00:00
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast!
Yay!
Okay.
So today, I have got a phone call from my best friend.
Okay, your best friend.
Rika-chan.
Rika-chan from elementary?
Yeah, kindergarten.
Okay, long time.
Long time friend.
Yeah, so Yama-chan, Kevin-san, podcast it's more tanoshiku kiiteimasu.
Hajimemashite, Rika to mou shimasu.
So miscommunication there?
Like misunderstanding, right?
You thought it was like a lifetime friend.
Hajimemashite there.
Oh, maybe she's still talking to me maybe.
Oh yeah.
Maybe.
That's what I see.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Watashi ga, watashi ga New Zealand ni ryūgoku shiteita toki ni,
New Zealand to Nihon no chigai ga omoshiroi to kanjita koto ga arimashita.
New Zealand dewa soto demo kutsu o hakazu ni hadashi de aruku hito ga itari,
ame demo kasa o sasanakattari,
busutei ni iruto futsū ni tomodachi mitai ni hanashikakete kite kuremasu.
Sonna New Zealand ga watashi wa daisuki deshita.
O futari wa kaigai ryokosaki ya ryūgaku saki de
Nihon to chigatte omoshiroi to kanjita dekigoto wa arimasuka?
Share shite itadakeru to ureshī desu.
O futari no podcast wa kaji to ikuji no aima ni tanoshii ikinuki ni natte imasu.
Itsumo warawarasete kurete arigatōgozaimasu.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I went to...
I think it was Korea.
And...
No, maybe it was Taiwan.
Okay.
I forgot.
Like long years ago?
Long years ago. It was like...
Sotsugyoryoko.
Kōkō sotsugyoryoko.
Kōkō sotsugyoryoko, okay.
Yeah, and I think it was...
I forgot. It was like Taiwan or Korea. I forgot.
But...
Where did you visit it?
Like where did you...
Went?
Like the places?
The one that sent Chihiro...
Ah, Taiwan.
Taiwan? Okay, yeah. So I went to Taiwan.
And...
The yatai there. I ate at a yatai.
And the yatai people were really really kind.
Oh.
And like...
Like we were just like a bunch of like...
Like asshole four men, right?
Just young high school four.
Just graduated from high school.
Just graduated from high school.
Energetic. Just like dick faces.
And like no one likes those guys.
And like I just like right.
We don't have that much money so even if you give us customer services,
you're not gonna get any money, right?
We don't have that much money.
It was...
They were just really kind.
How kind? Like they give you something?
Right. So I ordered food, right?
I sat down in front of the whatever space, right?
And then like they would smile at me.
03:01
And they would just like smile at us.
Just be like...
Like good, good, good, good, good.
And they would like show me this live stream, right?
Live stream?
Yes, live stream. My daughter.
My daughter's live stream.
They would like show it to us and just like laugh with us.
It was like a really friendly experience.
And I was like what?
Wow.
Like that's really unexpected.
Yeah.
You know?
So that was really surprising.
That's surprising.
That's happy.
That's happy memories.
And many of the stores were like that.
So it wasn't just that store.
It was like a lot of the stores were really like outgoing friendly.
So that was surprising.
And they're not trying to collect all the money from you.
No. They didn't try to sell me anything.
They were just friendly.
Wow.
Nice.
Like I've heard that the Taiwanese people are very kind and very welcoming people.
They were very welcoming.
That's true.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yes, yes, yes.
What a beautiful Taiwan.
The food was good.
Yeah. The food was good.
Yeah. I remember.
It was good.
Pretty good.
What did you eat?
I don't remember.
Okay.
It was like xiao long bao.
xiao long bao.
And some noodles.
I don't know what they were.
It looked good.
It looked like a like a man soba-ish kind of noodles.
But like I don't know.
It was meat and dashi and udon-ish kind of.
Yeah.
It was good.
Yeah.
Wow. That's nice.
Yeah.
Do you have like an experience where...
Yeah. Like Rika-san says that...
New Zealanders don't wear umbrellas even when it's raining outside.
Right?
Like when I was in France,
strange people don't...
Like they don't have any umbrella.
They don't use umbrellas?
I mean, even if it's raining.
I mean, it's like usual rain out there.
Okay.
They don't use umbrellas.
Just go out and be wet.
So is there ever an occasion where they do use an umbrella?
Yeah. Sometimes.
Like sometimes when it's like very heavy...
When it's stormy?
Yeah. Stormy.
They use umbrellas.
Or the day they wear like very expensive costume like...
Like cat...like formal wear.
Then they use umbrellas.
But usually like high school students or like people in the city,
they don't use umbrellas.
So it would just look weird if you use an umbrella.
Yeah. Like...
06:00
Oh. Yeah.
Wow.
They just use it that often.
Is that like not cool to use an umbrella?
I don't know.
They simply don't care about getting wet.
I don't know why but...
That's strange.
Okay.
Yeah.
Do American people use those umbrellas?
Not as much as the Japanese people for sure.
Because it's a car society, right?
Because your car is in your garage,
which is inside the house.
Then you go to Walmart.
You park it right in front of the door.
So it's just like a few steps away from going inside the Walmart building,
which then is you don't need the umbrella.
It's just a few steps away.
So that's how you get fat.
I see.
[Laughing]
Oh yeah.
♪
I have one friend who went to New Zealand too.
Oh yeah?
And he...
At first he stayed in a city area.
They're like usual homes there.
But he thought that there's not many occasions that he could speak in English to anybody.
So he decided to make himself in an environment that he can...
He will be forced to speak in English.
So he decided to move to the countryside
and stay in a sheep farmhouse.
I don't know why he did it.
Because there's a sheep.
And he became a "hitsuji kai".
What?
And he stayed there like a couple of months.
And he trained himself as a "hitsuji kai".
And learned how to move your sheepdog with your little whistle and with word.
Like left, right.
That's what he told me.
[Laughing]
That is so random.
That was really, really random.
He wanted to have an environment that so many people around him
that he can talk to anybody in English.
He decided to get in a sheep.
Damn.
They don't speak English.
Maybe he saw something that we're not seeing right now.
09:00
Yeah.
But he showed me some pictures.
They were so beautiful.
So free.
So wide.
So peaceful.
So nice.
What language is spoken in New Zealand?
English?
English?
Yeah.
Okay.
It's English.
Why was he not in a position, even though he was in New Zealand,
not to be able to speak English?
I don't know.
Where everybody speaks English.
I don't know.
Maybe he was in a city and he didn't meet with many people.
That's what he told me.
Because he had a...
I don't know.
But he wanted more people, more English speaking people.
Right.
Like sheep, right?
Yeah.
[Laughing]
That's his choice.
Respect.
Yeah.
But he told me the host family at the sheep house was very, very kind.
And he had so many great conversations with them.
Great times with them.
Kind atmosphere.
And welcoming.
Peaceful time.
That's great.
Together with them.
That's great.
He told me that was very nice.
Very easy.
But it has nothing to do with learning English.
[Laughing]
Ultimately.
Yeah.
He returned to Japan and started to work as a barista.
Really?
Yeah.
Nothing different.
[Laughing]
Alright.
Thanks for listening guys.
Bye bye.