00:00
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast!
Hello!
So, in the last episode I mentioned that I met with my elementary school friend.
Yes.
Since like... after we've been together like 15 years have passed.
Yeah.
And it was so nice meeting with him and talking about our lives.
Yes.
Because there are so many things that we need to talk and explain.
And the way we... what we do right now and what we've been, you know, went through.
And I found so many things.
So it was so fun.
But have you like... I wonder have you met with your elementary school friends?
Or like those friends when you were together when you were in the United States?
I don't know.
Because it would be like so fun to talk with them.
Right.
So there's this one friend.
His name is Moise.
Moise.
Yeah.
And we were together during middle school.
Middle school, yeah.
And he was my best friend.
But a very bad friend.
He was a very like troublesome friend.
I remember that name.
You remember?
You two did so many bad things together.
Yeah, we did.
We did.
Pretty bad things.
Like...
Not like cute things.
Yeah.
Really kind of bad things.
Like maybe steal things maybe?
Yeah, steal things.
We tried to steal a credit card from a teacher.
That's bad.
Yeah.
We didn't really do it though.
But those kind of bad things.
And then I still like really sometimes...
I think he's still kind of bad.
He's still kind of like doing naughty things.
I feel like...
I don't know.
Because then he might be like really bad right now.
Maybe.
I am connected with him through Facebook.
Okay.
And I sometimes...
He's like once a year maybe updates his photos.
Okay.
And that's like a family photo of his.
Those are nice.
But like I sometimes text him.
Oh, really nice.
He sometimes texts me.
He's telling me that,
"Hey, do you remember this teacher from our middle school?
She got arrested."
What?
"Oh, she's on the news, man. Kevin."
Really?
He emails it to me.
03:00
And I was like, "Whoa. Is that really like her?
She seems different."
And then the message ends.
I don't think I replied.
He's kind of like...
I can't really get a grasp on him.
That's one.
That's one connection that I still have.
Nice.
And I remember I have this one friend.
You know I went to...
I had a period of going to a Japanese elementary school in Japan, right?
I have this friend called Hibiki-kun.
He was a good friend of mine in elementary in Japan.
And I have been meeting him for up to like five years ago, I guess.
After that, we just didn't have the timing and everything.
But I am connected through Facebook with him.
Through Facebook to him.
I think he's in the U.S. right now.
Oh, really?
I think so, yeah.
That's funny.
What a coincidence, right?
But, you know, in terms of like recently, no, I have not.
I have not connected nor have I met anybody from my elementary or middle school years.
No.
Right.
And also you have been like moving to different city from different city.
Yes.
So you kind of like don't have your like...
Georgia should be, but like, you know, hometown kind of.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know.
Right.
So I don't have anybody who I'm friends with from the elementary to like junior high or like high school.
I changed schools, you know, throughout my whole childhood life.
So the longest I've...
The longest was the St. Mary's School.
St. Mary's, which was in Rome, Georgia.
It was a middle school.
Middle school.
Right.
Middle school, I fully...
I had a full experience.
Okay.
Right, because I started Georgia from the mid shougakko to half a year of high school.
So the middle school ages, I fully joined that.
And the middle school, Moe Smizier was my best friend there.
Also Nathaniel Tan.
Okay.
He was, I think he was Chinese.
I think so.
Yeah.
He was a really smart guy.
Smart guy.
He was, yeah.
06:01
Math skills were really crazy there.
And Ivan Fortenel was also a really good friend.
He was a really nice guy.
I think he was Mexican.
Okay.
Yeah, he was really...
Yeah, he was a nice guy.
Yeah.
He had so many friends, like from China, from Mexico.
Oh yeah.
But we're only connected through Facebook.
We don't message or anything.
Okay.
Yeah.
Isn't that a little weird, like strange that you pronounce those names?
No?
What do you mean?
Like, it hasn't been, like I haven't been pronouncing those names for like 20 years.
Yeah, right.
It did seem funny as I was saying them.
Like it kind of like brought me back to when I was in St. Mary's.
Yeah, it does feel weird.
Yeah.
Because last night we talked about our old friends, of course.
And only pronouncing all those names were already funny to me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
"Yeah, that name!"
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I get you, man.
Yeah.
Right.
But saying them really is nostalgic.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The name already has its memories inside.
The world and everything.
Yeah.
Right.
So, I...
How do you connect with these people, do you think?
You know, now that Facebook's kind of outdated, I don't think Instagram has a similar nuance to it.
Do you think there's a really suitable platform to...
I don't know why I'm asking you this.
Well...
But, you know, what...
I think Facebook was a really good platform to connect with the ones who you worked communicating for a long time
and be able to send that friend request and have that little chat.
But now, I don't know if Facebook is the proper, culturally relevant platform to do that on.
I don't know if you understand what I'm talking about.
I do.
But maybe Instagram, today, still.
Right, still.
Yeah, though I don't have any account.
Right, you don't have any.
But it seems Instagram is suitable, and of course, it's international, so you can text the ones who live in the United States.
But, you know, in my situation, they are all Japanese people.
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Right.
And they are kind of all living in my "jimoto."
So, maybe like...
Just return to the city, and they are still living in the town.
So I can text, I mean, through the line or anything, and we can gather together.
So, I don't need Instagram.
Right, you don't.
But the one I met last night, he told me that he is using Instagram to connect with those old friends.
Oh, really? Okay.
So I guess it's possible to read Instagram then.
There's a news that he received through the Instagrams that's saying, "I married... I've got married with this guy."
Those things.
Which is a big news for you guys, right?
Yeah, because those two are...
Oh, in the same community?
In the same elementary school.
Nice!
And everyone knows about them.
Right, right.
And they have kids.
I understand.
Right, right, right.
So...
Okay.
They have your Instagram, so you can use that.
Right, I probably will. I should.
I'll search my good friend Moe's Instagram, see what kind of pictures he has on there.
Yeah, hoping not too bad pictures.
Just one thing.
When I was trying to connect to all those people on Facebook, some of the friends that I didn't really have a close connection to,
I was like, "What the heck, I'm going to send a request."
And since my Facebook page was... the name was in Japanese.
Oh, really?
Not in English?
It didn't say Kevin. It just said my full Japanese name.
Oh, really?
So the really close people, they knew through my photo that I was like, "Oh, that's Kevin."
But some of the weaker connected ones, who I didn't have a really close relationship with,
they just interpret it as one of those random requests that you get from like, Indole or some weird guy.
So I was not able to connect with them.
Wow!
So sad!
That is really sad, isn't it?
And I tried to send them messages like, "Hey, is this you?"
You remember me?
Yeah, I'm from St. Mary's and we were in the same class.
Remember Miss Lauren?
No, I just got ignored.
So sad.
Yeah.
So just one of those gift cards.
Alright, thanks for listening guys!
Thank you.
