Watch today's show at YouTube.
Script coming soon.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Show 383 Monday 21 May
Watch today’s show at YouTube.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
This is the first regular show of The Daily English Show Canada.
We’re going to continue to have guests on Monday.
There’ll be a variety of guests and I’ll ask them a variety of questions – focusing on language.
Today’s guest is Matt. Matt is another WWOOFer here at Mariposa Organic Farm.
Matt is from Oakville, which is near Toronto.
I asked Matt a few questions about accents.
First I asked him if, when he meets another Canadian he can tell where in Canada they come from just by their accent.
You can sometimes tell. I have a harder time telling. People from that area know. They’re like, “Oh you’re from Eastern Canada”, just from their accent.
And it slightly changes than in the cities. People from the cities, ,sometimes you can tell they’re from the city, the way they talk. Often they have more of an American sounding, um, English. And then if you’re from, um, the Prairies - Saskatchewan, and Alberta – you may have a slight, um, accent. But all and all ... it ... Canadian accent is similar, except for on the East I’d say that’s the most, ah, the most different.
1:26
I also asked him whether he could tell the difference between an Australian accent and a New Zealand accent.
Not, ah, I could .. It’s really hard to tell ... for me. Um, although, I haven’t met too many Au ... New Zealanders, Kiwis. But, no Canadians they don’t really ... I don’t think most can tell the difference between Australian accents and New Zealand accents.
Can you tell the difference between British, South African, Australian and New Zealand accents?
Ah, I’ve started to learn because ... my mum would often, like, tell me which was different when I met someone from South Africa. Um, she knew and I guess I’m learning from her. But I think most people from Canada wouldn’t be able to tell. Unless they were influenced directly from someone who was from South Africa or yeah, New Zealand, Australia, England. Um, because then they could, like, tell the, the, the ... different tones of the voice and stuff. So I’m beginning to learn. Like most of the time I could.
#230 Can you teach me some Toronto slang?
Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Matt.
Sarah Can you teach me some Toronto slang?
Matt Ah, actually, there’s a special slang word that was, that started in Oakville, specifically where I’m from: chate. Have you ever heard this word before? (No) It’s ah ... it means cheap, or like, like if someone gives you something. Ah, that, let’s say, they’re selling you drugs and it wasn’t, ah, as much as you thought you’d get. Then you’d say they’re chate because they’re kind of cheap, cheapskates, chate, yeah.
But supposedly it came from this guy, ah, whose name ... he was named Chate, that was his last name. And he was really, a really cheap bastard and he would, ah, give ... yeah, he was, he was chate. And ah ...
But specific for Toronto, I don’t know any like I just hear different ones and I’m not sure where they’re from. If they’re from Tor... like if they’re from Canada, if they’re from England.
Usually you get bored of like the slang you grew up with so you’re looking for new slang. A lot of British slang, like bloody and... oh tons coming out now from England. Like geezer. We never used geezer. But that would be a British slang and some people use it now in Canada, yeah.
Sarah Can you tell me about Canadian spelling?
Matt Ah, for instance, ah, colour is spelt c-o-l-o-u-r ah, and in the states it’s spelt c-o-l-o-r. So that’s, that’s a big difference, I remember, um, trying to remember that when I was spelling those. Centre is spelt re at the end instead of er.
Sarah Why did you decide to do WWOOFing?
Matt OK, um, I, I like travelling. Or like I want to be a world traveller. Um, and ah, I was sick of suburbia, where I grew up. And then I met some people who went WWOOFing. And they were really amazing people, so whatever they did I was sure that it was a, it was a great idea. And ah, and I wanted to sort of follow in their footsteps in some ways. And so, ah, I looked into WWOOFing. And um, and here I am today, yeah, WWOOFing. So ... it’s been great.
5:32
Sarah Have you learnt a lot?
Matt Yeah, I’ve learnt a ton. Um, and a lot of experiences too. Like things that would never happen to me unless I, I came here. Like seeing rattle snakes. Um, playing with chickens in the chicken coop. Ah, like hiking half way up a mountain. Um ... having cats sitting on this picnic table. Ah, so yeah, tons of stuff. And I’ve learnt a lot about farming. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to come here. Because I was interested in um, organic farming. Seeing farming as like a, a romantic lifestyle. And also a political stance. Support farmers because that’s where our food’s coming from. And if the family farm type mentality falls apart then we’re left with corporate farms, like factory farming and stuff like that. So I want to see what farming’s all about, so that I can better understand the whole system and how it works.
Sarah Do you think you'll do organic farming in the future?
Matt Um, I’m still thinking about that. Like, I’ve also learnt that farming is a lot of work. Ah, a lot of work goes into it. And it’s not easy. Um, so maybe a small scale organic farm. Or working with other people on the organic farm. But I don’t think I could ever have my own large scale farm at all, like some people do.
But what I would like to do when I go back to Toronto is work on some community gardens. Really like, ah, share my skills that I’ve learnt here. To create like a really productive community garden.
And ... so that blends like culture, community um, with food and yeah, gardening. And ah, it feels good, like I like that sort of stuff. But that’s just me.
links
Canadian Prairies
chate
geezer
music
show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa bgm
artist: Vate
album: Cachonda
tracks: Extranjero (Sin patria)
from: Mexico City, Mexico
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Monday, May 21, 2007
Show 382 Sunday 20 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 13: Potluck Dinner
Today was our first day off.
We slept in and had a relaxing day.
In the evening we went to a potluck dinner at Kelly's house.
We took some Canadian beer.
It was a great night. The house was very cool. There was some nice artwork.
Lots of really nice people came.
This boys name is Sage. He was born in December.
A sage is a plant and a very wise person.
We ate some tasty food and listened to some music.
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: Vate
album: Cachonda
tracks: Extranjero (Sin patria)
from: Mexico City, Mexico
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Show 381 Saturday 19 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 12: tdes Cawston studio
Today we tied up tomatoes in the greenhouse.
Carl explained how to do it.
Same as the cucumbers.
But you want to make sure that you, that you get them over a ... strong branch.
And preferably one that points out a bit. Otherwise it tends to slide out.
These carry a lot of weight when they get loaded up with their, with their tomatoes.
So it needs kind of one bearing branch.
And the second one, the weight will kind of sit on that one.
And try not to get, um, see this is going to be tomatoes, so we don't want that stuck through there.
In the afternoon I did some editing in the little cabin by the river.
We have internet access here.
It's wireless but the router is in the house and the connection is quite unstable so it's hard to upload video.
Hopefully were going to get a cable out here in the next few days.
The cabin isn't quite as flash as the tdes studio in Niseko - but it's really nice being by the river.
Instead of hearing politicians, traffic and kareoke we can hear running water
and birds..
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
artist: ADB
album: Some work of my Sunday Afternoons
track: Lonely Afternoon
from: Paris, France
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Show 380 Friday 18 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada
Day 11: hummingbirds
Today we worked in the greenhouse all day tying up cucumber plants.
It was our forth day working here.
It's been fun.
There are two other wwoofers here.
This is Matt. He's from Oakville, near Toronto or Torono as they say.
This is Travis. He's from Calgary. Travis plays the piano.
There's some animals here like this dog. Some hummingbirds. And other birds like this one. I don't know what this is called.
And there are lots of pretty flowers too.
links
Oakville
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: ADB
album: Some work of my Sunday Afternoons
track: Savage wildness
from: Paris, France
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
artist site
Friday, May 18, 2007
Show 379 Thursday 17 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 10: lettuce and rocks
In the morning we picked some lettuce and spinach for an order.
First we picked it.
Then we washed it.
Then put it into bags and boxes.
This afternoon a truck came to drop off some cardboard boxes.
In the evening we did rock picking.
We picked up rocks from this field.
This field is going to be planted with vegetables.
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
artist: Vate
album: Cachonda
tracks: Cachonda (Foreplay)
from: Mexico City, Mexico
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Show 378 Wednesday 16 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 9: Cucumbers and Tomatoes
This morning we worked in the greenhouse.
Our job was to tie up cucumber plants.
Cucumber plants naturally grow along the ground.
We clipped them to pieces of string which are attached to a wire that runs along the top of the greenhouse.
We also picked off the crocked little cumbers and the yellow ones, which are dead.
And we picked off parts of the plant called suckers.
It gets really hot working in this greenhouse.
While we worked we saw some cute little frogs and some worms.
This is one of the places where we go to the toilet.
They call it an outhouse.
In New Zealand these kind of toilets are called long drops.
They are planning to build another outhouse by the wwoofing cabin.
In the afternoon we planted tomatoes again.
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
track: Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Show 377 Tuesday 15 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 8: Cawston
The place where we're staying is called Mariposa Organic Farm.
It's in Cawston, which is about 20 minutes drive from Keremeos.
The farm was started 1962 and was one of the first organic farms in Canada.
They grow vegetables like squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, lettuce.
They sell the vegetables to retail outlets.
We're staying in this little cabin by the river.
It's really warm here but you can see snow on the mountains in the distance.
You can't swim in the river at the moment because of all the melting snow - but later on in summer you can.
Apparently it almost never rains here, so the sprinklers are on all the time.
The water comes from a well.
This morning our job was weeding and picking lettuce in the hothouse.
We had the afternoon off and in the evening we planted some tomatoes.
links
Mariposa Organic Farm
Mariposa Lily
Cawston
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
track: Grey Planet
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Show 376 Monday 14 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 7: Vancouver to Keremeos
We went to bed about 1:30 and got up at 4 to get ready to leave Vancouver.
We packed up our stuff and took a few photos of the Grand Trunk Hostel.
I recommend this place if you're looking for somewhere really cheap to stay in Vancouver.
It's a bit dirty in the corners, but it's not too bad. And I thought the owner was a really nice guy. I think his name was Joe.
English isn't his first language and there were a few mistakes on the signs.
I've never seen anyone write aftering before so I thought that was interesting.
It took half an hour to walk to the station.
The bus ticket to Keremeos cost 57 dollars.
Our bus driver's name was Jim Curry.
We left Vancouver at quarter past six.
The suburbs we drove through as we left the city were really pretty. Lots of tree-lined streets. Some of the places where we stopped on the way had automatic gates.
On the bus we ate the huge strawberries that we bought yesterday.
We saw some yellow school buses, just like on movies.
We saw some cargo trains.
There were lots of white bundles in the fields. I don't what they were but they looked cool.
We saw quite a few Canadian flags flying.
One of our breaks was at Billy's Family Restaurant.
I was tired but I didn't really want to sleep because I was enjoying looking at the scenery.
It was really beautiful.
I saw a bear which was pretty exciting.
And we saw some little animals that crawled up out of the ground.
They might have been moles. I'm not sure. Anyway, I've never seen them before.
We arrived in Keremeos at quarter past 12.
While we were waiting to be picked up we talked to a woman who was also waiting. She was really friendly.
She came from a town near Vancouver and she was telling me how much it had changed over 20 years or so that she had
been living there.
After a while our WWOOF host picked us up, then we picked up his kids from school and then we drove home and spent the afternoon getting settled in.
links
Grand Trunk Hostel
Pender Lodge
Greyhound Bus Canada
Keremeos
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
track: Intellectuel
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Show 375 Sunday 13 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 6: Vancouver
This is the view from out our window. Vancouver has electric buses. And ambulances. Of course.
This area is called Gastown. I thought it might be because gas used to be produced or sold here. But yesterday the artist we saw in the street explained that
Gastown comes from a famous guy whose nickname was Gassy Jack. Gassy is an informal word meaning verbose. Gassy Jack got his nickname because he used to talk a lot.
Today we had lunch at the Indian restaurant across the road. The food was good. And so was the service.
We went back to the Chinese shops to buy some fruit. I saw some massive ginger.
And a Garfield maneki neko.
This shop looks like it has trouble with kids breaking stuff. Quite a few shops had this sign. I've noticed the word washroom is common in Canada.
In the evening we thought about going to the drum circle or the reggae night but
we were pretty tired and didn't end up going to either of them.
Instead I did some editing and checked where the bus station was and what time the bus left in the morning.
links
Gassy Jack
Gastown
Maneki neko
Garfield
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: The TenGooz
album: It's Time!
track: Saudade (Live)
from: Tsukuba, Japan
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
track: Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Show 374 Saturday 12 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 5: Vancouver
Today we went for a walk around Vancouver. I gradually got used to people begging in the streets although two people verbally abused me for not giving them money which wasn't very nice.
We saw some people building.
Two guys were holding up some cardboard signs to passing cars.
I wondered what the signs said.
Newsreaders.
Cool ball.
Massive ship.
I liked the downtown skateboard park. I thought it was a good use of space. The guys there were wearing tight pants. I remembered that last week Mike was telling me that when he was younger they pants they wore skateboarding were so
baggy that it was hard to skate.
We went to Chinatown and saw a lot of cheap, delicious-looking fruit and vegetables.
There didn't seem to be many restaurants there. But maybe we were in the wrong place. We found one place with Cambodian and Vietnamese exotic food. It seemed like a popular place. We had to wait for a table. Out of 100 items on the menu there was only one thing without meat which surprised me. Then again, I've never been to Cambodia or Vietnam so maybe it's normal there.
Our waitress was nice. I asked her twice about what the thing we were eating was called, but I forgot both times. I think she said it was called "Chinese broccoli" in English - but it didn't really look like broccoli.
After that we had coffee at La Luna.
On the way home we saw a guy painting in the street.
And a famous clock.
In the evening we met up with a Japanese guy Jun, who emailed me after watching The Daily English Show. He's been in Vancouver for about a year. He was studying and now he's looking for work. Jun turned out to be a cool guy and we had a good night.
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: Vate
album: Motor
tracks: Parabellum, Motor (remix por Minuit)
from: Mexico City, Mexico
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Friday, May 11, 2007
Show 373 Friday 11 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 4: Taipei to Vancouver
We managed to get to the airport on time and checked in without any problems.
We had breakfast in the morning and got to the airport at lunch time.
So, by the time they served the first meal it was about 3 o’clock. And we were pretty hungry. The first meal was good but the meal after that was a shocker.
I couldn’t believe they served us “cup noodles”. Instant noodles ... what?!
Then it got even worse, they gave us hash browns.
It was like I’d flown to hell and someone was forcing me to eat McDonalds.
:34
They showed four movies. Two of them I thought were so lame I stopped watching after a few minutes. But the other two I watched the whole way through.
One was a kind of drama / romance. Just after they fell in love he died, that was pretty sad. The other one was a romantic comedy. A girl was having trouble choosing between the rich arsehole and the poor nice guy.
In the end she chose the poor nice guy. So no mind expanding plot lines available on that flight.
1:02
I slept a bit on the flight. But when we landed in Vancouver after a 10 hour flight it was midnight Taipei time. So we were feeling pretty tired
And it was 9am in Vancouver so I knew we were in for some hardcore jet lag.
But I wasn’t really expecting what happened at customs.
I’ve never had any trouble with customs before in any country.
So I guess there’s a first time for everything.
They questioned us separetly for about an hour. It was awful. They asked me so many personal questions. And most of them I thought had nothing to do with my being in Canada. I wondered how much of it was really necessary. And how much of it was just them enjoying the power trip or being nosey.
All of the customs officers looked about the same age as me. It was like I was back in high school and some nasty kids who thought they were special had gathered round to mock me.
I guess it’s partly to check if you’ll pose a threat to the safety of Canadian citizens.
And partly to give you a lasting impression of a nasty experience of going through customs so you’ll pass the word on and discourage others from trying to stay in Canada as a visitor for more than a few weeks without a lot of money.
2:13
One of the customs girls gave her opinion – as if we needed it - about how bad she thought the Korean government was. And then she bitched about some American tourists, which I thought was such bad form.
Anyway, at the time it was a pretty nasty experience, but I don’t feel too sorry for myself because I know a lot of people go through a lot worse.
I was planning to check my email at the airport to see if the room that I had booked was confirmed. I thought most airports have the internet available free. But this one didn’t! It was 10 dollars an hour - which I thought was ridiculous. So we just decided to take a taxi to the hostel and hope they had a room available.
2:49
The taxi ride went smoothly. Our driver was pretty cool. He was wearing a pink turban. He came from India about 18 years ago. We asked him if he thought Canada was a good place to live, and he said he did.
He gave an example. He said when we were standing in the taxi line, if a person who was high up in the Canadian government had come and stood in the line, they would have had to wait in the line like everyone else.
But he said if it was in India it would have been different.
3:17
When we got to the hostel, they didn’t have a room available. But the woman there was nice and she called another hostel nearby and said we could stay there, so we walked there.
3:39
One of the images I have of North America is of friendly, fat smiling people wearing blue jeans and crisp white souvenir t shirts. And my image of Vancouver was of a kind of multi-cultural Pleasantville with everyone strolling around the city smiling and satisfied with living in the greatest city in the world.
So you can imagine my shock when the first person who talked to us was begging for money. And the first street we happened to walk down after we dropped our bags off and decided to go and check out the highly anticipated great city of Vancouver, we later found out was – according to the guy in the dairy – the worst street in Vancouver.
At first we walked past a few crazy looking people and I didn’t really think much of it until we looked further up the road and everywhere we looked there were these people that looked like zombies. Most of them were underweight, wearing dirty clothes, shuffling slowly along the street or sitting or standing and swaying.
4:43
A lot of them were pushing supermarket trolleys full of stuff that looked like rubbish.
There were both men and woman of various ages. Most of them were Caucasian … with pale, grayish skin, sunken cheeks and hollow eyes. They looked like they were still alive, but had no soul.
One of them asked me if I wanted anything and I said: ah, no thanks.
But what I really thought was: if it makes me look like you - hell, no.
It was one of the most shocking things I’ve ever seen. And we wanted to get out of there asap. Except that we didn’t know which direction to go because they were everywhere.
It was kind of ironic that less than an hour after the customs officers were telling me off for not having enough money now people were asking me to give them money.
I had a fair idea of what these people were on. But I also wondered what whoever decided Vancouver was the best city in the world was on.
Of course I knew we were probably just in a bad area and later on when we were talking to the guy in the dairy he said the rest of Vancouver was fine. “Just don’t go down that street,” he said, pointing to the first street we had walked down.
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: Vate
album: Motor
tracks: Parabellum, Motor (remix por Minuit)
from: Mexico City, Mexico
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: The TenGooz
album: It's Time!
tracks: Vonja Vonja(world funk), Almost out Of Time, Lost in Translation
from: Tsukuba, Japan
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: ADC LEVEL
album: TRANS NEW WAVE
track: Push Ya
from: Paris, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
track: Grey Planet
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Show 372 Thursday 10 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 3: Taipei
Today we told the happy family manager about the leaking air-con. He told us it was leaking because it was old.
Fair enough.
He also gave us a towel to mop up the water. Problem solved. Sweet.
Today's lunch wasn't so great. The place that we went to didn't have pictures on the menu
so we just kind of randomly chose things. The thing I chose tuned out to be a pot full of fake meat. I really don't like fake meat.
I wasn't too keen on the decor either.
After lunch we found a nice cafe. The coffee was tasty and there was balcony with a nice view.
In the evening we decided to go and check out the tallest building in the world - Taipei 101.
We took the subway and I was impressed with how easy it was to navigate.
I saw some feedback forms, so I filled one out.
The area around Taipei 101 was quite different from the area around Taipei Main Station.
It was spacious, clean, quiet. It reminded me of Odaiba in Tokyo - pretty, but a little bit lifeless.
Inside Taipei 101 there were a lot of famous brand shops and lots of massive posters of Nicole Kidman's face.
It was a nice place. But it made me feel a bit poor and scruffy.
We found a Korean place on the ground floor and ate some ishiyaki bibimba. Very tasty.
There was a Japanese guide book in the hostel so we brought it with us and for the third night in a row tried to find somewhere to have a drink or two.
We followed the instructions in the book and the first place we found was this place called Mint.
But the bouncers were wearing suits and I didn't want to face the possible rejection so we didn't even try going in.
Next we found a place called Brown Sugar - there were no bouncers so we walked straight in.
It was a really nice place and they had live jazz. We sat at the bar and started talking to two guys. They were really cool. One of them was called Kevin. He said lived in the States for about 10 years.
This is the film of the band I took before a staff member came and said "no cameras".
As we were walking out I saw a big no camera sign and I also realized why we could even get in in the first place. It was because we had gone in the back way. If we'd gone in the front we'd have been rejected for sure.
We tried going to another club after this - but got turned away for inadequate footwear and a lack of ID. Which is fair enough.
We watched some skateboarders in the street and I looked in the free magazine we'd got at Brown Sugar and I saw that there was a bar nearby called The Tavern. I felt sure we wouldn’t be rejected from a bar called The Tavern.
The Tavern wasn't too bad. They had car navigation screens all along the bar. We played pool.
And then we took a taxi home.
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
artist: Vate
album: Motor
tracks: Parabellum, Motor (remix por Minuit)
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Show 371 Wednesday 9 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 2: Taipei
Today we woke up to find a lake in our room. There is water dripping from the air conditioner.
We slept in and then went out to find some food. First we had some delicious fruit. Then we went to the same place that we ate at last night. They had an amazing buffet. Then we found a cool little cafe and had ice coffee.
We walked around a bit and saw lots of bikes.
All the taxis in Taipei seem to be yellow.
In the afternoon I did some editing. This is the TDES Taipei studio.
In the evening we went to a night market. Mmmm fruit. Pineapple.Cat.
We saw a lot of bars that looked like they were for Japanese men. But we didn't come across any non-dodgy looking places, so we went home.
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
tracks: Funky Duck Goes West, Speak to Me
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Show 370 Tuesday 8 May
Watch today's show at YouTube.
Going to Canada 2007
Day 1: Kutchan to Taipei
On the way to the airport we stopped to film a piano.
If you've ever been from New Chitose airport to Niseko by bus, you've probably visited these toilets. There's a piano playing by itself right by the doors going into the toilets.
We left the car at a place near the airport.
It only cost 7000 yen to park it there for 6 months. So cheap!
We got on the plane OK. Every time I travel I think I have everything sorted but a new problem presents itself.
This time I found there was a new law that means you can't take bottles with more than 100 mils of liquid inside them onto the plane. This would have been handy to know before we checked our bags in. Oh well, they were nice and let us check in the bottles separately.
The immigration officer told me to take care because it was hot in Taiwan.
I found two mistakes on the sign near at the boarding gate.
There was no window where we were sitting. Bummer.
We hope to make your flight more comfortable and enjoyable. Please call (?) us at any time should you require assistance. Thank you.
As usual, the in flight magazines were full of silly things like this bracelet which “continually emits negative ions found in forests”.
We flew China Airlines. The food was pretty good. And the passenger next to me was cool.
The flight took about 4 hours. When we landed they said the temperature was 45 degrees outside. Wow.
We changed some money and then took a bus from the airport to Taipei Main Station.
It cost 125 dollars each and took about an hour.
I had thought of couch surfing in Taipei but I couldn't find anywhere to stay in time -
so I ended up booking a hostel called Happy Family.
It's really cheap - only 650 dollars a night.
The condition of the place pretty much reflects the price.
But it's not that bad and the owner is friendly.
After dumping our bags, we went out to look for food.
Taipei looks pretty similar to Japan. With some differences of course.
People drive on the right side of the road and there are a lot of motorbikes or
scooters. And they don't stop when pedestrians are crossing which really
freaked me out at first. The little green man walks which is cute.
We found a great place eat. The food was in plastic bags but it was really good.
There seems to be a lot of people studying English in Taipei.
We had a bit of trouble communicating at the restaurant so after dinner we decided to go and buy a phrase book.
Then we walked around for a while trying to find a bar but we couldn't find anything and we were pretty tired anyway so we called it a night and went back to happy family.
Links
Happy Family
music
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
tracks: Funky Duck Goes West, Rain, Beautiful Eyes
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Monday, May 07, 2007
Show 369 Monday 7 May
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today’s guest is Maki.
Maki is from Hyogo. She went to New Zealand at the end of January 2005. And she stayed in Auckland for 10 months and studied reflexology and worked at a Japanese restaurant.
What is the food like at Japanese restaurants in New Zealand?
Yeah, sometimes good. But sometimes terrible. Yeah. When I see sushi, sushi is always with nori and rolling, roll sushi. And my friend asked me in Japan ... actually my boyfriend asked me about sushi in Japan. He said “what is this?”. “This is sushi”. And I said ... and he said “no, sushi should be rolling”. So, I was surprised.
What most surprised you when you went to New Zealand?
Ah, it was ... I didn’t know about Japan, Japanese culture, Japanese things, more than I thought. I studied a lot of things in New Zealand about Japan. About what did Japan do at the World War 2, or yeah ... many things. In Japan we can watch the movie about the war but they are just only for Japanese side.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora, in Stick News today over 100 cities in China are taking part in a no car day in an attempt to reduce pollution.
In China, there are a lot of people and a lot of cars.
Reuters reported an estimated 1,000 new private vehicles hit the streets of Beijing alone each day.
Cars may be convenient but they cause pollution which affects people’s health.
China’s first no car day is on September the 22nd. In the participating cities, private cars will be barred from some roads.
People will have to walk, ride bicycles, use public transport or take taxis.
And that was Stick News for Monday the 7th of May.
Kia Ora.
conversations with sarah
#229 Why did you decide to study reflexology?
Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Maki.
Sarah Why did you decide to study reflexology?
Maki I was studying aromatherapy before and I studied a bit of massage, face massage. And I thought, “oh this is very interesting”. So I thought I want to study more and more. And my teacher recommend me the reflexology.
Sarah Were there a lot of Japanese people in Auckland?
Maki Yes, unfortunately I got only Japanese friend in New Zealand. So I didn’t have any chance to speak English. So ... it wasn’t good for me, I think now.
Sarah Was it hard to make Kiwi friends?
Maki Yeah, because my work was Japanese restaurant and Japanese reflexology salon. So all staff were from Japan and easy to talk. So, yeah, it was hard for me.
Sarah Do you know anyone that stayed in New Zealand but didn’t learn much English?
Maki Yes. Actually, I’ve been to New Zealand with my friend, with my best friend, to study reflexology. He, no she’s got a Japanese boyfriend there and she doesn’t like speaking English and she doesn’t talk any English there and now she can’t speak any English.
Sarah Did your way of thinking change after living overseas?
Maki Actually I had a culture shock in Japan when I got back Japan. My best ... I went to shopping with my best friend and she said “oh, look at him, he’s gaijin. Gaijin, gaijin.” And I thought “so what?” Yeah, many people were pointing him, oh ... Because my town was not big city and not many foreigner. But, in New Zealand, many different skin, different colour hair. So I didn’t surprise about him. But, mmm, it was my culture shock.
Sarah What do you do to study English now?
Maki Now I like to watch the anime. South Park or bro’Town. But I think half I can understand, but half I can’t. So I always watching twice, three times, four times. Yeah, this is my studying.
Sarah You must learn some interesting words.
Maki Yeah, yeah, sometime my boyfriend got angry when I use that word from the TV.
Sarah Are you planning on doing any more travelling?
Maki Yes, I think I’m going to Australia for two years, working holiday. There’s another reflexology salon there. I knew the place. And I could work there if I want. I will try maybe.
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Beautiful Eyes
from: Napoli, Italy
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Show 368 Sunday 6 May
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Sunday Kitchen #47 Natto P Man
To make natto p man you need green peppers, nira and natto.
First cut the green peppers in half.
Then take out the seeds.
Then cut the nira.
Put nira and soy sauce into the natto and mix.
Then put the natto inside the peppers.
Delicious.
today's qa bgm
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Show 367 Saturday 5 May
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.
shoes
tree
rubbish
hummer
fire hydrant
lights
owl
hospital
convenience store
stripy pole
old snow
pink bike
little sign
supermarket
flat can
plastic asparagus
coffee
manju
umbrellas
automatic door
plastic bag
green cone
sleeping bicycle
kerosene tank
pretty daffodils
cool house
yellow flag
old bus
cherry blossoms
cracked wall
stripy truck
vending machines
yellow digger
cool studio
silver kettle
green tea
boiling water
mmm delicious
Links
manju
Hummer
today's qa bgm
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Beautiful Eyes
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Friday, May 04, 2007
Show 366 Friday 4 May
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I have some news. Drum roll, please.
The Daily English show’s next location has been decided. This show started in Tokyo, then moved to Niseko and the next location is ... Canada.
I’ve never been to Canada before, in fact, I’ve never been anywhere in that whole continent of America. So it’s pretty exciting.
So we (my boyfriend and I) are going to be doing Wwoofing. Wwoofing stands for world wide opportunities on organic farms. I always thought it stood for willing workers on organic farms – but anyway. It’s a kind of volunteer organization – and you do volunteer work on organic farms – and you get food and accommodation provided.
It’s not full time work – just about 4 hours a day, so I’ll have plenty of time to keep doing The Daily English Show and teaching online. I’m really looking forward to meeting some interesting Canadian people. And learning some Canadian English – and hopefully learning something about the native American languages too. And of course something about plants.
And we’ve decided to come back to Niseko for another season. So we’ll be back here at the start of November. And we’re also looking for flatmates too again for next season too. So if you’re coming for the season or part of the season and you need a place to stay then let me know.
As for Canada we leave on Tuesday and we’re spending a couple of days in Taiwan on the way. And then we’re staying in Vancouver for a couple of days and then going to our host place.
So from Tuesday there’ll be a travel show – like The Road to Hokkaido – that will last until
we get settled enough to start the regular show again.
So, if you live in Taipei or Vancouver and you feel like meeting up for a coffee or something sometime next week then let me know, because I think it would be fun to meet some people rather than just wander around and look at famous buildings.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora this is Stick News. Today a shock announcement - The Daily English Show is moving to Canada. The announcement has rocked the world of show business coming just days after Ellen started doing her show from a hospital bed.
What is the real reason behind the move? And is there any truth in the rumor that The Daily English Show host has converted to Scientology.
We bring you this exclusive report.
The Daily English Show started life in Tokyo, Japan. From humble beginnings the show now has hundreds of regular viewers all over the world. And fans who leave superlative-laden comments all over the internet.
Last month The Daily English Show was voted the number one video podcast in the world and the host was also hired to star in a Japanese movie.
But it hasn’t all been fun and games.
Right from the start The Daily English Show producers have had to face the harsh realities of enabling comments on YouTube.
Much of the criticism has been directed at the show’s presenter – some people are outraged by her voice.
8 months ago Limastudent said:
I am an American and I can barely understand your poor pronunciation.
5 months ago kitsune11888 had this to say:
the narrator can't pronounce "r" sounds...
Despite the criticism, with the help of hundreds of positive comments, the show continued.
Then came the YouTube feature.
Somehow a Daily English Show video ended up on the YouTube homepage and the ignoramuses turned out in force.
According to MazVanMan the video was crap in its purest form.
Many other YouTubers were more specific and criticized the voice of the presenter.
They said the voice was sad, dull, borrinnngggg and scary.
The YouTuber Vaniteh was particularly scared, they said Scary thing is; your Japanese pronounciation may be crap, but your English is even worse.
Despite the hundreds of positive comments – after such harsh criticism the presenter spent the following month crying herself to sleep.
Then last month, she noticed a helpful comment from YouTuber OnEye: if any of your students are going to learn english ... they should try for a north American model (Canadian is better than USA) better to learn the right way first .
This was when the breakthrough a-ha moment came and The Daily English Show decided to move to Canada.
And that was Stick News for Friday the 4th of May.
Kia Ora.
the snow report
Hello and welcome to the snow report.
My name’s Katie and this is Tom.
And your report today is brought to you Asahi beru and the Hanazoko resort ski area in Niseko.
Normally we do the reports in Hirafu but today we thought we’d come down and check out some of the genuine Japanese sushi restaurants down in Kutchan.
But I guess you’ve had sushi before haven’t you Tom.
Yes, that’s right.
元気ですか？ (genki desu ka - how are you?)
はい、げんきです。 (genki desu - I'm fine.)
はい、げんきです。 (genki desu - I'm fine.)
Well, spring has definitely sprung here in Niseko. Yesterday it was another great day on the mountain. Great views, perfect weather.
さて。今日は雪が降るでよう。(Well, today it's going to snow.)
Having a closer look at today’s weather now, there is still some snow in Niseko. Not quite the powder that we’re used to. But the sky is blue.
This has been Katie and Tom for the snow report.
conversations with sarah
#228 Why did you decide to go to Vancouver?
Step 1: Repeat Mike’s lines.
Step 2: Read Mike’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Mike Why did you decide to go to Vancouver?
Sarah Um why did we decide Vancouver ...
Mike Do you have friends there?
Sarah Yeah, I know one person there – and that’s one reason. And I’ve also heard a lot about it from people that have visited there.
Mike It sounds like a nice place to live.
Sarah Yeah, yeah, I think it sounds really interesting because more than half the people living there have a first language other than English.
Mike Wow. Are you going to stay in Vancouver the whole time?
Sarah No, actually the place we’re staying in first is about 5 hours from Vancouver I think. It’s in the countryside.
Links
today's qa bgm
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
YouTubers quoted in Stick News:
Limastudent
conjugg
video077
P1ut0
Vaniteh
Comments quoted in Stick News:
Limastudent's comment
kitsune11888's comment
MazVanMan, conjugg, video007, P1uto's comments
OnEye's comment
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Show 365 Thursday 3 May
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I’d like to recommend a video. It’s a performance by a stand up comedian called Ken Suzuki.
He’s from Japan and in his video he says he lived in the United States for 5 years.
As I commented on his video, I’m not usually a big fan of stand-up ... I don’t know why, I just usually don’t find it funny.
But I thought his routine was really funny. I think his delivery was really good – and also his jokes too. Especially the one about segregation.
I want to tell you the actual joke ... but that would ruin it, so I won’t.
Anyway, he talks about racial segregation in American history. You probably already know but in America they used to make people from different races do things separately. For example sit in different places on the bus.
So I recommend watching his video. Not just because it’s funny – but from a language perspective I think it’s really impressive that someone can do stand up comedy in a language that is not in their native language and be successful.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora in Stick News today, a talk show host from the United States is now presenting her show from a hospital bed after she injured her back.
Ellen is the host of a talk show.
On Sunday when she was leaning over to pick up her dog she hurt her back.
Now, she can’t move.
Instead of taking time off, she decided to present the show from a hospital bed.
According to her doctor she’ll need to stay in bed for about a week.
And that was Stick News for Thursday the 3rd of May.
Kia Ora.
the snow report
Today I went looking for more snowmen in Kutchan. I found five. I wonder what the story is behind these snowmen.
conversations with sarah
#227 Have you seen Ellen’s show?
Step 1: Repeat Matt’s lines.
Step 2: Read Matt’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Matt Have you seen Ellen’s show?
Sarah Yeah, I’ve seen bits of it on the internet.
Matt What do you think of it?
Sarah I think she’s quite cool.
Matt Does she only do that show?
Sarah I think she does other things too. She hosted the Oscars this year.
Matt Did you see that?
Sarah Yeah, bits of it.
Matt Was it funny?
Sarah Yeah, I thought some of her jokes were pretty funny. I also watched a video of ah, behind the scenes video of her and her writers writing the jokes. That was really interesting.
Links
today's news
Ellen's show
Ellen DeGeneres
racial segregation
Ken Suzuki at YouTube
Ken Suzuki blog
today's qa bgm
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendoartist site
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Show 364 Wednesday 2 May
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
On Friday, in Show 359, I talked about the sentence The Watchman has spoken. And I explained the grammar, and talked about the present perfect.
Thanks to the people who left comments about that too – it’s always helpful when people add their explanations. Thaevilpimp left a useful explanation and he also said:
When the watchman says "the watchman has spoken" that to me (oops I read his quote a different way) sounds as if his word is very important and everyone was only waiting for his final say.
Yeah, I think so too.
And today I thought I’d talk a bit about the meaning of saying someone “has spoken”.
I think it can be used to announce a verdict or conclusion after some kind of trial or election. And it implies that the person or people who said that have authority and their statement perhaps shouldn’t be questioned, and their decision is final.
In 2004 George Bush got elected again as the Present of the United States and in part of his victory speech he said this: America has spoken, and I'm humbled by the trust and the confidence of my fellow citizens. With that trust comes a duty to serve all Americans.
When Bush said “America has spoken” what he meant was - there was an election and he got the majority of votes. By saying has spoken it sounds like the decision has been made and it is not to be questioned and it makes it sound like everybody in America supports him being president.
Recently another politician said a similar thing.
Hilary Clinton said: The American people have spoken, the Congress has voted, as of today, to end this war. And now we can only hope that the president will listen.
Again, by saying have spoken it makes it sound really powerful – as if everybody in America supports that decision. When in fact, of course, not everyone supports it.
So when The Watchman says the watchman has spoken, it makes it sound like he is very important and what he has says is very important, as thaevilpimp said.
And this is part of the humour – because, normally this phrase is used in politics, and situations like that, which actually are important – but The Watchman is just replying to some pretty silly, inconsequential comments on YouTube.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora in Stick News today, a Hollywood movie has made people in Japan sick and the movie now comes with a warning.
Kyodo News has reported that Seven people complained of nausea and other health symptoms after watching the movie Babel.
The sickness is thought to be linked with a scene where a character dances in a club that has strobe lighting.
However, other reasons for falling ill have also been reported.
According to one internet commentator: I got sick myself having to endure the whole convoluted plotline, as well as gratuitous nudity. rjd_jr
The movie now comes with this warning: A highly agitating rendition of effects is included in the feature presentation, and some viewers have said that they felt sick watching it.
And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 2nd of May.
Kia Ora.
conversations with sarah
#226 Have you seen Babel?
Step 1: Repeat Marie’s lines.
Step 2: Read Marie’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Marie Have you seen Babel?
Sarah No, I haven’t seen a movie for ages. Have you?
Marie No. What does Babel mean anyway?
Sarah I don’t know. It’s probably a character’s name.
Marie Yeah, or a place name.
Sarah Yeah. Hang on. I’ll just look it up.
Marie OK.
Sarah Oh, it actually has a meaning: the sound of many voices talking at one time, especially when more than one language is being spoken. And it’s from a bible story.
Marie What story is that?
Sarah Um ... “from the Bible story in which God punished the people who were trying to build a tower to reach heaven (the tower of Babel) by making them unable to understand each others languages”.
Marie Why would God punish them for building a tower?
Sarah Dunno. I guess you’ll have to read the story to find out.
Links
Today's news here and here.
today's qa bgm
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Morphine
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Show 363 Tuesday 1 May
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
It’s the first of May today and thanks to you I achieved my dream of being the number one video podcast at Podcast Alley in April.
53 people voted for me – actually 52 because I voted for myself once.
So thank you very much that’s very cool and you’re all going to get As this semester.
I printed out the list see ... The Daily English Show is number one oooh yeah! And let’s see who isn’t number one. Hmmmm. Number 14, French Maid TV. Number 25, Tiki Bar TV. Number 30, Rocketboom ... loser!
Some people left some very nice comments too, like this one:
This is the greatest language show ever created in the history of the universe.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora in Stick News today, a woman in New Zealand got an automatic telling off after a computer objected to her name.
Telecom New Zealand is a telephone company. It is New Zealand's second largest mobile operator and the largest company by value on the New Zealand Exchange.
Recently, a woman emailed Telecom to ask if she could get broadband in her suburb.
The woman’s name was Gay.
The word gay has several uses.
It is a name. It is also a noun meaning a homosexual person.
And an adjective which can mean: brightly coloured, carefree, homosexual or stupid.
Gay got an automated reply email from Telecom which said her email was: identified by our content filtering processes as containing language that may be considered inappropriate for business-like communication.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the company apologized to Gay.
And that was Stick News for Tuesday 1st of May.
Kia Ora.
the snow report
There isn’t much snow left in Kutchan, but there are still plenty of snowmen.
conversations with sarah
#225 What’s Podcast Alley?
Step 1: Repeat Mana’s lines.
Step 2: Read Mana’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Mana What’s Podcast Alley?
Sarah It’s a podcast directory.
Mana Is it the only podcast directory?
Sarah No, there are a lot of them. I found this site called podcast411 or something, and it’s a directory of Podcast directories – and there’s a whole list of them.
Mana When did you hear about Podcast Alley?
Sarah About a year ago, I was listening to a podcast and they asked listeners to vote for them at Podcast Alley.
Mana Did you vote for them?
Sarah Not at first.
Mana Why not?
Sarah Because I usually listen to podcasts when I’m going for a walk or when I’m on the train or something and I think, “ah I’ll do that later when I’m using my computer “. And then I just forget about it.
Links
Today's news.
Telecom New Zealand
today's qa bgm
artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Funky Duck Goes West
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
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