Hello and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast. I'm your host, Eli Cieslak. Thank you so much for watching today. Today's topic is my journey to India or, in general, travel. For those of you watching and those of you listening, if you want to find the transcript, it's down in the description for those of you who want to follow along. I also have a vocabulary list down below if you want to learn some new words for your flashcards or just for your studying in general.

Yeah, so first, I just want to talk about my journey to India. I think India is an amazing country—it's a fantastic country. I think everyone should try to go there at least once in their life. But why did I choose to go? So, when I was 18 years old, I was about to finish high school, and the next step, of course, you know, in America after high school is university. But I did not want to go because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and if I went with no clear plan, I felt like I was just wasting time and wasting money. A phrase that we say is, "It’s like I’m throwing money out the window," like you open the window, throw money out, and it's just wasteful.

So, I talked to so many different friends. I spoke with some older men in my life, and some of them encouraged me to go out and travel, but I didn’t just want to travel—I wanted to do something that was helpful. I wanted to feel like I was making a difference to the place I would go. So, one of the men I met said, “Eli, why don’t you join a group called YWAM?” Now, YWAM means "Youth with a Mission." This is a Christian organization that sends young people all over the world to tell people about Jesus and also to do good works, like feeding the hungry, helping the sick, and caring for orphans. You know, I’m getting a little bit off-topic here, but an orphan means someone who has no parents—no mom, no dad—that is an orphan. Actually, my sister was an orphan, but my mom and dad adopted her. She came into our family and became my sister, so I love orphans. I love being able to bring someone with no family into my family. I hope I can adopt a child one day.

So, I said, “Okay, I will go to India,” and I prepared. Before going to the country, I had to understand a little bit about the culture. And I’m sure there are some Indians watching this right now, so if I’m wrong about anything, please correct me in the comments. But I first went to England, and with my team, they explained different things about Indian culture that I had to be aware of. For example, the food. The food was very different from what I was used to—it was very spicy, and the different types of curry... We didn’t eat meat as much as I ate in America, and when we had meat, it was a very special occasion.

Also, the number of people! The city we went to was in North India, but we first arrived in Delhi, New Delhi, and there were so many people everywhere. They explained that to me, and they also told me about the amount of cows in the city. Cows are everywhere. When they first told me, "Eli, there are many cows in India," I thought, "Okay, yeah, a few cows." But it's not just a few cows—there are so many cows! That really, really surprised me and opened my eyes, like wow, cows are everywhere! This is amazing! And the cows, you know, they’re so strong, and I felt like the cows owned the city.

Also, the smell. When I first left the airport, the first thing I noticed was the smell of the city. A lot of it was the smell of cow poop, and again, not the people—the cow poop! So, don’t go saying, “Eli doesn’t think Indian people smell good.” No, no, no! I think they’re amazing people—so kind. That’s the biggest thing that really stuck out to me. “Stuck out” means something that really popped out or caught my focus. Something that stuck out to me was the kindness of the Indian people. They have a very warm culture, so warm. I would be sitting in our kitchen, and an Indian friend would just come up and sit right next to me, even though there were so many chairs around. They would always come and sit right next to you, and it was so friendly. I wasn’t used to that, but after about a year of living there, I got used to that friendliness.

It was definitely a bit of a culture shock for me because I’m not really a touchy person. I don’t like giving people hugs, and I’m not a fan of holding hands, mainly because my hands get so sweaty. But yeah, it really opened my eyes—OK, it’s okay to be close with people sometimes. It’s okay to hug someone sometimes. And I became more of an open person because of that.

During my time there, I was also working in a slum area. In my last video, I explained that a slum area is usually an area where many poor people live. While I was there, I was mainly doing activities with the children. Many of the kids there, some of them had no fathers—it was just their mothers. It’s a very difficult situation. When I first saw them, my heart broke, and I felt like, wow, I love these kids. I love them so much, and I want to do all I can to help them.

We did many different activities with them. We taught them how to take a shower because some of them had never washed their bodies. So we took a bunch of water from the river, bought soap and towels, and different things. I didn’t do this by myself—I had a team and a local Indian leader with me as well. We taught them how to take a shower. "OK, first you’ve got to wet your body with some water. Then, wipe your hair, scrub every part." We did that every week. They had to take at least one shower a week.

Now, I’m sure some of you take a shower every day, but for some of the kids, it was very difficult for them. So every week on Saturday, we would go to the slum, play with the kids, and do shower time. We did that for about three months. On the fourth month, when we went there on Saturday, the kids were doing it by themselves, and that’s what we wanted. We wanted them to build the habit themselves. We wanted them to decide to do it on their own, so that way, we knew, "Oh yes, they understand. They’re growing." We were so happy on that day, but it still broke my heart.

We also connected with many of the women, the mothers who were there—the single mothers. All around the world, I noticed there are so many single mothers, and it’s a very sad thing. Many men don’t stay in the life of their children or in the life of the mother. So, we really wanted to encourage and help these women in their difficult time. My time in India was life-changing.

What else should I mention? The food—it was delicious! What else? The monkeys! Monkeys were always my enemy, no matter where I went. I hate monkeys! They’re cute, but I hate them. One day, in the morning, at my house, I was standing on the roof—the roof above. During that time, it was early in the morning, maybe like 6:30, because I would be reading my Bible at that time. I was reading, and I heard a sound to my right. I looked, and there was a pack of 15 monkeys coming up the stairs. I was very surprised, but I thought, "It’s OK, it’s no problem. The monkeys will go, and then I can just go back down the stairs."

But later, more monkeys came, and I got very nervous. The monkeys came over to me, and one monkey ran up and grabbed my leg. I kicked it away, and I jumped up on the ledge because our home was a two-story home. I was on the very top floor of the building, so I’m up on the ledge, and the second story is below me. The monkeys surrounded me, and I was thinking, "What can I do?" So, in my Bible, I had a pen. I took the pen and threw it with all my might. The monkeys separated, and I dashed. I ran as fast as I could across the roof, and the monkeys were chasing me. I kept running and running, thinking, "What can I do? The stairs are that way, but I’m running this way."

There was only one thing to do—I had to jump to the first floor. But how? In front of our home, there was a very big tree. It was huge. So I jumped off the roof to the tree, then from the tree, I jumped to the first floor. Then I ran into the kitchen. I was safe, and my friends couldn’t believe what had happened. We heard some noise up there, and I said, "I was chased by so many monkeys!"

So my advice to you, if you go to India: the people are kind, the food is delicious, but the monkeys are dangerous.Be careful, be careful! But I still recommend that you go to India at least once in your life. I think you’ll have a very good time.

All right, so that’s about it for today’s podcast episode—My Journey to India. Thank you so much for listening. I encourage you to try and copy the phrases I say and learn some new vocabulary from this podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and thank you so much for watching. Do your best, and I will see you later!

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Learn English Fast podcast. I'm your host, Eli. Nice to meet you! As usual, if you want to find the transcript, it’s down below in the description. There’s also a vocabulary list for you if you want to learn some new words.

Today, the topic is Living in China – My Journey in China. I lived in the city of Chengdu for one year. Chengdu is in the northeastern part of China, and it’s very famous for pandas—there’s even a panda zoo there, and they’re so, so cute! I was there for a year, teaching English at a kindergarten, and it was a really, really nice experience. It was my very first time living in China, and it really opened my eyes to Chinese culture. It was a fantastic time!

Now, why did I decide to go to China? After my time in India, where I lived for a year, I wanted to see more of Asia, and China was the place that was on my heart. I really wanted to experience more of the culture, learn more about the people, and eat more of the food. Those were the big reasons why I went there. And of course, I went to teach English. I was a kindergarten teacher, and let me tell you, teaching children is not easy. It takes so much energy, but it’s such a fun and rewarding experience.

When I first arrived in China, I didn’t know anyone—no friends, no family, nobody. But I was using the app HelloTalk, and through it, I met someone who lived in the same city. We connected, and she became one of my best friends while I lived in China. Not romantically, just a good friend. She helped me find a good apartment, learn Chinese, and connect with the local culture.

One of the most difficult parts for me was the food! I’m not strong when it comes to spicy food—I’m really weak with it. The food in Chengdu is extremely spicy and numbing. "Numbing" means you lose feeling, like when you eat something and it feels like your tongue is going numb. It was delicious but very spicy. That was my biggest challenge when I lived there.

The most positive thing, just like in India, was the people. I met so many kind people during my time in Chengdu. I made great friends with locals, especially the grandmas and grandpas I met in the park in the mornings and afternoons. I would talk with them, practice my Chinese, and they became my friends whom I’d see every day.

The school I worked for also provided Chinese classes at a local university. I attended every Sunday, but most of the other teachers didn’t come because they’d go out partying on Saturdays and were too hungover to attend. So, it was just me in the class! Because of that, I became really good friends with the teacher, and after class, we would go out to eat, and I’d learn even more Chinese.

One of the techniques I used to learn Chinese was shadowing. I’ve mentioned this before: shadowing is when you watch a video or listen to a conversation, and you copy the words and phrases exactly as they are spoken. This was the best way for me to learn Chinese because the grammar and reading were very difficult for me. So, I learned Chinese like a baby. Babies don’t read grammar books—they listen and repeat. I thought, “Okay, I’m a baby in China, so I’ll only speak, listen to, and talk with Chinese people.” That mindset really helped me grow in the language.

Another thing that was amazing in Chengdu was my apartment. I lived on the top floor of an eight-story building, but there was no elevator! Every day, I had to walk up and down all eight floors. It was difficult at first, but after a while, I got used to it and became stronger.

Chengdu itself was a very modern city. I had imagined China as mainly countryside, but there are so many modern cities, and Chengdu is definitely one of them. I was surprised by the amount of technology and shops. I often walked through the malls and saw all kinds of stores, including those selling iPhones and computers.

Here’s a special story: while I was there, I made friends with some local shop owners, and one of them owned an African drum store. I love music—I can play the guitar, piano, and drums. I went to the store, spoke with the owner in Chinese, and they became some of my closest friends in Chengdu. After work, I would visit them and sometimes play the drums in front of the store with a street musician. He played the guitar and sang, and I played the drums. Of course, I didn’t get paid, but I got applause from the people passing by!

Before my one-year stay ended, my brother visited me in China. Everywhere we went, people would ask him for pictures, telling him he was handsome. But they never asked me! They even asked me to take the picture for them with my brother! I felt a bit jealous, but I took it as a compliment—I had blended into the culture so well that I didn’t stand out.

Overall, my time in China was amazing, and I highly recommend visiting if you have the opportunity. The culture, people, language, and food are all worth experiencing. And not just Chinese culture—every culture is worth exploring. Many people never leave their country, but I encourage you to go out, see the world, and learn something new.

All right, that’s about it for today. Thank you so much for listening and watching. Remember, the transcript is down in the description, as well as the vocabulary list if you want to keep learning. Keep doing your best, and I’ll see you later!

Hello and welcome back to the Learn English Fast podcast. I'm your host, Eli. Thank you so much for listening or watching today, as usual. The transcript for this episode and the vocabulary list are down in the description. Please take a look if you want to practice more of your English.

Alright, so today's topic is adjusting to life in Japan. I have been living here in Japan for the past three years, and I live in a city near Osaka. I first came here as an English teacher, but I want to share a little bit about my, I guess, Japanese background. When I was first living in Taiwan, I had a desire to visit Japan because Japan was so close, and I wanted to come and see it for myself.

When I was a boy, sometimes I would watch anime, sometimes I would read manga, but I really did not know much about Japanese culture. So when I had the chance, I took a plane from Taiwan and went all the way to Osaka. Then from there, I went to Kyoto, and I stayed there for just one week, just to visit and see the culture, the different temples, and the people. And I loved it—I really did. But the problem for me was that I could not speak the language. I was not able to really connect with the people there, and I really wanted to make good relationships with the people.

So after that, I decided, “Okay, I'm going to start practicing some Japanese. I really want to grasp this language.” So I started learning the basics of Japanese: first, the hiragana, the katakana, and a little bit of kanji—just the basic stuff. But I was never very good at speaking with people. However, I used an app called HelloTalk, and I found some Japanese partners that really helped me grow in the language.

Now, after I left Taiwan and went back to America, I was thinking about where I should go next. Japan was always on my mind, and I really wanted to live here long-term. So I looked online to see what kind of jobs I could find. The most common one, of course, was an English teacher, and at that time, I had been teaching English for more than six years. I was also teaching online, so I thought, “Okay, maybe I can find an English teaching job in Japan somewhere.”

I applied to many places, but no one would accept me. Maybe my English wasn't good enough—I'm just joking! But it was during the time of COVID, so it was very difficult for companies to hire. However, I was able to find one job at an English school in a place called Shukugawa, which is in the main area of Nishinomiya. It’s not that big of a city, but it's very, very beautiful, and the cherry blossoms in that city are amazing. I was able to connect with this English school and taught their students online for the first year because I wasn’t able to get a visa to go to Japan due to COVID. It was such a difficult time.

After one year of teaching online, the borders finally opened for some people, and I was able to get a working visa for that school. I was so thankful to be able to come to Japan, and I arrived in March of 2022, I believe. It was amazing that I came during the cherry blossom season. I was able to see the beautiful trees and the blossoms, even though there were so many people, but that’s okay.

When I first came here, I didn’t really have any friends. I had no connections, only the different teachers at my job. But I decided I really wanted to make Japanese friends, so I would go out early in the morning. I’d wake up at 6 o'clock and run every day to a park near my home. In the park, there were many grandpas and grandmas who were exercising and doing their radio calisthenics, their morning exercise, every single day. So I went there every day and talked with them, and they would talk with me.

This is the same thing I did when I lived in China to build relationships. You know, relationships don’t happen right away; they need consistency. Consistency means continuing to do something regularly. If you want good relationships, you need to be consistent. Say hi to that person every day. Go do this thing every day. And I found that relationships take time, whether for friendships or even romantic relationships. It doesn’t always happen just like that—it takes time. So every day, I would go, and slowly, I gained more friends. I also became friends with some of my students at the school. I was teaching some children, but mainly adults, and I would talk with them. Eventually, they invited me out for dinner. We went to different locations and aquariums—it was such a great time.

Now I want to talk a little bit about the culture in Japan. Again, I lived in Taiwan, and I lived in China for a while. I would say the culture here is a little bit similar to Taiwan’s. If you're Taiwanese or Japanese, don’t get angry—I’m not saying it's exactly the same, just a little bit similar. For example, if you're on the train, people tend to be quiet. No one is really speaking loudly, and there’s this sense of respect in the culture, which I really appreciate. So, it wasn’t a huge culture shock for me, and I was able to adjust pretty quickly.

But the one thing that was very difficult for me, and still is to this day, is the idea of tatemae. Tatemae, I don’t know how to explain this in English. It’s kind of like not really saying what you’re truly feeling. For example, if you go to work and you see your boss, and you don’t like your boss—you hate him—but you still say, “Oh, boss, good morning! I’m so happy to see you!” You're not really saying what you're thinking. For making relationships in that kind of environment, it was sometimes difficult for me because I felt like I didn’t really understand what they were trying to tell me. I understood their words, but was it their real opinion?

I'm the type of person who likes to be very clear about relationships. I like to be very clear when I’m speaking. You know, it’s my job—I’m an English teacher, so I have to be clear. Sometimes they would say something to me, and I would misunderstand it, which made me feel a little sad and sometimes a little angry because I thought, “Come on, just speak with me directly. Just tell me what you think. I won’t be angry.” So that was something that took me a while to get used to. I kind of understand it now, but it's still a bit difficult to make certain relationships here.

Again, it’s not a bad thing. Every culture is different. Every culture has something good, something that's gray (not good or bad), and then, of course, some things are bad. So what else do I want to say about Japan?

I would say my favorite thing here, first of all, is the people. But my second favorite thing about Japan would definitely be the food. I love to eat different types of food. I am not a picky eater at all. I love trying new foods, especially sweets. There are so many different kinds of sweet shops here. One of my hobbies is going to different cake shops and trying different cakes. I exercise every day, so it's okay—no problem! But I love trying new foods.

What type of food do you guys enjoy? Write them down in the comments!

Let’s talk about the language. I was practicing here in Japan, and I had some language partners I would talk to every week. But I found the best way to improve my Japanese was, again, the technique of shadowing. I mentioned this in the last episode and in the first episode—shadowing is so useful. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but for me, particularly, shadowing has been so helpful in growing my Japanese. There were some phrases or sounds I just couldn’t say or hear correctly. So, listening to a phrase again and again, and then copying it, really helped me understand the language better and gave me more confidence in speaking with my Japanese friends.

Another thing I learned is not to be afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes are okay. If I’m not perfect, that’s okay. No one is perfect at the beginning—everything takes time. So, I really want to encourage you, if you're learning a language, to take your time. You don’t have to go so fast. I know this is called Learn English Fast, but again, take your time, and don’t worry if you make mistakes. Just keep moving forward, keep growing, learn from your mistakes, and understand that you will make mistakes. You don’t have to be perfect.

Alright, that’s about it for today. Thank you so much for listening, thank you so much for watching. Remember to like and subscribe if you want, and if you have any questions, leave a comment. Leave a suggestion for any topics you would like me to talk about, and I’ll be more than happy to make any type of video you want. Yes, thank you so much for listening, and I’ll see you in the next episode. Do your best! I’ll see you later.

 Hello and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast. I'm your host, Eli. Thank you so much for listening or watching today. As usual, you can find a transcript and some vocabulary words down below in the description, so please take a look and do your best as you learn the English language.

Alright, so today I want to talk about cultural surprises — surprises in different cultures. As many of you know, I have traveled to many different countries around the world. I've been to Taiwan, China, Nepal, India, Japan, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Romania, and a lot of other places, right? The cultures there are so different from the culture that we have in America, so I just wanted to share some interesting stories and situations that I experienced in these different places.

The first place I want to talk about, where I had a cultural surprise, was in Japan. I live in Japan right now, and the biggest cultural surprise for me was on the train. When I was on the train for the first time, I was so surprised at how quiet it was. It was just so quiet, and I felt so awkward if I made any sound. I remember my first time on a train in Japan, I really, really, really needed to sneeze. I needed to sneeze so badly, but I thought, "No, I don't want people to look at me, I don't want people to stare at me." So I tried to control my nose, hold the sneeze in, but I failed. I sneezed! But no one looked at me, so it was fine. Still, I was very surprised.

People are so polite on the train as well. Even if there are so many people, if someone is wearing a backpack, they'll put the backpack in front of their body, so someone walking behind them won't be hit by it. It's just really about thinking of other people, not just yourself, which I thought was really surprising and very refreshing to see. Sometimes in America, people can be a little bit too strong, pushing to get what they want or do what they want, but here in Japan, people always think about others — "How do others see me? How do others think of me?" — which I think is something beautiful in this culture.

The next cultural surprise I experienced was in China. I lived in the city of Chengdu, and in Chengdu, they're very famous for their spicy food. Maybe you've heard of Sichuan tofu? It's very, very spicy. My friend took me to a restaurant, and it was my first time eating at a Chinese restaurant in Chengdu. They put a dish in front of me, and it looked very interesting. I wondered, "What kind of food could this be?" I touched it, and it was a little bit wobbly, like wiggle, wiggle. It was very wiggly. Then I tasted it — not bad! I ate some more; it was a little bit spicy but had a good flavor. I asked my Chinese friend, "So what is this? It’s pretty good." And she told me, "Eli, that is pig brain." I couldn't believe it! I was like, "What? I'm eating the brain of a pig?" But it was actually very, very good. So, if you ever go to China, I recommend trying some pig brain — it might make you smarter... or not, I don’t really know.

The next big cultural surprise I experienced was when I lived in India. I'm sure you might wonder, "What is something unique in India?" One of the big cultural things I learned when I was there was eating food with your right hand, not your left, just your right hand. I never really ate food with my hands that much before, so it took me a long time to get used to grabbing the food. Sometimes the food was so hot that I couldn't grab it, but after about one or two months, my hand became very strong. I could grab hot rice and hot curry and eat it with no problem.

The secret to eating curry with your hands is to imagine your hand like a shovel or a truck. You grab it like this, and you use your thumb to push it into your mouth. Something like that. So, if you go to India, please try to eat some food with your hands. I know in some cultures it seems dirty, but I think it was very fun and a very eye-opening experience. So please, give it a shot!

You know, sometimes — this is a secret — if I’m by myself and don’t want to use a fork or a spoon, I still use my hand. When I was in America, I would still use my hand as well for eating different foods because I’m very lazy. I don’t want to think about washing a spoon. If I’m by myself and no one is looking, I’ll eat with my hand.

So, those are some cultural surprises I experienced in different countries. What are some cultural surprises you've experienced? Have you ever traveled to another country and been surprised by what they do there? Please write them down in the comments below. I really want to know what you experienced.

As always, continue practicing your English the best you can. Keep learning the vocabulary list — remember, the transcript is down below in the description. If you want to practice more, please take a look at those. Thank you so much for listening and watching. Do your best, and I will see you later!

Hello everyone, it's me, Eli, and welcome back to another episode of the Learn English Fast podcast. Today's episode is going to talk about the power of music and how music can really help your language-learning journey. As usual, the transcript is down in the description, as well as a vocabulary list if you want to practice speaking your English and learn some new words.

All right then, yeah, so today I just want to talk about music. For me, music is a very important part of my life. When I was young, I always thought I would never be able to play any music, and I would always listen to music everywhere I went. I would have my headphones in, and I would always be listening to some type of song. I love world music; I listened to music from so many different countries: India, Japan, China, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain. I really, really loved all the country music, but I can't play any instruments, so I thought maybe I could never learn how to sing or play a song.

But when I lived in India, at that time, I was sitting in the living area, and there were some of my friends about to do some Indian worship with guitar, piano, and drums. I thought it looked interesting, but I wasn't interested. But the leader of that band said, "Eli, come over here; you're going to learn how to do the drums." I said I had no experience. I never played any instrument before; I mean, I've done a little bit of piano when I was a boy, but other than that, I had no experience. He said, "Eli, no problem. You can do it. One day you will play so many instruments." So I went over; he taught me some basic drum skills, and that was the beginning of my music journey.

I started to learn guitar after that, and another Indian man helped me learn the basics of guitar. I wanted to go deeper into piano, and another Indian man taught me the basics of piano. It was amazing! I really believe Indians are so good at music, and they have a really good sense of rhythm. After that, I really got deep into learning music. I would play guitar for hours every day. I practiced piano for hours every day, but my voice is not that good.

After that, when I started to live in Taiwan, Japan, China, or wherever I would go, when I wanted to learn languages, I would first find songs in that language just so my ears could get used to the sound of the words. Of course, at the beginning, I didn't understand any of the words they were saying, but I had the rhythm. Sometimes I would sing the song in the language, even though I didn't know what I was saying. It really helped me have better pronunciation and to remember words because I'm singing the words, so I remember them better. Like, for example, the ABCs: if we don't know the ABC song, it would be tough to remember the ABCs. Even today, some Americans, if they had to think about where a letter is, can't. We have to sing it: "A-B-C-D-E." No, we have to sing it: "A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P." We always have to sing because music sticks in your mind.

What is a song that you remember from your childhood? Like maybe your mom sang you a song, or maybe you heard a song at a birthday party or something. Write down what type of song you guys always sing in your culture. But yeah, so learn some songs to practice English as well. There are so many English artists. Some of them I like, and some of them I don't like, but it's a great way. A good artist I recommend if you want to improve your English is a man named Ed Sheeran. Ed Sheeran, he's very famous, and here in Japan, so many people love Ed Sheeran. His English songs are actually pretty easy to understand; like they're not so difficult to read or understand the lyrics. So I think he's a really good person to listen to if you want to practice listening to English.

You know, with music, you can even try making your own song in English. Just take some words and try to add a rhythm to them. You know, here, I'll actually give my own original English song right now for you. All right, here I go for you. But I would do that with Japanese and Chinese and stuff just to help me remember different words in the language.

So yeah, that's really all I had to talk about for today. Thank you so much for listening. Try to find a song in English that you can enjoy; it can really be from anyone, really. Find a song you like, and then learn it. Listen to it every day, and try to sing it if you can. Write down some of the words that you don't know in the song and be able to sing with confidence and then speak with confidence.

All right, so thank you so much for watching or listening today. Remember the transcript is down in the description. Remember to read it and also to look at the vocabulary words down there as well. Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you later.

 Hello, my name is Eli. Thank you so much for watching my video today about English listening. For those of you watching, there is a vocabulary list down in the description, as well as a transcript so you can follow along if you want to understand more of what I'm saying. So today, the topic is why I love living in Japan. I have been living here in Japan for like three years. Isn't that a long time? During this time, I have experienced so many different things, and I'm so thankful for the time I spent living here in my city.

So where am I, actually? In Japan, you know there are so many big main cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, right? I live nearby Osaka in a tiny town. The name of this town is a secret; I don’t want people coming to my house. But I live near Osaka, and it's a very cute town, very nice. Nearby my home, there is a huge river. Every day, you can see so many men going fishing, and you see so many kids running by the river, talking with their dads who are fishing. Every morning, you see many old men and women doing their morning exercises. It's a really, really great river, and the location here is just so peaceful.

I really love Japan. I love the culture, the food, and the weather here is also just fantastic. Where I'm from in America, I live in Arizona, which is next to California. Arizona is a desert. It's a very hot place in the summer and even in the winter. So it's nice, but it can still be pretty hot, and there's no change of seasons in Arizona. It always just feels like summer; there's no season change, and you can't really see the change. But here in Japan, during spring, autumn, summer, and winter, there are clear changes in the weather. There are cherry blossoms in some places, and there's snow; the leaves change colors, and I really enjoy being able to see these changes in the weather. It makes me enjoy living here even more.

Now let me talk about the food. My favorite food living here in Japan has to be soba. Soba is like this really thin noodle. It can be very clear; it kind of looks transparent sometimes, but it's a very thin noodle and usually eaten cold in the summertime with some nice sauce over it. You can add some meat and stuff to it as well. It's very easy to make, but I love it. I eat so much of it that my friends were worried because I was eating so much. But if I love something, I like to eat it. For you, what's something that you really enjoy eating that other people say, "No, you should stop eating that," but you love it? If you love something, you have to eat it.

And for the people here, again, the Japanese culture is so nice. The people are very kind. I have never experienced any type of, you know, racism or people ignoring me while living here in Japan. Of course, you know, everybody has different experiences, but for me, overall, I have never experienced any type of discrimination or anyone looking down on me because I am a foreigner from America. So I really believe that the people here are so kind.

I mean, sometimes if I'm sitting on the train, sometimes no one will sit next to me, but that's OK. I wouldn’t want to sit next to me either. And sometimes if I see someone and there’s a seat open next to them, I won't go sit next to them because that's a little bit too close, you know? Yeah, but I’ve never had any bad experiences here.

Every morning, one of my daily routines is I run to a park nearby my home. I wake up at 6 o'clock to do this, and in the park, every morning at 6 o'clock, there are about 12 old men and women who are doing their morning exercises. They do their stretches and arm raises, and they talk to each other. Every morning, I do my own personal exercises, you know, like running, pull-ups, push-ups, things like that, and I talk to them. They have become really good friends of mine. Every single morning we talk.

Before, because I live in a new home now, in my past home, I would do the same thing: I would just run to the park, talk to the elderly people, and they would become my friends. They would also give me candy. I love sweet things, so they would always give me so much candy. When I run back home, my pockets are full of candy from the elderly people. I really, really enjoy—sorry it took a little bit—meeting with the elderly people here in Japan. They’re just so sweet and so cute, and there’s something very comforting about seeing them because, you know, they’re always there. So no matter what happens in life, the old people will always be at the park. If something bad happens in my life, they are always there. It’s a very comforting feeling to be able to see the elderly people there.

Now let me talk a little bit about the language. Adjusting to the language here has been difficult; I’m not going to lie. Learning a new language is always hard. But I lived in Taiwan before, and when I was living in Taiwan, I learned Chinese. You know, Chinese and Japanese have a little bit of similarities there. Don’t be angry with me; I’m not saying they’re the same, but there are some similarities. For example, the word “love” in Japanese is the same as in Chinese. I don’t know about Korean, though; if any Koreans are watching this, you can tell me. But yeah, it took me a little while to learn the language. When I first came, the only words I knew were “Konnichiwa” and “Genki desu ka?” (How are you?) and “Konnichiwa” (hello) and “Tabemashita ka?” (Have you eaten something?) like that. I don’t know, but now I think I can speak Japanese pretty well, and most of my friends, we only speak in Japanese. So it’s been a really great time to learn a language.

A good way that I practice Japanese here in Japan was just by finding some friends on HelloTalk. It’s an app that’s very useful for practicing languages. I would call them every night, and we would have language exchanges: I would speak 30 minutes in English, and they would speak 30 minutes in Japanese, and we would take turns and practice with each other. That really, really helped me to become better at speaking Japanese.

Another good technique that really helped me—it’s just for me; it’s not for everyone—was just like shadowing. I said this in my other videos, but shadowing is very useful because you can watch a video or a song or whatever, and then you listen and copy what they are saying like a baby. You know, babies can’t speak English or Japanese perfectly right away, and they can’t read the grammar or write anything. How do they learn? Babies learn just by listening and speaking. They listen and copy. So I thought, “Hey, I can do that. I can listen, I can copy. I can be a Japanese baby.” But I have a different face, you know, and I'm stronger than a Japanese baby. I exercise every day.

Yeah, so anyway, living here in Japan really has been wonderful. If you ever come here, please, you know, try to go to some places that are kind of secret. I’ll tell you some secret places now. Alright, if you go to Osaka, don’t go to the main Dotonbori, like the big Running Man area. Don’t go there. Instead, before you go to the main area, take a left and walk down that street for about 20 minutes, and then there should be a really good crepe shop on the left-hand side. I don’t know the location clearly, and I don’t know the name, but it’s a really good shop. Trust me.

Yeah, but there are so many places to come and see in Japan, and it’s wonderful for tourists. But if you do come, remember to respect the culture and try to learn a little bit of the language before coming here. Just basic Japanese. You don’t have to be fluent, but try to grab a little bit, you know, like “hello,” “how are you?” “I hope you’re doing well,” “where is the toilet?” “What station should I stop at?” or “Where is the train?” “Where is the boarding area?” Things like that. That would help you so much for your time here in Japan.

Yeah, so anyway, thank you so much for listening today. Remember, the transcript and the vocabulary list are down in the description for you to practice your English. If you have any topics you want me to talk about, please write them down in the comments, and I’ll try to do them. Thank you so much for watching today, and I will see you later. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome to the Learn English Fast Podcast with me, Eli. Thank you so much for listening or watching today. As you listen or watch, remember that in the description below, there is a transcript and also some vocabulary words for you to practice if you want to learn some new English.

For today's listening, I just want to talk about hobbies. Everyone has hobbies, and for me, I have quite a few. One hobby that I've really been into recently is cooking. Here at my home, I guess I'll share a bit about when I was a boy. When I was younger, I wouldn’t cook that often; it was mainly my mom and dad who did the cooking at home. I could do the basics, you know—I could make some eggs or bake a cake if it was from a box with clear directions. I never really thought I would ever get into cooking, but now that I live here in Japan, I don’t live by myself; I’m married and have a wife. But before, when I did live alone, I had to learn how to cook for myself, and it was quite difficult at first. Then I found that if I could read and just follow the recipe on the box or paper, I could cook exactly what it said. So I started cooking in my free time and making foods from around the world.

One food I really enjoy making is Italian. I'm not a master, but I enjoy making pasta and different sauces—they’re really tasty. I also love doing different recipes with eggs. Eggs are so useful; you can use them for anything you want, so I like making a lot of different things with eggs. So, cooking is a recent hobby I’ve really gotten into. I know some of you listening or watching probably cook when you need to, just for eating, and you’re probably much better than me. But I feel so happy when I can make something and then my friends or my wife say it’s delicious.

Another hobby I’ve had for the past few years is music. I can play guitar, piano, and a little drums. I first learned guitar when I lived in India, and after that, I started practicing it daily. Learning new songs is always fun for me, or learning a new skill on the guitar, and it makes me feel like I'm growing and getting better at something. Even now, if I feel sad or worried about something, I’ll play a song. It helps me release my thoughts and feelings. If any of you want to learn music or talk about music, leave a comment down below.

From music, another hobby came about: poetry. I love poetry! I write poems and sometimes add music to them and sing them. When I was young, I would go to the library, buy a bunch of poetry books, and read them all. Here, I’ll give you a quick haiku. A haiku is a poem with a 5-7-5 syllable structure. For example, my name, Eli, has two syllables: E-li. So here’s a quick haiku: "I love singing songs / It’s not very, very long / Hope you like my song." It’s not perfect, but you get the idea. I have a little poetry book at home where I write all my ideas, and one day I hope to pass it to my future son or daughter so they can remember me. I’d also like to make an official poetry book and sell it on Amazon or something, maybe one day.

Another activity I wouldn’t call a hobby but is something I do every day is exercise. Every day at 6 a.m., I wake up and run to a park nearby and do exercises there. I don’t enjoy exercise because it hurts my body, but I do it to stay healthy for my wife and future children. If I’m overweight, I can’t play with them as I’d like or support them in an emergency. So, while it’s not a hobby, I do it for my family.

Another hobby I have is learning languages. This channel, Learn English Fast, is all about that. Right now, I’m focusing on Japanese because I want to speak it as smoothly as possible. My wife and I have a system: on Monday, we speak English; on Tuesday, Japanese; Wednesday, English; and so on. This really helps us both improve. Listening to Japanese music has also been helpful for learning the language. Every time I listen to songs, I end up dancing, even in public, which embarrasses my wife sometimes.

So those are some of my hobbies. What are some hobbies that you have? Maybe cooking, dancing, or anything else. I think it’s good to have hobbies. If you meet a friend and ask what they like to do, and they say “nothing,” that’s so boring. Everyone should have something they enjoy, even if it’s reading a book or taking a walk.

Please write down your hobbies in the comments. If there’s anything else you’d like me to talk about or share, let me know in the comments, and I’ll try to share it with you soon. Thank you so much for listening, and thank you for watching. I’ll see you later. Bye-bye!

Hello! Long time no see. Welcome back to the Learn English Fast podcast. I'm Eli, and thank you so much for watching or listening today. Remember, the transcript is in the description, along with the vocabulary list. Also, don't forget to turn on the subtitles if you need them. It's OK!

All right, so today, the topic is My First Time Traveling Alone. I'm sure many of you watching this have probably traveled in your life. Many people enjoy traveling as a hobby or as something they hope to do in the future. I understand why people love it – when you travel, you can experience so many different things, like unique cultures, new people, and, of course, different food.

My first time traveling alone was when I went to China, to a city called Chengdu. Before this, I had traveled to India and Taiwan, but I always went with people I knew. When I went to Chengdu, China, for the first time, I was completely by myself. I knew no one there; I had no connections whatsoever, so it was a big step and a huge adventure for me.

Of course, when we travel, we have to prepare. You know, you prepare a backpack, a suitcase, and make sure you have essentials like socks, underwear, and everything you need. Since this was my first time going somewhere by myself, I overpacked. Maybe you know, but overpacked means bringing too much. I had way too many clothes and items because I was nervous. My bag was so heavy, and my backpack was also really heavy. It was hard to walk around and pull the heavy suitcase and carry the heavy backpack. But, in the end, I'm actually happy I overpacked because I brought many things I loved from home in America. So, it worked out OK.

I also brought my guitar with me. My guitar holds a special place in my heart, so almost every day in China, I would play and sing by myself. Sometimes it was lonely, but overall, it was a really good experience.

Another thing I did before traveling to China was studying the culture. I read about the history of Chengdu, the people, and the food. I wanted to understand what to expect. Studying the city or place you're going to before you go is a really good idea if you're traveling alone.

I also tried to learn a bit of the language before going to China. As I mentioned before, I lived in Taiwan before visiting China, but I was still practicing Chinese and wasn’t very good. There were so many words I didn’t know, and it was tough to understand people because they spoke so quickly. I couldn't catch everything. Still, I think learning the basics of a language before going to a new country is important. You don’t need to learn it perfectly, but having some basics can help you enjoy the experience more. That's just my opinion.

I remember when I was on the plane, just as it was about to land in Chengdu. I looked out the window and thought, "Wow, China is so big." It felt like a huge city, and I felt so small. I asked myself, "Why am I doing this?" But I knew I had to go. It was such an exciting time to travel to a new country. Even if you feel nervous, just have courage and give it a shot. You can learn so much.

During this solo journey, I learned a lot about myself. I learned how important it is to make friends. If you want good friends, you have to be a good friend too. People won’t always come up to you; sometimes, you have to take the first step. Other people can be shy or lack the courage to make the first move, so you have to do it. This helped me learn to make the first step and talk to people, even if I didn’t really feel like it. Because of this, I made some great connections.

Another important lesson I learned in China was that it’s OK if I don’t understand everything. I don’t need to catch every single word or understand every little part of the culture. Realizing this helped me relax more and enjoy my time there. Just being with friends was enough, and I didn’t need to understand everything perfectly to have a great experience.

One memorable experience I had was near my home, where there was a long street with many bars and pubs. I wanted to make new friends, so I bought a cajón online – a special instrument like a drum. At night, I took it to that street, where street performers often played guitar or piano outside. I found a guy playing guitar, set my cajón next to him, and started playing along as he sang. He was so happy, and we started talking afterward. Every time he went out to play guitar, he would send me a message, asking if I could join him with my drum. I did, and he earned a lot of money from the crowd, though I didn’t get any! But sometimes, he’d treat me to a free meal, which I appreciated. Most importantly, I was able to make a good friend.

Eventually, he became more popular, and even some bars invited him to perform inside. He asked me to join him, and I happily accepted. We performed for the people in the bars, and although I don’t drink, it was still a great experience. The bar owner would sometimes offer me a drink, but I’d politely decline.

So, what advice do I have if you want to travel abroad alone? First, I recommend researching the country, city, people, language, and food. It’s important to understand the place you’re going to and not just go in blindly. I believe it will make your experience much smoother.

Another piece of advice, depending on how long you'll be there, is to avoid overpacking. If you’ll be there for a long time, you can buy cheap clothes there. Bring what you need to live, but not too much, since you might want to bring things back with you. For a short trip, the same advice applies – pack lightly so you have space for souvenirs. Traveling is much easier if you don’t have too much to carry.

Those are my pieces of advice and my story of my first time traveling alone. Today is actually the 10th episode of this podcast – yay! Thank you so much for watching and listening. If you have any suggestions or ideas you’d like me to talk about, write them down in the comments, and I'll try to cover them as soon as possible. Thanks for your support, and I’ll see you next time. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome back to the Learning English Fast podcast! I'm your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening today, as usual. The transcript for this episode is down below in the description, along with a vocabulary list for anyone who wants to learn some new phrases or just practice some new words. Also, right now, I have a special seven-week English course for anyone who wants to improve their English and talk with me. We’re offering a special discount for the first 10 students, plus there’s a 30-minute free trial lesson if you just want to chat with me and see: “Eli, how do you teach? What levels do you cover? And what are your goals?” No pressure—feel free to chat with me for 30 minutes! I’d be more than happy to speak with anyone.

Alright, so today’s topic is “What I Eat in a Day.” Everyone eats, of course; we all need food, and everyone eats different foods in their lives. Whether you’re from China, England, Russia—wherever you are, the foods are always different. And it varies by family too—every family is unique, and I’m no exception. When I was younger, I’d often eat whatever my mom or dad would make for us. In the morning, for example, we’d have oatmeal, cereal, or sometimes, on special days, my dad would make pancakes or waffles with bacon, syrup, and eggs. But we didn’t eat like that every day! I know there’s an idea that Americans eat pancakes and bacon every day, but not every American does that—especially not my family. Usually, we’d just have oatmeal, cereal, toast—basic stuff.

Right now, in my life, what do I usually eat for breakfast? Honestly, I usually eat nothing. Not everyone does that, but for me, since I exercise, I just eat whenever I feel hungry. If I do feel hungry in the morning after my workout, I usually eat oatmeal. I add some water and a pinch of salt, microwave it, and then I add cinnamon, honey, and some fruit. It’s so delicious! If I have peanut butter, I’ll add that too. Oh, it’s so good—I recommend it! Sometimes, for breakfast, I’ll just have three eggs with some salt, pepper, and maybe some bread with butter and jam. It’s not a big breakfast, but I enjoy it. Honestly, though, living in Japan, sometimes I miss the big American breakfasts. When I visit family in America, I go to IHOP (International House of Pancakes). They have so many pancakes and delicious dishes—I recommend it!

For lunch, I usually eat something small. My main big meal is dinner, but lunch varies. Sometimes I’ll have a sandwich with meat, mayonnaise, cheese, and bread. If I skip breakfast, I might have oatmeal or eggs instead. My lunch isn’t usually very big, but on special days, when my wife and I go out, I’m happy to have lunch with her. If my wife is home (her work shifts vary), we usually eat lunch together. But when I’m alone, like today, I didn’t eat anything for lunch.

Now, dinner—that’s the special time! For dinner, I make whatever we have. My wife and I take turns cooking. When she works in the morning and comes back in the evening, it’s my responsibility to cook dinner—not because she expects it, but because I want to. It’s one way I show love to my wife. What do I make? All kinds of things. Yesterday, I made air fryer chicken sandwiches. An air fryer is like a special microwave that lets you cook without oil but still keeps the food crispy. It’s amazing, and I recommend getting one. I used the air fryer to make some healthy fried chicken, served on buns with homemade sauce, a salad, and soup. Every dinner with my wife includes a salad and soup for balance—it’s not just meat; we always have vegetables. I don’t really like carrots, though. When I was young, my mom had a juicer and made me drink carrot juice—it was disgusting! Because of that, I don’t like carrots now. But I still eat them because they’re healthy—I’m not a baby; I’m a man, so I eat the carrots!

I also make different types of pasta, tacos, and rice dishes. I like doing different kinds of rice—Mediterranean, Indian, Nepali—so every day is a little different. I know it’s not clear exactly “what I eat in a day,” because I don’t eat much in a day. But what about you? What do you usually eat? Are there some dishes you eat all the time, or do you like to switch it up daily?

Even my wife, who’s Japanese, doesn’t eat rice or noodles every day. She loves international food and tries new recipes often. So when she’s cooking, it’s not just rice—she tries something new!

Anyway, that’s a day in my life and what I eat. Thank you so much for listening or watching this episode today! Remember, the transcript and vocabulary list are down in the description. If you’re interested, please sign up for my seven-week English conversation course. Remember, there’s a 30-minute free trial lesson right now. I look forward to talking with you! Thank you for watching—bye-bye!

Hello, and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast. I’m your host, Eli. Thank you so much for joining me today as usual! The transcript is down in the description, along with a vocabulary list, if you want to practice learning some new English words. Also, remember that right now, we have a special seven-week English course for any student who wants to level up their English—that’s also in the description below.

Alright, so today’s topic is My First Job. I’ve done so many different kinds of jobs in my life! Even when I was a boy, my mom would give me and my brothers different chores. Chores are small jobs around the house, like sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, cleaning the windows, and vacuuming. There were so many chores my mom had us do when we were younger, and I’m so thankful to her for giving us these opportunities to work even from a young age. Sometimes, you know, in today’s world, we see some kids who are so lazy, and their parents do everything for them. But my mom taught me and my brothers responsibility and how to do a good job, even though we didn’t get paid.

My first real job was when I was about 10 years old. At that time, I lived in the northern United States, in a state called Wisconsin. During the winter, there is so much snow—it’s crazy! The snow gets very high, and the weather is so cold. It’s really difficult to live there in the winter, but it’s also a good opportunity to make money. In my city, there were many older people—grandmas and grandpas—who weren’t able to shovel the snow in their driveways. So, my brother and I, even though we were very young, would take shovels from home, walk around town, and knock on people’s doors, asking, “Hey, do you need your snow shoveled?” The people would pay us about $10 or $20, and my brothers and I would split the money. That was my very first job, and I remember it being so cold! Sometimes, there was so much ice underneath the snow that it was very hard to scrape it off the ground. But it was a good experience for me and my brothers, and we made some good money with it.

After that, in the spring and summer, one of my jobs was as a paperboy. A paperboy—or papergirl—delivers newspapers. We would fold the newspapers, put them in a bag, and then use big carrier bags to walk or bike around and throw the papers to different homes. That was my second job when I was young. I didn’t get paid much for it, and I would always complain. I would say, “I don’t want to do it today; it’s Saturday; I want to relax.” But my dad would say, “No, you wanted the job, so if you want the money, you have to do it.” That taught me a good lesson about working even when I didn’t want to.

The next type of job I had was at a camp called Spencer Lake, in the countryside. I worked there as a cleaner. After a big camp session was finished, I would visit every single cabin and clean them inside: change the bed linens, vacuum the floor, clean the bathrooms, wash the windows, and more. The cabins were pretty messy, especially since most of the campers were kids or teenagers, around 12 to 16 years old. And surprisingly, the girls' cabins were messier than the boys'! I would find hair everywhere and had to clean it up. Even though it wasn’t a fun job, I got paid better, and they gave me free food, which made me happy.

What about you guys? What was your first job? I know that in different countries, young people may not be able to have a job while in school. Here in Japan, for example, in most areas, if you’re in high school or middle school, you’re not allowed to have a part-time job because schools want students to focus on their studies. But some students have secret jobs. One of my friend’s sons is in high school, and I asked him if he has a part-time job. He said, “Well, I have a secret one, but my school doesn’t know.” He told me he’s a cashier at a small company, like a gas station or convenience store, similar to 7-Eleven, Family Mart, or Lawson.

Having work experience is very important because it teaches you responsibility. Personally, if I hadn’t had jobs when I was younger, I think I would be much lazier today. Learning responsibility at a young age helped me become more responsible now. It taught me how to work independently, which helps me now with tasks like making these YouTube videos—no one tells me to make them; I have to take responsibility myself.

Alright, thank you so much for listening to the podcast today! Remember, the transcript for this episode is in the description below, along with the vocabulary list. Also, don’t forget we have a special seven-week course for English learners, and we’re currently offering a free 30-minute trial lesson if you’d like to talk with me about your goals and how you want to practice. Thanks again for tuning in, and I’ll see you next time. Bye!

Hello and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast! I'm your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening today, and remember that the transcript is down in the description, as well as a vocabulary list of today's words.

Also, I want to remind everyone that right now, I have created a special seven-week English speaking course for anyone who wants to practice speaking English with me, and that link is also down in the description.

All right, so today, the topic is family traditions. Family traditions—everyone has some type of family and everyone has some type of tradition. A family tradition can really be anything that your family usually does together. It doesn't have to be just for holidays; it can be really for anything.

My family, OK, so I'll tell you a little bit about my family. My family is a little bit big. I have four brothers and two sisters. I am number two in my family. My older brother and I are only 11 months apart. He was born in January 1994, and I was born in December 1994, so there's not really a big difference between us—only 11 months. I believe we call that Irish twins.

Then I have some more brothers and sisters. My sisters are actually adopted, so they had no family, and my parents adopted them from an orphanage. My parents are so kind, and they love having kids in the house. But my mom, I think she's so strong—five boys very close together, insane!

Yeah, but anyway, my family had so many traditions growing up. One tradition that we had was always on Fridays, and that tradition was called Family Game Night. So on Fridays, usually there would be no TV, you know, no video games, but we would play board games together, like famous games like Monopoly or, you know, checkers. We would play chess. We would play card games—so many types of games we would play on Fridays with no TV. This way, we just really focused on playing games with each other. That was always so much fun.

What's another tradition? We had another tradition that my family had: every night before going to bed, my father would pray with me and my whole family because my family, we are Christian. All of us were Christian. So before we would go to bed, our dad would call us into his room with my mom. Everyone was there, and then every single person would say a prayer. We would say a very simple prayer for different people or different situations, but my family, we did that for so many years—always together.

Another tradition my family had was that for every single birthday, my dad would take the birthday boy or birthday girl out to lunch, and it would be whatever lunch they want, whatever restaurant they want. It doesn't matter the price. He would always take them where they want to go. All of us would always go to the same restaurant each year—not me and all my brothers; we were different people, of course, and we had different restaurants we went to. But like, I would always go to IHOP every single year. I love IHOP so much! IHOP is the International House of Pancakes. So I would always go there, and I would order a sandwich, not pancakes. I would order a sandwich every year.

I think my dad is a good father. He would always take us out, and also he would make our favorite breakfast as well. So in the morning, he would ask us, “What do you want?” and I’d say, “Oh, I want pancakes or waffles or whatever,” and my dad would make whatever we want for breakfast. We would also have a special birthday dinner, and my mom and dad would make whatever we wanted for the birthday dinner, and usually they would ask us one week before, “Hey, your birthday is coming. What do you want?”

Now, for gifts, that's not really a tradition, but I bet my parents would usually give us what we wanted, even though sometimes they did not have a lot of money. They would always try, so I really respect my parents for making traditions like this.

Another thing my dad would do for traditions is he would try to take each of us out for like father-son time at least once a week, and during those times we would be with my dad, walking around or doing something with him, and those times are very, very special. Those traditions stay in my mind, so in the future, if I ever have a son or a daughter, I want to give them those traditions. I want to pass on those traditions to them as well.

I'm curious to know what type of traditions you have in your family. What are some things you would always do with your family, like every week or every day? Because I'm sure you have some traditions. Please write them down in the comments. I want to know what traditions you usually have.

And some other traditions my family would do—I have some notes here, let me check—so yeah, yeah, yeah, I know my family would go every single year for Christmas. I know Christmas is in here, but the Christmas tradition that we would go to the Christmas tree farm, where there are hundreds and hundreds of Christmas trees, and we would have to choose one. Then we would take an ax, and we would cut down the tree, or we would have a saw. And then we would pull the tree back home. We did that ever since I was maybe like six or seven years old, even until I was an adult. It was such a yearly tradition that every year, that shop would take a picture of me and my family. So every year, you see the boys get bigger and bigger and bigger, and then our dad doesn't have to do anything; the boys do it. We cut down the tree, we pull the tree, we put the tree on the car, and that was a fantastic tradition.

Now I'm living in Japan, so I can't really find, you know, a Christmas tree to cut down, but this year I want to have a tree in the house. I think it would be nice. But now that I live in Japan and now that I'm married and my family's not here, I think it's important to make my own traditions—to make some new traditions for me, my wife, and for my future family. Because of course, sometimes we can’t always be with our original family, so it's important to make something new, right?

Now, a tradition that my wife and I have is every year in November, we go to a park in our city that has so many flowers, and we go there and have a little picnic. We've been doing that for the past two years, and this year will be the third year we’re doing it, so that’s going to be one of our traditions. No matter what happens, we will always try to do that, and it's something very special for both of us. When we eventually have a child, the child will also come with us to that place to celebrate that tradition.

Let me think—what other traditions have I done in my life or have my family done? Another one, so my father loves hunting deer; he loves deer hunting. My hometown is Wisconsin, in the South, so every year in the spring, I go out hunting with my brothers, but I don't enjoy that tradition because I don't like deer hunting. I don't enjoy it, but that was another tradition that we did with my brothers every year. They would go out to like a nice hotel or something and then they would go deer hunting, but I did not join.

All right, yeah, so that's really it for some traditions. But what kind of traditions do you have? What about your family? What kind of traditions does your family have? What about traditions in your culture? Please tell me down in the comments. And thank you again so much for listening today or for watching. Remember the vocabulary list is down in the description as well as the transcript.

And please remember, if you want, you can sign up for my seven-week English course right now. We have a special discount for the first ten students who join; you'll get a good discount on the course. All right, thank you so much for watching, and I will see you later. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome back to the Learn English Fast podcast. I'm your host, Eli. Thank you so much for listening or watching today. As a reminder, the transcript is down in the description below, as well as a vocabulary list if you want to practice some new words while listening to this podcast.

All right, so today's topic is my first confession. My first confession. For some of you who don't know, a confession is when you tell a girl or a boy your feelings for them—that you tell them that you love them, that you like them. So, I wanna share with you guys my first time I confessed to someone.

This time, it was about 11 years ago. I had just finished high school, and at that time, there was a girl I really, really liked. Her name was... I won't give you her real name, but I'll give you an abbreviation. Her name is H. Just call her H.

All right, so H was a girl I'd known for so many years. Our families were actually pretty close, and we would go to her house, and we would eat dinner with her, her sister, her brothers, and just her family. I would see her at parties and things like that, and I would always think, "Wow, she's so cute," or, "Wow, she has so much confidence," or, "She's so amazing at speaking." So I really appreciated these things about her, and so, you know, I had feelings for her, but I never really knew how I could express these feelings to someone else.

But after high school, I was thinking about what to do next with my life—maybe go to university, maybe go to India. I was thinking. And at that time, my family knew I really, really liked this girl. They knew my feelings for her. So my parents and my brothers all said, "Eli, you should tell her how you feel. You should confess, you should confess." But I had no confidence. I was like, "No, I don't know. Should I do it?"

But then my dad said, "Eli, you should confess to her. You should tell her how you feel." And then my dad shared a story. He said, "Eli, when I was young, I didn’t tell a girl how I felt, and I sometimes had regret because of that situation." So I thought, "OK, you know, I'll do it. You know, I'll have courage. I'll go, I'll do it."

So the first thing I did was I called her father. I called her dad, and let's say his name is Mr. J. So I called Mr. J and said, "Hey Mr. J, I have something important to tell you. Can I have breakfast with you this week?" And he said, "Of course, Eli." So the next day, he and I had breakfast together at a family restaurant, and we're eating. At the end of the meal, I said, "Listen, Mr. J, I want to tell you that I have feelings for your daughter. I like your daughter, and I want to tell her how I feel."

And what do you guys think? What do you think his reaction was? What did he say? Maybe you don't know. He said, "Go for it, Eli, you can do it." It's surprising, huh? Usually, fathers are very protective of their daughters, you know. Fathers don't want their daughters to be with guys, but her father respected me. He liked me very much, and he said, "But Eli, remember that if you do this, your goal has to be marriage. Your goal has to be marriage." And I said, "Of course, of course. Like, if I date someone, I'm not dating for fun. My goal is marriage."

And so I felt confident, you know. Her father wanted me to do it, my parents wanted me to do it. I felt like, "Right, let's do this thing."

So a few days later, I went to her work. She was a waitress, and I went into the café and I said, "Oh hey, H, after your shift I need to tell you something important." And she said, "OK." So I waited until she was finished with her shift at her job, and then she and I took a walk nearby the river. I remember it so clearly—a very beautiful river. There were nice trees, and my heart was beating so fast. I was so nervous. And at first, we had some small talk like, "How's your work going?" "Not bad." "How's your sister?" and, you know, things like that.

But then I said, "Listen, H, there's something I want to tell you." And she said, "What is it?" I said, "I have feelings for you. I like you very much." You know, I said it. And what do you think her response was? You're wrong. She said, "Wow, Eli, you have so much courage, so much guts." I was very surprised. And then she said, "But... I'm not ready to be in a relationship with anyone right now." So, I was rejected.

And then she said something that really stuck in my mind. She said, "Also, Eli, I feel like I don't really know you," which was very true. Like, we were kind of like friends but not really friends. We weren't very close. And I was like, "Yeah, actually, I don't really know her that well. I just had an infatuation with her. We weren't really good friends."

And after that time, of course, it was so embarrassing, you know. But after that, I spoke with so many different grandpas and grandmas, and I asked them for advice in this area. And many of them said, "Eli, before you become a lover, you need to become a friend. So you need to be a good friend before you become a close lover, because when the feeling of love is gone, friendship is what stays." So I learned an important lesson actually from it, but it was still so embarrassing. Because after that, every time I would see her, she would never look at me. So embarrassing. Like, at a party, when she's there, she doesn't look at me. Of course, you know, maybe she feels embarrassed, maybe she feels shy. So I felt so embarrassed with it.

And after that, I went to India. I ran away—not really, but yeah.

But that was my first time, you know, like really confessing my love to someone. And that was before Japan. You know, that was like more than 10 years ago. But now, I live in Japan, and I'm married. And with my wife—I'll tell you a secret—she confessed first to me, so that helped me. But it was very interesting.

But what about you guys? Those of you who are watching or listening, what type of experience do you have with confessing your love? Are there any people that you know who were successful, or are there any of you who failed or who were rejected? You know, in the end, I think it's a good thing that I confessed my love to her, because even though I was, you know, rejected, I think it helped me have no regrets in my life. I was able to, you know, really get that feeling off my chest. If I had never done that, I would always be thinking, "What if I did that? What if I actually confessed to her?" But now I don't have that regret, so I think in the end, confessing was a really good thing.

And maybe for you all, you all have similar stories like this where, you know, you confessed and you failed, but you feel, "You know, it's good that I confessed." Sometimes doing the hard things, you know, maybe it's difficult, but we know we have to do it, and in the end, it's better to have no regrets than a regret, you know?

All right, so that's all I have for you guys today. Thank you so much for listening or watching the podcast with me, and please tell me your love experiences down in the comments below. Remember, there's also a transcript and vocabulary list in the description. And right now, I have a special seven-week or four-week course for those of you who want to practice your English and take it to the next level. Please come talk to me.

But anyway, thank you so much for listening or watching, and I will see you later. Bye-bye.

Hello, hello and welcome back to the Learning English Fast with Eli podcast. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today. So remember that down in the description there is a transcript for you if you want to hear every word I say during this, you know, time, as well as a vocabulary list if you want to practice learning some new English words or phrases.

All right, so the topic today is living in the countryside. Living in the countryside, when I was very young, I was born in the big city of Milwaukee, which is in the state of Wisconsin. Do you know Wisconsin? Most foreigners don't know where Wisconsin is in America, but it's in the north. In the winter, it gets very cold, and in the summer, it's very humid. But I was born in the city, but after I turned, I believe maybe three or four years old, my family moved to a small, small town, a countryside town actually called Waupaca. Waupaca. And I lived there for most of my childhood just in the countryside. There were some people around us, and there were some farms around us as well, but other than that, it was just a very empty place, really nothing to see and not really a lot of stuff to do. Behind my home, there was a train track, so every day you could hear the trains going past, but not so many, maybe like one or two times a day. My brothers and I would sometimes play on the train tracks because they liked to just ride behind my home, and we also had some fruit trees as well in our backyard. In the winter, it was tough because there would be so much snow, yeah. But living in the countryside, I think it was such a good experience for me because I was able to really appreciate nature and appreciate the different seasons. Sometimes living in the city, you kind of forget what nature is or how to really appreciate the different seasons that are around us, so it was really great for me.

Now I want to share some stories of my time living in the countryside. So the biggest, like, the biggest impact living there was always the winter because, like I said before, it's very cold, and the snow gets so high in the wintertime. My brothers and I had to shovel the snow every day, and it was so difficult in the winter. But we also had so many fun times in the winter. We would make so many snowmen where we rolled big, big balls and we put them on top of each other, and then we found some sticks, put the sticks into the snowballs and some rocks for some eyes and a mouth. But we didn't use a carrot for the nose because that's wasting food; instead, we used a stick for the nose, and we would make snowmen. We would always have snowball fights, and I remember in front of our home there was a little yard, and we made two different snow forts. A snow fort is like a little wall, but it's made of snow, and then one team is on one side, the other team is on the other side, and we have to throw snowballs at each other. It was so much fun, but at that time, when I was younger, I had asthma. Asthma. So I wasn't really able to do my best at these games, or I would always lose, you know, because I just didn't have the skill. Now, for those of you who don't know, asthma is a type of condition where your throat gets smaller and becomes difficult to breathe if you are moving too much or if some type of allergy comes. I was born with asthma until I was about 16, then my asthma went away, but it was very difficult for me because every time I would even walk too fast, I would have an asthma attack. Asthma. It's like you're a fish out of water that can't breathe, like that, you know. It's very, very difficult. And living in the countryside, there are so many flowers and so many, you know, trees and so many things like grass that love those things affected me, so I hated the springtime because there would be so much pollen in the air and like new grass would come. So if I went outside, I would sometimes have asthma attacks, so for me, it was very difficult at that time. But still, it was still very fun, you know. It was difficult but fun. One of our friends that lived across the street from us was a farmer, and his name was Mr. Pete, and we would often go to his farm, and we would look at the cows, you know, the horses, the animals that he had, and with his son, we would always play together. His son's name was Hunter, and we would go into their barn, and it was so big, right? So we would go into the cornfield because they had a lot of corn, and we would hide in the cornfield and play games in the cornfield. It was so much fun, and sometimes Mr. Pete would take so much hay and make a huge hay pile, and we would hide in the hay pile. It was really good memories. In their yard, they also had a bell, a big bell that you can ring, but you can only ring the bell if it's an emergency. If it's not serious, you can't touch the bell. One time my brothers and I were looking at the bell, and we wanted to ring it, and so we rang the bell and we ran away, and Hunter's mom was so, so angry because she thought it was an emergency, but it wasn't an emergency. It was just boys ringing the bell. And after that, my parents, you know, they spanked us, and then we had to say we're sorry, and so we learned our lesson.

There were some other friends who lived nearby as well down the road over the train tracks. We had some friends that lived over there, and so we would ride our bikes to that friend's house. At their home, they lived in an area surrounded by a forest, so many trees. So we would ride our bikes there, and then with that family, we would hang out and play in their woods. We would look at animals. There would be a little pond over there, a little area for fishing, so we would take a little rope and throw the rope into the pond and maybe catch a fish. It was really, really fun.

And what else can I say about it? It was just a very good time living in the countryside. I know some of you watching have lived in the countryside, or maybe some of you live in the city, but if I have to compare, for me personally, I prefer the countryside more than the city. Here are my reasons why. The first reason is because it's more peaceful. I think in the countryside it's more quiet, and in the evening you can really see the stars. You can really hear the sounds of nature, which I just find very peaceful. Another reason I think the country is better and I enjoy it more is the safety. In the countryside, usually it's safer than the city. So many crimes happen in the city, and of course, you know, sometimes crimes happen in the countryside, but usually not too many. And also I really enjoyed it because of the friendship of the neighbors. Many times in the country, neighbors know each other. We talk to each other. We see each other. We say hi to each other, but in the big city, so many people don't even know their neighbors next door. So many people never even talk to their neighbors. We see them, we say nothing, and so that really not that connection, you know, not that type of friendship that you can have in the countryside.

So just some reasons why I love the country, and please tell me what are some reasons you love the countryside or would you like to live there? Would you like to go there? Please tell me down in the comments today. Yeah, so thank you so much for listening or watching, and please remember that right now I have created a special seven-week or four-week course for those of you who want to practice your English and take it to the next level. That is also in the description down below. So thank you so much for watching, and I will see you later. Bye-bye.

Hello, hello, and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast with me, your host, Eli! Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today. Remember that down in the description, there is a transcript for today's episode as well as a vocabulary sheet, so you can practice some of the new words in this episode.

All right, so today, the topic is American elections—American elections. This is a very important topic for Americans because it's part of our identity and culture. For many Americans, whether they vote or don’t, this is something very special and very important for the country. Right now, as I’m recording this video, President Trump is the presidential elect, which means he will probably become the next president of the United States. During the election cycle, when people are voting, there are so many cultural aspects and traditions, and I want to share some of them with you today.

One of the things Americans do during election time is register to vote before the election. This means you have to sign some papers, put down your address, and show where you live. When I was living in America four years ago, I was helping my local community with voter registration. I set up a table in front of stores and restaurants, and when people walked by, I’d ask them, “Hey, are you registered to vote yet? You can register here.” I’d collect their information, and the company I was working with would help them register, so they’d be ready to vote when the time came. We also helped with early voting, which can save time, since on voting day, people sometimes can't go because of work or other commitments. So, people vote early, lining up before the voting day to cast their ballots. “Casting a ballot” means to submit your vote.

Many communities encourage people to vote. In America, your vote is very powerful; it can change the country. Even though I live in Japan now, I can still vote by getting a special ballot and sending it to the U.S. This way, Americans can vote no matter where they live. During election season, there are many political discussions, especially within families. Sometimes, one parent supports one candidate while the other supports a different one, leading to arguments. In my own family, some members support one party, while others support another. During Christmas or Thanksgiving, arguments happen, but for Americans, being able to share political ideas and opinions is very important. Even if we disagree, we understand it's okay because we have the freedom to express our thoughts and opinions.

In November, because Thanksgiving is this month, families come together, and there may be some arguments, but families will still eat together and give thanks. It's something that just happens. During election season, the media also plays a big role. There are ads on TV paid for by different parties, and these ads often try to influence people to vote for a particular candidate by attacking the opposing side. Outside, you’ll see billboards and ads everywhere. In some places, you’ll even see more American flags. Election culture is very heated at this time, and people’s emotions run high—some people are afraid, excited, or sad. But it's still a very special day.

After voting, most Americans receive an “I Voted” sticker, which they wear to show they voted. Voting is a big deal in America because it’s a way for people to feel they can influence what happens next, so they feel proud.

Now I want to talk a little bit about the Electoral College. Many foreigners I’ve spoken with don’t fully understand it, and I won’t go too deep, but in America, we have something called the Electoral College. It’s not a university; it’s a group of people who vote for the president. Because the U.S. is such a large country, some states like California and Texas have more people than other states. The Electoral College ensures every state has a fair chance and equal voice when voting. Each state has a certain number of “electors” based on its population. When people vote for a presidential candidate, they’re helping choose an elector who will officially vote for that president. This system makes it fair for every state. Some Americans support it, and some don’t—everyone has different opinions about it.

Depending on who wins the election, Americans react differently. Some will cry, some will celebrate, and some will host parties. After the announcement that President-elect Trump might be the next president, there were big celebrations, with people singing and holding parties. Of course, there was also sadness in other places, but that’s part of American culture. Whatever happens, we accept it and try to make the best of it.

So, that’s a little about American voting culture. I hope you now understand a bit more. Please tell me about your voting experience in your country. Do you feel it makes a big difference, or not? I’d love to hear more.

Thank you so much for watching! Remember, I have a special 7-week or 4-week English course for those of you who want to level up your English and talk with me. Check it out in the description below. Again, thank you for listening or watching, and I’ll see you later. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast! I'm your host, Eli. Thank you so much for listening or watching today. Remember, the vocabulary list is down in the description, as well as a transcript for today's topic.

OK, today's topic is "Growing Up with Four Brothers." I have four brothers and a sister in my life, but when I was younger, I only had brothers. In my family, I am number two. I have my older brother, then there's me, then my next brother, then my next brother, then my next brother. So, in total, five boys. I don’t know how my mom did it; it’s really incredible.

My older brother was born in January 1994, and I was born in December 1994, the same year. We were both born in the same year. My mom is a very strong woman.

Another interesting thing about my brothers is all of our names start with the letter E. My older brother’s name is Edward, then me, Eli, the next brother Ezekiel, the next brother Ezra, and the next brother Ephraim. So, all five boys have names that start with E. Also, we all have the same middle name as well, because in America, many families or names have three: the first name, the middle name, and the last name. Here in Japan, I noticed many people only have their family name and given name, but in America, we have this three-name system, and for all the boys, our middle name is the same, Raymond. So, all of us have the same initials: ERC. So, if we go to an arena, or like a bowling alley, or a special place where we have to sign our names or initials, sometimes the workers are very confused because all the boys have the same initials, ERC. So, it was really, really funny.

Now, growing up with four brothers, it was a very, you know, fun time. It's always good to be able to hang out with siblings. I know if I was an only child, I feel like I would be so bored, like there would be no one to talk to. I feel it would be kind of lonely because my brothers, when I was younger, they were my best friends, and we would do everything together. We would play outside together, we would, you know, go to sleep together, we would always eat together. And also, my family, we were all homeschooled, so we did not go to a school outside, but my mom and dad taught us school at home. Because of this, me and my brothers were even closer.

When I was younger, I would say I was closest to my older brother Edward, of course, you know, our ages are very similar. But growing up, when I got a little bit older, I was closer with my third brother, Ezekiel. And what are some good adventures I can share? Here's a good one.

So, of course, since there were so many boys, we would always get into trouble. We would, of course, fight, and maybe we would do some secret things our mom didn’t know about. One time, my older brother Edward was practicing with a bow and arrow for shooting. The arrow was not sharp; the tip of the arrow was gone. But he was practicing, and then we could see my third brother Ezekiel out in the field far away. So my brother Edward took the arrow, pulled it back, and let it go, and it hit my brother Ezekiel in the back—a perfect shot! But it did not go inside; it just bounced off him. But my brother was crying, and he ran to tell my mother.

Another good adventure my brothers and I had is that there was a train track nearby my house, and we would always go over there to look at the train. I remember we would look for arrowheads. An arrowhead is a special type of rock that looks like an arrow, or it looks like the shape of an arrow. So we would look for arrowheads, and then we would carve them to make them look better. We would pick up sticks, and we would make really big sticks together. We would go fishing together at our friend’s lake. We had a friend who owned a big house on the lake, so we would go fishing. And in the summertime, my brothers and I would go swimming. Our dad would take us to another lake, and he taught me and my brothers how to swim. We never really went to swimming classes; our dad taught us how to swim the original way. We’d go to the water, and he’d pick us up and throw us in the water, and then we’d swim. That’s the best way to learn!

I remember one time, how old was I, maybe 14, and we were at the lake, and I was wearing special jeans, you know, normal jeans. And there was a tiny boat that I used to go out to the small floaty on the lake. There was a platform just floating in the middle of the lake. When I was on it, my brothers came and took the boat I used, and I had to jump in the water and swim back with my jeans on. I was so angry, but that’s something that’s good for brothers and sisters. We always fight each other, but in the end, we love each other.

Now, speaking about fights, my brothers and I would have a lot of fights growing up. Of course, you know, there are so many boys, we always wanted to fight, but we never hit each other. We would fight with yelling and maybe pushing, but we would never punch each other, because, again, my parents gave us the rule that you cannot hit each other. You are brothers; you have to love each other. But sometimes, we would get really angry, and I’d push, you know, very strongly. And whenever my brothers and I had a fight, our mom would take a very big shirt, and then me and another brother would have to wear one shirt together. Maybe she used my dad’s T-shirt, and me and my brother had to wear the shirt together until we were laughing and talking to each other, because usually, when you're angry with someone, you don’t want to talk to them, you don’t want to see them. But my mom would say, "No, you're brothers; you have to talk to each other."

What else did me and my brothers do? We did so many things. Every year, we would go to a cabin on the lake, we would go to different places. On Wednesdays, my brothers and I would go to a nursing home. A nursing home is a place where there are many grandmas and grandpas, older people who live there because they can't stay in their own homes. So every Wednesday, my mom would take me and my brothers to the nursing home, and there we would sing a song, or we would read a poem or a story, or we would read a Bible verse. And every time afterward, my brothers and I had to shake the hands of all the old people who were there. It was very difficult for me and my brothers; we never really enjoyed it. But it was very important because it taught me and my brothers how to engage and how to talk with people who were much older than us.

And of course, growing up, during birthdays, we had so many brothers, and during the holidays, it was difficult for my parents to get expensive gifts for all the boys. So on birthdays, we had to think of other ways to give gifts. We might give a special card, make something, or work outside to earn some extra money for presents. So, you know, of course, we didn't have a lot of money, but we had so much joy, and in my family, there was a lot of laughing. My dad loved joking, so there was always laughing in my family. So, I really think that, in the end, having a lot of siblings is a good thing.

How about you guys, though? Those of you who are watching or listening, do you have siblings? How do you get along with your siblings? Do you still talk with them? Do you see them often? I know for me right now, I don’t see my siblings too much, of course. I’m in Japan; my siblings are in America. But I still love them, and I want to see them more often. I hope one day more of my siblings can come here. I would love to show them this wonderful country.

Yeah, but in the end, again, thank you guys so much for listening, and thank you so much for watching. Remember to look at the vocabulary list in the description as well as the transcript. And right now, we also have a special four- or seven-week English course for those of you who want to level up your English. I look forward to talking with you if you choose to do it.

All right, thank you so much for listening or watching. I will see you later. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast with me, your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening today. I think today’s topic is very interesting and something many people can relate to because it’s something that almost everyone has experienced in their lives. Whether they are a boy or a girl doesn’t really matter—everyone, I think, has experienced this if they have parents. The topic is discipline.

So, what is discipline? Discipline is the correction of bad behavior. For example, if I hit my brother and hurt him, my mom might say, "Eli, you cannot eat ice cream today." That is a form of discipline to help me become a better person; it corrects my behavior.

Why do I want to talk about discipline today? Well, because in my life, I’ve had a lot of discipline. Maybe you have, too. My parents are good parents—they love me and my brother very much. But we were not very good boys; we would fight and do other bad things, and we needed discipline. We needed our parents to correct our behaviors.

I know that discipline is very different in other countries, and even in America, every family has different ways of disciplining their children. For my family, my parents would discipline me and my brothers by spanking. Spanking is when you take a small stick or spoon and hit the butt of the child who didn’t listen or did something bad. My parents never hit us very hard—there was never any blood or bruises—but it hurt. Usually, my dad’s spanking was much gentler than my mom’s.

If I hit my brother or got into a fight, my mom or dad would give us a spanking. If we lied or said a bad word, we would also get a spanking. On our wall, there was a big sign with different numbers for different bad behaviors, and each number showed how many spankings we’d get. For example, hitting a brother was five spankings, and lying was three spankings. There were different levels of discipline. Sometimes, our parents would give us a choice. They might say, "Eli, you can choose: no video games for two days or 10 spankings." I would always choose the spankings because losing video games for two days felt like a long time, but a spanking was over quickly.

Sometimes my mom used a spoon, and because we lived in the countryside, she often used a little stick we called a "switch." It’s a very thin stick you can find outside. If we did something bad, my mom would say, “Alright, Eli, go outside and look for a switch, then bring it back to me.” So, I would go outside, look for a very small switch, bring it back, and say, “Here, Mom.” Then my mom would say, “Eli, that’s too small. Try again.” So, I’d have to find a bigger switch, come back, and I’d be crying and apologizing.

My parents never spanked us when they were angry; they would only spank us when they were calm. Every time we were disciplined, they would take us into a room—usually my bedroom or theirs—and say, "Alright, turn around." I would turn around, and they would take the spoon and say, “Alright, one, two, three, four, five.” Of course, we’d be crying. Then, afterward, they would sit us down on the bed. They’d say, “Eli, sit right here next to me,” and I would sit down. Then my mom or dad would say, “Eli, do you know why we had to give you a spanking?” I would say, “Yes,” and then they would explain why they had to give us the spanking. After that, they would always give us a hug and say, “Alright, go out and play with your brothers. I love you.” They always told us they loved us. They didn’t spank us because they wanted to or because they wanted to hurt us; they spanked us because they wanted us to learn a lesson and have good character. They didn’t want us to lie, hit each other, or be bad kids. They wanted us to be good kids, so they spanked us, but they did it in the right way.

I know that other families discipline differently. Some parents discipline their kids when they’re angry, but in my opinion, you shouldn’t discipline your kids when you’re angry. You should be calm and discipline them with love so you don’t hurt them and so they know, “OK, my parents love me. They don’t want to do this, but they have to.” I really respect my parents for that.

How about you guys? In your country, how do they discipline? In your family, how did your parents discipline you? I know other parents have different styles. Recently, especially in America, there’s been a trend of gentle parenting. Gentle parenting means you don’t give spankings; instead, you try to understand the child’s emotions and what they’re going through. I think sometimes that’s good. But I know kids are very smart. Children are not dumb, and I think they need strong role models. They need a strong father and mother to say, “This is wrong. Don’t do that.” I think that’s very important for kids to have in their lives. So, I understand gentle parenting, but I’m not a big fan of it.

That’s really all I have for today about discipline. Please tell me in the comments: how were you disciplined when you were a child? I’d love to know your story. Also, remember that in the description below, there is a vocabulary list of words from this conversation, as well as a transcript if you want to read and follow along with today’s podcast episode. I’m sorry I forgot to mention it at the beginning, but yeah, do your best. And right now, if you want to level up your English, I have a special English course if you’d like to talk with me and really improve your English level.

That’s really all I have for you today. Thank you so much for listening and watching, and remember: keep doing your best in English—you can do it! I’ll see you later. Bye-bye.

Hello, and welcome to Episode 19 of the Learning English Fast Podcast with me, your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening today. I just want to remind you that down below in the description, there is a vocabulary list for you if you want to learn any new words, as well as a transcript if you want to see every single word that I say during this podcast episode.

Alright, so today, the topic is family vacations—family vacations. I know most people have some type of family, and I know many people have special family traditions or special things they do with their family on a regular basis. For my family growing up, we were not very rich; we never really had much money, but my parents always did the best that they could. They always tried to make me and all my brothers happy, no matter what our family situation was, and I really respect them for that. I know having so many kids can be very difficult, and if you don't have a lot of money, it can be very hard to give them some happiness. But my parents—we didn't really need much to be happy.

Our family vacations were very simple. We wouldn't go to places like Disney World or Disneyland; we wouldn't go to these huge amusement parks or things like that. But my parents were very nice people, very kind, and they had so many friendships and knew so many people. My father had a good friend who owned a cabin on a lake. There were also some RVs at the lake, but there was a cabin. My father would ask his friend, "Hey, I know in the summer you don't go to this cabin on the lake. Is it OK if I take my family there for a vacation?" And my father's friend, being a good friend, said, "Of course, please feel free." My father believes that if you want something, you should ask for it and not be afraid to ask. He always said the worst a person can say is "no." If they say "yes," fantastic! If they say "no," that's OK. Don't be afraid to ask.

So, my family, for many years, every summer, would go to this lake house, this cabin on the lake together. There was no one around us, no one there—only this cabin, only my family, and, of course, some deer as well. My family would drive in the car, maybe two hours, an hour and a half, to get to this cabin deep in the woods. When we got there, there was a big gate, and we had to get out of the car, open the gate, then drive down the trail deep into the forest—so many trees. But then you see it in the distance: the beautiful lake, the beautiful cabin, and you know it's going to be a good vacation.

When we made it to the cabin, first, we took everything out of the car—some suitcases, some backpacks—and brought them into the house. After that, my brother and I wanted to go swimming right away; we wanted to play right away. So, we put on our swimsuits and jumped into the lake. There was also a little fishing boat there, so my dad brought out the fishing poles and bait to catch some fish. Some of us would choose to go fishing, and some of us would choose to go swimming. For me, I loved to swim; I love water, so I usually chose swimming. But one year, I decided to go fishing on the boat with my father, and I thought it was so boring! For me, fishing was not a very fun time because you sit down, you throw out your line, and you wait. That wasn’t very interesting to me at the time. Now I love fishing; I really enjoy it. But when you're young, you think, "I want to move! I don’t want to sit down!"

I remember when—I don’t know how old I was, maybe seven or eight—but I was going fishing with my dad on the lake. We were returning in the boat, and I was standing in the front. My dad said, "Eli, sit down! You could fall." But in my mind, I thought, "No, I’m a cool hero. I can stand." So, I stood at the front of the boat. Then the boat hit the sand, stopped suddenly, and I fell. I cut my knee, and there was a big cut with so much blood. Of course, I was crying, and my dad said, "Eli, I told you." I learned my lesson, but now I have a scar on my knee from that time. Every time I see it, I remember: don't stand up in a boat, sit down. It's important.

Also, during cabin time at night, you can hear animals in the forest. You can hear deer, you can hear owls, you can hear raccoons. Sometimes, in the morning, if you wake up very early, you can see deer. The deer would come so close to the cabin that I felt like I could touch them. Seeing the deer was very special to me. I love animals; I like to eat them, but it was very special to see them!

Another special activity we did during the family vacation was driving. Our father would let me or one of my brothers drive the car on the road because the area was very quiet—there was no one there, no cars. My dad would say, "Alright, boys, you can try to drive." My brother drove on the road, and I remember when it was my turn, I was so nervous. I didn’t know what to do. So, I'm driving very, very slow, but I got too nervous and went too far to the right. My dad said, "Eli, stop, stop!" I didn’t stop, and the car fell into the ditch. I was crying, saying, "I don’t want to drive anymore." So, we switched, and my dad drove instead. After that, I was kind of scared of driving because, in my mind, I thought, "Oh no, I will just fall into the ditch. I will fail." But now, I’m older; I have my license, so I was able to beat that fear.

What else did we do during camping time? Of course, we had a campfire, and at the campfire, we made so much food. My dad would make fresh fish; the fish that he caught in the boat, he would cut it, take out the meat, and we would cook it on the fire. It was so delicious. We would eat s'mores together. Do you know what s'mores are? S'mores are a special camping dessert that Americans eat. To make a s’more, first, you need a graham cracker. Then you need a marshmallow, and then you add chocolate on top. That’s a s’more. Before you eat the marshmallow, you put it on a stick, and then you hold the stick over the fire. The fire makes the marshmallow very, very soft and gooey. Gooey is a good word—it means very sticky. Then you put it on the graham cracker with the chocolate. It’s so, so good! I recommend you try to make it at home. You can find graham crackers and marshmallows anywhere, and if you need a fire, you can use your air fryer or stove. Just turn on your stove, put the marshmallow over the flame, and bam! You can make a s’more at home. Very easy to make!

Yeah, so my camping trips with my family every year gave me so many good memories—some bad memories, but mostly good. I wish I could do it again with my whole family. I hope one day, when I have a child—a son or daughter—I can give them a good family vacation. I would love to take them camping.

But what about you guys, those of you who are listening or watching? What kind of family vacations have you taken in the past? Even now, where do you go with your family during vacation time? Do you guys prefer to go outside, go to a new country, or just stay home and relax? For me, I think going out and traveling is one of the best ways to have a family vacation. But that’s just my opinion.

Alright, that’s about it for today. Thank you so much for listening, thank you so much for watching, and please remember that if you want to practice your English with me, I have a special program down in the description for a four-week or seven-week English course to level up your English.

Alright, thank you again so much for listening, thank you so much for watching, and I will see you later. Bye-bye!

Hello, and welcome to episode 20—yay—of the Learn English Fast podcast. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today. Please remember that down in the description, there is a transcript for anyone who wants to read and follow along with what I'm saying, as well as a vocabulary list so you can learn some new English words that are in this podcast today.

All right, so today’s topic is actually a little bit of a sensitive topic. The topic is bullying—bullying or, you know, bullies. So, what is a bully? A bully is someone who hurts someone else, mainly because they want to feel better than that person. They want to be higher than that person, and bullying is that action. Usually, this is spoken about for kids or, you know, for children. Like, for example, at school, maybe there is a boy who is very tiny, and in the same class, there's another boy who's much bigger and stronger, and maybe he's always angry. So, he will maybe punch that little boy, or maybe he will take his books and, you know, rip his books apart or take his glasses and throw his glasses away. That is bullying, and it's not just with action. Bullying can also be with words.

So, again, at another school example, there's a girl, and maybe she has not the best clothes, you know—her family's not rich—and some other girls say, "Ha ha, your clothes are so ugly. You look like a pig." That also is bullying. And bullying is something that happens all over the world at schools—in some countries more than others. But I want to share a little bit about my own personal bully experience.

All right, so growing up—again, I told you guys this before—but I grew up with asthma, so because of this, I wasn't really able to exercise. I wasn't really able to be so active outside or do things outside or around. So, if I would run or walk too fast, I would have an asthma attack, like a fish that can't breathe out of water. It's a very horrible feeling. And because of this, I gained some weight because, you know, I wasn't able to exercise. I wasn't really being healthy, and so I became a little overweight boy. And I had no confidence; I was always reading, playing video games, things like that. My parents sent me and my brothers to a public school. For most of my life, I was homeschooled—always at home with my brothers—but for some years, sometimes our parents would want us to try going out to a public school.

So that year, it was the fourth grade, and in America, the fourth grade is how old? I don't know, like 8 to 9, you know, around that age. And we had to take the bus, and we lived in the countryside, so the bus would drive far to our house in the countryside. Then I would go on the bus, and all the kids were there. I felt so nervous; I felt like, "Who can I talk to?" But there were also our neighbors, who also went on the bus. And our neighbors had two daughters, and the two daughters were actually twins—two girls who looked the exact same. It was crazy. And on the bus, they were very kind. They would talk to me because, you know, we're neighbors.

At the school, there was one boy who would always bully me. He would always pick on me because he knew I had no confidence, and I wasn't a very healthy guy either. I was kind of chubby, and he would laugh at me. What else would he do? On the bus, he would spit on the seat and then on me. He would sneeze, "Achoo!" and put his snot on me or next to me on the chair. It was very disgusting. He would push me, and I remember he would pull my shirt. I wasn't happy, but the two twins would always protect me. They would always defend me, and there was a, "Stop that! Stop that!" And I always felt, "Wow, they really like me. They care for me," you know? But I was not in that school for a long time. After maybe a month or two, our parents took us out, and we went back to homeschooling. Yeah, so that was a good experience.

Another type of bullying that I experienced was when I was in high school. I was in the ninth grade. In America, we have different types of grade systems, right? You know, we have first grade all the way to 12th grade, and ninth grade through 12th grade is high school, and there are different levels, and we call different names for those grades. Ninth grade is freshman, 10th grade is sophomore, 11th grade is junior, and 12th grade is senior.

So, in my freshman year, my parents took me to a high school to see, you know, how it is. How will I do? So, I went to this high school, and it was nice, but again, I had no confidence at all. I never had confidence. So, I went there. I didn't make too many friends. I remember I was introduced in the class because we didn't go there at the beginning of the year; it was in the middle of the year. So, I was, you know, that transfer student. In so many TV shows or animes, the transfer student is very cool, mysterious, amazing. But I wasn't cool; I was a fat boy. So, I'm there, very shy, and some kids were nice to me, you know—they talked with me.

During our PE class—physical education—I, again, wasn't good at running or anything, so the PE course I chose was archery. Archery: you have a bow, you shoot the arrow—archery. And in my archery group, there were three juniors—two years older than me, two years ahead of me. And in that group, they found out I was homeschooled, and they found out that I did not really have so much world experience. So, they would ask me questions about certain things—certain topics that are not good for kids to talk about, like maybe some drugs or alcohol, things like that. And I had no idea what they were talking about. And they would laugh at me, they would make fun of me, and every single day they would joke about me and laugh at me and say, "Oh, you don't know this, you don't know this, like a baby." And it really hurt my feelings, you know? But there was one person in that group who didn't really laugh at me, and she kind of protected me. It was this one girl, but she was kind of creepy and crazy because she would always follow me around and really wanted me to go to the prom dance with her.

For junior year and senior year in American schools, there’s a special dance called prom where you have a date, you go, and you dance—it’s very fun, but I had never been. And she kept calling me her "prom date, my prom date," saying, "Come on, let's go," but I didn’t know her, and she was kind of freaky. She would follow me around. I would go to the bathroom, and then this girl would be outside the bathroom waiting for me. It was very scary, like, "Why does this girl like me so much?" I don't know. She helped me, but the other guys would always bully me. So after a few months, again, our parents took me out of that school, and we went back to homeschooling.

That was a little bit of my bullying experience. I'm sure maybe you guys have some bullying experience as well—maybe in your own life, or maybe you were the bully. Here in Japan—and maybe in Korea and some other countries as well—bullying is actually a very heavy thing in many places, especially in the countryside schools in Japan. I was talking with my wife, who is Japanese, the other day, and she was telling me that in the countryside in Japan, the bullying is so severe that if someone new comes, they really bully that kid, and no one supports them. None of the adults nor the kids support him, and so that kid committed—you know, he committed suicide, killed himself. It was very, very sad, and it was very, how do I say it, surprising for me to see that in Japan, bullying is such a strong and heavy thing.

I really believe that people who bully have no confidence in themselves. They have no security in themselves. That’s why they have to bully other people—to make themselves feel confident, to make themselves feel higher, to make themselves feel better, because maybe they have some problems in their heart. And most of the bullies that I met or that hurt me, many of them come from broken families; maybe their father and mother are divorced, you know, so their father is not at home. They have no father figure, so they need to find confidence in other ways. So they try to bully the weak, and so it’s actually very sad. I feel a little bit sorry for bullies, but at the same time, we should not let them continue to bully other people. If you see another kid or someone bullying another person, you should try to stop them because that will cause so much hurt to the person who's being bullied. Even now, I'm 29, but I still remember the times I was bullied so clearly. It's left like a little scar in my heart, and it caused me to have fear and no confidence in making relationships because sometimes when I was in high school, I wanted to make a new friend, but I had a feeling, "Oh, maybe they’ll bully me." So if you are being bullied or if you see bullying, please try to stop that because that will cause a lot of damage to other people.

All right, I hope you enjoyed today's podcast and hope you learned a little bit about bullying in America. And I shared a little bit about Japan. If you have any other questions or topics that you want to learn about, please leave it down in the comments below.

Hello, and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast with me, your host Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening today. Today is a good day. Maybe outside right now it is very cloudy. Maybe it's going to rain.

As always, if you look down in the description, there is a vocabulary list for those of you who want to practice your English or learn new words, as well as a transcript of today's episode so you can follow along as I am speaking.

All right, so today's topic is going to be about TV shows—or just the TV. When I was young, my family, we had a TV, and my parents were very careful not to let us waste too much time watching TV, but I loved it. Growing up, we would have a lot of different types of movies, mainly Disney movies. Growing up, my family loved Disney, and I also really loved Disney as well. I'm not really a fan of the theme parks, Disney merchandise, or things like that. I'm only a fan of the movies, and not the new movies. I prefer the old movies. I think the classic 2-D animation movies are the best ones because they really capture that Disney feeling.

During my childhood, my family, we usually watched a lot of things together. As many of you know, I was homeschooled—me and my brothers—so my mom would always have a schedule for us. We could only watch TV at a certain time. We couldn't watch it, you know, for hours every day. She gave us time to watch, and also, we could only watch some TV shows on the weekends. On our TV, there were some channels that were very educational, where all the episodes and TV shows were focused on kids learning, like math, reading, vocabulary, or history. All the TV shows were like that because my mom wanted us to always learn, even if we were watching TV.

One of the TV shows that left a big impact on me was called Arthur. Arthur is a TV show about many animals, but they dress like people, and they live in a city. It follows the life of Arthur—I forgot what type of animal he is—but in his life, he has so many different situations at his school and with his family, and there was always a lesson at the end of the episode, a moral lesson. Now, a moral lesson is a lesson where you can apply it to your own life with a good moral. An example of a good moral is "do not lie," you know, very basic, or "do not steal," "do not hit your brother," or "do not hit your sister"—things like that. It's something you can apply to your life that is good. It is a good thing, a good moral.

Many old TV shows would always have a moral at the end, but right now, in today's generation, I feel so many TV shows don't have a good moral at the end. Some shows are just stupid, with a stupid ending, and there's no clear lesson to be learned. There's no clear lesson that anyone learned in that show. But that's just my own opinion.

Also, we would watch a lot of adventure movies, like Indiana Jones. For example, we loved Star Wars. My family loved Star Wars. And now Star Wars is Disney, but at that time, it wasn't with Disney at all, you know. I remember I was so scared of Star Wars when I first watched it because some of the aliens in Star Wars were so scary. Their faces and the way they moved made me feel so uncomfortable. But when I got a little bit older, I really enjoyed it, and even now, I love Star Wars. My favorite Star Wars episode is Episode 3. I know many people say those episodes are not that good—the first three episodes—but I enjoy them. They're one of my favorites. Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith.

Also, in my town, we had a video store where you could go and rent DVDs or VHS tapes. The store was called Family Video. At this video store, you could pay some money, and of course, you know, you could rent different things. You could also rent games as well. So, not just TV shows—you could rent games. My brothers and I would sometimes go and rent games and play the games all night. Then the next day, we would return them to the store. At Family Video, they had a special promotion, like a special thing to encourage people to buy more videos. This promotion was for young children all the way up to high school. If you showed them your report card—the scores that you had in different classes—if you had a score of B or higher (so B, like, you know, A is the best, then the next level is B), you could rent a video for free. You could borrow a video for free.

This really encouraged a lot of kids and young people to do their best on their tests and with their studying because if they had a good score, they could get a video for free. So, that really made me want to try at my school and with my schoolwork because I wanted a free video. Of course, you don't keep it forever—you only borrow it. You don't keep it forever. So, I would do my best, and I would go and rent a game or a video. At Family Video, there was one video I rented so many times because I loved it. The video was Sonic the Hedgehog OVA.

Sonic the Hedgehog OVA. Maybe some of you know it. It's a very old movie about Sonic, and he's a hedgehog that can run very, very fast. I watched that movie again and again and again because I am a Sonic fan. I loved Sonic the Hedgehog when I was younger—I loved it maybe too much. I didn't have too many friends, so my imaginary friend was Sonic. So embarrassing. But I would try to get that movie every time I went to the store. I would look and see, "Is it there? Is it there?" And if it was there—yes—I always got it. I would watch it so many times. It's just a simple story of Sonic—him running, him saving people, and destroying robots. It's a really, really cool movie. I recommend it. It's called Sonic the Hedgehog OVA. If you have a chance, please find it. I loved it so much.

Even later in the night, I would watch it on the TV and make the volume on the TV very, very low so that no one could hear it, but I could still kind of hear it. I would watch it secretly. I loved Sonic too much.

Another video that my brothers and I loved to watch was called Space Jam. Space Jam is a movie about Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes, like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck—all these different characters. Michael Jordan came into the cartoon world, and that made such a big impact on us because we thought, "Wow, the cartoon world! I want to go to the cartoon world." That was a really good movie. Have you seen it? Not the new Space Jam with LeBron James, but the old Space Jam with Michael Jordan. It is a classic movie.

Another thing my family would do was watch some movies together as a family to make it a family tradition. For example, every Christmas, we would watch the movie It's a Wonderful Life. It's a very, very old movie—it's still black and white, no color—but every single year, we would watch this movie together. Every year, we loved it. The movie is about a man named George Bailey. He is a good man. He always did the right thing, even if he lost money, opportunities, or friends. He would always do the right thing. Until one night, he wanted to end it all. He wanted to, you know, finish himself. He was about to do it, but God sent an angel to tell him, "George, if you weren't here in this world, if you were never here, if you were never born, so many things would be so difficult." He understood, like, "Wow, even though my life is hard, I really helped so many people." He really appreciated his family more and his friends. It's a really good movie. Please, if you haven't seen it, please watch it. It's called It's a Wonderful Life.

Still talking about movies, now of course, you can use them for language learning. I'm learning Japanese, so of course, I watch Japanese movies and TV shows to increase my Japanese level. Sometimes that's an excuse—I just like to watch the TV shows—but it's so useful. One of the TV shows I watched to really level up my Japanese was called Non Non Biyori. It's a TV show about four girls who live in the countryside and go to school together, but nothing too interesting happens. It's just their daily life, and it's so peaceful to watch and so comforting. The Japanese level in that TV show is so low, so it helps me understand more. I love watching different animes and TV shows, but I'll talk more about animes or Japanese movies and stuff in another episode.

But that's about it for me today. What about you? What are some of your favorite movies that you enjoy watching? What are some of your favorite TV shows that you enjoy watching? Please let me know down in the comments below.

And always remember that right now, in my life, or with this podcast, I have a special seven-week or four-week English class for those of you who want to practice your English with me one-on-one, right? But anyway, thank you all so much for watching, thank you all so much for listening, I will see you later! Bye Bye! 

Hello and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast. I'm your host, Eli. Thank you so much for listening or watching with me today. As usual, the transcript is down in the description, as well as a vocabulary list for any of you who want to practice your English or, you know, learn some new words. Really, whatever you want. Alright, so let's jump right into it. Today's topic is one that's very special to me: losing weight. Losing weight. I'm sure many of you watching probably want to lose some weight, right? Maybe you don't. I don't know. I don't know your life, but for me, when I was very young, many of you already know, but I had asthma growing up. So because of this, I wasn't able to be active. It was very difficult for me to lose weight. Excuse me, I had a big dinner. And because of this, I always felt insecure about my body. I always felt, you know, no one will like me. Every time we went to a swimming pool or, like, a waterpark, I would always wear a shirt because I felt so ugly. I felt, I don't want anyone to see me. I don't want anyone to stare at me. I don't want anyone to see my big belly, so I felt so insecure. Maybe some of you had this experience before. And when I finally reached high school—mate, I think, yeah, it was my junior year, so in America, school is the second-to-last year—and at that time, my asthma was finally gone. Alright, it was gone, and I really wanted to get into shape. I really wanted to be healthy. So one of the classes you can choose at the school was weight training. Weight training. Now, weight training focuses on weightlifting and not just lifting weights, but the technique, how to have a good diet, how to make an exercise plan for yourself. And the coach, who was, you know, our coach or teacher, who was there, he was such a good man. He encouraged all of us. He really encouraged me. He was like, "Eli, even if you do a little bit today, that's OK. A little bit is better than nothing." He was always so encouraging. Thank you, coach, if you're watching this, thank you. And I was finally able to lose some weight, and I gained some muscle. I became a normal guy. I wasn't too strong, but I got confidence. I got confidence, and I noticed that sometimes people would treat me differently. Even though, you know, my personality is the same, and I speak the same way, people would talk to me like I'm different. And I think it was because I lost weight, and maybe I looked better. I really wanted to maybe eventually become a weight trainer myself or, like, you know, a weight coach because I was so influenced by my coach there at the school. And after that, I really learned about how to take care of my body: what foods I had to eat, how much sleep I had to get at night, and my habits changed. My habits really changed. And even now, I try to remember the things that I learned during my weight training days in school. And also, not next month, but next year, my wife and I will be going on a Disney cruise. Almost forgot what it was— a Disney cruise—and I need to lose some weight for that cruise. I want to look better. I want to have a good six-pack for that cruise. So I've been using the techniques I learned during my time in that school. And here are some techniques, you know, to lose weight. It's very simple. You need to be in a calorie deficit, which means eating fewer calories and moving more. It's a very simple way to lose weight. If you do this, you will always lose weight, 100%, unless you have a special kind of sickness. So I've just been trying to eat more healthily, and usually my habit is Tuesday through Saturday: I don't eat any sweets. Sometimes I fail, but usually, Tuesday through Saturday, I eat no sweets. But on Sunday and Monday, those are my free days. I can eat some candy. I can have some cake. I can eat a cinnamon roll. I love cinnamon rolls. They're my favorite. And so this habit has really been helping me to make more healthy choices. Even though I want to eat something sweet, I remember, "Oh, today's Tuesday, I can't eat something sweet today." And now it's just become my lifestyle, where I only eat sweet stuff, like, on Sunday or Monday, or if we're having a special occasion, like a birthday party or anniversary or something, you know? And so that was my habit for staying healthy, as well as trying to do some movement every day. So recently, I stopped doing this for a while, but now I started to walk 5,000 steps every day. It's one of my personal goals every day: walk at least 5,000 steps. And that's just helped me to move, as well as doing calisthenics. Calisthenics— that's like bodyweight exercise. So every morning or in the evening, it depends on my schedule, I try to do at least 10 minutes of bodyweight calisthenics, like push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges. I do different types of exercises to make my whole body, you know, feel energized. So I know being able to exercise is really a privilege. There are some people who have body problems who can't exercise. So I'm so grateful that my body is able to be healthy and I can move. And I love doing it. I say I like doing exercise with someone because I don't like doing it by myself. Because it hurts, you know? It's not comfortable. No one enjoys exercise. But if I do it with someone, like my wife or a friend, I feel very motivated to do it more, to really go out and really, like, push myself harder, you know, reach the next level. And so I think doing it with a partner is really good. How about you? For those of you who exercise, how do you do it? Do you do it with a partner? Do you do it by yourself? Do you do it at home? Do you do it outside? I really want to know. Yeah, so anyway, that's really all I have for you guys today. Exercise is important. Try to do a little bit of exercise every day. And please tell me your workout or exercise experience down in the comments below. And please remember, right now, I have a special one-on-one English course if you want to practice your English with me, but no pressure. I'm happy to talk with any of you. Alright, so keep doing your best. I'll see you later. Bye-bye.

Hello, and welcome to the Learn English Fast podcast with me, your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today. As always, the transcript is down in the description, as well as a vocabulary list for anyone who wants to practice their English words.

All right, so today's topic is about friendships. Friendships! I know many of you probably have friends, and of course, I have some friends too, but I want to share my friendship experience. Actually, growing up, I did not have too many friends. I know, it's so sad. But there were some people I was very close to.

When I was, how old was I? I think around 12 or 11, you know, around that age, I had one best friend in my life. His name was David. David and I had so many things in common. I first met him at my church because my father was a pastor. My friend David would come to church every Sunday and Wednesday for the kids' services.

We just really got along. The biggest connection that David and I had was Sonic and video games. We both loved Sonic the Hedgehog, the video game character. I would go to his house, or he would come to my house, and we’d play Sonic the Hedgehog games. We loved Sonic! We would always talk about Sonic, like, “Oh, this character is better than that character!” We wanted to be like Sonic.

I would go to his house, and we’d play video games together the whole day. It was a really, really good relationship. We would watch movies and have sleepovers. David and I were very close. At his birthday party, he even let me hit the special piñata first! I got to play the games first because we were best friends.

But something happened. After a few years, he had to move. He had to move to a new state. I was very, very sad because he was really my only good friend. There were other kids I knew, and some I talked to, but there was no one else I was really close to. He moved to a new state called Missouri. I don’t know if he’s still there now. David, if you’re watching this, I miss you.

At that time, I felt so sad. I didn’t have a cell phone, so we wrote letters to each other. Every week, we would write letters back and forth. One week, I would send him a letter, and the next week, he would send me one. It was always exciting to wait for the letters from David.

But then school started, and during the school year, we didn’t exchange as many letters. Finally, after maybe one month, the letters stopped. I realized we weren’t good friends anymore. Maybe he found other friends, or he was busy with school and his own life. Maybe he forgot about me.

I never communicated with him again, and I never saw him again after that. It was very sad. I kept the letters, though. After that time, I became much quieter and more personal. I didn’t really want to connect with other guys. I felt so lonely. After that, it became very difficult for me to make new friends.

When I went to school or church, it was always a difficult time because I couldn’t make good friends anywhere I went. But as I got older, I became more mature, and I gained more confidence. I was able to make some good friends, but I was never able to make a friend I could call my best friend. I would always have some close ones, but I never got too close because I was scared they might go away or reject me. I had that fear in my heart.

When I first went to India, I lived with so many people for one whole year. Some of them became good friends. I could even say they were my best friends. I was able to heal my heart and have new relationships with the people around me.

Now, I think I have so many good friends. I have more confidence, and I can have a good friend! Yay!

What about you, though? Are you able to have good friends? Do you have any best friends right now? Who are they, and what do they do? I want to know!

Another good thing about friends is finding ones who can really support you. I think having friends who encourage you and help you when you feel sad are the best kind. We don’t need to have a lot of friends. Having one good friend, a really good friend, is worth more than having many shallow, not-deep friendships. Having a deep friendship is much better.

My brothers have always been able to have so many good, close relationships. Sometimes I felt jealous. Right now, one of my best friends is my wife, of course! We do so many things together.

But it’s also important to have a best friend of the same sex. For me, that’s a man. It’s important to have that kind of support. My best friend’s name is Ian. Ian is an English teacher. Ian and I became very, very close because we both taught English together. We talked about so many things. Even today, we still sometimes talk together. Even though we’re not in the same city and don’t work at the same place, we’re still connected.

All right, that’s really all I have to say about friends today. I want to know your story! What are some good relationships you have with your friends? Do you have best friends, or do you have no friends? I want to know! Please tell me in the comments below.

Also, remember that we have a special one-on-one English course if you want to practice English with me. No pressure! We have a 30-minute free trial as well.

All right, thank you so much for listening. Keep practicing your English—you can do it! I’ll see you later. Bye!

Hello, and welcome to the Learn English Fast Podcast! I'm your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today. As usual, the podcast vocabulary list is down in the description, as well as a transcript, if you want to practice your English with me.

Alright, so today's topic is grandparents—you know, like grandpa or grandma. I think everyone has grandparents. Everyone should, of course. If you don’t have grandparents, that means your parents aren’t here, you know?

In my life, I was pretty close to my grandparents on both sides of my family. My mom, when she was younger, was adopted by a Mexican family. So my mom is Black (African-American), but she was adopted by a Mexican family. That means I have both a Black grandma and a Mexican grandma! My family is pretty big, but I mainly saw my Mexican grandma—or Hispanic grandma (Hispanic is another word we use).

She’s a very, very strong woman. She’s the kind of person where, if she tells you to do something, you should do it right away—because if she gets angry, she’s very scary! I remember one time I said something—not mean, but not nice—to my grandma. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it was something like, "Please be quiet." I said it because she was talking to me a lot, but my tone—how I spoke—was not good.

Because of that, she made me write, “I am sorry, Grandma” 100 times on a piece of paper. With my pencil, I wrote, “I am sorry, Grandma. I am sorry, Grandma. I am sorry, Grandma”—100 times! I learned my lesson: I shouldn’t speak back to her.

On the other hand, my grandpa—Grandpa Rick—was a very, very nice man. He was so kind, so gentle, and he loved playing the guitar. Every time we went to their home, he was always playing guitar. He loved Mexican guitar music and Spanish songs. He played these wonderful melodies, and it was so, so peaceful. He even taught me and my brother some guitar skills, and it was so much fun!

Another good thing about him was that he was a great cook. Both of my Mexican grandparents were great cooks. My grandma, of course, made amazing Mexican food, but here’s a secret: My grandpa’s Mexican food was even better than hers! It’s really funny.

He also really loved cars. He enjoyed watching car races at the racetrack, and he collected so many little toy cars. He was a very interesting man.

On my father’s side, his mom—or my grandma—we called her Nana. Nana means “grandma.” I don’t remember much about her, mainly because she was always at home, usually sitting on the couch. I didn’t see her very often. Whenever we went to her house, I always felt a little uncomfortable—probably because of the smell of the house. It had that “old person” smell. I also felt like she wasn’t very nice, but she was still my grandma, so of course, I loved her.

Now, my mom’s African-American grandma—my Black grandma—was a very nice lady. Every time we met her, she would be smiling. She’d always say, “Eli, how are you doing?” She’d pat my head or rub my back. She was a good grandma, and her cooking was amazing! Her food was so delicious—macaroni and cheese, special biscuits, sandwiches. She was an incredible cook!

I think almost all grandparents are good cooks. What do you think? Are your grandparents good cooks too? In my family, all my grandparents were good cooks. I hope one day, if I have grandchildren, I can cook as well as they did. That’s why I practice cooking now!

What other memories do I have of my grandparents? My grandpa Rick didn’t just love guitar and cars. He also loved the outdoors. He enjoyed hiking, meeting new people, and learning about Native American culture. In America, there are Native American people, also called Indians, who were the first people in the land.

My grandpa Rick had so many connections and friendships with Native American people. He would introduce us to them, and we got to learn about their culture—how they live, their religion, their way of thinking, their language. It was so interesting! I was amazed that my grandpa had friendships with so many people from different cultures.

I think grandparents have so much wisdom and knowledge, but sometimes we ignore it. I believe we should show them respect and listen to their stories. Everyone has a story to tell—life experiences they want to share.

If you have a chance today, find a grandma or grandpa in your life to talk to. Listen to their story. I’m sure you can learn so many things from them.

Alright, thank you so much for listening to the Learn English Fast Podcast today! If you enjoyed this episode and want to speak with me one-on-one, check the description. I offer one-on-one English lessons for anyone who wants to learn with me. You can do it!

Thank you so much for watching and listening. I’ll see you later. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome to the Learning English Fast podcast with me, your host Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today.

So today's topic is about shopping. You know, shopping is something that everyone does. I shop, you shop, we have to shop for food, we have to shop for clothes, we have to shop for everything really. You know, so it's very, very important.

Before we get into this episode, I want to remind you that the transcript is down in the description below, as well as a vocabulary list for any of you who want to practice your English while watching or listening to me. Also, remember that right now I have a special course for one-on-one English learning for any of you who want to practice your English with me, but no pressure. Alright?

Yeah, so about shopping. You know, recently my wife and I have been shopping much more online, and I think online shopping is so convenient. You can see so many things, you can buy so many things, but I think it's a little bit dangerous because when you shop online, maybe you find something that's very cheap, so you buy it, then you see another thing that's also very cheap, so you buy that, and then you buy so many cheap things. But soon, you have to pay so much money without thinking about it. So I think that's a little bit of a danger of shopping online, but it is very, very convenient. So many times I have given people birthday gifts or Christmas gifts by using Amazon to buy gifts for them. And so many times I don't know what gift to give them. So on Amazon, I just write "good birthday gift for a woman who is 35 years old." So I write down who they are, and then they give me good birthday gift ideas. I think it's just really, really convenient and very, you know, it's useful. How do you find gifts for your friends? You know, I know I try to ask my friends sometimes, like, “Hey, what kind of gift do you want?” but they never tell me clearly, so I think online shopping is so convenient in this area because, you know, people buy so many things so you can find the best gift for them online.

Recently, my wife and I have also been thinking about buying a new vacuum cleaner because our current vacuum cleaner is horrible. It never picks up all the dust, and when you clean it out, it doesn't drop all the garbage. You have to put your hand in there and really grab the garbage out of this vacuum. So it's really not that convenient. We want to buy a new vacuum cleaner, but it's so much more expensive. But that's okay—having a clean house is so, so important. Or, I guess we could clean the old-fashioned way with our hands and just by scrubbing.

Going back to shopping, when I was a boy, my family—my dad—he was always the one who would do the grocery shopping in my home. Now, grocery shopping is shopping for food or, you know, things that you need in your house. My dad, he was the main grocery shopper. Every time he would go into the store, we would always have to wait such a long time. He would say, “Eli, I'm only going to get some milk from the store,” but I’d wait for him a long, long time. He comes out of the store, and he doesn’t just have milk—he has so many bags of other food. So my father, he is a good grocery shopper. And now I’m older, and sometimes I think I’m like my father. I go into the store, and I think I only want eggs, but when I'm in the store, I remember other things I need, like maybe some milk or some meat or some bread. And so I grab those things as well. So I also leave the store with bags of food.

So there's a phrase for you: we say "like father, like son." Like father, like son. That means the son is like the father. Another phrase that we have is, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." The apple doesn't fall far from the tree—that has the same meaning: that the son is very similar to the father, or the daughter is similar to the father, like very close to your parents. So I feel like I'm like my dad. If I go to the store, I buy so many things, but my wife, on the other hand, when she goes to a store again, she doesn’t buy so many things, but she takes a long time because she likes to think and, you know, check out everything in the store. The very first time I experienced this—we were dating at the time—and the very first time I experienced this, I was very surprised because I was thinking, “Wow, you're taking a long time looking at all these items, you know, when we're shopping.” But she said, “Oh, this is normal.” So I was quite surprised, but now I have gotten used to it. If we go shopping together, I know it’s okay if she takes a long time. She doesn’t have to go quick. She can take her time.

What about you guys, those of you watching or listening? When you shop, do you take a long time or are you a very quick shopper? You go in, you find something, then you go out? Write down in the comments, I want to know.

Another thing I love about shopping is finding good discounts. Discounts! In America, we have these things called coupons—these little pieces of paper that can give you discounts for things that you buy. And they come in the newspaper or sometimes in magazines, or sometimes the supermarket will give them out to people after they buy something. And I love coupons! I love saving money. I don't like spending money, of course, but coupons are so useful. My favorite coupons are the ones that say, "Buy one, get one free." So if you buy something, then you also get a free thing with whatever you buy. I love those coupons because I love free things, and I love it if it's for food, like “Buy one donut, get another donut free.” I love those so much. Coupons that have percentage discounts, like 20% or 30% off, those are also good, but I prefer the free coupons. The free coupons.

I think as well when you go shopping, or for me, when I go shopping, I also try to connect with the workers in the shop. So maybe the, you know, cashier or some managers. If I see them, I like, “Konnichiwa” (hello). I try to make friends with them, so that way, you know, maybe they can help me in the future. But I don’t know. Maybe when I lived in Taiwan, I would often go shopping in this red store just for some food, and I would talk to the ladies in that store almost every day. I would say, “Hi, how are you? How's your family?” And they really became close friends with me. We became good friends, and after about six months, they started to give me free food. I was so happy. They gave me free bread. They gave me free donuts. It was a great relationship.

So maybe you can try if you go shopping. Try to talk to the workers. Of course, you know, don’t bother them so much. Keep it very casual, like, “Oh, how are you doing today?” or “How’s the weather today?” You know, keep it casual, but then try to make a good relationship with them. Talk with them, like, “How’s your day going?” And I believe, you know, you can make a good relationship, and maybe they will also give you some free food. Maybe!

Alrighty, so that’s really all I have for you guys today. Thank you so much for watching or listening to this English learning podcast. Please, I want to know your shopping experiences down in the comments below. Do you have any funny shopping stories that you want to share? Please, I want to know. Also, remember that the transcript and vocabulary list are down there as well, and the one-on-one lesson with me if you want to practice your English. But no pressure, alright?

Thank you so much for listening and thank you so much for watching. I will see you later. Bye-bye.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Learning English Fast with Eli podcast. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today. Remember that down in the description, there is a transcript as well as a vocabulary list for anyone who wants to practice their English with me. Also, I have a special one-on-one English class for anyone who wants to level up their English by talking with me.

All right, so today's topic is Thanksgiving. You know, tomorrow is actually Thanksgiving here in Japan. This year, Thanksgiving is on the 28th. Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November, so sometimes the date is different, but this time it's on the 28th. Very, very exciting! I already had a Thanksgiving party with my friends and my wife last week, so I won't be doing anything special tomorrow. But I want to talk a little bit about this holiday.

For me personally, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for so many reasons. I like it more than Christmas. I like it more than Easter. I just love Thanksgiving. One of the reasons I love it is, of course, because of the food. I think the food at Thanksgiving is the best. I know in America, there's the idea that turkey is the most popular thing at Thanksgiving, and for some families, it is. But in my family, sometimes we wouldn’t eat turkey. We would just have chicken or ham. Personally, I prefer ham over turkey. I think it has better flavor, and it goes well with more things. That’s just my personal opinion. I really think there are so many other better meats like pork or chicken, but turkey isn’t bad either.

There are other dishes I love as well. There's cranberry sauce, which I love so much. Sometimes, some family members would make homemade cranberry sauce, but I prefer the ones that are bought from the store in the small can. Of course, we also have macaroni and cheese, another American classic. This year, at the Thanksgiving party my wife and I went to, I actually prepared some macaroni and cheese. It was my very first time really making it homemade, so I was very happy with how it turned out. It was pretty delicious!

Another popular dish at Thanksgiving, at least in my family, is sweet potatoes—or what we call cheesy potatoes. So, these are, how do I explain... potatoes with a lot of cheese and some spices. You bake them in the oven, and they turn into these delicious cheesy, baked potatoes. I highly recommend trying them if you’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving before.

But the best thing about Thanksgiving, you know, isn’t just the food. The best thing is really the family—everyone coming together as one and being thankful. In my family, we have a tradition. At Thanksgiving, we all go around the table, hold hands, and give thanks. We say everything we’re thankful for that year. It can be anything—for example, "I’m thankful for my family," or "I’m thankful for my job," or "I’m thankful for school." It can really be anything that’s important to you.

It’s really important to remember and give thanks for the things we’ve received. I know there are so many people in the world who have fewer things than me or who are in difficult life situations. So, it’s important, at least for me, to be thankful—not just at Thanksgiving, but every day—because every new day is a blessing. But at Thanksgiving, being with family is one of the best parts.

In my family, we also have the tradition of cooking together. It’s not just my mom cooking everything, or just my dad. Everyone has responsibilities in the kitchen, and we all help each other. It’s a big part of Thanksgiving for us.

We also have a tradition of inviting friends over. It’s not just our family. My mom and dad always wanted people to feel like they were part of our family. They would invite friends over and even some people we didn’t know very well, but who had nowhere to go. My mom and dad would say, “Hey, come to our home. We can be your family.” They really embraced the Thanksgiving spirit, which is, I think, the most important part. It’s not just about the food or having fun—it’s about being a family and being thankful for what we have in life.

Having my first Thanksgiving here in Japan was very nice, but of course, I felt a little lonely. I was thinking about my family and our traditions back in America. But when I joined the Thanksgiving party here, my heart felt better. I felt more joy because the people around me love and support me. We also had so many things to be thankful for.

Here are the things I’m thankful for this year:

1. I’m thankful to Jesus because He has given me everything I need in life. He’s helped me through so many things. He is my rock.

2. I’m thankful for my wife. I got married this year, and she has supported me through so much. I love her so much.

3. I’m thankful for my home. I’m so happy I can live here in Japan and have a roof over my head.

4. I’m thankful for you—those of you who are watching. Thank you so much for coming with me on this journey of learning English together. I’m so thankful that you watch my videos and listen to me talk. I think it’s such a blessing. I never imagined there would be almost 1,000 of you watching or listening to me. I feel so thankful.

Thank you for watching me. I hope that in the future, all of you will level up your English and that your English will get better and better.

All right, that’s all I have to say for today. Thank you so much for watching, thank you for listening, and please continue to do your best at English. Have a happy Thanksgiving! I will see you later. Bye-bye.

Hello, and welcome back to Learning English Fast with Eli, your host for this podcast. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today. As usual, the transcript is down in the description, as well as a vocabulary list for any of you who want to practice your English with me.

All right, so today's topic is about fear. Fear—I believe there are so many different kinds of fear in the world. I have some fears; you have some fears, and I know there are so many different kinds. I was doing some research, and I found that in the world, there are three fears that are the top three. Do you know what they are? I'll tell you.

Number three is the fear of snakes. The fear of snakes—isn't that interesting? People fear snakes, of course. They're creepy; they're on the ground. They go around.

The second fear people are scared of is, do you know? The fear of death. Many people are scared of dying, and I think that's true. Of course, some people don't know where they will go after they die, and they have a fear of the unknown.

And what do you think is the number one biggest fear in the world? You don't know? I'll tell you. The number one biggest fear is public speaking. That means speaking in front of many people—speaking in public. That's crazy! Some people would rather die than speak in public to people around them.

But I understand. You know, when I was younger, I had a very big fear of public speaking as well. I was always so shy. I would never want to talk to people, and if there were so many people watching me, I would never want to speak with them because it was so embarrassing. My legs would shake, my body would shake, my voice would be like this, and I had no confidence.

But when I was in high school, I joined a debate club—a club where people came together, and we had to learn how to debate each other, how to argue with each other. I also took a public speaking class. In the class, a teacher came and explained to us and gave us different types of advice on how to speak in public, like where we should look, what we should think about, how often we should look at the people, and how often we should look at our notes. It was so useful in giving me confidence in speaking in front of many different people.

Even now, if I have to talk in front of many people, I still feel nervous. And now in Japan, it's even worse because in English, if I speak in English, it's no problem—I have confidence. But if I speak in Japanese to a group of people, my confidence is gone because, you know, it's a language that I'm learning. I'm not perfect in the language yet, so I don't have a lot of confidence. But that's OK. You know, the more I practice, the more confidence I will get. It's the same for English—the more you practice, the more confident you will get.

One of the strategies or ways that the teacher gave us for public speaking was to imagine everybody is in their underwear. That way, you don't feel embarrassed because you imagine that the people, you know, have no clothes on. Another piece of advice was, oh, imagine that all the people are potatoes—they're just potatoes. But the best advice that she gave us was just to look at the very back of the room. Don't look at the people; look behind the people. So whenever I would public speak, I wouldn't look at the people directly. I would just look over them, way past them, to the door behind the seats. That gave me confidence because, to the people, it looks like I'm looking at them. But actually, I'm looking behind them. And so they feel like, wow, Eli, he's a really good speaker. He's looking at me, but I'm not. I was so shy and so embarrassed.

Another fear I had when I was younger was the fear of heights. Oh, whenever we were on a bridge going over the water, I felt so scared, like, oh no, we're going to die, we're going to fall. Of course, we never fell, I did not die. And whenever we would go to a swimming pool, they had these diving boards—you guys know? It’s where you go to the edge of this big long board, and you can jump on the board and jump from the board into the water.

Even though the diving board isn’t that high, you know, the water isn’t that far away, in my mind, it felt so high—it felt so scary. So I didn’t want to jump into the water. I was always scared of the diving board. And when I’m in the water, if the water is so deep, even if it’s a swimming pool, I feel like, oh no, a shark is going to eat me. I had that fear all the time.

Another fear I had was also the fear of spiders. Oh, I hate spiders. Even now, I’m not scared of spiders anymore, but I still hate them. If I see a spider, I always kill it—always. I hate spiders.

When I was young, I remember I was watching TV and sitting on the floor eating some cereal. While I’m sitting on the floor, I feel something go over my arm. I look, and it’s a big daddy long-leg spider. I was so scared! It crawled over my arm. Oh my gosh, it was horrible. The spider—no, it wasn’t in my mind—it was big, but it wasn’t that big, and it wasn’t dangerous either, but it gave me so much fear.

How did I overcome these fears? What did I do to get over these fears?

For the first fear, public speaking, I took the class—that helped me.

For the second fear, the fear of heights, I lived in India. And in India, I lived on the mountain. When you’re driving in a car, or when you’re on a bus in the Indian mountains, you know, there’s no protection on the road—there’s no wall, there’s no rail. So if the bus falls, it’s over. So on the high mountain, with no protection on the road, I just had to trust God that I wouldn’t die. My fear of heights went away.

Also, for spiders, India helped me too. In my room, one day, I was about to go to sleep, and I looked on my wall, and there was a spider the size of my hand. My hand is pretty big—you don’t even see it—and it was on the wall. I looked down, grabbed my sandal, and when I looked up, the spider was gone. Oh my goodness, I couldn’t find it! It was gone. They are so fast, and they were so big.

I had to go to bed. I couldn’t find it, and I had to sleep. It was so difficult because I knew the spider was in there somewhere. I couldn’t find it. So I went to bed, and the next morning, when I went to the bathroom, I saw it. The spider was on the wall in the bathroom. I took some water, sprayed the water on the spider, and then I killed it—yay!

But after that, my fear of spiders went away because the spiders there were so big. So now, if I see any spider here in Japan, no problem. I kill. I always kill.

I have some friends that say, you have to catch the spider and let it go outside. If a spider is in my home, it’s my home. This is my area. It’s not the spider’s area. He has to go—not go outside. He has to go to heaven. He has to die. So I kill the spider.

But what about you guys? Those of you watching right now—what are your fears? What are some things that you’re scared of? Are you scared of public speaking? Are you scared of spiders? Are you scared of snakes? Tell me. I want to know. Write them down in the comments below.

All right, so again, thank you so much for listening or watching this podcast today. And remember, I also have a special one-on-one English class for any of you who want to level up your English with me. That’s also down in the description below.

So anyway, thank you so much for watching, and keep doing your best with your English. OK, I will see you later. Bye-bye.

Hello and welcome back to the Learning English Fast podcast with me, your host Eli. Thank you so much for watching me or listening to me today. As usual, the transcript is down in the description, as well as a vocabulary list for any of you who want to level up your English.

All right, so today's topic is social media. Social media! I'm sure those of you who are watching are using social media right now. YouTube is a way or a form of social media, but we all use it. You know, like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Line, WhatsApp, WeChat… there are so many! Twitter, X... there are so many different kinds of social media in the world. And in today's generation, like now, we use it every day, and we use it for so many different things. I was thinking about social media— is it a good thing or a bad thing? Is it something positive or something negative? I think it’s a gray area. The phrase "gray area" means something unclear—not bad, not good, just in the middle.

If you don’t know, social media can be used for good things and it’s also being used for many bad things. But in my own personal life, I use social media often. You know, I have this YouTube channel. I have some other channels as well. I teach English online, so I’m always on social media to connect with new people, to talk with new people, to communicate. You know, I have to use it every single day. Sometimes I feel like I use it too much. I’m on this every day, and I feel like maybe it’s not so healthy. I should get out more often. So, since I’ve been seeing that I’ve been using this too much every day, I’ve been trying to walk a certain number of steps. I try to walk at least 5,000 steps every day. So even though I use social media, I still want to take some time to go outside and, you know, see nature, touch some grass, look at the sky. I think it’s so important not to always be so focused on the social media around us.

Also, I think for social media, it really makes us compare with each other. Don’t you think? Like, maybe I see a picture of someone who looks really cool, or they have the best clothes, or they have the best house, or a good family, and then I compare, and I think, "Wow, I don’t have that." Or "Man, his life seems so much better than mine." You know, when I was living in Taiwan, at that time, I was again teaching English online, but I wasn’t making a lot of money. I was doing a lot of volunteer work with children and at the church, so I wasn’t a rich guy. Even now, I’m not like a super-rich guy, you know, but I have enough. But at that time, on social media, I saw one of my friends, and he was one year younger than me. At the time, I was 22 years old, and online I saw that he was about to get married. He had a fiancée. Also, his business was so successful. He started his own business and had grown so much that he had many employees working for him. I thought, "What am I doing with my life?" You know, like I felt like I had nothing. I had less money than him. I had no wife or girlfriend at that time. I was just living in a rented house. I felt like I wasn’t being successful. I felt like my life was being wasted. I compared, but a man I knew, a pastor, really encouraged me, and he said, “Eli, don’t compare with what you see online. Be content with where you are now.” So I learned, "Yeah, you know, I don’t have to compare. When I look at pictures of things online, sometimes a lot of those things are not true. They’re just what people want you to know." So I learned, "Okay, I should not compare. Even if I see a picture, maybe they’re just putting on a smiley face in the picture, but maybe they’re actually very sad." You know, we never know.

So I think for social media, we really have to have a good balance. Don’t use it too much. Use it wisely. And of course, sometimes it’s okay to go on, but going on it too much can damage our mind. It can make us not feel confident with ourselves. When you are on social media, do you compare to other people? Do you think, "This person, he’s having more fun than me," or "This girl, she looks much more beautiful than me?" You know, we should not compare. We should be content with where we are. We should be content with what we have. So don’t compare. Go on social media, but if you feel like you’re becoming so negative by watching it or reading those stories, you should turn it off for a little while and go see nature. Try to look at the world. There’s so much more than what we see on social media. And I’m sure you guys see it too. Like, you go outside on a train or something, and everybody’s on their phones. They’re playing on their phones, they’re playing games, or reading books on their phone. It’s not bad, but I feel like we spend so much time looking down, we forget to look up and see the people around us. So I think for social media, we should have more self-control. Yeah, that’s really all I have to say about social media for this. But I want to ask you: How do you control your social media use? What do you do? What are your strategies? Do you try to take some time outside after a long time looking online? Or are you on social media every single day? When you wake up in the morning, is the first thing you look at your phone? Maybe that’s not good. Maybe that’s not good, but again, this is just my opinion. All right, but for you, you can use social media for your English practice. Don’t waste time on social media. Use it to learn. So use English when you’re learning. Change all of your apps to English versions. Watch some English movies on your YouTube or follow some English Instagram accounts. Or follow me if you want. All right, but anyway, thank you so much for watching or listening to this podcast today. I want to know about your social media use. How often do you use it? Do you use it every day? Please tell me down in the comments below. And also remember that right now we have a special one-on-one English course with me if you want to level up your English. You can talk with me, and that link is also down in the description. But no pressure, all right? So keep doing your best with your English, and I will see you later. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome to the Learning English Fast podcast. I’m your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today, as usual. The transcript is down in the description, as well as a vocabulary list for any of you who want to practice your English.

All right, so today’s topic is a very special topic for me. This topic is about Japanese wedding ceremonies or Japanese weddings. As many of you know, I recently got married this year in June—June 1. I can’t forget. I have to remember! My wife and I had our wedding ceremony with a Japanese wedding company, and it was very different from what I expected.

So, I just want to tell you guys first that my father, he was a pastor, so he was always invited to do weddings for different people. He would do weddings at churches. He would do weddings in other, like, office buildings. He would do them all over, and I would follow him. Usually, I was the DJ, so I would follow, and I would do the right timing for the music, the videos, and things like that. So, in my life, I’ve seen so many weddings.

In Japan, I had an idea of what kind of wedding, you know, I was expecting, but my idea was wrong. Here in Japan, it’s kind of difficult to find a good wedding venue or at least one that’s not too expensive. Most people get married with a wedding company, and they help you find the venue. They help you find a place to get married. My wife and I went to so many different places. We interviewed so many different companies and asked so many questions. It was very, very boring.

Of course, you know, they give you free food if you go so you can test the menu, but they just keep talking about so many things, and I felt so tired. But I was with my wife, so I was very happy. My wife and I finally decided on one wedding venue, and it was very, very expensive. It was cheaper than the other ones, but it was still very expensive.

The one thing I was so surprised about, about the culture difference, was the lack of control. I mean, usually, in America, when you plan the wedding, you and your husband or you and your wife, you know, you can have all the control. You can be very creative, like, “Oh, I want this song at this time,” or “I want this person to do this.” You’re very free. But at these wedding venues in Japan, you don’t have so much freedom.

I would ask a question like, “Oh, can I play this CD?” and they would say no because it could be, like, copyright or something like that. And I’m like, “Who else is going to be watching this? No one, you know, only our families.” But there were some small things like that. Even if you bring your own CD, you have to pay, like, $100 or $200 to use their CD player. And then you also have to pay money for the worker who will turn the music on the CD player. So I said to my wife, “You have to pay money for that? It’s not that hard. You press the button, and you have to pay $200. It’s crazy.”

There were so many small things like this, and this wedding venue company charged for so many things like that. If you don’t have socks, they can give you socks, but you have to pay for the socks. What else? If you want someone else to stand at the front, you have to pay extra for that. For a cake, if you want some words on the cake, you have to pay so much extra. You can’t bring your own words. You can’t bring your own cake because they’re worried about hygiene.

Sometimes I was getting very frustrated because I’m like, “You guys, it’s not that serious. You guys are thinking too much.” But in the end, it was smooth. My wife and I were strong in some areas. We said no to some things, and we stood firm. They gave up. They always kept trying to have us buy new things or add prices, like, “Oh, these flowers will be good,” and I’m like, “No, no, no, we don’t need those.” So we had to be very clear and strong, saying, “We want this. We don’t want this.”

Other than that, though, the venue was gorgeous. It was really beautiful. Here, I’ll actually throw some pictures on here so you guys can see. It was amazing, and it was just like my wife wanted. She really wanted to have a long dress, and they got that for her. She really wanted to feel like a princess with a little tiara, like a little crown, and they got her that as well.

At first, we were thinking, “Okay, only our families will come,” but in the end, more than 40 people came. Not just our family, but friends as well, and I’m happy we did that. A wedding should be a time of joy. It should be a time of celebration for everyone, not just our families. So more people came, and it was very, very good.

The whole time during the wedding ceremony, the workers were always there, leading the way, saying, “Okay, now at this time…” They had their microphones. Very, very professional. They tried to stay out of the way as best as they could. They were so professional. It was incredible, actually. I felt like I was a rich man, like, “Wow, I feel like a king.” They did such a good job.

Another thing my wife and I did for the Japanese wedding is they have red envelopes. Usually, in America, when people get married, sometimes people give money, but most give gifts like practical gifts—forks, spoons, tables, chairs for the new house for the couple. But here, people give money. They give money, so whoever you invite will always bring some money for you. My wife and I used that money to help pay for the wedding ceremony because it was expensive. I won’t tell you how much, but it was high. It was expensive.

The whole time, I’m thinking, “Why is it so expensive? Why?” But it’s okay. I love my wife. You know, I love her, so it’s no problem. Having a lot of people come was so useful and so helpful because the money they gave helped pay for the wedding. It’s a very interesting culture, I think.

I know in America, sometimes people give money, but not too often. In Taiwan, and also in China, they would also give money to the couple. I think it’s a very interesting part of Asian culture. Very wonderful, actually.

What else did we do during the wedding? There was no dancing. All the weddings I’ve been to in America always had dancing, but here, no dancing. But we did have a little game at the beginning, where I would share a picture of me in my childhood, and everyone had to guess, “Which baby is Eli?” There were other questions like, “How did me and my wife first meet?” or “How did I propose? Where did I propose?” Things like that. It was a very, very fun wedding.

The theme of the wedding was a theme my wife wanted: Disney. She loves Disney so much. So the theme of the wedding was Disney-themed. There were Disney cups, Disney flowers, and different Mickey Mouse “hidden Mickeys” in the flowers as well. They did a good job with the Disney theme, and everyone was so amazed, like, “Wow, it’s so cute.”

Also, at the end, when all the guests left, my wife and I handed out little gift boxes that we made at home. We gave them to all the guests who came. That was also very interesting. In the U.S., the couple doesn’t give anything to the guests. The guests give stuff to the couple. But here in Japan, the couple gives things to the guests to show, “We’re thankful for you coming. Thank you for your support.”

We also gave gifts to our parents. There was another part I was very surprised about. Again, in America, the parents usually don’t receive gifts. But we gave gifts to the parents as well, saying, “Thank you for your support. Thank you for your love for us and raising us throughout these years.”

So that’s just a little bit about Japanese weddings here in Japan or my own personal experience.

Please tell me about you guys! Those of you watching in another country—what type of weddings do you have? What kind of culture? What kind of people lead the weddings? I want to know. Please tell me down in the comments below.

Also, remember, I have a special one-on-one English class for any of you who want to practice English with me.

All right, thank you so much for watching. Keep doing your best with English, and I will see you later. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome to the Learning English Fast podcast. I’m your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching me or listening to me today. As a reminder, before we go into the topic, there is a transcript down below for any of you who want to practice your English while watching me or listening to me. Also, I have a special one-on-one English course for any of you who want to level up your English to become more confident.

All right, so today’s a very special episode because it is episode 30, which is a good number, but also, I finally have 1,000 subscribers on the channel. Yay! There’s no one here around me, only me, but I’m so happy and so thankful to all of you who watched and who listened and who subscribed. I know those of you who subscribed to me, those of you who are watching me, you want to learn English, you want to level up your English, you want to increase your listening level. So I’m so thankful that you took time just to watch me and to listen.

I feel so special, you know. I never would’ve imagined that 1,000 of you would be interested in listening to me or, you know, to hear my voice, ’cause I’m not like a special guy. You know, all my hair has gone bad. I’m not a special guy. You know, I’m just someone from a small town in Wisconsin in America, and now I live in Japan. It is horrible, and I just want to, you know, share some of my English knowledge with you and just my experiences.

Yeah, so I just wanna share about, like, why I really started this channel. You know, it’s like, how do I say? Like, when I first started, my goal was not to have a lot of subscribers. It’s not to have a lot of people watch me or listen to me. My goal was just to share about English because I’ve been teaching English for more than six years, and so many of my students, they would always tell me, like, their weakest area is listening and speaking. Of course, you know, but listening for them was very hard. They can speak some, maybe some good English, but when they would listen to English conversations, they could never grab anything.

Actually, I started this channel because of my wife and because of those students — the students for their listening, but my wife just for her idea. She said, “Eli, you speak very well. I think you should start a channel.” At first, I was thinking, “No, I don’t think so. Like, who would want to listen to me?” You know, but she gave me the idea. So I started, you know, why I’m like, “Why not?” OK. And so I really have to thank my wife because she’s really the one who really pushed me, you know. She really gave me the kick in the butt that I needed to start this channel, and so I’m so thankful for her.

I think that learning English and English listening is so important, you know, because I think podcasts are so useful. When I’m learning Japanese, I listen to Japanese podcasts. When I was learning Chinese, I listened to Chinese podcasts, and those podcasts really helped me to be able to learn the language and to be able to understand more and more because I would just, you know, listen, and I would rewind and listen again and again and again until I understood what the person was speaking about. So I think maybe you guys can use this podcast too for your own, you know, English learning. That’s what I hope you use it for, this way, you know.

And so I want to do something special for today’s video. What did I wanna do? Nothing too crazy. Like, some people do, like, 1,000, you know, I’ll eat 1,000 candy bars, or I’ll eat, you know, I’ll do 1,000 things, but for me, I don’t have any special — no plan. I don’t have any special, like, 1,000 thing. All I can just say is thank you, and I value you all.

And for this, I guess, 1,000-subscriber episode, I just wanna, you know, just talk about, I guess, my own personal journey to becoming an English teacher. And that’s a good idea. So when I first went to India, because I left America to go to India for a year, at that time, I had no English teaching experience, and I never really thought I could teach this language. But in India, I went up to the Buddhist area. There’s a huge Buddhist temple, and we did some just English conversations with the Buddhist monks. At that time, you know, I didn’t think too much about it. I just thought it’s fun. You know, I can share some English stories with them or whatever. But when I was talking with them, they were so thankful for me just talking with them and sharing my story.

They said, “Eli, we’re so thankful that your English is easy to understand.” No one told me that before, you know, because actually, when I was very young in America, I had a speaking problem. You know, I couldn’t pronounce the R sound. I couldn’t say it. Like, instead of saying, for example, instead of the word “car,” I would say the word “caw.” Like, my “caw” would be like the W sound. Instead of the word “red,” I would say “wed.” “Wed. My shirt is wed.” I couldn’t pronounce the R. So my parents sent me to special classes where a teacher would teach me how to use my tongue to make the sounds for the language and for the R sound.

Even now when I speak, I still have to remember, OK, move my tongue back to make the sounds for R. I think, you know, it actually was something good because it made my natural speaking easier to understand for non-native speakers.

And so after that in India, I then went back to America for a month, and I went to Taiwan. When I was in Taiwan, I did some more English teaching, but not as like a job, just like volunteer, and I discovered that I enjoyed it so much. And maybe I’m good at it. Maybe. I don’t know. I taught this child, this little girl, and her mom wanted me to teach her daughter. I got no money for that. The payment was food because her mom owned a café. So her mom would give me, like, quiches and cakes and food for the payment, and I was, you know, I was happy with that, you know.

After that, when I went back to the US, I was thinking, I like teaching English, but how can I make that a career? So online, I found a TEFL certificate online because I’m like, I don’t wanna go to a whole school for this. I took this 160-hour online course. It took me a long time, actually. Maybe a few days, you know, every day I would just do a little bit until I finished 160 hours.

Then I finally started teaching English on iTalki. Do you guys know iTalki? It’s a language learning platform for those who want to practice languages and want to have a native speaker teach them. At the beginning, iTalki was just like a language exchange, like an application, but now the focus is just teaching.

At that time, I remember my first student. She was from Thailand, right? And the first class, I was so nervous. At that time as well, my computer was a very old computer. It was in 2017, all right, so, like, an old computer. The camera quality was not good at all, and I had a bad, like, microphone headset. I remember I was so nervous, but she became, like, my first and my longtime student, my first student on iTalki.

From there, I started teaching more and more and more and more, and now here I am, you know, not starting but having a YouTube channel with 1,000 subscribers. I still teach English on the side. Of course, this YouTube is not my full-time job, you know, and I teach English still on iTalki and some other places as well.

And now here I have, you know, like, my own personal English classes for those of you who really want to level up. Please talk with me. I wanna see you grow. And yeah, I’m so thankful that I’m here.

I love teaching English, you know. I love teaching. I love seeing people grow in their English. Like, they start at a low level. I love seeing them grow. I love seeing them get confidence. I love, you know, seeing their English become more smooth when I talk with them.

Usually, the students, they don’t notice. They don’t think, “I grew,” but actually, they did. They did. Like, one student I spoke to today, I’ve been teaching him for the past four months. Four months, right? And at the beginning, when we first spoke, his English was not that good — like, not smooth, not clear. But after about four to five months, we can hold good conversations. He can understand so much more.

So I tell him, “Hey, your English improved,” but he doesn’t believe me. I know it’s true. So I think for those of you who are learning, have more confidence in yourself. Have more confidence in your English. Don’t say sorry for your English. Have confidence. Your English is not that bad.

All right, so anyway, thank you all so much for 1,000 subscribers. I’m so happy to continue, you know, to practice English and to share my life and my stories with you all. Please, if you have, like, any ideas or stories you want me to share, please write them down in the comments, and I’ll try to do them as soon as possible.

I look forward to maybe speaking with some of you in my English course down in the description. But anyway, keep doing your best. Keep learning English, all right, and I will see you later. Bye-bye.

Hello, and welcome to the Learning English Fast Podcast! I’m your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening today.

I’m wearing a hat because it’s cold. I know it doesn’t match my clothes, but I don’t care—it’s chilly! As usual, the transcript and vocabulary list are in the description, along with a special 30-minute free trial lesson for anyone who wants to practice English with me and take their English to the next level. The link is in the description, so please check it out!

Today’s topic is about sweet things—specifically candy, cake, cookies, and stuff—because I’m a sweet person. Why? Because I always eat sweet things! I love sweets. I love candy. I love cookies. I love chocolate. I love cakes. I love donuts. I love all the sweet stuff. If it’s sweeter, it’s better. If it’s sweet, I love it.

That said, I need to have self-control because, usually, if I eat too many sweet things, it’s so easy for me to gain weight. You know what I mean, right? So, I gave myself a personal rule. The rule is that I can only eat sweet things on the weekend. Sunday and Monday are my personal weekends, but from Tuesday to Saturday—no sweet things. Just healthy food.

My wife helps me a lot by making sure I don’t eat all the sweet things I want. She’s very helpful. Thank you, honey!

Why do I love sweet things so much? Well, of course, it started when I was a boy. We often ate sweet things in my family and at church. When I was young, the church I attended sometimes held big meals, and when people came to our home or someone else’s home, they often brought sweet dishes—like cookies, cake, or something like that. You know, when you visit someone, you can’t go empty-handed. You feel like you have to bring something. So, I was always surrounded by sweet food.

Even my brothers loved to bake sweet things. My older brother Edward was a baker, and he even started his own baking business called Eddie’s Edibles. For his business, he made cakes, cookies, and pies. Then, he would walk around the neighborhood, knocking on doors and saying, “Excuse me, would you like to purchase some cookies?” or, “Would you like to buy some pies?” He always had great deals, like a bag of 12 cookies for just $8—very cheap! His business was quite successful. He sold to our neighbors and to people at our church. He was a very hardworking and entrepreneurial person.

As for me, I never baked with him. I was the taste tester! My job was to make sure the cookies were okay, but I didn’t actually bake anything myself. Now, though, I kind of enjoy baking. Recently, I’ve gotten into the habit—or hobby—of baking bread.

At home, we have a bread machine, and I’ve been using it to make all sorts of bread. The other day, I made oatmeal honey bread. I’ve also made cinnamon sugar bread, regular white bread, and brown bread. I love experimenting with the machine to create delicious bread. It’s such a nice feeling to smell fresh bread in your home. It feels peaceful and cozy.

If you’re interested, I recommend getting a bread machine. You can make so much bread quickly—just throw the ingredients into the machine, and in two to four hours (depending on the settings), you’ve got bread!

Living in different countries, I’ve also had the chance to try all kinds of sweets. When I lived in India, I loved Indian sweets because they use so much sugar. It’s not good for your teeth, but it’s good for your heart—and your happiness! Eating sweets brings joy. My favorite Indian dessert was a round ball made with condensed sugar and cake, soaked in a sticky syrup like honey. (I forgot the name of it—maybe gulab jamun?)

I loved those sweets so much. I went to the sweet shop almost every day because they were so cheap. I would buy sweets for myself, not to share, and always tried new ones. But something sad happened. One day, I got really sick—like a bad stomach sickness. Even though I should’ve rested, I had no self-control and went to buy my favorite sweets. I ate them, but 15 minutes later, I threw up everything. It was horrible! After that, I couldn’t eat that sweet anymore. Even now, when I smell it, I remember being so sick.

In Taiwan, my favorite sweets were from the bread shop. They had so many kinds of cakes—strawberry, banana, apple, you name it! I went there three times a week, and the workers—three elderly women—knew me by name. They’d often give me free bread or cake to try, which made me so happy.

Now in Japan, my favorite dessert is crepes. I love crepes so much! They’re thin pancakes you can fill with sweet or savory ingredients. I prefer sweet ones, of course—cream, strawberries, bananas, and so on. Kyoto has the best crepes near my home. They’re perfectly firm, generously filled, and absolutely delicious.

What about you? What’s your favorite dessert or sweet in your country? Let me know in the comments!

That’s all for today. Thank you so much for listening or watching. Remember, keep doing your best with English—you don’t have to be perfect. Just keep going! See you later. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome back to the Learning English Fast podcast. I’m your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today. As usual, there is a transcript as well as a vocabulary list down in the description, as well as a link to my special free trial English class for any of you who want to level up your English. You can sign up for a 30-minute free trial if you want to practice talking with me and to see where your level is and what you want to do with your English, but no pressure.

Alright, so today’s topic is just about winter, because right now it is December. It is wintertime, and it is very, very cold outside all over the world, but I’m sure in some places, it is not that cold. For me, winter is a very special time, mainly because I have so many special memories in winter. When I was a boy, of course, my birthday is in winter. My birthday is in this month, December, so when I was a boy, I would remember my birthday. I would remember going outside and playing in the snow with my brothers, and we would do so many things outside together. Like I said before, we played in the snow, we made snow angels, we made snow forts (these little buildings we made out of snow), and we had snowball fights, where we took snowballs and threw them at each other. It was always so much fun, but it was so cold. Even though my birthday is in the winter and I have so many good memories in the winter, I hate the cold. I hate shivering. I hate feeling cold, so I prefer the summer, but winter is still special for me.

Something my family would do in the winter is, my mom and my dad, they would read books to us, especially my mom. So, in my home when I was a boy, our home had a fireplace. We would make a little fire. We had the wood, and we would put the wood in the fire. Then, my mom would maybe make some tea or hot chocolate, and we would sit by the fire, and my mom would read us a book. I remember feeling so peaceful and so comfortable listening to my mom read us a story, and I would always fall asleep because it was so warm, and my mom’s reading voice was very, very calm and smooth. I would fall asleep so quickly, and it would be like I could hear the story in my dreams. It was such a good experience, so that’s a very special memory of my wintertime.

But now, as you guys know, I’m in Japan. Here, where I live in the winter, it’s also cold, but the cold is different from my hometown in America. The cold is very dry, and there’s so much snow. I come from Wisconsin, and in Wisconsin, the snow piles up very high, and it’s cold. But here in Japan, where I live, there is almost no snow, but it’s still cold, and the cold really cuts into you. It’s a very sharp kind of cold. I think it’s because we’re near the sea, and the sea gives the cold a sharper and wetter feeling. So, I’m not a fan of the winter here in Japan, but I’m always a fan of the Christmas spirit and the winter spirit. Like, you go to stores, and you see there are sales for hats and gloves, and sweaters, and people all around wearing these very big scarves and coats. People look so stylish. For me, you know, I have one nice coat, but I’m not a very stylish person. So, in the winter, I just wear a big coat and nice pants. Nothing really too special.

But something I really enjoy, and I want to say something positive about winter, is being able to have a good night’s sleep. Because if I feel too hot at night, it’s very difficult for me to sleep. But in the winter, if it feels cold, being able to be in a very nice and warm blanket when you fall asleep, oh, I think that’s the best feeling in the world. I know some of you have other good winter experiences as well.

Another winter experience I really love is ice skating. In my hometown, there was an ice rink, and there would be so many young people ice skating around this rink. I remember we had a family friend who took me and my brothers out to this ice rink, and I had never ice skated in my life at that time. I was maybe 10 or 11 years old, and she took us out to this ice rink and said, “Alright, boys, don’t go so fast because you want to impress the girls.” And I’m thinking, “I don’t know how to ice skate. I can never impress any girl.” So, I put on my skates, I went on the ice, and what do you think happens? I fall! Of course, I fall, and I fall again and again and again. I’m holding on to the side of the ice rink to make sure I don’t fall, and I’m slowly going around and around. There are so many cute girls who are doing spins, they are skating backwards, they are going so fast, and they look so cool and pretty, and I feel so embarrassed. But one of them was so kind. She gave me some advice. She said, “Eli, when you skate, don’t focus on leaning back. Focus on leaning forward. Put the weight a little bit forward.” For me, that was very difficult because, you know, when you’re skating, you don’t want to fall. But I followed her advice, and I was able to skate smoothly. Not fast, but I was able to do it without falling. So, that really helped me out with ice skating.

Another thing my family would do, of course, was sledding. In the countryside, we had a big hill in my yard, so my brothers and I would take our sleds, we would take our snowboard, and we would go down this hill. Sometimes, we would make a little jump, and we would jump off this jump on the hill and get some airtime. It was so much fun, and we would be so cold because we would dive into the snow, but it was such a good memory. I really miss snow. I’ve been living in Japan for the past three years, and in the winter, there’s no snow where I am, so I miss snow a little bit, but I don’t miss the cold, you know?

Right now, as well, another good winter memory I have is shoveling snow. I don’t know if it’s a good memory, but it’s a memory. My brothers and I would go around to different people’s homes, and we would knock on their doors. When we knocked on the doors, we would ask the people, “Hey, would you like us to shovel the snow in your driveway?” And then the people would say, “Yes, of course.” We would tell them, “Okay, we can do it for you for $20.” So, we would make money by knocking on people’s doors and asking them if we could shovel their driveways because there was so much snow. So, me and my brothers, we would do that work almost all day, and we would make pretty good money. It was me, my older brother, and my younger brother—so the three of us. Then we would split the money with each other. It was a very good business. At first, we did not want to do it, but our dad encouraged us. He said, “It’s good to make money. It’s good to work hard.” So, we learned, “Okay, some people don’t want to do work like that. They don’t want to shovel the snow. So, it’s a good opportunity for us to make some extra money.” And this is called entrepreneurship. That’s a big word I give you: entrepreneurship. You know, you don’t have a business, but you start one. You start one by yourself.

So, those are some winter memories that I have growing up, and I want to make some new memories now that I live here in Japan with my wife. What about you guys? Those of you who are watching, what are some winter memories that you have in your life? Did you go sledding? Did you go skiing? Did you go ice skating? Please, I want to know. Write down your experiences in the comments below, and remember the transcript and vocabulary list down there as well. Okay, keep doing your best with English, and I will see you later. Later. Bye-bye!

Hello and welcome back to the Learning English Fast Podcast.

I’m your host, Eli. Thank you so much for watching or listening to me today, as usual. The transcript and vocabulary list are down in the description, so please give that a look if you have time.

Alright, so today’s topic is about superstitions—superstitions.

Now, what is a superstition?

A superstition is a belief of something that you do if that will make you unlucky or lucky. And usually, a superstition is… it could be a habit or even like a family tradition that everyone does because they think it makes you lucky or unlucky.

For example:

• One superstition is if a black cat walks in front of you, that means you have bad luck.

• Another superstition is if you want to get some salt and the salt shaker falls over, that is bad luck.

• Another superstition is if you walk into a room and you don’t knock on the door, that is bad luck.

There are so many superstitions for bad luck and for good luck.

Another superstition for good luck is finding a four-leaf clover—you know, like the leprechaun. It’s a good luck thing.

In history, there are so many superstitions, and in America, we have many. We have so many different kinds of beliefs.

I want to talk about superstitions because today is Friday the 13th.

This is usually considered a very unlucky day in America. Friday the 13th comes a few times a year.

The reason why Americans consider this unlucky is because, in the past—so, in many different religions like in Christianity, for example—the number 13 means incomplete. It doesn’t mean perfect. It means something is missing.

Even hotels in America sometimes don’t have a 13th room or a 13th floor because people consider it to be very unlucky.

For me personally, 13 is my favorite number.

The reason I chose 13 as my favorite number is because I don’t believe that it is unlucky. It’s just a number, you know? It’s just a day.

So for me, I always choose the unlucky number to show people, “Hey, it’s not an unlucky number. It’s just a normal number,” you know? And so, I love the number 13.

Here in Japan, people also have many superstitions as well. Or we can call it superstition, or we can call it their tradition. You know, both are actually very connected.

For example:

In Japan, the idea of going to a cemetery is very scary. Going to a graveyard can be considered very unlucky because there are… they say the souls of the people who died are there, and so many people don’t try to stay too long in graveyards.

It’s the same in America as well. Like, if you go to a graveyard, it’s scary. It’s unlucky, you know, and so we don’t wanna go.

But in my family—like, we’re Christian—so we don’t believe that there are any unlucky things, and we don’t believe even that there are lucky things.

We believe that everything can be God’s will, you know, God’s power. And so, if something bad happens, we don’t say, “Oh man, that was unlucky.” No, we say, “That was God’s will,” you know? And so, we don’t… because we can’t control certain things. There’s no unlucky and there’s no lucky for Christians.

But for superstitions, you know, everyone has their own.

I was looking online for some other strange, like, I guess, superstitions in some other countries and in some other cultures. Like, if you don’t do certain actions, it’s considered unlucky.

For example, in India, the cow—there are so many cows everywhere because they consider the cows to be very holy animals. So if you see a cow, you know, if you touch it, it can be considered lucky.

One of my friends and I, we were walking there. We were walking in the street, and there’s… I can’t remember. There are so many cows in India, and she stepped in a big pile of cow poop. It was disgusting, and we were all wearing sandals at that time.

So when she stepped in the cow poop, you know, she was disgusted. And a nearby friend, an Indian auntie, we called her, she said, “Wow! Now your foot is so lucky because you stepped in the foot of the cow!”

And we were all laughing so much, but she was very, very angry, and she was not happy at all.

Another thing I was thinking about with superstitions is how sometimes movies can help influence our ideas of superstitions. Like the movie Friday the 13th, that influenced many Americans into thinking, “Okay, Friday the 13th is an unlucky day.”

I’m sure there are many other movies, maybe even in your own country, that influence the idea of lucky and unlucky things.

Speaking about superstitions, you know, I wanna talk about ghosts and things as well.

Me, personally, I hate horror films. I hate feeling scared. I like to feel peaceful. I like to feel comfortable, so I don’t like ghost stories, I don’t like horror stories, and I don’t like going ghost hunting or anything like that.

Usually, if my friends would offer to watch a scary movie at a party, I refuse because I hate scary movies.

But scary movies also influence how sometimes we see the world.

I remember when I was maybe 14 years old, I saw a scary movie with my two brothers—my older brother and my younger brother. It was the first horror film I ever saw in my life. And actually, I saw this horror film at a church.

Can you believe it? It was at a church. For the church, there was a special young person event, and the young pastor, he played this horror film. The horror film was called Nightmare on Elm Street. I remember Nightmare on Elm Street. So scary.

When we got home after that film, I did not want to go to my bed upstairs. I did not want to be separate from my brothers. I wanted to stay together because I was so scared. After that, I never watched another horror movie again. I hated them.

I was still thinking about superstitions and stuff. I feel like maybe superstitions give us unnatural fears because if we believe in a superstition and we think, “Oh, if I don’t do this, I’ll be unlucky,” that makes us scared to make an action. It makes us scared to do something.

So I think, you know, most superstitions are not positive. Most of them are negative, and there’s not really a big point in superstitions as well because there’s no proof that they work, and there’s no proof that there’s actually, you know, a result from believing or working in that superstition.

Yes, that’s really all I have for you guys today. It was just something that was on my mind—superstition, you know. And since today is Friday the 13th, I just wanted to talk about it.

Alright, but anyway, thank you guys so much for watching or listening to this podcast. Remember to keep doing your best with English. And if you want to practice English with me, there’s a link down in the description as well to a 30-minute trial lesson.

Alright, so do your best, and I will see you later. Bye-bye