanessa: ... we don't make chili because it's so hot.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: You make other kinds of fresh things.

  • Dan: I have trouble making summer food, because I like hot food.

  • Vanessa: Ah, like soups and that kind of stuff.

  • Dan: Although, when we lived in South Korea, I think, didn't they have something where

  • they eat something super hot in the summer?

  • Vanessa: I think hot or spicy, is that- Dan: And it's like I'm just eating, and you're

  • sweating, and the water's pouring off your face.

  • And, "Yeah, this is healthy."

  • It's a very Korean thing.

  • They've got to be diligent.

  • Vanessa: Wow.

  • Well, what are some of your other favorite foods?

  • You said chili.

  • We're on the first one.

  • Dan: Number two would be tacos.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: I got a Mexican food thing, I think, although I don't consider chili a Mexican

  • food, but you said chili con carne, so- Vanessa: Maybe.

  • Yeah.

  • Dan: ... I don't know.

  • Maybe it's Mexican inspired.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • What kind of tacos do you like to make, because there's so many different types-

  • Dan: Ground beef, again, just all the spices, and it's kind of one of those easy things

  • to make, and then you can pile all kinds of toppings, you can put salsa on it.

  • Yeah, it's just delicious.

  • Vanessa: I like when you make fish tacos.

  • Dan: Yeah, fish tacos are good too.

  • Vanessa: Sometimes when Dan makes fish tacos, or sometimes I make them too, we get some

  • kind of white fish like cod or tilapia, and bread it, and then bake it so it's baked,

  • and then you have some kind of cabbage slaw mixed up on top with some spices in it, and

  • you put that on the tortilla with the fish, with the kind of spicy cabbage, maybe slices

  • of avocado.

  • Dan: Yeah, and the mayo.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, some mayo, maybe some- Dan: Spicy mayo.

  • Vanessa: ... pico de gallo, some salsa on top, that's also great.

  • We make that a lot in the summer, because that is kind of a fresh type of thing.

  • Dan: Yeah, well speaking of fish- Vanessa: Yes?

  • Dan: ... my third would be salmon.

  • Vanessa: Oh, how do you like to make salmon?

  • Dan: Well, I think you can make it in a lot of different ways, but just throw it in the

  • oven with some... like lately we've been adding lemon slices and dill, and just keeping it

  • basic.

  • Vanessa: Sometimes we put- Dan: Oh, and butter.

  • Vanessa: Oh, butter.

  • Of course, butter.

  • Dan: That's important.

  • Vanessa: Sometimes we do it in the opposite way with soy sauce, and sesame oil, kind of

  • more- Dan: You do it that way.

  • Vanessa: ... Asian style.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: And that's also great with rice, or some kind of veggie.

  • Dan: I do it more European style.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, well I think you can't go wrong with salmon.

  • Dan: Yeah, but it's just a very healthy meal that tastes very filling, and fulfilling.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I think your answers have been much more varied than mine.

  • Dan: Oh, yeah?

  • Vanessa: Because I was going to say soup, soup, and soup.

  • Dan: Oh.

  • Vanessa: I think that, especially now because it's the begging of the winter, those are

  • the types of things that we like to eat.

  • But recently, I've been making a lot of butternut squash soup, and it's a type of squash, and

  • you just peel it, and then you chop it up, and you steam it with some cumin, and paprika,

  • and coconut milk, and red peppers- Dan: It's a nice appetizer.

  • Vanessa: ... and you can also maybe dip some bread in it's mixed together, because you

  • have to blend it.

  • It's really great.

  • It feels kind of cleansing, especially if you've eaten-

  • Dan: It's not filling enough to me.

  • Vanessa: It's nice to have with something else sometimes.

  • Dan: I need some meat in my life.

  • Vanessa: Typical answer, right?

  • I think we also made a really great, it's called Italian vegetable soup, but I don't

  • know if it's actually Italian, I don't know why it's considered Italian.

  • Dan: It's probably Italian American.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: Everything American's say is Italian, I bet you every Italian out there is like,

  • "That is not Italian."

  • Vanessa: Yeah, that- Dan: "What is this?"

  • Vanessa: That is not- Dan: Is that Italian?

  • Vanessa: ... an Italian accent, but that's okay.

  • Dan: Zut alors.

  • Vanessa: That is- Dan: Oh, that's French.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, certainly not Italian.

  • Though when we make the Italian vegetable soup, it's basically every vegetable you can

  • imagine mixed in a pot, even with some tomatoes, and cabbage, and everything, peppers, and

  • everything mixed together, and some ground beef.

  • So it kind of has a hearty, beefy flavor, but it also has a lot of vegetables so it

  • feels healthy and filling with some nice bread to dip it in.

  • Dan: It was very good.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: Although, I will say that you can probably tell from this conversation that we are not

  • chefs.

  • Vanessa: No.

  • Dan: We don't prepare like really good meals very often.

  • Vanessa: Or something that's fancy.

  • Dan: They're delicious, but they're not... they don't have, you know, what's a sous vide,

  • or something.

  • Vanessa: Oh, something that's really exciting.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: Well- Dan: Although I did make risotto, that was

  • really good.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah.

  • You've made risotto a lot.

  • Dan: I made some really good risotto, and I felt like it took a lot of work, and that

  • was fun.

  • Vanessa: I think it took some particular attention to detail and I won't do that.

  • Dan: You know, you use lemon zest, any time you use lemon zest, I feel like you're probably

  • crossing over to chef territory.

  • Vanessa: Oh, okay.

  • Well, you have crossed over into chef territory a few times.

  • I remain clearly on the other side, just happily eating whatever you make.

  • But I'm curious for you, what are some of your favorite foods to eat at home?

  • What are some of your favorite foods to make at home?

  • Maybe it's something that comes from your country, or maybe it's just something that

  • you like to make, like toast, something simple.

  • Let us know.

  • Dan: Toast.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • All right, let's go to the next topic.

  • The next topic is housing.

  • I want you to dream big, if you could have your dream home, what three features would

  • it have?

  • Let's say this is a dream home, this is idealistic, this is not realistic.

  • Dan: This is probably not going to happen to us.

  • Vanessa: No, but it's just a dream.

  • Everyone can dream, right?

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: What would you ideally love to have?

  • Dan: A palace.

  • A castle.

  • Vanessa: Hopefully you can hire some people to clean it at that point.

  • Dan: Okay, not really.

  • So the features of the home?

  • Vanessa: Yes, what three features would you love to have if you could dream and build

  • your own home?

  • Dan: Okay.

  • Well, first, I would want the living room, and I don't know is a living common in other

  • countries?

  • Vanessa: Yeah, a place where you have a couch, and maybe a TV.

  • Dan: This is where you gather together, where you have the couch, and where you visit with

  • friends.

  • I would like this room to be humongous, and have a really large window.

  • Vanessa: Are we talking soccer field size humongous, or are we talking like twice as

  • big as a normal one?

  • Dan: I'm talking football stadium big.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: No, not really.

  • Just large.

  • Large ceilings, vaulted ceilings as they say in the industry.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: And a very large window.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: Or large windows.

  • Vanessa: I said the same thing.

  • I would like a main room with a big window.

  • Dan: Yes, but there's more.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: And it needs a great view, an incredible view.

  • Vanessa: Oh, what's a good view for you?

  • What would be an ideal view?

  • Dan: I really love looking out at the ocean, that would be great.

  • I'm not a big fan of where I live on the East Coast of America, the beaches are all kind

  • of the same to me.

  • They're not my favorite.

  • This would be in the Mediterranean, on a big cliff.

  • Vanessa: Oh, so it wouldn't be- Dan: Yeah, a cliff side home.

  • Vanessa: ... in the U.S., okay.

  • Dan: Yeah, it wouldn't be in the U.S., sorry U.S.

  • Well, maybe somewhere in the U.S. I don't know.

  • Vanessa: Could be Pacific Northwest, you've never been there.

  • You don't know.

  • Dan: It may be the Pacific Northwest, maybe that's my kind of ocean view.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, so you'd like an ocean view?

  • Dan: It'd be really high.

  • Looking down on my kingdom.

  • Vanessa: So you'd need to be a king too?

  • Dan: I have to be a king in this scenario.

  • Vanessa: This is getting a little excessive.

  • Dan: So yeah, a really big, open ocean view.

  • Remember, this is dreaming.

  • Vanessa: This is dreaming.

  • All right, keep dreaming.

  • What else would you like?

  • Dan: All right, so it's very open, so close by would be a very epic, open kitchen.

  • Vanessa: Oh, so open you mean it's connected to the living space?

  • Dan: Yeah, this is popular, I think, nowadays in architecture.

  • Vanessa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

  • Dan: Yeah, so open to the living room.

  • Vanessa: So as you're cooking- Dan: At least-

  • Vanessa: ... you can still talk to your guests.

  • Dan: Yeah, at least part of the kitchen would be visible.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, so at the moment, our kitchen is open to the living room.

  • Dan: Yes, we have this now.

  • Vanessa: We don't have an epic, giant- Dan: Except for the view.

  • Vanessa: ... living room with a view of the Mediterranean.

  • Dan: And the big kitchen.

  • Vanessa: Yes, but we have an open space, so it's kind of like one room.

  • Our kitchen is connected to our living space, so when our guests, or our friends, or our

  • family, or our kids are in the living space, the living room, we can see them and still

  • kind of interact.

  • So this type of layout is pretty popular, at least in newer houses, or as people remodel

  • their houses, they're kind of looking for this open layout, is what it's called.

  • Dan: Yeah, it's called an open floor plan.

  • Vanessa: Open floor plan, that's the word.

  • Yeah.

  • So anything else you would like in this amazing house?

  • Dan: Yes, there's one more thing in my palace.

  • Vanessa: Okay, in your kingdom.

  • Dan: In my kingdom.

  • So there would be a game room, because I love games a lot.

  • Vanessa: Okay, what kind of games?

  • Dan: All kinds of games.

  • So we actually rented a place like this that was very similar.

  • Vanessa: Oh, like your grandparents rented that beach house.

  • Dan: Actually my grandma rented it.

  • It was a beach house, so it was like four layers of house.

  • Vanessa: That's crazy.

  • Dan: It was humongous.

  • It was called The Ritz- Vanessa: Of course.

  • Dan: ... which is like a fancy thing.

  • So the very top floor of this building was just this giant game room.

  • They had a pool table, they had a- Vanessa: A ping-pong.

  • Dan: Oh, that was... the ping-pong table was somewhere else.

  • But in palace, the ping-pong table would be in the same room.

  • Vanessa: So ping-pong, foosball, pool.

  • Dan: Other games too, chess, yeah.

  • Vanessa: Oh, board game cabinets.

  • Dan: There would be all kinds of games.

  • There'd be a TV with video games, it'd just be fun everywhere.

  • Vanessa: Okay, so you want a whole big room?

  • Dan: And then I'd have to lock it up so I didn't go in, because I'd spend all my time

  • in there.

  • Vanessa: Okay, so you'd have to request the key from one of the people?

  • Dan: You.

  • Vanessa: From me?

  • Okay.

  • Dan: "Gate keeper, let me in the game room."

  • Vanessa: I'm sorry to say, but in my dream home-

  • Dan: There's no game room?

  • Vanessa: ... there is not a game room, although it's a fun idea.

  • It's a good idea.

  • Dan: Save that for the vacation home?

  • Vanessa: Yeah, that's good if your grandparents rent a house for a week and invite all the

  • family.

  • Dan: Yes, it was perfect for that.

  • Vanessa: That's a good thing to have, but maybe not in my forever house.

  • Dan: Okay, what's your forever dream home look like?

  • Vanessa: Well, I did say I'd like a main room with a big window.

  • I think that would be really great.

  • So we have some- Dan: But what's your ideal view?

  • Vanessa: I didn't really say.

  • I feel like it doesn't have to be the beach, maybe not someone else's house right there,

  • but it could be the mountains, that would be nice.

  • Dan: Sure.

  • Vanessa: But I also like- Dan: Any kind of picturesque view.

  • Vanessa: ... I don't like to be isolated, so if you have a beautiful mountain view,

  • that means you probably live in the middle of the mountains away from everybody.

  • Dan: It's true.

  • Vanessa: So I don't mind if the view's not perfect, but I'd just like to have a big window

  • with lots of light, that'd be really great.

  • The other thing that I said is a little more practical, and that is a huge studio room

  • with different walls that I can film on.

  • Dan: Very practical for the Fearless Fluency Club.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • Dan: Oh, wait, and for YouTube.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • So for, of course, the fearless fluency club, and also for YouTube, having different locations

  • where I can easily film.

  • And the room where we often film videos, in here, it's okay.

  • It's not super small, but I have an image of-

  • Dan: It's pretty small.

  • Vanessa: ... four different walls with different backgrounds and different things that I can

  • move lights and easily have different locations to film, I think that would be really cool.

  • So I'm starting out small, we have this room, and then maybe someday in my dream home.

  • Dan: Yeah, this is way better than our other house.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah, where we used to live in the apartment.

  • Dan: She used to film in a closet.

  • Vanessa: It wasn't a closet, but it was really small.

  • Dan: Two closets combined.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, it was like a little triangle room.

  • Dan: It was very small.

  • Vanessa: But- Dan: Hey, we made it work.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, it worked.

  • We made it work.

  • And the other feature that I would like is, in a dream home, is a roof deck.

  • Dan: That's cool.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, so some stairs, and then a little roof-

  • Dan: This is the adventurer in Vanessa speaking.

  • Vanessa: ... on the top so you can look down everywhere.

  • Dan: But that's in my house, too.

  • Vanessa: Oh, it's in your house?

  • Oh, good.

  • Maybe we can have a house together.

  • And also at night you could lay up there and see the stars.

  • I think that would be really cool- Dan: Yeah, that would be neat.

  • Vanessa: ... so you could have a perfect place to stargaze.

  • Dan: I don't know why more houses don't have this.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, we should put a deck on top of our house.

  • Dan: Yeah, why not?

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: Maybe some architect out there has a reason.

  • "Well, actually it's bad for structural integrity."

  • Vanessa: I think that people just don't value stargazing like we do.

  • Dan: Maybe.

  • Vanessa: It's really cool to see the stars at night, and especially if you're... if you

  • just have a perfect view from a rooftop deck.

  • Dan: You're perched in a high place.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, that'd be really cool.

  • Well, it was nice to dream.

  • Thanks for dreaming with me.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Oh, dream's over.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • I'm curious for you, if you could have your dream home, what features would you like in

  • that home?

  • All right, let's go to the next topic.

  • The next topic is nature.

  • Dan: Nature.

  • Vanessa: I want to know what are two cool facts about animals or nature?

  • Dan: You want to know two facts?

  • Vanessa: Yeah, so we did a little bit of research before this, because we love watching animal

  • documentaries.

  • Dan: Okay, well I have a story behind my first factoid.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: One time I was talking to my mom, I don't remember how this came up, but we were talking

  • about turtles.

  • And I don't know why we were talking about turtles, but she said, "Did you know that

  • turtles breathe through their butts?"

  • My mom said this.

  • And we, for days, we were like, "Mom, turtles... where did you hear that?

  • That is so- Vanessa: Were you a kid?

  • Dan: That was like, no, I was older.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: Probably a teenager, I guess.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: But we, me and my siblings, we all just made fun of her.

  • We were like, "Mom, you just made that up.

  • Where on Earth did you hear that?"

  • But really, it's actually true.

  • A turtle can breathe through its butt.

  • Vanessa: What?

  • Dan: It's true.

  • Vanessa: Wait, why do they do this?

  • Dan: Okay, so it's when they're hibernating.

  • I looked it up to verify because I remember hearing that that actually was true.

  • So in the winter, it gets really cold, obviously, and they live under water.

  • So it's like really cold, it's almost freezing, and they can't use their lungs.

  • So they basically suck water up their butts, and the water gives them oxygen, therefore-

  • Vanessa: Oh, why?

  • Dan: ... they breathe through their butts in the winter when they're hibernating.

  • Vanessa: Wow, and your mom was right.

  • Dan: So my mom was right, but we just... we did not believe her when she said that.

  • Vanessa: I mean, it's really bizarre, so why would you believe her?

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Also, it was very random of her.

  • She was like, "Don't turtles breathe through their butts?"

  • Vanessa: And we were like, "Mom, you just made that up.

  • There's no way."

  • Dan: But it's true.

  • Vanessa: But it's true.

  • Dan: So this is turtles who specifically live in the water?

  • Not box turtles, or those types of things.

  • Vanessa: No.

  • Yeah, turtles but not ocean turtles either.

  • Dan: Okay, so just ones that live in fresh water-

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • Dan: ... and live in the water?

  • Vanessa: Oh, okay.

  • Dan: This is a very... yeah, tell your friends.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: Turtles breathe through their butts.

  • Vanessa: Before you get to your second fact, I'm going to share one of mine-

  • Dan: Okay.

  • Vanessa: ... which is amazing about butterflies and caterpillars.

  • We recently- Dan: We're like a nature documentary now.

  • Vanessa: Well, I included this because- Dan: Should we talk like David Attenborough?

  • Vanessa: I feel really nerdy about animals.

  • Dan: "The beautiful butterflies."

  • Vanessa: Yeah, if you've ever seen nature documentaries by BBC, David Attenborough is

  • one of the main commentators.

  • He's been a staple of nature documentaries for over a decade, two decades, three decades

  • maybe, the '70s.

  • So we are big fans of him and his work, but I included this topic because we're nerdy

  • about animals and nature, and like that stuff, and I thought it would be fun to talk about.

  • Dan: Sure.

  • Vanessa: Well, a couple months ago, we found four monarch butterfly caterpillars in our

  • backyard.

  • And they didn't look so good, they looked like they needed a little bit of help, so

  • we gave them some milkweed leaves, which is what monarch butterflies eat, or monarch caterpillars

  • eat, and we put them in this... we have a butterfly net, it's like a little container

  • where you can grow butterflies.

  • Dan: Grow and release.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • And so we put the caterpillars in there, gave them a lot of leaves, and they turned into

  • cocoons.

  • Then two of them died, but two of them became butterflies, it was really amazing, so that

  • kind of sparked my interest in learning more about that.

  • We kind of all know caterpillars become butterflies, but did you know that a caterpillar, when

  • it creates a cocoon, it will liquefy it's body.

  • It's like a soup inside the cocoon, and it is digesting, it's eating itself inside the

  • cocoon, and its DNA just kind of mixes around and becomes a butterfly.

  • Dan: Yeah, so it's not like wrapping a blanket around itself.

  • Vanessa: No.

  • Dan: Because- Vanessa: It's crazy.

  • Dan: ... usually when I thought of a cocoon, you would think that the caterpillar spins

  • something around itself, but no, it's literally liquefying its body on the inside, and then

  • turning into, I believe the technical term is a pupa.

  • Vanessa: A pupa.

  • Yeah, so inside when it actually makes that cocoon, so we saw this happen, where the cocoon

  • pops out of the caterpillars body, and the skin and the head pop off, and they fall onto

  • the ground because- Dan: It's kind of like a Halloween story.

  • Vanessa: It is.

  • It's pretty horrific, if you think about it.

  • Dan: It was almost Halloween.

  • Vanessa: And inside the cocoon is the liquefied soup of the butterfly.

  • Dan: And it's body liquefied and it turned into a terrible creature.

  • Vanessa: How did nature- Dan: A butterfly.

  • Vanessa: ... think that this would work?

  • But it does, it's amazing.

  • Wow.

  • So, that's my first cool fact about nature.

  • Dan: Cool nature factoid.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • Caterpillar soup.

  • Dan: All right.

  • My second is about the noble albatross.

  • Vanessa: Albatross are so cool.

  • Dan: Although if you say something is an albatross, that kind of means it's a bad thing, or like

  • a burden.

  • It's like a saying.

  • Vanessa: Ah, that's kind of like an old fashioned expression.

  • But- Dan: Yeah.

  • But anyways, my factoid is- Vanessa: ... it is a bird.

  • Dan: ... an albatross has the longest wingspan of any bird.

  • Did you know that?

  • Almost 12 feet long, or 3.2 meters.

  • Vanessa: Three meters?

  • Dan: Something like that.

  • Vanessa: Three meters is so long, so that means from the tip of one wing to the tip

  • of the other wing is three meters, 12 feet.

  • Dan: Yeah, it's a really huge bird.

  • Vanessa: One bird.

  • Dan: And actually, if you've watched any David Attenborough documentaries-

  • Vanessa: Or others.

  • Dan: ... we watched one with the albatross, it needs to take a really long run before

  • it flies, because its wings are so huge- Vanessa: Like a huge airplane, it needs a

  • lot of runway to get off.

  • Dan: But there's a lot of other animals.

  • What was it in the documentary that was trying to get them?

  • Vanessa: It was the babies.

  • Dan: Oh, sharks.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • Dan: Because they would crash in the water and the sharks would eat them.

  • Vanessa: When the babies were first learning how to fly, a lot of them crash in the water,

  • and I think they do it the same time every year, so sharks gather there-

  • Dan: They wait for the babies.

  • Vanessa: ... and as the babies are learning to fly, if they fail on their first try, that's

  • it.

  • Dan: Yeah, they can't make it.

  • Vanessa: Anyway, that was a really sad part of the documentary.

  • Dan: But once they actually get in the air, an albatross can stay in the air for up to

  • 10,000 miles, which is a lot of kilometers.

  • Vanessa: 6,000, 7,000 kilometers?

  • Dan: Yeah, I'm not so good with those conversions that everybody else uses.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, and I remember you also told me that they could fly for-

  • Dan: A day.

  • Vanessa: ... a whole day with just one [inaudible 00:47:30].

  • Dan: Just one flap of their wings.

  • Vanessa: If they have the right wind, because they go off into the ocean.

  • Dan: Yeah, it requires good wind.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: Because they just use the wind to bounce up and down.

  • Vanessa: So they only need to flap their wings one time per day, if there is good wind.

  • Dan: It'd be a very lonely existence, just flying over the ocean.

  • Vanessa: But talking about lonely, they also mate for life.

  • Dan: That's lonely?

  • Vanessa: Well, no, that's crazy because they...

  • most birds are not like that, so they go off alone into the ocean to hunt, and then once

  • a year they come back to the same place and they hope that their husband or wife, their

  • mate, has survived also.

  • Dan: And then they promptly cheat on them.

  • Vanessa: Well, they are not monogamous.

  • Dan: They have partners that they regularly come back to, but then they also go and flirt

  • with other birds.

  • Vanessa: Other birds as well, but they have the same main partner for their whole lives,

  • and they only see them once a year, but they find each other at that same... on the same

  • rock, on the same land, every... albatross are really cool.

  • Dan: [crosstalk 00:48:34] kisses.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Yeah, you should look up some videos about albatross, they're really cool.

  • Well, one of my other cool facts- Dan: What's your last factoid?

  • Vanessa: ... my last cool fact is about a mantis shrimp.

  • Dan: The mantis shrimp.

  • Vanessa: We think about shrimp as the thing that we eat, but the mantis shrimp is really

  • different.

  • I'll show you a picture here.

  • The mantis shrimp is an insane animal.

  • It has the best visual senses of any animal, including humans.

  • I looked this up to make sure I could explain it correctly.

  • Humans have three photoreceptors in our eyes.

  • How many do you think the mantis shrimp have?

  • Dan: 10.

  • Vanessa: 12 to 16.

  • So this means they can see infrared, they can see ultraviolet, they can see every possible

  • thing that's coming through the light spectrum.

  • It is crazy.

  • Dan: Basically thank god it's not huge and lives on land, because it would kill us.

  • Vanessa: Yes, this and it can also punch through, it has the-

  • Dan: Look how it's hand's like this.

  • Vanessa: Yes, they're like this.

  • It can punch through bulletproof glass that is 1 centimeter thick.

  • So it's almost impossible to keep a mantis shrimp in an aquarium because-

  • Dan: Because it will break the glass.

  • Vanessa: ... they're so strong... it's just a shrimp, they're small, but it can punch

  • through bullet proof glass, and most aquariums don't have bullet proof glass, it's less than

  • that.

  • Dan: Why not?

  • Vanessa: But it will punch through the glass and get out, so they can see everything, and

  • they also can punch through the glass, which is absolutely insane.

  • There's a lot of really cool videos- Dan: And they look cool too.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, colors, and their big eyes.

  • Dan: Yeah, beautiful.

  • You should share the comic about it too.

  • There's a popular comic in America called The Oatmeal.

  • Vanessa: It's a website.

  • Dan: Yeah, it's a website.

  • And they have a whole story about the mantis shrimp.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, there's a good YouTube video too, about the mantis shrimp.

  • Dan: About it?

  • Oh.

  • Vanessa: I think it's... who's that guy who does kind of funny stuff about animals who's

  • like, "That's how the mantis shrimp do."

  • Dan: Oh, zefrank.

  • Vanessa: Zefrank, yes.

  • Dan: Look up zefrank for a good laugh.

  • Vanessa: Just look up mantis shrimp on YouTube, you'll find many great things because those

  • animals are cool.

  • All right, we had a chance to be nerdy, let's go on to the next topic, and I want to know

  • for you, do you know any cool animal facts?

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: All right, let's go to the next topic.

  • The next topic is holidays.

  • And it is the end of November-ish, which is Thanksgiving time in the U.S., so I want to

  • know, in your experience, what is Thanksgiving like in the U.S.?

  • Dan: In the U.S., well it's pretty much just an American holiday, right?

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: Or Canadian, I suppose.

  • Vanessa: Canada also has Thanksgiving.

  • Dan: So for Thanksgiving, the primary thing that we do is eat food.

  • Vanessa: Okay, next topic.

  • Dan: The end.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah, it's pretty much all about food.

  • Dan: It's really all about the food, especially turkey.

  • Vanessa: So tell us about food on Thanksgiving.

  • Dan: Pretty much everybody gets a turkey.

  • Vanessa: A big, full turkey.

  • Dan: Yeah, there must be this huge spike in turkey sales in November in the U.S.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah.

  • Dan: But everybody gets a turkey, you cook the whole turkey, and you get gravy, and you

  • pour it on there, and there's something called stuffing as well, which is this bread pudding

  • kind of thing, I guess.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, well, you have it inside the turkey, usually you cook some seasonings,

  • and lemons, and breads, and all different types of things inside the turkey.

  • Dan: Some may argue that the stuffing is better than the turkey.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, sometimes it is.

  • Dan: I'm one of those people- Vanessa: Stuff is great.

  • Dan: ... I just eat the stuffing.

  • Vanessa: It's really full of turkey juices, so it's kind of like a breaded mixture, I'll

  • try to share a picture, but stuffing, turkey.

  • Dan: So the holiday is really just centered around the meal, and then you invite lots

  • of family over.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • Dan: And usually one family member will host a lot of family, I find.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: And sometimes friends as well, but like your dad has been doing friends for the last

  • few years.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: But traditionally, it's only family.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I think this is definitely more a family holiday, that you say goodbye

  • to your friends, go back home wherever you came from, if you live far away from your

  • parents, maybe you'll go back home and have Thanksgiving at their home, or maybe they'll

  • come visit you.

  • It's kind of a time for families to come back together during Thanksgiving.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • And if you are a very bonded family, then you always say what you're thankful for.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: So every year my family would always say something they're thankful for around

  • the table.

  • And usually when I was a kid I remember being like-

  • Vanessa: "I don't want to do this."

  • Dan: "I don't want..." but now I'm like, "I'm thankful for everybody and everything in my

  • family.

  • It's so beautiful."

  • Get a little more sentimental when you get older.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Well, back to the food, we're kind of talking about the traditions now, but back to the

  • food, the typical things are a big turkey bird, a full bird, you don't have just slices

  • of turkey, you have the full bird and then you cut it up.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: And then stuffing, green beans is common with gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet

  • potatoes, in the south of the U.S., sweet potato casserole is really big.

  • This is insane- Dan: With brown sugar on it.

  • Vanessa: ... it's insanely sweet because it's sweet potatoes, which are orange and already

  • pretty sweet naturally, then brown sugar, and then-

  • Dan: Marshmallows, right?

  • Vanessa: ... marshmallows, for dinner.

  • Dan: Oh, I forgot about that.

  • Vanessa: Crazy, but- Dan: I always eat like this much of that because

  • it's too sweet.

  • Vanessa: It's really rich, but that's kind of a southern thing, and you also always have

  • cranberry sauce.

  • Dan: Right.

  • Vanessa: This is... a cranberry is a really tart berry, it's so tart, it's really sour,

  • but when you mix it with a lot of sugar, it's great.

  • Dan: And you need mashed potatoes.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, so the cranberries, and the mashed potatoes, and the turkey, it's a perfect

  • combination.

  • That kind of tart flavors with the mashed potatoes with the turkey, it kind of mixes

  • together really great.

  • Dan: Yeah, basically the point is to eat so much you can barely move at the end of the

  • day.

  • Vanessa: Well, they do say that turkey, the bird, the turkey meat, has some kind of-

  • Dan: Tryptophan.

  • Vanessa: Is that what it's called?

  • Dan: I think so.

  • Vanessa: That kind of enzyme in it.

  • Isn't it enzyme?

  • Hormone, or- Dan: Chemical?

  • Vanessa: It has something in the meat naturally that makes you feel sleepy, so at Thanksgiving

  • that's really one of the only times when we eat turkey, so because we eat so much turkey,

  • it's kind of stereotypical to say after the Thanksgiving meal everyone crashes on the

  • couch and watches football.

  • So it's kind of a tradition.

  • Dan: Yeah, football is probably the most American aspect of this.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: They don't really play football in other countries, do they?

  • Vanessa: Well, this is American football.

  • Dan: I mean, not... yeah, not- Vanessa: American football.

  • Dan: ... real football, like you know, not kicking the ball.

  • Vanessa: Soccer.

  • Dan: Football like, we throw the ball, and we tackle each other, and stuff.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, so there are... there's always a football, an American football game on Thanksgiving,

  • so that's why some of the sayings abut Thanksgiving is the three Fs, family, food, football.

  • When I was growing up, my family would eat Thanksgiving, and then we often would go to

  • the living room and watch football together, even though we weren't big football fans.

  • It's kind of just- Dan: It's just tradition.

  • Vanessa: ... what you do.

  • So we would say what we were thankful for, and then-

  • Dan: It's the American religion.

  • Vanessa: ... watch football, and that was just kind of a family time together.

  • I don't know.

  • Did you guys ever do anything?

  • Sometimes we threw a football in backyard.

  • Dan: Yeah, a few years we would throw the football.

  • Our family didn't watch that much football.

  • Vanessa: Yeah- Dan: We would sometimes, just like the Superbowl,

  • that's all.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Yeah, so I'm curious, for you, in your country, do you have any fall meal holiday that's really

  • centered around food?

  • Dan: Yeah, we should also say, I think it's supposed to also traditionally be you feast

  • on all the food that you grew.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, but most people are not farmers nowadays.

  • Dan: Yeah, but I think traditionally it does have that element of, "The harvest is in.

  • We come and eat all this delicious food.

  • It was a good year."

  • Vanessa: "We're thankful for the good harvest."

  • Dan: "We're thankful for the good harvest."

  • So maybe a lot of countries have something like that.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • All right.

  • Let's go to the next topic.

  • The next topic is relaxation.

  • I want to know, if I were feeling stressed, what tips would you give me to help me feel

  • relaxed?

  • Dan: If you were feeling stressed?

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: Well, I don't know if this would work for everyone, but I find that playing a sport,

  • or doing something active that requires some concentration, really helps me not be stressed,

  • like if I'm concerned about something I like to go and maybe play some basketball, where

  • your only goal is to put the ball in the hoop, it's just something very simple and you're

  • using your body, which is different from how a lot of people live today, which is very

  • stationary and thinking about all kinds of problems and then looking at your phone and

  • reading about more problems.

  • Everything's a big problem it seems like.

  • Vanessa: So if you get out and move your body- Dan: So if you get out and you move your body-

  • Vanessa: ... in the real world, yeah.

  • Dan: Yeah, and it could just be a hike, a hike or something.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: But yeah, I like to go and play basketball, or maybe play some hockey, I like to do that

  • too, just shoot the puck around, it's a lot of fun.

  • Vanessa: Some kind of organized activity.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: Like shooting hoops, playing hockey- Dan: And it doesn't even have to be with people,

  • just practicing, doing some kind of routine like that.

  • Vanessa: I said something similar, which was just to go for a walk, because that's not

  • necessarily organized, but sometimes getting out of the place where I'm at, getting out

  • of the house, getting out of wherever I'm feeling stressed, just changing locations,

  • and having the open sky- Dan: Just getting outside.

  • Vanessa: ... breathing some cool air, or maybe really hot air, depending on what time of

  • the year it is.

  • Dan: That's true, it depends on where you live.

  • Outside might be a little too hot, or too cold.

  • Vanessa: But it's just nice to kind of remove yourself, and move, and take a walk.

  • Even say, "Okay, I'm going to walk for five minutes, and I'm going to turn around and

  • walk five minutes back."

  • Sometimes 10 minutes can make a big difference.

  • At least it can help me feel more relaxed, or at least more realistic about my stress.

  • Dan: Definitely.

  • Vanessa: Like if something's stressing me, maybe I shouldn't really be stressed about

  • it, so taking a walk helps me to kind of recenter myself.

  • Dan: Yes.

  • Vanessa: And think, "It's not a big deal, it's fine.

  • I'll just work it out."

  • Dan: Okay.

  • And the next thing I would do, is take a shower.

  • Vanessa: Oh, okay.

  • Dan: Well, I take night time showers, so I don't know, I just find, for me, when I'm

  • getting clean, and not really... and like it's kind of that same thing, I'm just like

  • washing my arms, washing my hair, and I find my mind kind of drifting, and it's nice and

  • warm.

  • I don't know, for me, maybe most people probably would say taking a bath, but I don't really

  • like to take a bath.

  • Vanessa: Taking a shower, I've heard too that when you're taking a shower, sometimes that's

  • when your best ideas happen, because you have no stimulation, there's nothing around you,

  • you're just in the shower, so your mind can really be blank, or you can really kind of

  • decompress in a different way.

  • I feel like that too, taking a shower feels good.

  • Dan: Yeah, a nice, warm shower.

  • And then finally, sleeping.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • Dan: Going to sleep, getting good enough sleep.

  • I mean, especially nowadays where everybody has some kind of electronics device where

  • you're staring at a screen, I think that doesn't really help your stress levels go down.

  • Vanessa: Don't watch this video at 2:00 AM, if it's 2:00 AM in the morning-

  • Dan: Yeah, stop watching.

  • Vanessa: ... turn it off.

  • Dan: Got to bed.

  • Vanessa: You can watch this in the morning.

  • Dan: So yeah, that would be the last thing I would do, too.

  • Lower the stress in my life and relax.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I think getting good sleep is a really good tip, that was one of the

  • ones that I wrote down.

  • Is just- Dan: So we share a few.

  • Vanessa: ... yeah, to get better sleep because sometimes I feel like we want to blame other

  • parts of our lives when we feel stressed, but when you look at the basics, "Have I been

  • eating healthy?

  • Did I drink enough water today?"

  • And the main one, "Did I sleep enough?"

  • Probably not, at least in my case, if I feel stressed or anxious, a lot of that's because

  • my body can't handle what's happening in daily life, because I haven't been treating myself

  • well.

  • Dan: Yep.

  • Vanessa: So if I sleep better, whether that's consistent sleep, or a longer period of sleep,

  • just doing that will help me to feel less stressed during the day.

  • Dan: It is situational though, some people need more or less sleep than other people.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, so that's why I said get better sleep.

  • Dan: Better sleep, for you.

  • Vanessa: Whatever is better for you.

  • But one thing I mentioned that you didn't say, you kind of said, but is to take a tech

  • break.

  • And a tech break, we often use this term in our relationship to say, "Today we are not

  • going to... we're just going to put away our phones, we're not going to do anything with

  • any electronics today at all."

  • And it seems like it's a simple, easy thing to do, but it feels good just to take a little

  • break, especially if that is stressing you out, or if you're kind of avoiding dealing

  • with problems by looking at your phone.

  • I think a lot of use social media, or reading articles-

  • Dan: The phones and tablets are really bad, I think, because they're so easy-

  • Vanessa: Yeah, to get distracted.

  • Dan: ... to pick up and just keep using.

  • There's little games, and YouTube, which you may be on right now.

  • Vanessa: Yes.

  • I find myself- Dan: So keep watching.

  • Vanessa: ... when I feel stressed, sometimes I don't don't want to think about it, so I'll

  • watch a YouTube vide, and then 30 minutes later, I'll realize I still feel stressed.

  • Dan: 10 YouTube videos later.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah.

  • Or maybe for this one it's a couple hours later.

  • Dan: Hey, I have a bonus tip.

  • Vanessa: Oh, bonus tip.

  • All right.

  • Dan: Yeah, a bonus tip.

  • Vanessa: What's your bonus tip?

  • Dan: I don't really meditate, but I've heard mediation is very great for de-stressing.

  • Vanessa: I'm curious if any of you have tried meditation.

  • Dan: So I would also recommend meditating, but for me, I actually tried something that

  • was kind of similar, I counted my breaths.

  • So this was actually kind of to help me fall asleep, but a lot of times I can't fall asleep

  • because I'm thinking about the day and feeling stressed.

  • Vanessa: You can't turn your mind off.

  • Dan: So basically the idea that I heard was to breathe in for 10 seconds.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: No, no, no, breathe in for five seconds, then breathe out for 10 seconds.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: So you're kind of counting one, two, three, four, five.

  • And then, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.

  • And just only thinking about your breaths.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: You know, it really kind of puts the focus somewhere else, and you're breathing

  • in deeply, which a lot of us do not breathe in deeply, so it helps you to breathe in more

  • deeply and concentrate on your breathing.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I heard that one of the side effects of using a computer a lot, or a phone

  • a lot, is that when they study people who are looking at a screen, we blink less-

  • Dan: What?

  • Vanessa: ... so our eyes are open, they're getting kind of red and dry, and our breathing

  • increases.

  • So we're kind of like- Dan: They're just like shallow?

  • Vanessa: Yeah, like... we're just not focused, like maybe feel a little bit of stress, or

  • we're just not focused slow and- Dan: On our bodies.

  • Vanessa: ... relaxed.

  • Yeah.

  • So those long-term effects, if you're doing that for several hours a day, without thinking

  • about it, it can affect your body, so breathing, yeah, slowly, can help to kind of help you

  • feel less stressed.

  • Dan: There you go.

  • Vanessa: Wow.

  • Dan: That's my most practical tip.

  • Vanessa: Bonus tip.

  • So I'm curious for you, what are some tips you would give to help someone feel less stress

  • in their life?

  • To feel more relaxed?

  • What would you say?

  • All right.

  • Let's go to the next topic.

  • The next topic is sports and exercise, so I want to know when you were a kid, what kind

  • of sports or activities did you participate in?

  • Dan: Man, I played a lot of sports.

  • Vanessa: Yeah?

  • Dan: Yeah, I think it kind of shows the privilege we grew up in, that we had so many opportunities

  • to try so many different things.

  • Vanessa: That was really lucky to be able to do that kind of stuff.

  • Dan: So first I started out with baseball, but it was called t-ball, so you actually

  • put the ball on a tee, and you put the ball there, and you just hit it off of it.

  • Vanessa: So no one's throwing the ball.

  • Dan: Yeah, I was really little.

  • Vanessa: It's just stationary.

  • Dan: And I actually remember when the coaches started pitching to me, I got kind of scared

  • of the ball and I didn't want to play anymore.

  • Vanessa: It's a big deal.

  • Dan: Yeah, I was really little, so I stopped playing that and I started playing soccer.

  • Vanessa: Oh, okay.

  • Dan: And swimming as well.

  • So you call it, probably football in your country, but it's interesting, many, many

  • children, play soccer in America.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I think it's easy to get into because you just are running and kicking a

  • ball.

  • Dan: Sure.

  • Vanessa: There's no equipment or specialized movements-

  • Dan: Right.

  • Vanessa: ... at least for kids.

  • Dan: But for some reason, it's not a popular sport to watch.

  • Vanessa: Or for adults, a lot of adults don't play soccer.

  • Dan: Adults don't play soccer that much, it's just children.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: But I played soccer for probably like six year.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: And then I never played it again.

  • Yeah.

  • Vanessa: Just as a kid.

  • Dan: Yep.

  • So I did that, and I did swimming, and gymnastics for a while.

  • I had a phase where I used to like to do a lot of flips-

  • Vanessa: Oh, cool.

  • Dan: ... so I would jump on the trampoline and do back flips and front flips.

  • Vanessa: In a gymnasium that's like a gymnastics center.

  • Dan: Yeah, but also in my backyard.

  • We had a trampoline.

  • Vanessa: Ah, cool.

  • Dan: So I would do that, and then I did figure skating where we were doing spinning and stuff.

  • Vanessa: I did figure skating too.

  • Dan: Yes.

  • And then my brother convinced me to take up a more manly sport, hockey.

  • Vanessa: Oh, it's a shame, you probably would have been really good at figure skating.

  • Dan: Yeah, I was all right, but- Vanessa: Yeah.

  • I think that's the kind of thing that- Dan: ... it wasn't my true love-

  • Vanessa: Like hockey?

  • Dan: ... that would be hockey.

  • Vanessa: Well, I'm glad that you found your true love, hockey.

  • Dan: I do love hockey, but I don't really have the build for it, I'm a little too small,

  • but I still had a lot of fun playing hockey.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, and you still play hockey.

  • Dan: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

  • Vanessa: You play on a team here in our city.

  • Dan: That's not all of my sports- Vanessa: I feel like as a... you had a lot

  • of organized sports as a kid- Dan: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

  • Vanessa: ... and maybe that's just because you have a older brother, or just something

  • that you wanted to do, but I feel like for me-

  • Dan: I think my dad thought it was good for me too.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: Which I think is true, it's good for kids to get into organized sports.

  • Vanessa: Sure.

  • Sure.

  • I feel like for me as a kid I didn't do team sports as much, like we just played in the

  • backyard a lot.

  • Dan: Weren't you kind of a timid child, too?

  • Vanessa: I wouldn't say I was timid, but I didn't like physical contact with other kids,

  • so basketball for me was really physically aggressive.

  • Dan: Too rough.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, a little too rough, I didn't really like that.

  • Dan: You should try hockey.

  • Vanessa: That's very rough.

  • But I loved swimming, so I think that swimming was probably the main sport of my childhood,

  • and through high school every summer my sister and I were on a swim team, and that meant

  • that every day, twice a day, we would go to swim practice, and I-

  • Dan: Vanessa's a really good swimmer, she can kick my butt.

  • Vanessa: Not literally, that is a figurative expression.

  • That means I can swim better than Dan, which is true.

  • Dan: It's true.

  • Vanessa: But it just means that I know the technique, and if Dan or you-

  • Dan: I'm out there like struggling.

  • Vanessa: ... if you know the right technique, you can have a lot of endurance because you're

  • not wasting your energy, so I feel like I learned the right technique, so I can swim

  • longer because I know the right technique because I practiced it a lot.

  • So we would always swim, and then we'd have swim competitions, which are called swim meets,

  • and that was a fun part of my childhood growing, was swimming, kind of this... it's kind of

  • a team thing, but not really.

  • You have a team, but you're still individual.

  • Dan: So like combined scores, is that how it works?

  • Vanessa: Well, you would be... you're part of the community team, like your community,

  • your neighborhood is the team, but then each person has an individual score.

  • Dan: Score.

  • Vanessa: So it's kid of a team, kid of individual, and I liked that.

  • And it was not physically aggressive.

  • Dan: That would make me so nervous.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: These individual sports, I feel the pressure way too much.

  • If I were swimming and racing, I'd be so scared.

  • But when I play a sport like basketball, you're on a team, and so you're kind of depending

  • on each other more, it's not all up to you.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: Although, if you make a big mistake, then everybody's looking at you.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Dan: That's no fun.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I feel like I like having a team, but at the same time, I like having

  • kind of your own thing going on, you can kind of be more individualistic.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: So I'm curious for you, growing up did you play organized sports like Dan?

  • I also did some volleyball in high school, those types of things, kind of organized sports.

  • But did you play organized sports like that, or did you just play with your friends in

  • the neighborhood, like I did growing up with my friends in the neighborhood?

  • What kind of activities, or exercise type things did you do when you were a child?

  • All right, let's go to the next topic.

  • The next topic is electronics, this is another hypothetical, maybe a dream type question,

  • but I want to know if you could upgrade any electronics in your life for no price, it's

  • free, what would you like to upgrade in your life?

  • Dan: Interesting.

  • Yeah, I feel like I'm pretty satisfied with our electronic status.

  • Vanessa: Oh, okay.

  • Dan: Electronics status.

  • Yeah, because you know me.

  • I already upgrade my electronics quite freely.

  • Vanessa: Dan likes electronics.

  • Dan: I do, especially like speakers and music.

  • I love music, so I buy a lot of headphones, and a lot speakers, and stuff like this.

  • And every time I'm about to buy something like that she looks at me like, "Why are you

  • buying another thing like this?"

  • I haven't bought too much- Vanessa: Yeah, it's not too much.

  • Dan: ... but I just tend to browse, and sometimes I look at these humongous speakers that would

  • fill an opera room, or something, and I'm like, "These would be awesome to have."

  • Vanessa: And then I need to remind Dan that we don't live in a house the size of a football

  • field, like his dream.

  • Dan: But in my dream house- Vanessa: Someday when we have that dream house,

  • right?

  • Dan: ... it will have those speakers, yes.

  • Vanessa: What would you like to upgrade if you could do it for no price?

  • Dan: Yeah, so right now it would be a laptop.

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah, your laptop just broke.

  • Dan: Yeah, so our son, Theo, decided to step on my laptop.

  • And it still actually works pretty well, but it snapped in half, so somehow it's still

  • working, but it's old anyways.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, it's his fault, but you know, you shouldn't have left it on the floor.

  • Dan: Yeah, so I'll probably update my laptop soon, which is a very doable thing nowadays.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Yeah, you could get a laptop that isn't broken in half.

  • Dan: Yeah, and the second thing is actually something we've never had before, which would

  • be a security system.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: It sounds like you would only want this in a neighborhood where you would-

  • Vanessa: You feel kind of dangerous.

  • Yeah.

  • Dan: ... you feel like you're in danger.

  • But I still feel like it would just kind of add comfort to me.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: We've always lived in apartments where they had a gate, or a front door, where-

  • Vanessa: You have other people around you.

  • Dan: ... and you have other people around you, you're not like just such a solo target.

  • Because in America, you're just living in a house in neighborhood, and it's like standalone,

  • so I'd like to get some cameras, and something I could check on the house and make sure everything's

  • okay.

  • And just for peace of mind mostly.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Yeah, I feel like our neighborhood's not dangerous at all.

  • Dan: It's very safe, yeah.

  • Vanessa: But even if you leave to go away for a week, and you want to be able to see

  • outside the house, that could be helpful, yeah.

  • Dan: Yeah, and in modern times there's a lot of really good security systems out there.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, that could be helpful.

  • I feel like, for me, my answer to this is- Dan: This shows how much Vanessa cares about

  • electronics.

  • Vanessa: I had to think about this for a long time, because I don't really care about electronics

  • that much- Dan: I always choose the electronics, I bought

  • her computer.

  • I actually built her computer.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, Dan built the computer that we use for editing and for doing work, but

  • I feel like for me something electronic that I would like to upgrade is kind of practical,

  • our car that we have, you use a key to open it, and that's fine.

  • Dan: What?

  • You use a key?

  • Vanessa: But it would be really great to have a beeper button, so this is pretty typical-

  • Dan: This is funny because everybody in America has this, except for us.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I think if your car is newer than 2000, so if it's within the last 20 years,

  • you probably have a beeper that opens the car door.

  • Some really new cars have a beeper that turns on the car, I don't need that, I just would

  • like a beeper that can open the door, because we have a two year old and soon we will have

  • another child, and opening the car on one side, going to the other, putting him in the

  • car, coming back, unlocking it, it seems so- Dan: Yeah, we never realized how much we'd

  • appreciate this.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, I would really appreciate this small convenience.

  • Dan: I mean, our car should have this, but we bought it used, and the person who sold

  • us the car lost those keys.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, they only had the regular key.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: So do you think that it's possible, because that existed before, could we do this?

  • Dan: Yes, it's very easy.

  • Vanessa: Oh, really?

  • Dan: Yeah, we have to go to the dealership and ask them, and they have to calibrate it.

  • Vanessa: And we have to just buy more keys?

  • My dream is going to come true.

  • Dan: We could make this happen.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: But I think at the time when I asked the dealership about that, we had just bought

  • the car, and it was pretty expensive, and we didn't really have that much money, and

  • I was like, "We can't afford to get the keys too."

  • Vanessa: Sure, because we decided to pay for the car outright.

  • Dan: Right.

  • But it's definitely doable, this very simple fix in your life.

  • Vanessa: Wow, dreams come true right here on YouTube, thank you.

  • Well, I'm curious for you, if you could upgrade, or if you could have some electronics completely

  • for free with no price added, what would you like to upgrade in your life?

  • I'm curious.

  • Let us know.

  • All right.

  • Let's go to the last topic.

  • Our final topic is money.

  • I want to know, what are three purchases that you regret?

  • Three things that were not worth it.

  • Dan: That I regret.

  • Not three things I love?

  • Vanessa: No, what were three purchases that after you bought it you said, "Ah, I shouldn't

  • have bought this."

  • Dan: Oh, okay, so regretful purchases.

  • Vanessa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

  • Dan: Well, the first one I can think of kind of checks all of the boxes as something you

  • regret.

  • Because in the first place, you didn't want me to buy this.

  • Vanessa: Because it was- Dan: Expensive.

  • Vanessa: ... headphones.

  • We were talking about music devices.

  • Dan: We were talking about it.

  • Yes.

  • I already had headphones that I listen to all the time-

  • Vanessa: That he loves.

  • Dan: ... so I was already getting the judgment feelings from Vanessa, but I thought maybe

  • I wanted something with even better sound, maybe a different kind of sound.

  • I was looking for the new sound.

  • Vanessa: But what happened?

  • Dan: We didn't have very much money at this time either, so-

  • Vanessa: Ah, that was another layer.

  • Dan: ... I bought these over $100 headphones, and we took them home, and they started hurting

  • my ears- Vanessa: Because they were kind of-

  • Dan: ... they were just painful.

  • Vanessa: ... they were like noise canceling headphones?

  • Dan: No, it's like they're on ear, they just, they weren't really build to listen to as

  • long as I do.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: So they hurt my ears, and I was like, "Oh, no.

  • They're hurting my ears, this is really bad."

  • Vanessa: "I can't tell Vanessa."

  • Dan: "I can't."

  • Yeah.

  • But then also, we bought them in South Korea, and the place that I bought them had a no

  • return policy, so I couldn't return them.

  • Vanessa: And then what happened?

  • Dan: And then I brought them home, and I sat them down, and our cat walked up to them and

  • bit the cord and just broke them.

  • Vanessa: Yes, within five minutes.

  • Dan: Within five minutes.

  • No, like five seconds.

  • The second I sat the headphones down, the cat bit them.

  • Vanessa: And it was the kind of cord that you can't just take out and replace it, you

  • have to do some... you have to send it into the company and pay a lot to get it fixed.

  • Dan: Well, I didn't know how to fix it.

  • I think my dad actually fixed it later and he used them.

  • Vanessa: Oh, that's good.

  • Dan: So there you go, it actually worked out in the end.

  • Vanessa: Wow.

  • But yeah, there was a couple layers of regret.

  • Dan: Yeah, there was a lot of layers of regret, and then the cat bit the cord anyway.

  • Vanessa: Ah, and that's something that we should have known.

  • We should have put them up somewhere, you could have put them somewhere else, but it

  • just kind of was icing on the cake.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Vanessa: Which means, it was one more thing.

  • Dan: Now I can't even use them.

  • Because I was like hoping, "Oh, some day maybe they'll be more comfortable.

  • Maybe they'll just feel better, I'll get used to them."

  • Vanessa: But then you can't even use them because our cat bit the cord.

  • Dan: Yep.

  • Vanessa: Well, that's a regretful purchase.

  • Dan: There you go, there's a whole story behind that.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, can I say one of mine first?

  • Dan: Go ahead.

  • Yes.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • One of mine is much smaller, but it is anytime that I buy tea at Starbucks, always a bad

  • decision.

  • Dan: Sorry, Starbucks.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, but I don't like coffee, and if I go to Starbucks that's the only drink

  • that I can drink, because they have a lot of coffee stuff, a lot of sweet stuff, but

  • one tea bag at Starbucks, you're just buying a tea bag with hot water, they're not making

  • anything- Dan: Fancy.

  • Vanessa: ... it's not a specialized drink.

  • It's just hot water and a tea bag, and it's like $2.50, or something.

  • Like $2.50 just for a bag of tea.

  • And you can buy a whole box of tea for the same price.

  • Dan: By the way, this is the difference between Vanessa and I, is that I would never sweat

  • a purchase like that.

  • Vanessa: Well for me it's the taste.

  • It's not necessarily the price, the price is high for tea, but the taste is never worth

  • it.

  • It's just mediocre tea, it's not even that great.

  • Dan: I'd still never regret it.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, well- Dan: I don't regret cheap purchases, I never

  • think about it.

  • Vanessa: I feel like for me it's just annoying because I want to have a cool drink if I'm

  • going to a coffee shop, but then it's just a tea bag in water.

  • It's not even loose leaf tea.

  • Anyway, I'm a tea snob, so let's go to yours.

  • Dan: That's true.

  • All right, the next in my list could be actually a category in and of itself, but the most

  • recent occurrence was when we went to a place on our beach vacation called The Turtle Museum.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Dan: And it sounded all fancy, but it was probably $15 bucks a person to get in.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, it was like a turtle rehabilitation center.

  • Dan: Yeah, but there was just one room with some pictures on the wall, and then we thought

  • we were going to see turtles up close and personal, but they were just in big swimming

  • pools and you could barely see them.

  • Vanessa: Were they breathing out of their butts?

  • Dan: They probably were at the time.

  • Vanessa: No, they're sea turtles.

  • Dan: You're right, they weren't breathing out of their butts.

  • And so I was just disappointed with the whole experience and didn't think it was worth it.

  • Although, that was a little different because I felt like I was donating because they rescue

  • turtles, but there are a lot of places that are like this, like a museum, or some kind

  • of show that maybe you pay a up front cost, and then the show or the museum is just not

  • very good, or boring.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, like have you ever traveled somewhere and you paid to enter a museum,

  • or you paid to enter some building and it just wasn't worth it.

  • I feel like that's happened a lot, and that's just the most recent for us, is that, "Okay,

  • I feel okay because I donated some money to that turtle rehabilitation center."

  • But we didn't really get to see turtles in the way that we wanted to.

  • Dan: I wanted to touch a turtle.

  • Vanessa: Oh, but they are in a hospital, they're being rehabilitated.

  • Dan: That's true, it was a turtle hospital.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • Do you have any other- Dan: But it sounded way cooler-

  • Vanessa: Oh, yeah.

  • Yeah, it did sound cool.

  • "Go to the turtle center and see the turtles."

  • Dan: Yeah, my last thing is just a small thing.

  • I bought some t-shirts online, and it's kind of iffy to buy clothes online, but I always

  • felt like I like the picture that was on them, but then the quality of the shirt wasn't very

  • good or- Vanessa: Especially when it's online, you

  • can't feel it.

  • Dan: ... it didn't fit that well.

  • Yeah, not a great idea.

  • I've regretted some of those purchases.

  • Vanessa: Another thing that I feel like I've bought that wasn't worth it, this is a general

  • category, but it's some toys for our, now he's two year old, but throughout his short

  • life, some toys that I bought for him that I thought he'd like, because he played with

  • at a friend's house, or I just thought it would be cool, but he didn't really like it.

  • For example, there's this thing that was... it's like a bead maze, and I remember liking

  • this as a kid, which is why I got it- Dan: I thought he played with that.

  • Vanessa: Not really, he kind of wanted to just pull the beads off, but he couldn't play

  • with.

  • But I remember I played with it as a kid, and I found it at a second hand store.

  • It was like $10, it wasn't that much, but I thought he'd play with it.

  • I was like, "This is it.

  • He's going to play with this for so long, it's going to be great."

  • And he just never really played with it.

  • So I feel like- Dan: This will probably be an ongoing problem.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • So now I- Dan: Now that we have kids.

  • Vanessa: I've tried to kind of back up and think, "Okay, he likes to play with these

  • three things.

  • If other people want to give him presents, and give him other toys, that's fine, but

  • I'm not really going to invest in more toys because he kind of likes the same things all

  • the time."

  • Dan: Legos, legos, legos.

  • Vanessa: Legos, legos, legos.

  • Sometimes Play-Doh, sometimes the sandbox.

  • Dan: But mostly legos.

  • Vanessa: But generally the same couple toys again, and again, and again.

  • So I'm curious for you, what are some purchases that you've made that weren't worth it, that

  • you regretted?

  • This video is free on YouTube, so this is not a purchase.

  • I hope that you have not regretted spending your time, though, with us.

  • Dan: Yeah, I know what you wouldn't regret, purchasing the Fearless Fluency Club.

  • Vanessa: Oh.

  • Well- Dan: There's a pitch for you.

  • Vanessa: This is our monthly English course where we teach about a different topic every

  • month, and you learn the vocabulary, phrasal verbs, pronunciation.

  • We have a private Facebook group where a lot of members meet together and talk together

  • to practice speaking English.

  • And once a month I have a group Google hangout and we talk together.

  • Just a great way to expand your English and be able to learn more.

  • So if you enjoyed our conversation today- Dan: Yeah, and one might say, "Become fluent."

  • Vanessa: Yes, I hope so, become more confident.

  • Well, thank you so much for joining me today.

  • Dan: You're welcome.

  • We're done?

  • Vanessa: Wow, this was a lot.

  • Dan: Can you believe it?

  • Did you make it all the way though?

  • Vanessa: If you made it this far, congratulations.

  • Pat yourself on the back.

  • We asked a lot of questions today, so I'm going to put those in the description below,

  • so that you can go to each topic if you want to go back and watch a certain topic, or if

  • you saw some vocabulary appear that you'd like to review and practice, you can always

  • go back and review what we talked about.

  • If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and make sure that you write a comment and

  • answer some of these questions yourself, use English.

  • Dan: Yes.

  • Vanessa: Thank you so much for joining me, Dan.

  • Dan: You're welcome.

  • It was very enjoyable.

  • Vanessa: Yes, I appreciate your time.

  • Dan: It was a journey.

  • Vanessa: Your energy.

  • Oh, it was a journey.

  • Yes, we went through a lot of different topics today.

  • Thank you so much as well for learning English with me and with Dan today, I'll see you next

  • Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

  • Bye.

  • Dan: Bye.

  • Vanessa: The next step is to download my free ebook, Five Steps to Becoming A Confident

  • English Speaker.

  • You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.

  • Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons.

  • Thanks so much.

  • Bye.

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

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