Unexpected English!

[EP 90] - Are you there? If you are listening to this episode, let me know on @UnexpectedEnglish on Instagram.

[EP 89] Summer finale! DELICIOUS YOGURT! Listen and follow with the transcription below to help you to improve your listening skills. INTRO: Hi everybody, and welcome to Episode 89 of Unexpected English, the podcast where you can practice your English listening in just five minutes, listening to something fun! Now, I know it's summertime, and that means it's hot. In fact. it's too hot. It's just too hot! And if you want some some, some vocabulary about hot? Go back and look for the hot episode where I give you some vocabulary. But this episode, no, this episode, we want to cool down, we're going to cool you down by taking a little visit to yogurtland where we can have some nice cool, delicious yogurt. So let's go! ~~~ Okay, so here I am at YogurtLand and I'm going to talk to the young man who's working here. Maybe he can tell us a little bit about this place called YogurtLand. How many flavors do we have? We have around 12 flavors. And what are some of the most popular flavors? The most popular are the vanilla and the chocolate ice creams, the fruit punch sorbet, which is our seasonal flavor for this month, the tarot and the plain tart. Taro, and what is that, I'd never heard of that flavor. Taro is a unique flavor. to say the least. Okay! It'd be hard to describe, And after they get the yogurt, then what's all this stuff over here? So the toppings are... you put that on top of your yogurt and we have a range from fruits to candies to cookies, peanuts, sprinkles, whipped cream, and then we have sauces over here which you can also add. What kind of sauces do we have? Salted caramel, marshmallow, chocolate shell, fudge and peanut butter Hi guys, what's your favorite flavor here? I don't know. Oh, you haven't had it yet! How about you? I think... I don't know. No, so, is this your first time here? No, but I like the French Vanilla. Okay, so there's one guy who knows what he likes, the French vanilla. Is that when you said? I like the French Vanilla too! Ah, this guy, NOW he decided. I like cheesecake. Oh cheesecake! Okay, beautiful. All right. Well, I hope you enjoy your yogurt and thanks for listening. Thank you! *** Okay, that was it. That was the final episode for the summer. I hope you enjoyed it and we'll see you... who knows when! Please follow on Spotify or wherever and tell your friends who might like the podcast!!

[EP 88] Unexpected English is the suprising podcast where you can have a fun listening experience in under five minutes! Transcription below to help you! Intro: Hey everybody, it's Fourth of July weekend here as I'm recording this. And that means everybody's off waving their American flags and eating hot dogs and doing whatever else they do while they're ignoring the fall of our democracy. Who cares, right? It's not important. The only important thing on the Fourth of July is hamburgers and hot dogs! So, are you ready? This is episode 88 of Unexpected English, and it just might have something to do with hot dogs. Okay, so let's go! So here I am in beautiful San Diego, more specifically in Barrio Logan on Logan Ave, and I was walking down the street and I saw a place called Barrio Dog. And so that name, Barrio Dog, that kind of hit me. So I thought I would go in and ask the owner to explain a little bit about this place. Well, thank you for stopping in. My name is Pablo Rios. I'm one of the owners here at Barrio Dog. Barrio dog is a celebration of the art, history and culture that comes from this neighborhood, the low-rider culture. So what we've done is, we've combined a classic comfort food like hotdogs, and given you an environment to come and enjoy the neighborhood, the lowrider culture. So it's a it's a neighborhood place with a cultural feel to it. And you serve mainly dogs! Yeah, we're a hot dog restaurant. All of our hot dogs are 100% Angus beef. We make all of our own bread fresh daily, what we're known for when we started this place with this with, a hot dog called El Cholito, it's a Tijuana style. Tijuana style hot dog, which would...what would Tijuana style be f for people who don't know. It's a dog that has the works so a Tijuana style dog has grilled onions,it has cheese, sour cream, salsa verde, diced tomato, red onion, jalapeño, crunchy garlic... Oh ok, is that enough yet people, is that enough, does that sound good enough yet? That is a fully loaded dog, plus I see there's five or six or seven other kinds? Well, we got, we got a half, we got at least twelve different hotdogs you can always try. We have flavors from all over the world. So we don't just celebrate the flavor from Mexico. We have German style. Japanese style. Cuban style. Wow, that's interesting. So what are a couple of the most popular uhh flavors? Do I say flavors? Or style, style, dogs! The Tijuana style is really popular. We also have a chili cheese dog called El Vaquero. We make our chili in-house. Another really popular one is called El Bombero, if you're into spicy hot dogs. It's got seven different chili peppers. Oh, you know, I would say that sounds good, but it sounds better than good. It sounds like I'm ready to have some of that... and I see you've got some good beers on tap too. Yeah, what we're doing here is we're showcasing sixteen of San Diego and Mexico's finest craft beers. So we have flavors as simple as a pilsner all the way to guava cider. So come on by! All right, you heard it here first people! Next time you're in San Diego, head on down to Barrio Logan head on down to Logan Ave, and hit up Barrio Dogs for a real experience. Thanks a lot for your time. Thank you. ***** That was the episode, thanks for listening! Please follow on Spotify, leave a good review, tell your friends, and have a great summer! Why not listen to the other wild episodes too!

[EP87] Hi everybody, and welcome to Episode 87 of Unexpected English, the podcast where you can listen to some real American English in just five minutes, and maybe have some fun while you do it. At least I hope it's fun. Let's find out! Remember, there is a transcription in the show notes if you need any help understanding what was said, because these are interviews with real people. That's why it's real American English. Okay? All right, let's go! ***** So I was walking down the street in my neighborhood, looking around, and I happen to look... and I spotted what appeared to be, like a chicken condominium. I'm gonna say I'm gonna call it a chicken condominium because it's two stories tall. And it says... fluffy butt, what? Yes. My kids thought that was cute. Yeah. Okay, so I'm talking to the lady who owns the chicken condominium. Yes. It used to be a little child's play house in our backyard, but... You got rid of the kids and decided... Yeah, exactly.They just didn't play with it anymore. So we decided to make other use of it. And why did you decide to go with chickens? You know, that was, honestly, that was my husband's idea. When the pandemic first started, he had a little extra time on his hands and thought that it would be cool, especially since the city recently approved having backyard chickens in San Diego Yeah, because we're in the city, you know? What's up with having... I mean, this isn't... this isn't you know, you can't have... Maybe you CAN have goats, I don't know. I don't know about that either. But you can have chickens! Yes, you can now. And there's a real advantage. Why don't you tell us what that is? Um, well, you know, recently there was a supply shortage of eggs at the store. But uhOh yeah, eggs are high now! Eggs are still higher in price. Yeah. And so now we can just walk right out to the backyard and pluck them out of the chickens nests and have some fresh eggs! They're, they're free range. They're not caged chickens. Yeah, I see they've got a whole little playground back there. Yeah, yeah, it's huge area that they get to roam and look for bugs and whatnot. And how many chickens do you have? Five, plus a little rooster. Okay, so there you go, people. We've got five chickens. And one little rooster here, right in the middle of San Diego. And they they each produce one egg every day. So we can have five eggs a day if we wanted to. Oh, that's what they, they like...they drop an egg every day. Yep, pretty much and then, that's that's only for the first five years of their life. So after that, we're just going to be keeping them as pets. Oh after that, they get to retire, huh? Yeah, basically. So do they all have names? They do. Could you tell us the name?  Sure. A lot of them are based on colors. So we have an Orange and a Gray and a Red and a Peach. And then there's Minnie and Baldy. Baldy's the one that has... uh, she's lacking feathers on her neck. Okay, so basically you went with the identification names, not the.. Okay. All right. Well, anything else we should know? If I decide okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get myself some chickens and do this. What do I need to know? Well, they need a chicken coop, so a place to, kind of, be protected from predators and the elements. Ah chicken run is good to for that same reason and they can... um, on rainy days, for example, they'll go in there and that's where they do their dirt baths and they eat. Okay, so it rains so they go in and watch TV and take a dirt bath. Yeah, that's how they keep themselves clean. It's kind of fun to watch. Really. I mean, they dig, they dig a little hole in the ground and then they lay down in it and kind of fluff their feathers around and get dirt all over. And then they shake it off. Alright, well, okay, that sounds, that sounds interesting too, you learn so many things that you never knew before. Yeah, I do a lot of the work. OK, well, thank you very much for you time! ---> Please follow on Spotify and share with friends!

[EP 86] Do you have five minutes to practice English listening in a fun way? Great! In this episode we interview the Candy Queen! Trascription in the notes to help you! [Transcription] Hi everybody, and welcome to Episode 86, of Unexpected English podcast where you can practice your English listening, with a transcription to help you, in under five minutes. Now this one is really short, it's not long at all, but it's a good one. And you know we have an expression when something is not long but it's good we say it's "short, but sweet." And this one you'll find out is definitely short but sweet. Now, you just have to make me one promise. If this episode of Unexpected English makes you smile, you have to share it with somebody, okay? Just just send them the link or share it on Instagram or something. Because I know you're listening on Spotify and you could do that. And that would be great. That is if you like it, and I hope you do. So let's go! (bump) So I was walking down the street and I spotted an interesting sign that said "The Candy Pushers" and I thought, what's that? And I looked inside and sure enough, it's full of candy! So I thought I would go inside and speak to the... owner? Yeah, I'm the owner. My name is Shannon. I'm the Candy Queen of the Candy Pushers. Oh, hold it right there! We are talking to the candy queen! Okay, so relax everybody. I know it's exciting, but... I'm the Candy Queen of the Candy Pushers. My wife and I own the business, and she's the Fudge Master. And we have... And you say the fudge master, does that mean she makes the fudge? Fresh homemade fudge every week. Oh, oh, okay. I'm sorry people. Hold on. I have to get over this, because I'm a little excited -- it's fudge! Yeah, we make and rotate through 48 flavors a year. What kind of flavors of fudge exist? There's the Fudge Packer. We have Lemon Blueberry uh Cheesecake. Citrus Bliss, which is an orange and lemon essential oils mix of fudge. We have Chocolate, Chocolate Walnut, Vanilla Pralines... Oh, okay, do people get, like, addicted to this? It sounds a little addicting! Yes. 100% We have people who come in every week to buy their fudge. Because the chocolate does something to you, right? Well, it makes you happy and puts a smile on your face. Oh, there you go! So okay, people next time you're on University Avenue... University and Richmond. University and Richmond, stop by the Candy Push... If you don't like fudge, there's a whole, like, wall full of other kinds of candies too. What is... We have between twelve and thirteen hundred other bin and packaged candies Twelve and thirteen hundred, That is one thousand two hundred different kinds of candies. It's true. Well, I won't ask for the names of all those candies. I'll just say thanks a lot for your time. You're welcome and have a flavorful day! *** Thanks for listening! If you liked it please FOLLOW on Spotify or Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Instagram too! IG: @UnexpectedEnglish Seriously ... if you like the podcast, please follow, share, and Hey! leave 5 stars on Apple Podcasts if you can!

[EP85] Unexpected English brings you surprising audio with a transcription to help you practice your English listening in less than five minutes. This time, we visit a salt cave for some haloterapy. Come join us! Okay, so I was walking through the mall and I saw a place called The Salt Escape. And it had some... Well, it looked like something I had never seen before. So I thought I would go in and find out a little more. So I'm talking to the... the owner? I'm talking to someone inside who I thought maybe they can tell me... Okay, I'm talking to somebody who could tell me: What is The Salt Escape? The Salt Escape is basically a halotherapy... Hold up... a what therapy? It's halotherapy which is a... Halo, halotherapy... Halo, H-A-L-O as in breathing in salt to cure many different ailments you might have whether it's asthma, colds, sinusitis, allergies, and it also is absorbed through your skin, so it helps with psoriasis... OK, wait wait now, so you tell us what it helps. But what's the deal? Do people go into a room full of salt? Or what is it? OK, so we have a cave... that you... A cave, okay, we're going slow so people can follow, So I come into salt escape, And then I get put in a cave, a salt cave... A salt cave that has 7000 pounds of Himalayan sea salt on the ground. And then there's salt lamps all around and salt on the walls. And then we also pump salt in at different intervals throughout that 45 minutes. Like salt air, you're saying? You pump in salty air? Um-hum, salty air, we take the salt, we put it in a generator that breaks it down into fine little crystal mist, and we pump into the cave while you're there, sitting in lounge chairs relaxing.. not lounge chairs but reclining chairs. I'm just sitting in a room...basically I'm sitting in a room full of salt. Salt.And breathing it and reaping all the benefits that it has to offer. Do.. do I get naked when I do that? Noooo..Oh, and okay, so it'll go through.. We keep it kind of clean in here. OK, so I saw the salt goes through my clothes... and... It goes through your skin, it also, it's absorbed through your skin, but it's the breathing that really helps any respiratory issues that you have. So yeah, so it's primarily as a respiratory... But, but also good through the skin absorbing the skin, if you have any kind of skin issues, it helps with that as well. But it helps with anxiety and depression all kinds of wonderful things. But our, our cave is very, very relaxing. It's dark and quiet and we play meditation music so it's... Ohhh okay don't say it, ohhh, okay, so well, that sounds beautiful! And how long is a session? 45 minutes. So for 45 minutes, I get to sit in the salt cave... and relax... and breathe in. Okay people, well you heard it here first, the, the mysteries and marvels of the salt cave, all are 100% organic Himalayan salt. Alright, thanks and thanks for your time. Thank you! Come visit us! *** Thanks for listening! If you liked it please FOLLOW on Spotify or Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Instagram too! @UnexpectedEnglish Seriously ... if you like the podcast, please share it, thanks!

[EP84] Unexpected English is the podcast where you can practice listening to real American English in just five minutes! This episode is called Search and Rescue. I hope you like it! [Transcription] Hey everybody, you're listening to Unexpected English. I've got a new episode for you. And it's a good episode because it's about people doing good things. And I think we need to hear about people doing good things because there's so much..... bad stuff happening out there, as you know, so we won't talk about that. Instead I'll tell you this episode is about search and rescue. There is a transcription in the notes to help you if you need it. And if you want to help the podcast then please leave a good review on iTunes or subscribe on Spotify, or just tell your friends Okay, here we go! (Interview) Okay, so I was talking to a neighbor and I found out that he volunteers for some kind of interesting organization. So I thought maybe he would tell us about that. Actually, my wife and I both volunteer with Sheriff's Search and Rescue, and we are a group of 150 volunteers that go out and look for lost or missing people anywhere in the county. Okay, so that's the sheriff's... Search and rescue And you volunteer to go find lost people. Now, how does that work? Well, you know, Grandpa goes out for a walk doesn't come home. You call, you know, if you're in the county, you call the sheriff's dispatch, explain it. The deputy will come out and investigate and if it's within reason for us to do, they will dispatch it. So they send out a text message that there's a call out and where it is, and we go out and search for him. Okay, so what was the last search you went out on? Or some that you remember? Well, Chelsea King, we looked for her for well over a week, Amber DuBois. And these are, like, girls who went missing? Yeah. Chelsea King went missing, actually, 12 years ago and was murdered by a perpetrator. Oh my gosh! So we're talking about a missing girl who they didn't know what happened.... They called out Search and Rescue, and we worked on that for well over a week. And in the end, did they find her? Yes, she was located, unfortunately, deceased. Oh my goodness. So it isn't always a happy ending, I guess. No, it isn't. But it's it's a necessary thing, even if it's a homicide case, and we're sent out to see if we can locate the victim. It's necessary, you know, people need to be found and returned to their families. And how about one with a happy ending? Let's give us a happy ending. Oh, there's lots of happy endings. I don't remember the person's name. But down in National City one time we were looking for grandpa who'd only lived with the woman for a week. He'd come here from Texas, and when we found him – we located him about two o'clock in the morning – and she asked if she could thank everybody. We gathered all the searchers around and, through the tears, she said, "I never thought I'd see my Dad alive again. Thank you." Okay, so there you have it. That's a... that's a great story. And I appreciate the time you took talking to us. Oh, my pleasure. **** Thats it! Please support the podcast by following, sharing on your social media, or leaving a five star review on iTunes! How to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Open the Podcasts app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Navigate to the page of the podcast you want to leave a review for. ...Scroll down to find the subhead titled "Ratings & Reviews." Under one of the highlighted reviews, select "Write a Review." Five stars for your favorite English podcast! Just do it!

[EP83] Real American English to help w/ comprehension! We visit a shop in Encinitas, California, and learn about hats. Transcript below to help you! Unexpected English: real listening practice in under five minutes! [Intro, no transcript] Interview: So I was walking down the street I saw a shop that look kind of interesting called Brixton and I just thought I would go in and find out. Oh, well, I'll tell you why I thought it was interesting. I'm looking at a whole wall full of hats. So that's unusual right there. There, there are men's hats. Is that right? That is correct. So, what Brixton specializes in is our headwear and just a lot of outerwear apparel. Oh, hold up right there! I just learned a new word. I call them hats. He calls them “headwear” because you wear it on your head, pretty good! Ha! That is correct. But it's really mostly just a style of wear that you would continually dress up or dress down... (blah blah) So I guess what he said is you could wear these hats anytime, anyplace, any way you want to! That is correct. That is 100% correct there. Well, wait a minute. Now since you're a specialist, or a semi specialist Yeah, I would say specialist. I'm looking at these hats, and I'm thinking they must all have names... Is that true? They do they have quite a few names. We have the Valley Fedora. Okay, so that's a fedora. Soft brim, that's the thing that goes around the hat, gives you a little bit of shade. But do you call it a brim even on a baseball cap? If it's giving you the shade? You would, you would still. on like the normal baseball cap that I'm wearing, you would still call it a brim. As opposed to the full fedoras, which are going to have a full brim where it's going to the brim is going to circle the entirety of the crown of the hat itself. The crown is the top of the hat, is the top of the hat. So, you be a king when you're wearing that crown! I mean, we can dress you up like a king that is for sure, or queen, either way. We got you! Well, so now I learned, I learned headwear. And I learned brim which is a thing going around, give you a little shade and the top is the crown. And one style is called a fedora, which is kind of soft, but we've got fedoras... now the next one, these would be... So these are gonna be Fiddler's or old school marine caps. This is actually a style I personally wear myself a lot of. Marine caps, for those of you who can't see it, it kind of looks like those Greek caps, right? Very similar, yeah, or sailor hats. That's why I meant more so by the marine, so a lot of old school sailors used to wear this kind of silhouette of head wear or hat. Yeah, we're saying hat hat hat. But I guess if it's a little smaller, it's a cap. It's a cap. You are correct, sir. Yeah, so another one that's going to be a cap (we can move on down) is these guys. Now you might recognize these: these are the older newsboy styles. Okay, so we've got the newsboys style, that's a flat cap. So we've got that, we've got that, and the last style I guess looks a little more formal. It's a very classic style of fedora. We call these ones the Messer with still like a nice soft crown that you can either reshape or really stylized to how you really choose to wear the hat itself. All right, well, I think we've got the total tour of the headwear. I love saying that! I learned a new word! Of the headwear available here in Brixton, in beautiful... Encinitas. We're here in Encinitas. Yeah, beautiful Encinitas, California. Okay, well, thanks very much for your time. Yeah, thank you, sir. It was a pleasure speaking with you. ******* That's it, thanks! And please follow on Spotify, Instagram etc, and tell your friends! More listeners = more motivation = more podcast episodes!

[EP 82] WARNING! This episode contains rude words and phrases in real American English! Don't listen if adult language offends you! This episode is longer than usual, so there is no transcription. You just have to listen! It contains some of the words, (words like POO) that were removed from the official Scrabble dictionary as not suitable for children. Don't worry, the F word is not used, but BOFF and BOINK are! Shocking! If you enjoyed this podcast, please share with friends, follow on Spotify, Apple podcast,  @UnexpectedEnglish on Instagram etc. Or this link if it works! Thanks and have fun!

[EP 81] In this episode, we visit a place that helps people who want to make beer... or where you can just visit and taste the beers that are available! As always, Unexpected English offers you practice listening to fun, and in less than five minutes. Use the complete transcription below to help you if you need it! Hi everybody, welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English. This is episode 81, and it's a very short episode because I know it's getting to be a very busy time with the holidays. We're in December now, everybody's busy, but I thought I would give you just one more podcast before the year ended. So let's go! [Interview] Alright, so here we are at Ballast Point Brewery. How, how long has this been here, this place? Well, this place has been here longer than Ballast Point brewing actually has existed. This was the very first Ballast Point. So we started originally as Home Brew Mart. Home brew means if you're making that beer at home, right? That's right! For people making their own beer at home. You can do the same thing with wine and all of that. So we started as a Home Brew Mart in '92. And do a lot of people make beer at home? More than you might think! It's a pretty popular business for sure. Ever since it became legal in the US in the 80s, it's become a burgeoning thing to do by, by yourself at home. Alright, so you can make beer at home, if you know how, and you buy your supplies here. That's right buy your supplies here, your ingredients chances are you have quite a bit of the equipment that you need already in your kitchen, nd all you would need to know is what goes into beer and what the ingredients need in order to become a good beer. So originally, this was the Home Brew Mart to help people brew their own beers, and then they expanded and got the brewery location here as well. Yes, so we started as Home Brew Mart as a way to get into the brewing industry. Our founder figured that was a good way to get started in the brewing industry. So four years after we opened in '96 is when Ballast Point officially became a brewery and started to sell to the public. And then from there, 10 years later, we opened a larger production facility and has since exploded in production. So, are there particular styles of beer that Ballast Point is known for? Yes, we're very well known for the sculpin IPA. It's a very dry, very clean drinking dry IPA. It's a kind of classic for the West Coast, but we're known for several other IPAs, as well as some flagship beers that we've been brewing for decades now, like the California Koelsch and the California Amber.  Alright, you know the only problem... every time I do this, it makes me thirsty... makes me thirsty. Okay, thanks for your time. And thank you for listening! P.S. Do you enjoy podcast? Then please tell your friends who may enjoy it as well. Word of mouth really helps!  Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! THANKS for listening and for your support!

[EP 80] Enjoy a lovely song in this episode of Unexpected English. Listen to improve and practice your accent: Daughter! Water! You may even want to sing along - it's great practice! Lyrics Everything she sees She says she wants Everything he wants I see she gets That's my daughter in the water Everything she owns I bought her Everything she owns That's my daughter in the water Everything she knows I taught her Everything she knows Everything I say She takes to heart Everything she takes She takes apart That's my daughter in the water Every time she fell I caught her Every time she fell That's my daughter in the water I lost every time I fought her Yeah, I lost every time (music) Every time she blinks She strikes somebody blind Every time she thinks Blows her tiny mind That's my daughter in the water Who'd have ever thought her Who'd have ever thought That's my daughter in the water I lost every time I fought her Yeah, I lost every time *** Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, then please share with your friends. Word of mouth really helps!  Follow on Spotify and Instagram too! THANKS for listening and for your support!

[EP 79] Five minutes is all you need to find out about pupusas, and to practice your American English listening skills too! It's easy and fun! Follow along with the transcription of the interview below! [INTRO - no transcription] [Interview] Okay, I was walking down the street, and I noticed a shop that looks like it's about ready to open, and I looked at the sign and it said ... PUPUSAS! And I love that word pupusas, so I thought I would stop in and talk to the owner. Right. My name is Juan Arrienga with Cuscatlan Salvadorean Cuisine. And we're ready to open, very soon. All right, so if you understood that, it's Salvadorian cuisine, that is from El Salvador in Centromerica Right, right, correctamundo! And the specialty there are pupusas, right? Pupusas revueltas is the number one selling so it's very good. Tasty! Okay now, for all those of you who never heard of pupusas, or don't know what they are, we're gonna find out right now. Okay, so pupusas is like a stuffed tortilla different stuffings... uh, revueltas, which is the mixed pupusa, it's a different... it can be, can be cheese, beans, chicharron, which is pork meat or ... chicken, you name it! But isn't it like, a little like... like an empanada or something.. is it ... is that, am I thinking that... I mean, it's not just a tortilla! Right, no it's a stuffed tortilla with the stuffing inside so it could be, like, compared to empanada, but it's cooked in the tortilla so it's it's... Oh, okay so it is cooked, it's baked... It's baked in the tortilla so it's it's, it blends very well with the masa, and the stuffing. All right, so we're gonna have some... and, how soon are we going to be open? It's not open yet, but pretty soon. Not yet, we are looking, hopefully by the weekend. Oh, by the weekend, we're going to be open. Let me ask... this is not for the podcast, this is for me! A lot, a lot of restaurants, I know, they do pre-opening, you know, they have a little special deal to make sure... Right, we're trying to get one of those too. Hopefully, you know, you give me your information. Let me know, let me know right now! Invite me now, invite me now! I don't have the right date, for sure. So maybe the soft opening will be Friday but I'm not sure. Oh, that's what it's called, it's called a “soft opening” I've seen that. So a soft opening before the restaurant opens officially. Yes, hopefully, by Friday, so we can open Saturday. And of course, you know, I'm shameless I'm like, doing a podcast and I'm thinking, “Wait a minute soft opening! Pupusas! Let me in! There you go, that's it. We'll definitely invite you! Okay, thanks very much for your time and I hope, any of you out there who are listening and getting hungry, I hope you have a chance where you are to find some pupusas! That's correct, hopefully, there is some around. Thank you. [OUTRO] It's like, a little crispy, but then, like, la carne, that's inside just, like, melts in your mouth. It's so flavorful! The outside is kind of crunchy... to perfection. It's not, like, super crunchy where you have to like bite really hard but it's not, like, super gooey where everything is just gonna fall apart and then inside is just juicy! When you're eating messy that means it's good! .... I want another one. P.S. Do you enjoy podcast? Then please tell your friends who may enjoy it as well. Word of mouth really helps Five star reviews on help Apple too!  Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! THANKS for listening and for your support!

[EP 78] In this episode of Unexpected English, we visit a surf shop in San Diego. Why not take five minutes to listen just for fun, and practice your listening skills at the same time? There is a TRANSCRIPTION below to help you! [INTRO ... then music, then let's go!] So was driving down the street and I saw sign that said surf... surf shop, and I thought: Surf! This is California, surf! Surfboards! Let's go in and see what's going on. So here we are, uh, what's going on? We're taking boards and fixing them up and get them back out to people. So you're saying this is a surfboard repair shop. Yes, so when a board gets dinged or broken we fix it so it can go back in the water. How do surfboards get broken? Rocks, waves, people, surfboards -- all kinds of things. OK, so there's like accidents out there in the ocean that can happen. Exactly, accidents do happen all the time. OK, accidents happen. And if uhh.. OK I brought in my board ... I guess it depends on the kind of damage... what kind of what kind of things can happen? Fin boxes can break... Fin boxes? Is that the fin that sticks up? Yes, glass can crack, fins can get stuck in boards.. pretty much anything you can imagine. Fins can get stuck in boards? That sounds like ... dangerous! Yeah, so-so, as long as it's not you. [laughter] OK, so just out of curiosity, what does... I know you don't sell new... you sell used surfboards here? Yes, boards that Joe repairs or people left behind. All right, so I'm like, you know, thinking of taking it up. I just need like an entry-level surfboard, what's it gonna sent me back? Anywhere from 100 to 300 bucks, depending. OK a couple hundred dollars and I've got myself a surfboard to start learning to surf. Yeah, pretty much. What are the high end, I mean, not super high-end, what is like a higher end board go for? Anywhere from $800 to $5000. Five thousand? Yeah, I've got one of those... OK let me think... what else was I missing here... what else... Uhh, certain surf essentials. Essentials, what are the essentials? Fins, leashes, wax... OK, hold on. You wax your board before you get in the water? Yes. And that's so it's... So ypu don't slip off. Oh, you wax it for you, not for the water side? No, not the water side, the deck side. OH, you wax it to make it sticky so you're like ... on the board! Exactly. All right. Well, what other tricks should I know to like, stay on the board. Take it one step at a time. Get the basics first. Alright that sounds like good advice, that sounds like good advice. So there you go, people, people you've had your advice here on how to get started, you know what it's gonna cost, and I'm just saying anytime you're here in beautiful San Diego... oh, where are the good spots here in San Diego? Anywhere! Up and down the beach. Up and down the beach! You can be surfing up and down the beach, anywhere in beautiful San Diego! That's it, thanks a lot, thanks for your time. [Surfing outro] P.S. Do you enjoy podcast? Then please tell your friends who may enjoy it as well. Word of mouth really helps! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! THANKS for listening and for your support!

[EP 77] Unexpected English brings you five minutes of real American English from California. Practice your English listening skills with short, fun topics. In this episode we talk to members of a car club. Use the transcription below to help you understand if you need it! . [INTRO: no transcription] . [Interview:] So I'm here talking with the members of the Unidos Car Club in San Diego about their cars and I was wondering if you could tell me why are... what is this car culture thing? The car culture is ... what ... we have a... lotta.. history and ... our people that grow up with old cars. Compadres, friends, brothers, cousins and all that, have old cars. So we start growing up with old cars. Old cars! And what do you do with these old cars? We repair ‘em, we do restorations. I have a custom shop that we do restorations for our members and more customers. OK, so tell me about some of the cars... what year... what model... We start... we start in the 30s. Like a Chevy 30s, 1938 ... 40s... 50s ...60s. So, classic cars. Classic cars, correct. And does it cost a lot of money to restore these vehicles? Yes it does. It also depends what kind of restoration you want to do, medium, all the way up ... or just some, some of the restoration. It costs between $10-$30,000 to do one – medium! Medium restoration on a vehicle costs you $10 - $30,000, and this is just... If you want to see you some of the vehicles that are here on the park they're $50 - $60,000 or more. That's a lot of money to put into... It's a lot of money and the car still shows perfect. And do you, do you win prizes with these cars, or... You win prizes, you win, sometimes you win money on the contests, and most of the time you get, you win trophies. So basically, you're just putting the money in because you love it. Correct. That's right, that's our passion. It's a passion. What's your, what's your vehicle? That's a 1948 Chevy. 1948 Chevy. And how much have you put into that vehicle? Ah, more or less around $20,000. Twenty thousand dollars to restore that vehicle. Well, you know we're talking about it, but I don't think it's going to make any sense unless you see the vehicles, so I'm gonna go out and... (You should) see the 1951 Cadillac convertible, yellow, canary yellow that is there, and that car is $80,000. All right, so I have to look for... what year was that car? 1951 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. OK, a 1951 Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible in yellow? Yellow, yes. That's beautiful. OK, I'm gonna go get a picture of that. Gentleman, thank you for your time. Thank you. . [OUTRO] Thanks for listening! Please share and follow on Spotify and Instagram and everywhere right here: https://linktr.ee/UnexpectedEnglish

[EP 76] In this episode, I visit a Vegan Food Truck, and YOU get to practice listening to something fun in real American English! Use the transcription below to help you! [PODCAST INTRO, where I say the wrong episode number

[EP 75] Thanks for listening to this special birthday episode of Unexpected English, where you can practice your English listening skills in a fun way in less than five minutes. OK, it's too late to send a birthday present, but... it would be a kindness if you shared the podcast with a friend! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! Thanks for listening and for your support! [TRANSCRIPTION] Hey everybody! You're listening to a special episode of Unexpected English! Yes, it is! Why? Well, it's because I realized it's summertime! And everybody's on holiday, you know? You're all on vacation and nobody is listening to podcasts. So why bother? And then I thought, I know! I know why bother! Here's a good reason: it's my birthday! Yes, that's right, so I thought, well, I'll play myself a birthday song. And maybe you'll like it, and if not, well, this is the end of season six, so we're going to start all over again pretty soon with season seven. But in the meantime, we've got this birthday song just for me. All right, here we go! ~~~ Music music music ~~~ do do do do doooo ~~~ You're older than you've ever been And now you're even older And now you're even older And now you're even older You're older than you've ever been And now you're even older And now you're older still Time! Is marching on And time.... Is still marching on This day will soon be at an end And now it's even sooner And now it's even sooner And now it's even sooner This day will soon be at an end And now it's even sooner And now it's sooner still!!! whaaaaa whaaa what whaaa You're older than you've ever been And now you're even older And now you're even older And now you're even older You're older than you've ever been And now you're even older And now you're older still *** Follow on Spotify and Instagram, motivate me to do more podcasts!

[EP 74] This is a special, SURPISE edition for the 4th of July, because of a new world record! Have fun practicing your English listening in just five minutes with your favorite English podcast, Unexpected English! [Transcription] Hey everybody, it's Louis, and this is a special Fourth of July edition of Unexpected English. I say it's a special edition because I had a new episode ready to go. And then I read this, and it was too good not to share. What is this? This is America! From TV: “What greater fortune have we, in an endless universe of infinite matter and energy, we have been given consciousnesses to gaze upon at it all, and understand. What greater fortune, have we? To live in America! To stand, side by side, on the Fourth of July, to behold this man! What greater fortune!” Specifically, specifically today on the Fourth of July, a new world record was set. Yes. A New World Record! For what? Eating hot dogs! I'm not kidding you. It's true, it's true. The top competitive eater in the world, Joey Chestnut, managed to eat 76 --yes 76 hot dogs in just 10 minutes. TV: “Look on his works, ye mighty, and despair. For he has surpassed the Kings of Egypt, with 76 Nathan's hot dogs and buns! A NEW! WORLD! RECORD!” I had to tell you that, because otherwise you wouldn't believe it. The person who came in number two, ate fifty. Fifty hot dogs in 10 minutes. But Joey Chestnut... Joey Chestnut ate 76 hot dogs. That's right. That's right. And it's not just hot dogs. Joey Chestnut has more than 50 eating records, I guess you know, you don't know it, but there is such a thing as competitive eating. And just to mention a few... of his records. He ate: 55 glazed doughnuts in eight minutes. And let me tell you that one again: in eight minutes, 55 glazed doughnuts. He ate, in just eight minutes, hard boiled eggs. How many hard boiled eggs in eight minutes? 141 hard boiled eggs in just eight minutes! Unbelievable. It sounds unbelievable, but there you go. But that's not the point. The point is... the point is, this is America! This is the United States, and the greatest competitive eater of all time is Joey Chestnut, who set a world record today, of 76 hot dogs. All right. Happy Fourth of July, everybody! Bam, I'm a hot dog! P.S. Like this episode? Please spread the word ~ word of mouth really helps! I have no sponsors and no advertising - people only find the podcast when YOU tell them about it! Share it, spread it, follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! THANKS for listening and for your support!

[EP 73] Love cupcakes? Love English? Want some fun listening? Let's do this! [Transcript] Hi everybody, this is Louis and you're listening to another episode of Unexpected English, your favorite English podcast! Now, you know I say that just because I like to say it, not because I think it's true. But what IS true: CUPCAKES ARE YUMMY!! ...is that this is episode 73. And in this episode, like every episode of Unexpected English, you get the practice your listening with something... a little weird ...well, I won't say weird... a little different, and fun, in under five minutes. So now that I was able to start doing interviews again, this one *is* an interview, so let's give a listen... Okay, so I was just walking here in PB, Pacific Beach, that is Pacific Beach, San Diego, and I noticed a place called Pure Cupcakes. And that sounded so good to me, so I thought I would go in and see what I could find out. So, I asked to speak with somebody and here she is! Hi, my name is Christina, I'm the supervisor for the weekends here at Pure Cupcakes, Pure Cupcakes. So, okay so what are some of the most popular... do we say flavors? Flavors, what are some of the top flavors, where everybody says, “Oh, I love this one!” I would say we have a salted caramel, that's a chocolate with caramel frosting, and a caramel drizle on top. We have a Rollo cupcake, that's going to be chocolate with caramel frosting filled with caramel and dipped in chocolate. Ohhh, can you just stop right now because the more you're talking about those cupcakes, the more I want to have a cupcake. And I hope that's not happening to you, because if you're listening and there's no place to buy a cupcake, then you're just like, oh! what can I do? Hmm. I see here in the window that you won some awards for the best cupcakes! We did, yes we won Cupcake Wars in 2013. Cupcake Wars? Yes! Its that where everybody comes out and throws cupcakes at each other? I wish! I wish! That would have been super fun! It was a TV show where different bakeries competed and the the winner had their cupcake showcased at a large event. Ours happened to win at the San Diego Zoo event. So, there was a cupcake war at the San Diego Zoo (yes!) that did not involve throwing cupcakes. No, believe it or not! It's just, just showing them and eating them. Yes. And how many people participated in this cupcake war? I believe it was four. Okay, oh it was kind of a face off, kind of a face off. Yeah, four people. I should do the dramatic music now, you know, boom, boom. [Dramatic: Cupcake makers, everything comes down to this....dramatic music.. You are the winner of Cupcake wars. Congratulations. Thank you! Thank you guys!!!] Dun dun duh! OK, so, so they had Cupcake Wars, and you won the Cupcake Wars in.... 2013 Do people buy cupcakes one by one? We can, we can do them one by one, or we can do weddings, we can do parties so as few or as many as you'd like, you can come on in and check it out. What's the biggest order, you've ever got for a single bunch of cupcakes? Probably upwards of a couple of thousand. You can make a couple thousand cupcakes?? Right just...Yes sir, anything! Right, well there you go! So now you know if you're looking for cupcakes when you're in Pacific Beach, San Diego, stop by at Pure Cupcakes, and you'll be happy. Thank you enjoy, guys! Okay thanks for your time. Yeah, of course, do you want a cupcake? [OUTRO] P.S. Like the podcast? Spread the word ~ word of mouth really helps! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! And of course, thanks for listening and for your support!

[EP 72] Content Warning, drugs! [Street interview episode] So I'm taking my daily walk, walking down the street and I walked by this vehicle with open windows and I get a powerful odor of what is currently called ... marijuana. ---> LISTEN NOW! [4:20 = time to get high] --- Hey everybody it's me, Louis. Welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English! Yes it's episode 72, I think? It's episode 72? I know it's late, it's very late, but I know I'm also very lazy which is why it's very late, so I won't even talk, let's just get right to the episode. I apologize for the sound, you know, it was in the street , one of those spontaneous things, but here it is. Let's go! --- So I'm taking my daily walk, walking down the street and I walked by this vehicle with open windows and I get a powerful odor of what is currently called ... marijuana. So I thought I would stop and ask these guys... Am I right? Are you? Yeah. Smoking a *Backwood, it’s a natural weed. A natural... what is a natural? It’s a tobacco leaf, instead of the processed tobacco. Oh wait a minute. You... There's weed in it, but its... [inaudible] OK, help us understand here for those of us who don’t. We are smoking... what I say “we” I mean you, not me, dear listeners! I’m, I’m **straight arrow. But this is weed wrapped in a tobacco leaf? Yeah. All right... and... where did you acquire your... your weed? Weed? From the ***dispensary. And then the Backwoods from just any liquor store. OK but, the dispensary, when you go in there, don’t they have like a whole lot of choices? Yeah. Hundreds of choices, ****edibles, everything. And so for your particular choice, thought, I mean, do you always get the same thing, or how do you decide? Because, say, I am a newbie and I go in there and see wow look at all this, look at all this weed. How do I know what to get? I personally like Indica there's 3 different types: indica, sativa and hybrid, Indica makes you go to sleep, hybrids in the middle, and then sativa makes it kind of makes you say up and be active. And, and what’s, what's the going rate for...I don't know how they sell what kind of quantity. An eight at the dispensary, anywhere from 20 ****bucks to like 60. $20 for how much? An eighth. To $60. $20 to $60 depending on quality. $20 up to $60 for an eight of... I mean, I don’t know what an eight is. Of weed. It’s 3.5 grams. Oh, ok 3.5 grams, between $20 up to $60. Alright, anything else my listeners should know? No, that’s about it. All right, well, thanks very much for your time! OUTRO MUSIC: “Let me get to the point, let me roll another joint, turn the radio loud, I’m too aloud alone to be proud, you don’t know how it feels...to be me...” Enjoy the episode? Please tell your friends how they can find it, please share it on social, follow us the podcast on Spotify, Instagram etc. Word of mouth helps spread the word and motivates me to do more fun episodes for YOU! Vocabulary: *Natural tobacco leaf sometimes used as a wrapper for marijuana **a person who a person who leaves a clean and conventional life with hight moral standards *** place that sells legal marijuana ****cannabis-based food products ***** dollars

[EP71] What is Uptalk? Have you heard it? Is it a joke, a bad habit, or a real thing? Learn about this American English speaking style in this episode of Unexpected English! Transition here below to help! Transcription: Hey everybody, I was listening to a podcast, and I heard this. Let's listen: “They also have a lack of complex body parts, which allows them to be able to adapt more quickly.” Okay now, why did that make me stop? Well you may have noticed that the person was not asking a question, but their voice went up at the end, making it sound like a question. “They also have a lack of complex body parts...” What's up with that?! Well, it is UP. In fact, it's called Uptalk. That's when people's voices go up at the end, even though they're not asking a question. So when I heard this, I thought, hmm, I wonder if my listeners have ever heard it, or noticed it, or thought about it, so I just thought I would share that example. Let's listen again: “They also have a lack of complex body parts, which allows them to be able to adapt more quickly.” Okay now, I'll say the same thing. Here we go. Okay. "They also have a lack of complex body parts, which allows them to adapt more quickly." (applause) Right, right. Okay, thank you, thank you. The difference is, it was not a question. All right, so there it is. You've heard your examples of Upspeak or Uptalk, and I wanted to share them with you because it is fairly common. And now that you've heard it, you might notice it more and more. [Satire:] “Uptalk is, like, super annoying if you're under the age of 40, though it's probably not that big of a deal to you. Until an older family member or colleague, tells you about this super irritating habit of young people, where every sentence ends like it's a question?” On the other hand, ...on the other hand, it can also be explained as having a purpose, of course, because everything supposedly has a purpose, right? And the purpose of Uptalk could be, for one thing, just to sound more invitational and less aggressive, less assertive. So, if I say something, and my voice goes up a little bit. So, to be a little friendlier, a little friendlier tone, for one thing. O as a kind of unconscious gambit, that says, “I’m not done talking yet. Right, so there's more to come.” And is there a third reason for uptalk? Uhhh.. boh [great Italian word] I dunno. Wait. Oh wait, now I remember the third reason that people could be using Uptalk. And that is to check for comprehension, check for understanding from the person I'm speaking to. In a face to face conversation, if my voice goes up a little bit. I'm looking for clues from you, that you're following what I'm saying. So that could be another legitimate reason that people use Uptalk. ---> "Body parts? Adapt more quickly” Body parts? Adapt more quickly?"

[EP 70] Cactus Interview Show! Oh, and I put "Learn English Listening" in the show title so more people can find it. Will it work? If it did and you are a new listener, Hi there! Join the fun! Transcription below! *** Hi everybody in this episode of Unexpected English we visit the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society. Say that again: the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society. Yeah, and I'll tell you my favorite part of this interview. Um, when I'm talking to the lady, I repeat that name (the name of the society) because I repeat things during the interview to help you understand. And so, I repeat that and then I say "And it's a show" after she tells me it's a show and and at this point she must think I'm a little stupid. Because, you listen, and she says yes it's a SHOW, we're having a SHOW. OK that's it that's my introduction. Here we go! *** OK here we are in Balboa Park at a special event and I thought I would interview somebody who could explain just what's happening. Hi, my name is Susan I am a volunteer with the Cactus and Succulent Society of San Diego. Today and yesterday we have our big annual show and sale. OK, hold up now, this is... what is the name of the society again? San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society. All right then today there is a show. Yes, this is the show, we have probably over 600 plants in the SHOW. They were judged yesterday evening and they all have their ribbons placed next to them. We have several that were trophy winners and they are up on the stage at the front of the room. Oh, oh so I can go and find first place and second place and third place. That is correct. And how many different categories of prizes or awards or ribbons are there? Well, there's three categories --- you get first prize second prize or third place OK? And it's blue ribbon, red ribbon or white ribbon. And if you get a ... if you are a special plant, then you get a plaque up on the stage. OK? OK, and how many people do you think ... ah, how many entries were there in this competition... it's kind of a competition, right? Yeah, well there’s probably over 600 plants in this room. So about 600 entries, and then there were how many winners? Oh, I have no idea. Any, any number of winners... you have to go and look and see the ribbons. And how many people you think will be visiting the show today? Really I don't know, but we had hundreds of people yesterday and probably about 500 today also. OK, fantastic! So we have a popular event here in Balboa Park and I hope you enjoyed the interview. *** [outro] and then .... Auction sounds! P.S. Like the podcast? Spread the word ~ word of mouth really helps! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! And of course, thanks for listening and for your support!

[EP 69] Ready for a sound bath at Mission Bay, San Diego? Five minutes of interesting listening for your English. Welcome! [INTRO] Hi everybody and welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English where today or right now in this episode -- which is episode 69 by the way if you're counting -- (yeah if you're not counting, well, who cares) but this is the episode 69 and we are taking you to beautiful Mission Bay San Diego for something called a sound bath! That's right, we're going to be having a sound bath together so get ready for that, OK? OK, I won't say anything else let's just go! [INTERVIEW] So I'm here on North Cove Beach of Mission Bay here in beautiful San Diego and I am speaking with .... Lindsey Roche ... and I was walking down the beach and I saw Lindsey had these uhh... bowls arranged here in the sand. Could you tell us about that? So yeah so this is... what we're setting up for is a sound healing session. We have ... these are crystal sound healing bowls, so they're 99.9% pure quartz and the way that sound healing works is we're all made of water, right? 70% water, so the vibrations and the frequency of these bowls react with the water inside your body and work to relax you and slow down your mind, your mental state into, ideally, a (??) state. Ohhh, so I'm gonna get, like I'm gonna get so relaxed I’ll float away... or something. OK, now tell me again, so these bowls are made of... the colored bowls that you see are 99.9% pure quartz crystal. Quartz crystal, and we've got different size quartz crystal bowls arranged in the sand and I suppose they all vibrate at a different frequency. They certainly do, they are all correlated with the different chakras, so each note is a different note. We've got the red there is your root chakra which is a C note. Oh, we're talking about your chakras, you know, you people.. what you don't know about the chakras, well you'll have to look, you'll have to Google that. But before we go maybe we could get a sound... not a sound bath, but at least an idea of what we're talking about, these sounds, what they sound like, so... she’s getting the little mallets here and... turning off the background music so, even though it might be a little breezy, so I don't know how pure our sound is going to be, but we’ll get some sound off of this for sure, so..... [...vibrations....].................. I'm feeling relaxed already, I don't know about you out there, but I'm feeling it...... OK, so there you have it people, direct from Mission Bay in San Diego, you’ve just had your first sound bath. Thanks a lot, Lindsay. Thank you, have a beautiful day. You too, bye. [OUTRO] blah blah where, as usual I ask you, I please tell your friends -- word of mouth really helps! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! And of course, thanks for listening!

[EP 68] We learn some things about Arkansas! (transcript) Hello, thanks for calling Unexpected English, who am I speaking with? Hi, this is Kat Mondu. Kat, Yes! Where are you calling from, Kat? I'm calling from Arkansas. Arkansas. OK. I'm not sure people know where, Arkansas, is geographically so could you tell us? It is kind of in the mid-south of the USA. In the middle of the south of the USA, with other states around you like.,,Like, Oklahoma, and Texas, Missouri. Okay, all right, I guess, if, anybody doesn't know, you can look at a map for, Arkansas, right? Right above Louisiana. Right above Louisiana. Wait a minute, I have a problem with Arkansas. Yeah, I'll tell you what my problem is. Could you spell that for us? Yes. ARKANSAS That’s Arkansas right? But then you have KANSAS, and that's Kansas! So how come you guys aren't ark-KANSAS? Well, because Kansas should really be kan-SAW! OK. All right, I'm glad we got that cleared up! So this is Kat calling from Arkansas which is nowhere near kan-SAW. All right. Well, so what should we know about the beautiful state of Arkansas? Arkansas is known as the natural state. And we boast over 50 state parks. OK, so because when you say natural I'm thinking, does that mean everybody walks around naked? No it doesn't mean that, right? No, not quite that natural. You can find that here! Lots of state parks. That means hills and ... do mountains there? We have mountains in the Ozarks. Oh good, I'm learning so much. This is good, because I've never been to Arkansas. I ave to be honest it's not, it's not a place I've been to. But if I go there, well I guess I'm going for the nature, because it's the, nature state or the natural state, which is it? It's the natural state. The natural state, beautiful. And I always like to know if I go to some, some state if there's a, you know, like a typical dish or some kind of specialty or something that people like to eat there that you might not find other places. Well, Arkansas, is actually home of cheese dip. Cheese DIP? Yes, we invented it, or at least we claim it, and it was in Little Rock where it was invented, Oh, do you guys have, like, cheese dip competitions? Yes, we take it very seriously, I guess so! And what, what do people in Arkansas, dip into their cheese dip? Just about anything! Tortilla chips or pretzels, or fried pickles, even! Fried pickles! That's another thing that,  I don't know why I've never had a fried pickle. Are they good? They are delicious. Especially when dipped in a nice creamy cheese I suppose! Oh yes! Okay. Oh boy, well, I'm getting kind of hungry. But before we go, are there any unique expressions in Arkansas? I don't know that there are, but I'm always looking for some kind of language thing. Oh yes, let me give you a few. Oh my gosh you've got language things there, OK! Well, of course, I mean, if you’ve got, you got fried pickles in cheese dip, I guess you got everything yeah? So, okay, I'm ready. Just know if a southerner says, “Bless your heart!” that's not a good thing. If they say “Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!” that IS a good thing. Okay. Bless your heart, kind of is used to ... shut somebody down, is that it? To say like, what does it really mean? Like, Oh, you poor soul! Oh, but that sounds, that sounds sympathetic. Not so much... Okay, and the other one sounded kind of semi-adult. What was that? It was, “Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!” And that just means. Well, look who's here! Oh man, that's beautiful, that's a good one. Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! Yeah, that’s perfect. Is that right? Oh good, I did it okay! You did a great job. I’m so proud of myself. Okay, Kat, well thanks very much for your time this has been fun and very educational too. Well thank you for having me. This was very fun. FOLLOW!

[EP 67] Dead Poets! In this episode I read a poem about one great poet to honor the passing of another. Don't let the word "poem" scare you, just listen! (transcription included below) *** Hey everybody! You'r listening to Unexpected English! This is episode 67 and I'm doing this episode for a special reason. That is that today I learned that the writer and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti died, passed away. And that's OK! He was 101 years old! But it reminded me of his poetry, which I like, and I found a good one to read for you. And it's good because it's about another great poet: Allen Ginsberg. I'm sure you've heard of Allen Ginsberg. If you haven't heard about Lawrence Ferlinghetti, you might want to look for some of his poems. But Ferlinghetti wrote this poem for Ginsberg, who was dying at the time, and I thought it was appropriate. And it's quite a good poem, so I decided to read it for you. I hope you enjoy it. Here we go! Allen Ginsberg is dying It's in all the papers It's on the evening news A great poet is dying But his voice won't die His voice is on the land In Lower Manhattan in his own bed he is dying There is nothing to do about it He is dying the death that everyone dies He is dying the death of the poet He has a telephone in his hand and he calls everyone from his bed in Lower Manhattan All around the world late at night the telephone is ringing This is Allen the voice says Allen Ginsberg calling How many times have they heard it over the long great years He doesn't have to say Ginsberg All around the world in the world of poets there is only one Allen I wanted to tell you he says He tells them what's happening what's coming down on him Death the dark lover going down on him His voice goes by satellite over the land over the Sea of Japan where he once stood naked trident in hand like a young Neptune a young man with black beard standing on a stone beach It is hightide and the seabirds cry The waves break over him now and the seabirds cry on the San Francisco waterfront There is a high wind There are great whitecaps lashing the Embarcadero Allen is on the telephone His voice is on the waves I am reading Greek poetry The sea is in it Horses weep in it The horses of Achilles weep in it here by the sea in San Francisco where the waves weep They make a sibilant sound a sibylline sound Allen they whisper Allen *** Thanks for listening! please tell your friends -- word of mouth really helps! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends!

[EP 66] I take a call from ECUADOR and find out some unexpected things! Listen and follow with the transcript! Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of Unexpected English, where I have, yes, something unexpected. Well, it's unexpected because this is the first telephone interview. That's right, I interviewed someone from Ecuador, who just called. right? So it's a new thing, I think it works. And if it does work, that means, that means you can call me too and I can interview you. I guess I don't know. Let's, let's not even wait around, let's just get right to the episode. Okay. Yeah, let's do that. Here we go. *** Hello, thanks for calling Unexpected English. Who am I speaking with? You’re speaking with Joffre, it’s a pleasure, Louis. Joffe, where are you calling from? I'm calling far far away from you. I'm calling from Ecuador. It’ isn’t a food. No, although, that, okay, it makes me think of food so tell me: if I go to Ecuador, what is the one dish that I have to try? Yeah, okay. You will eat guinea pig. It's something crazy for many people around the world, but we eat here guinea pig. Yeah, what, what's it called, what's it called? It is called “cuy.” Cuy! yeah I know. I've heard of that! Cuy is.. is that, but I mean, is it a typical plate, cuy? Yes, at least in the place where I live. It is common, many people enjoy eating cuy, like, each week, or maybe twice a week. Many people are eating cuy. Okay, so we have, we sit down to a nice dish of cuy. Well yeah, with, with some kind of beer. What's the best beer to have with cuy? Here it is called Pilsner. The most popular here it is called Pilsner. Oh Pilsner but pils... Pilsner is a style of beer, actually. Ah, isn't it? Yeah, it is! Okay, so we've got the dish we've got the beer... Some potatoes, and potatoes yeah, okay, this is... Here we have many kinds of potatoes, like 1000s of potatoes, kinds of potatoes. A thousand varieties of potatoes, and each one is more delicious than the next one, probably, yeah? Yes yeah there's a different taste. Okay, tell me, what do people, what do Ecuadorians, what are they famous for... I mean what do people say about Ecuadorians? Oh, that's a tricky question. Ecuadorians, we like to cook, to make delicious food. And we have many places to go to visit. I believe the most famous place from Ecuador is called Galapagos. Oh yeah yeah that’s too famous, we know about, that we don't need tourism... Ok, yes, like people here... we are relaxed. We aren't stressed about work. So it's a good place to relax. It's a good place to eat cuy. Exactly! And have a beer. Let me think, the last thing.... Oh, I know, the last thing is to tell people about your podcast, because you have a podcast, right? Yes, yes. I have a podcast to help people who are learning Spanish and learning English. And we are a group, a group of friends that we have been learning Spanish and English for a while, and we decided to have a podcast to help other people. Okay, what's the...what's the name. It's called “amigos, learning languages.” Okay, people so there it is, if you speak Spanish, or if you speak English and want to learn Spanish... because your podcast is kind of Spanglish, right? You do both languages? Yes it is, Spanglish because I'm trying to relate what we already know in Spanish, and what we already know in English, to try to make it easier for people to learn English and Spanish relating those languages. All right, so everybody who loves Unexpected English. I know they love to learn languages. So maybe they want to check out your podcast which is called... “Amigos Learning Languages” “Amigos learning languages!”...there you go. All right, everybody, I think you've got it. You've heard we've heard from from Joffre in Ecuador, and that's it. Thanks for your time, Joffre. It was a pleasure, Louis . Okay. Have a good day. You too. Thanks. Bye Bye *** PLEASE SHARE! https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish

[EP 65] Yes, it's a live in-the-park interview! I saw a lady riding a scooter and asked her about it. Her answers were UNEXPECTED! Transcript below! So, here we are at Balboa Park and I thought I would interview somebody who just stepped off of a .... what? Bird? Bird cycle? What is it, a bird cycle? Scooter. Oh, a scooter! A scooter, is this the first first time you've ever been on a scooter? First time I’ve ever been in it. (We're not from here!) We're from Texas, Houston Texas. OK, so we’ve got some visitors from Houston Texas and she just tried out a scooter (scooter!) and how was that experience? It was... it was kinda scary... for a 60 year old woman (laughs) Yeah, it was scary, I am not young no more! OK she’s not so young but she's brave enough to get on the scooter! Is that the craziest thing you've ever done that you can tell us about? No... I used to be ... when I was in my 30s, my early 30s, I used to be a bull rider (music) Excuse me, excuse me. Hold up, my listeners need to process that. Could you repeat that again? Uhh, in my late 30s , I was uhh... early 30s I was a bull rider (music) My father was a bull rider.And what does that mean exactly “bull rider.” Uhhh... Is that like a “bullshit artist?” (laughter) She's one of those too! I'm sorry, this is supposed to be a clean podcast... I'll... I’ll delete that out. It was uhh there were... we had miniature bulls ... it was .. it was in a.. it was called uhh, Mexican bull... where they have “charreadas” Uh-huh. You know, “jaripeos” ... right ... and my dad used to do it, so I learned it from them. I liked it! And my brother used to do it, but I liked it more than my brother did. OK, so we're talking to a lady who used to ride bulls in “charreadas” ... and you can Google that word if you like it it's kind a like a Mexican ... Mexican bull... bull thing, horse riding, this and that. Yeah. So I guess then the scooter was no big deal. No, it was getting back on track, that was it, OK, so she's back in form and we're back live from Balboa Park. I hope to catch you again next time. Bye! (OUTRO) Thanks for listening: please tell your friends: word of mouth is the only way to encourage me to do future episodes! Share this link! Follow on Spotify or Apple podcasts and Instagram too! Thanks!

[EP 64] ASSAULT on the American Capitol? Just another day of the chaos, criminality and destruction brought about due to the tragic mistake called the Trump Presidency. Transcript included. Hi everybody! Welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English! Unexpected... unexpectedly... this is unexpected because I did not expect to be recording an episode where I talk about the attack on democracy in my country. But I am recording this episode one day after that happened. One day after the so-called president incited his cult followers by again feeding them lies that he "won" the election. How pathetic is that? How pathological is that? But there are people who believe lies, I guess, if you repeat them often enough. And he has been repeating that lie and thousands of other lies his entire term in office. Well, no reason to talk about it I guess. If if anyone ever spoke with me, you know that I have said from the beginning the man is incapable and unfit: unfit mentally, unfit morally, unfit in every way. And this is the perfect conclusion to his four years of chaos. In fact there are, as I record this, 13 days left in his presidency and there is serious talk of invoking the 25th amendment. The 25th amendment (to the Constitution) says if the president is incapable of carrying out his duties, which of course he has been from the beginning, but in this case trying to overturn democracy and ignore the reality of an election that he lost! And inciting ... an attack on the institutions of this country: clearly that makes him unfit. But of course, I'm sure nothing will happen. That is to say, it's unlikely he will be removed from office and instead we will live counting down these final 13 days, hoping that he does not do anything crazier than what he has done. And it is crazy. it's crazy! Right now as I speak Trump is not allowed to post on Facebook. They took away his Facebook privileges but they didn't take away the codes to the nuclear weapons, you know? He could to destroy the planet, but he can't post on Facebook! So yeah, that's where we are right now. So welcome to 2021. Welcome to 2021. Oh, a little bit of news... if you listened to the last episode and I said my brother was foolishly flying across the country to visit my elderly mother. Well the good news is that did not happen because at the last minute my niece, my brother's daughter, tested positive for Covid, so they realized, finally, Uh-oh! Maybe not a good idea! So that trip didn't happen. So that's a good thing. What else do I have to report? Here in San Diego, as you know perhaps, California has zero emergency hospital beds available because of the pandemic. And to bring it back to Trump, yes he is responsible, his government is responsible... oh God! Well, let that go... let it go for now. I just wanted to give you an update. I'm staying safe at home. I hope you're staying safe at home and I hope to bring you maybe a cheerier episode, an episode was a little more fun next time around. But for now I guess that's it. Thanks for listening and we’ll catch you next time. Ciao ciao. This podcast has NO advertising: I do it for you, soI hope you will spread the word. Follow on Spotify and instagram, and tell your friends! OK? Why not leave a review on Apple podcasts too! Thanks!

[EP 63] Wrapping up 2020! It's a lockdown Christmas: I talk about my dumb@as brother, try to give you some holiday cheer, and even give a good recommendation for a speech to text transcription app to help you with your English. Sorry, but there is NO transcription for this episode : it was a little too long to include.  BUT if you use the app I mention in the podcast, you can make it yourself!  In fact, if you use this link, you can get one month FREE of the pro service and you can get the audio from your ZOOM meetings transcribed to text!  https://otter.ai/referrals/LZB8CR97 **** Happy Holidays! *** Unexpected English has NO advertising or sponsors, and I am not looking for students.  I do it for fun, and hope you enjoy it. If you do, please help spread the word. Follow on Spotify and instagram, and tell your friends! Thanks!

[EP 62] This was supposed to be a test, NOT a podcast episode! But why not? That's what makes the podcast "unexpected" -- so let's do it! Warning: This episode may be difficult to understand because of poor audio... plus *someone* rants like a crazy conspiracy nut! *USE THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW* *** Hi everybody! It's me Louis with another episode of Unexpected English! It’s, well, this one is unexpected but it's not supposed to be an episode. In fact, you'll hear my wife say: Oh that's stupid, because, really, it was not planned as an episode! I'll tell you, I was testing an app that does speech to text, and I wanted to see if it worked, so I started acting like a crazy conspiracy person talking about, uhh, Alexa. I can't say... if I say Alexa... you know they won't run this podcast on A-M-A-Z-O-N so, I have to be careful. Anyway, it was just a crazy thing, but then I thought it was funny, So I thought, OK this is funny, and then my wife said, “no” and she heard it and she said “oh, it's kind of cute” so I thought ahh, what the heck, right? Uh, well, you decide, OK? You listen, you decide, here we go! *** Okay, so you have an Alexa in your house and you don't care that it's listening to you all the time? No, I don't care. There's that I have no secrets that Alexa would be interested in. But your private life; you have a private life. What's a private life? The things you want to keep private? Well, and why would anybody care about my private life? Not that anybody would care, but do you want Amazon to know about your private life? What are they going to do with that information? Sell it to the Russians? I don't know. The Russians would also have no need for it. Oh, so you're not like a high level government employee. No, I'm not. But you're a voter, you're an American voter. I'm an American voter and if the Russians want to know I'm voting for Biden. I'm ridin' with Biden. They want to know because now they're gonna, like, interfere with your social and everything else and send you lots of misinformation because you're a Biden voter and they don't like that. Well, that may be true but I won't pay attention to their misinformation. Oh yes, you will, you'll be manipulated! Social media manipulates people they don't even know! Oh, that's true, that happens. So maybe you want to rethink your Amazon acceptance. No, why? We just said why! Because the Russians are gonna send me memes and stupid information that is not true and I know it's not? You don't know it's not true because you'll... I do know it's not true. How do you know? Tell our fellow Americans how to tell the difference between a fake meme and a real meme. Well, if you... you can just go to Snopes.com and fact check anything. Snopes. How do you know that's not run by, you know, by anti-conspiracy, pro-pedophile, you know, overthrow the government. anti-Trump forces. That's just all crazy stuff. Oh, you call it crazy, we call it reality! Some people do call it reality, you're right. But I don't... I don't associate with those people. Yeah but, Alexa will associate you with those people because she's got your voice recordings! No, she won't associate me with them, because I'm not with them. I don't believe in them. Okay, go ahead, I guess this is a lost cause. She does not care about protecting herself from manipulation. Thanks everybody for listening. [That's not gonna be a podcast, that would be so stupid.] (pause) I just want to see if it worked. There you go. So look at this now. Scroll up and look and see, is it accurate? (unintelligible) Still recording? Stop. Stop. Stop! Stop!!! What the hell, where's the stop button? This will be a good podcast now because I can't find the frickin' stop button. Alright, there's a stop button here somewhere. Where are... where are...come on. Come on, stop! That's not it. That's not it. Oh there it is okay. Boom! *** permalink: https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish

[EP61] In this episode I interview two guys a the local college about... well, just listen! Remember, Unexpected English brings you REAL English in short podcasts to help improve your listening while you have fun! Transcription included below! *** Hey everybody! Welcome to December 2020. Yeah, it's December of that god-awful year 2020. But the good news is it's episode 61 of Unexpected English, your favorite English podcast! And, guess what? This episode is one of the reasons it became your favorite English podcast, because I know, like me, you enjoy the interviews. Because you hear real people, you hear different accents, and you don't know what's going to happen, and I found an interview from, oh a year ago or so that I had forgotten about. So I'm bringing it to you now, an interview with two students at a local college near me and, that’s it, I hope you enjoy it, and remember if you do enjoy it tell your friends so that everybody else can enjoy it too, all right? OK, here we go! *** All right so here we are at Mesa College, going to talk to a couple students. Are you guys both from San Diego? Yeah I've been born and raised. Born and raised, San Diego California. And what's the best part about living in San Diego? As cliché as it sounds, I want to say the culture of San Diego is probably my favorite part and just how diverse the entire community is. Umm, not to mention we have beautiful blue skies and sunshine every day. This is true, we do have good weather here, right? And the last time you left San Diego, where did you go? Umm, Seattle that's my favorite city in the world. Last time I left San Diego I went to Mexico. It was a lot of fun. Where, where in Mexico? I went to Tecate, Mexico I went there on a mission trip. Aha. And if you could go any place right now, I gave you, if I funded your vacation to go someplace, where would you go? Dude, send me to Italy! I want some of food, I want to wine, I want all that good stuff! Oh, OK, how about you? I want to go to Japan really bad. I’m super into cars, and Japan has some of the best cars there. OK let me just ask you a little bit about Italy because most of my listeners are Italian so... yeah.. so.. what is it that is appealing about Italy to you? Umm, my parents are Italian so they talk a lot about how cool it was because they’ve been already and I've never been, but I hear that, like, the the culinary part of it is really nice and just the architecture is really beautiful and OK! Plus they have some really good music up there.. Beautiful, well OK, there you have it this is a spontaneous interview of two students here at Mesa College, thanks for your time guys! Yeah, thank you my man, appreciate it, have a great day! *** This podcast has NO advertising: I do it for you, soI hope you will spread the word. Follow on Spotify and instagram, and tell your friends! OK? Why not leave a review on Apple podcasts too! Thanks!

[EP 60] In this episode, I read just a little selection from a story by one of my favorite American short story writers! His delightful story-telling and and language are WEIRD and FUNNY, so I hope you will enjoy it! If you do, please follow on Spotify and instagram, and tell your friends! P.S. Is it Barth-el- may, or BART-el-may, or even Barth-Elm? Who knows?? *** [TRANSCRIPTION OF READING]*** My wife wants a dog. She already has a baby. The baby's almost two. My wife says that the baby wants the dog. My wife has been wanting a dog for a long time. I've had to be the one to tell her that she couldn't have it. But now, the baby wants a dog my wife says. This may be true. The baby is very close to my wife, They go around together all the time, clutching each other tightly. I asked the baby “Whose girl are you? Whose girl are you? Are you daddy's girl?” The baby says, “Mama.” And she doesn't just say it once, she says it repeatedly: “mama mama mama.” I don't see why I should buy $100 dog for that damn baby. *** Our baby is a pretty fine, baby. I told my wife for many years that she couldn't have a baby because it was too expensive. But they wear you down, you know? They're just wonderful wearing you down, even if it takes years, as it did in this case. Now I hang around the baby and hug her every chance I get. Her name is Joanna. She wears Oshkosh overalls and says, no, bottle, out, and mama. She looks most lovable when she's wet. And when she's just had a bath and her blonde hair is all wet, and she’s wrapped in a beige towel. Sometimes when she's watching television, she forgets that you're there. You can just look at her. When she's watching television, she looks dumb. I like her better when she's wet. *** This dog thing is getting to be a big issue. I said to my wife: “Well, you've got the baby. Do we have to have the damn dog too?” The dog will probably bite somebody or get lost. I can see myself walking all over our subdivision asking people: “Have you seen this brown dog?” “What's his name?” they'll say to me, and I'll stare at them coldly and say, “Michael.” That's what she wants to call it: Michael. That's a silly name for a dog. And I'll have to go looking for this possibly rabid animal and say to people: “Have you seen this brown dog, Michael?” It's enough to make you think about divorce. *** I looked at some dogs at “Pets o’ plenty,” which has birds, rodents, reptiles and dogs, all in top condition. They showed me the Cairn Terriers. The Cairn terriers ran about $295 per, with their papers. I started ask if they had any illegitimate children at lower prices, but I could see that it would be useless. And the woman already didn't like me. I could tell. *** What is wrong with me? Why am I not a more natural person, like my wife wants me to be? I worry that the baby may jam a kitchen knife into the electrical outlet when she's wet. I put those little plastic plugs into all the electrical outlets, but she's learned how to pop them out. I checked the Crayolas. They made Crayolas safe to eat. I called the head office in Pennsylvania. She can eat a whole box of crayons and nothing will happen to her. *** If I don't get the new tires for the car, I can buy the dog. *** This podcast has NO advertising: I do it for you, soI hope you will spread the word. Follow on Spotify and instagram, and tell your friends! Please? Why not leave a review on Apple podcasts too! Thanks!

(EP 57) Got a few minutes? Let's talk SpaghettiO's! Unexpected English always brings you fun ways to practice your English listening, so subscribe and tell your friends! First, I talk about this weird canned food. (Transcript help!) Next: A very very easy lesson: How to prepare SpaghettiO's (So easy! No transcript) Finally: A sweet story about how a town helped a little autistic girl get the only food she will eat: SpaghettiO's! (Transcript help!) All this and some of that famous SpaghettiO music! Listen, have fun, and subscribe! --------------------------- [INTRO] Hi everybody and welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English, your favorite English podcast! Now, this episode is *not* about your mom's spaghetti. Yeah, I know that was lead-in song. But it's not about your mom's spaghetti. It's about something else, called SpaghettiOs. Huh? SpaghettiOs, Yeah. Just listen. (Jingle) Okay, SpaghettiOs. You may be asking yourself, what the heck are spaghettiOs? You know, if you, if you ever saw them, you would have the same question, because it's something a little strange. spaghettiOs are a canned pasta in little circles, little O's. Yeah, it's a it's a kind of food. I think they say it's food, I'm not so sure. It was invented in 1965. SpaghettiOs, invented in 1965. And it is, as I say, a kind of round pasta in a tomato sauce that maybe is good for little kids to eat. I guess that's it. So, why a story about SpaghettiOs? Well, actually, I heard a real life report about spaghettios and it reminded me that they existed, and it reminded me of the famous advertising jingle. (Jingle) That's it. Oh-oh, SpaghettiOs. So I thought I would have a little bit of fun with that by giving you a little taste of the music, and then a very simple, “how to” for SpaghettiOs, I guess you could call it “how to SpaghettiO” And then in the end, the actual news report. And the news interview does have the transcript in the show notes. So meanwhile, you have this, you have a little SpaghettiOs, you have a how-to, and then the news, and I’ll be quiet and we’ll get going, so let’s go! --------------------------- HOW TO: (no transcript) --------------------------- [STORY] All right let's talk SpaghettiOs. OK first interview I've ever begun like that! This is Crystal McDonal. Crystal’s unlikely obsession with canned pasta began after the birth of her daughter Ashland. Ashland is autistic. And earlier this year she stopped eating food altogether with the sole exception of SpaghettiOs and meatballs. Teachers and therapists were working to expand her palate when the pandemic hit, clearing grocery store shelves of a lot more than just toilet paper. We couldn't find SpaghettiOs anywhere. It was like they were there one day and the next, they were gone! Wait, why was there a run on SpaghettiOs? I don't know if people thought, like, if the world ended, you could survive on SpaghettiOs. I just know that I was losing my mind trying to find them. And that's when the miracle happened. Like prepackaged manna from heaven, SpaghettiOs just started showing up. On her doorstep, in the mail. Hundreds of cans from people in the community who’d heard about Ashland in the local paper and wanted to help. If it wasn't for the kindness of people like that we would not have gotten by. SpaghettiOs is hardly a culinary cause célèbre. But in this home at least, every can is now fortified with faith in humanity. --------------------------- Enjoy the podcast? Subscribe and follow on Apple podcast, Spotify and everywhere! Follow on Instagram too! PLEASE tell anyone who might enjoy the podcast: all the links are here! --> linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish

(EP 56) Got Five minutes? Unexpected English always brings you fun ways to practice your English listening, so subscribe! Find us on Spotify, Apple, Instagram and everywhere! Season Five is coming soon, but for now just enjoy this musical finale. You can even sing along, the lyrics are below! SONG: (Yes, you can sing it too!!) I won't vote Trump No there's not a chance in hell I will try to make a difference Because this isn't going well So don't waste your bad breath on me I'd sooner cast my vote for Cardi B I'll never vote Trump. Never vote Trump! Never vote Trump!! Not me! I won't vote Trump I will jump through any hoops And if someone tries to make me I will throw a can of soup If there's a chance that I could get this bloated Cheeto off my TV set I'll never vote Trump! Never vote Trump! Never vote Trump! Not me. (Not I) -- Girl, please But he'll make the country (uh-huh) Pence will take you on a date No thank you! What if they manipulate and make you not feel so inclined? I've made up my mind! I won't vote Trump. I won't vote Trump! To the polls is where I'll drive If I'm 18 years older Because I’m over 45 So sorry I've offended you But when it comes to voting, I work blue I'll never vote Trump! Never vote Trump! Never vote Trump! Not me! I won't I won't Trump. I don't want another four And if someone steals my mailbox I will build 100 more I won’t vote Trump I will vote without delay I will do what's necessary Just to make you go away And though I've made some past mistakes There's one I won’t, no matter what it takes I will never vote Trump! Never vote Trump! Never vote Trump! Not me, not me not me, no girl! Not me!!! *** All rights and honors for this song go to the amazing Randy Rainbow! Having fun? Why not check out all the past episodes you haven't heard? You'll love them! Please share the podcast!

Unexpected English brings you poetry? Forget the word "poetry!" In this episode, you will find simple sentences in simple, direct language: perfect for your English listening. Charles Bukowski was an American writer. He is famous for his writing, and he was famous for his drinking. That's the reason for the title. Don't judge, just listen. Even if you are an English learner, I think you will understand them and I hope you will enjoy them The poems are: Poetry Poem for my 43rd Birthday My Cats So You Want To Be A Writer As The Poems Go If you want the text of these poems, just Google Bukowski + the name of the poem. If you want to know more about Bukowski, you can read about him here on Wikipedia. He wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels. You can also hear him reading some of his work here on YouTube **************** PLEASE SHARE THE PODCAST! I don't have have advertising. I don't have sponsors. I don't want students. I don't make money. I just want you to enjoy the podcast. If you do — please tell your friends. Thank you!

Five minutes of real-life American English to train your listening while you have fun! In this episode we visit a private wine cellar in an exclusive beach community near Los Angeles. Transcription here --> *** [INTRO] *** OK so I'm here with my friend Mike at his house in Manhattan Beach and… could you tell us where we are standing right now? We are standing in a prime wine cellar. This is a wine cellar, I want to tell you, I am in a wine cellar. How many bottles of wine have we got in this wine cellar? We’ve got about seven hundred on the rack and there's another, probably, three hundred sitting in cases. So we're talking about a thousand bottles. A thousand bottles. All right, and can you give us just an idea what kind of wine you've got here? Well I’ve got the two racks of Kurt’s (his son) and then I’ve got 3 - 4 racks here which are Pinot Noir, no, no Zinfandels and I’ve got two racks of Pinot Noir and I’ve got all the rest are Cabernet. I’m a big Cabernet guy.** So we're talking a couple hundred bottles of Cabernet. Easily. Probably 500. Where do you, where do you acquire this wine? Well, I work with Kurt. He’ll order a bottle of wine, and we’ll taste it when it comes in, and if it tastes good, he’ll order me a case of it. OK, so you, so you research the wine, you read, you read about the wine and then you get yourself a bottle…. Preferably Napa Valley, Sonoma… So what percentage of your wines in here are California wines? Probably seventy percent. 70% are California, and the rest? The rest are right behind here they are Bordeaux and they're drinking OK, they are “2000”, so that's 20 years old and it, uh, it taste OK, but it's nothing compared to our red wines from Napa. Tell me this, what is the most, let's call it the most valuable bottle you’ve got in here. Not very expensive, the most expensive one is on the top. Those are probably $250 bottles, two hundred and fifty bucks a bottle. About $250 per bottle, and how long will they be sitting here? Probably I'll be dead by the time they are ripe. (laughter Oh, the son will be drinking the, because.. (hahha) OK well, thanks for the tour and thanks for listening. *** [OUTRO} Thank you for supporting the podcast by telling friends and sharing this link--> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish * Idiom note: You can say a person is "big on" something (or an activity) to mean they enjoy it a lot or promote it. Here we see a variation. Mike is "a big Cabernet guy" - he loves Cabernet!

Unexpected English, with more real-life interviews to train your listening while you have fun! This time: Mexican flavor! Transcript abbreviated with xxx due to length limits. Please share, support the podcast --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish #1 Jasmine's Quinceañera -> OK so here we are at Balboa Park and I noticed these fine looking young men here with their T-shirts on that say..... can you tell us what's going on here? It's a photo shoot for a quinceañera. And could you tell us what a quinceañera is? It's a Mexican traditional party for when girl turns 15. And what does your T-shirt say? “Jasmine's Quinceañera” And how do you fit into the party scene? I’m a chambelan. A chambelan, and could you tell us what that is? We’re one of her dancers, part of her, like, chorus. And how many... the guys, right? So how many guys will there be? Seven of us. Seven of you. And have you been practicing your dance moves? Yeah, we have. And anything else you want to explain about what this, because my listeners don't know about a quinceañera, so anything you else you could explain what that is. It’s just like when a girl transforms into a woman and it’s like they leave their childhood behind. That’s basically it. And have a big party, right? xxx #2 Karina’s Ceviches and More -> So I'm here at a place called Karina’s Ceviches and More. Can you tell me about this restaurant? Right now? Yeah, I mean, just tell me, what is ceviche? Ceviche? It’s like a, I mean it's a combination of like spicy lime juice and shrimp and fish there's like marinated shrimp with spices in it. So it's a seafood dish. Seafood, yeah yeah yeah Mostly with what seafood? Shrimp or fish. And where does this recipe come from? Mexico I believe? You buh.. you believe? I mean, I yeah I believe. I mean are you... I don’t have facts about it but... I can't say. Oh, you just work here right? So I would have to talk to the men in the back they're the ones who know. Probably, yes. xxx #3 Casa Guadalajara -> So here we are in Old Town at one of the most famous restaurants called... what's the name of this restaurant? Casa Guadalajara. xxx! How long has this restaurant been here? Over a decade, honestly, it's been here for a really long time I'm not sure the exact date, it’s back like 1980s I believe? But it's been here for a really long time. Long time! I think longer than, I think since the 80s because, because I've been living here that long and I know it was here. And what is there that makes this place special? It's just so vibrant it's very, like, colorful, it’s fun, we have mariachi band so it's always, like, high energy it's very fun place to come. And food-wise what’s some of the most popular dishes? One of my favorite dishes is the shrimp mango tacos, our signature dish is... Shrimp mango tacos! OK. Sooo good, they’re the best thing on the menu. Our signature dish is the tequila lime shrimp, and if people are just not for seafood, I would say either the Carne Asada Tampiqueña, or the house special, especial de la casa. OK well, I don't think I can do any more interview because the more she talks about food, the hungrier I get. So there you go, that's the story from... xxx #4 Elote-> Hey there people, can I ask you what you're getting. Uh, “elote.” Elote, and what would that be? Mexican corn, basically. So here we are in Balboa Park and somebody is selling “elote” how is it served up, could you describe it to people who never had it? It’s served up in a styrofoam cup with corn and then some toppings. What kind of toppings are on there? Tajin, what is that? (It’s chamoy) Yeah, chamoy... Chamoy would be what? I think its Mexican hot sauce. OK maybe I should just ask the boss here, he's the one who has to tell us. What is it that you’re serving here today? Ahorita no, gracias! xxx

Unexpected English has an interview episode for you: we visit the House of Finland. Use the transcription below for help! So, here we are at the House of Finland in beautiful Balboa Park. Uh, tell us what should we know about Finland? You should know that sauna is very, very important part of the Finnish culture. Every family has a sauna and it is very relaxing and very wonderful experience to go into the sauna, to get yourself totally hot and then jump into the water in the summertime. OK, wait a minute now, we have to explain the slowly, because this is for people learning English so... OH! Yeah, so, you said there’s, so... so saunas are very important. Could you tell us what a sauna is? Originally, sauna was the bath place for families, you know, because you didn't have running water, uh, in the house. You had a separate house where you heated the water, heated the rocks to throw some water on to get the steam kind of heat going on. OK, so it's a hot room with steam, right? Yes, it is. And it's very enjoyable! And I understand they do that even in the winter. Of course, in the winter especially! (laughter) Really, so tell me how that works in the winter. Uh, you have the wood cut, and you... you put the fire underneath the rocks that are heated for the heat in the sauna. And you have another place where you heat the water in the big, huge pot. And, uhm, in the winter time, you get yourself really warm in the sauna first... OK, how long will you be in the sauna? Uh, that depends how much you can take! And how hot it is, but for ten minutes at a time definitely, and then you do it several times. OK, ten minutes and then...? You go outside, and you roll yourself in that wonderful soft snow. OK... you roll yourself in the snow, and that I suppose feels really.... Invigorating! Oh there's the word, it feels invigorating! OK, so everybody who's listening: next time you're in Finland, make sure to go to a sauna, especially in the winter, so you can then go and run out and roll in the snow, right? Yes, that's that's what we do. Thank you! You’re welcome. *** That's it! If you like the show, please support the podcast by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Follow on Spotify, message me on Instagram so I know you are listening, and leave a good review on Apple Podcasts. I don't pay for promotions of have sponsors, so thank you for your support!

This is a social-distancing, non-interview episode: it features oral practice of five irregular verbs. Are you ready? *** Please, if you like the show, please support my efforts by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Follow on Spotify, message me on Instagram so I know you are listening, and leave a good review on Apple Podcasts This is a non-commercial project, so thank you for your support!

Listen to real American English! Improve your listening skills with another Unexpected English interview episode, complete with transcription to help you! I apologize for the sound quality in some sections: it was a windy day at the dog park! See links at the bottom of the transcription for  more. Spoken intro... and then... [Transcript] OK so here we are at the dog park and I found a young man here who volunteered to be interviewed. What's your name and how old are you? Hi, my name is Adrian and I'm 12 years old. Twelve years old, what grade are you in? I'm in 7th grade. Seventh grade... and what's your favorite class at school? My favorite class is Math because I love decimals and I also love geometry. Oh cool, and what other subjects do you have? I have a model building class and I have a PE class... Hold up, let me ask you a question: a model building class: what is that? Umm, so basically, you buy a model from the store and it's like a plastic model and you can glue the pieces together and it builds a model. So, like, it could be... like I built a Skyline GTR-R34. Wait, wait, hold it a minute! You built a what? And what is that? I built a Skyline GTR-R34. Is that a car? Yes. Ok I guessed it! It was a car, I'm good! It was a car, ok good! And, umm, it can’t... it's not in America and it's only in Japan. But I love the car because it's in the Fast and the Furious. Because it's a what? It's in the Fast and the Furious. Fast.. The fast and the furious..  it's a movie, alright, because I don’t, I don't know ... and what was that movie about? It's about cars basically racing, people racing each other. So I'm guessing that's like your favorite movie. Yes. OK so, we've got your favorite class, we got your favorite movie ... and what about your favorite food? My favorite food is probably pizza. Pizza, yeah pizza is everybody's favorite food, I think that's true. Anything else you want to tell anybody before we go? Oh my favorite color is pink because it stands up for breast cancer. Oh, that's fantastic, pink for breast cancer! OK thanks very much. Again we were talking to... Adrian Jones. Adrian, here in San Diego at the dog park and we hope you enjoy this podcast, and could understand it, and we hope you join us again next time! Bye! (outro music from fast and furious) *** Thats it! Please, if you like the show, please support my efforts by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Follow on Spotify, message me on Instagram so I know you are listening, and leave a good review on Apple Podcasts This is a non-commercial project, so thank you for your support!

Special episode of Unexpected English. [Intro transcript] Hi everybody it's me, Louis, and you should be listening to a normal episode of Unexpected English. And I was going to upload a normal episode. But as you know, uh, today is June 1 and these are not normal times. We have just had a long weekend of protests and violence in this country and people are asking me if I'm OK and what's going on and uh... I just wanted to say that, umm, you should not be surprised by this. You should not be surprised. Because this country has a long history of ... of racial violence and economic injustice. And sometimes it becomes very obvious... it comes up to the surface and that is what has happened and is happening. But the problems go way back and you know that. And so rather than talk about it I thought I would share an... something from a great American writer, James Baldwin, who was speaking in 1968 uhh, to explain the riots at that time from his perspective as a black man. And so I think you'll find that interesting. And then I'll close with a song from 1974 by Gil Scott-Heron who was uhh something of a musical genius in that he was a forerunner of modern styles of African-American music. And again, if you listen to the song 1974, you'll see that there is nothing new here. And anyway umm that's it. I will share those things and we'll catch you next time with perhaps a normal episode. Until then, I hope you enjoy the rest of the podcast. Links: James Baldwin on the riots of 1968 Gil Scott-Heron Winter in America Unexpected English: links

Unexpected English is a five minute podcast for English learners looking for something unusual and fun to practice their listening. As always, there is no English "lesson" - just an unexpected encounter with real life English. Sorry for the poor sound, but the interviews are recorded for you live on location without professional equipment. [Transcript] OK here we are at Mesa College, going to talk to a random student about his student life. Tell me, what classes are you taking right now? I'm taking Java, that's programming, and I'm taking sociology. So you’re taking two classes. Is this your first year here? How does it fit into your plans? I'm actually a transfer student from Louisiana so this is my first semester out here. Pretty well so far, pretty good campus, good teachers, I like it. All right, and what's the long-term plan after, what, are you gonna, I mean after you finish your courses here, then what? After I finish here and I finish at my other school I plan on going to either NASA or any other coding tech, any of the coding fi rms that, you know, offer aerospace engineering. OK, so we're talking to a high-end engineering kind of a guy here, we’re not playing around! Uh, tell me this though, you said you transferred from Louisiana? Where were you in Louisiana? Grambling State University in Louisiana. And how long you been here? I've been here, this is my second semester. And, so, what do you think about San Diego? Pretty good good weather, good people, wonderful air, it's pretty pretty fun out here. All right, and qhat's the what's the biggest thing you miss about, about Louisiana, about not being back at home, so was that home for you back there? I mean, other than missing your family, what are you missing about back home? Probably the food. Food’s better, more home-cooked meals out there. It really fills you up. What kind of, what kind of a specialties they got there? Jambalaya.. Hold up, hold up now, because people don't know, most of my people they don't know... tell us what jambalaya is! So, jambalaya is kind of like rice mixed with seafood and sausages and pretty much a bunch of different meat you would like all in one dish. Ahh, it's good, you’re telling me is good, I believe that, alright.! So, have you tried any of the so-called local food here in San Diego? What would you identify as being San Diego food? Probably the tacos. Very very local, a custom everywhere, you can find a taco shop almost every corner, different styles... Yeah, we do have a lotta Mexican food here that's for sure! All right, well, thanks for your time and we hope you enjoyed the interview, take care! *** That's it! This podcast is a non-commercial effort, made by me so that you have something unique and fun real life English to listen to. If you like the show, please support my efforts by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Follow on Spotify, message @UnexpectedEnglish on Instagram so I know you are listening, and leave a good review on Apple Podcasts. Thank you for your support!

Unexpected English is a five minute podcast for English learners looking for something unusual and fun to practice their listening. As always, there is no English "lesson" - just an unexpected encounter with real life English. This episode is not real. I'm just fixing a hole in the ocean, waiting for you to spread the word so that I know you enjoy the podcast! Please, if you like the show, please support my efforts by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Follow on Spotify, message me on Instagram so I know you are listening, and leave a good review on Apple Podcasts This is a non-commercial project, so thank you for your support!

Season Four gets started with some awesome soul! Soul food, James Brown funk, ribs, and a fabulous, fun interview for the curious listener or English learner looking for some unique content. Listen a few times [with and without the transcript below] to improve your comprehension. Let's do it! TRANSCRIPT: OK, so here I am at an outdoor event where they have a lot of different stands including this one selling food. And I see the name of the stand is “In Your Mama’s Kitchen.” So could you tell us what your specialty is here at In Your Mama’s Kitchen? At In Your Mama’s Kitchen we have soul food that's not just good for the soul but it's good for the mind body and the spirit and stomach if you are hungry. If you are not, you can always take a plate to go. Soul food, soul food, so for the listeners who don't know what that means, could you explain a little bit what soul food really is? Soul food is, it’s just that food that when you take that one bite, it really just hits you so deep it just makes you go MMMM! MMM MMM MM! And it makes you just want more and more and more! Mmm, that does sound good, that does sound good, could you give me an idea of what kind of items we’re talking about? So we have some ribs, we have... Ribs? Ribs! Ribs! Did you say ribs? Oh, of course! Ribs and ribs and ribs! We have barbecue chicken and hotlinks. We have collard greens, red beans and rice, mac & cheese, corn on the cob, sliced bread, and... we have cornbread too! And it's all Southern Style! Wow! That does that sound good! Who.. who.. who’s our chef? Who’s cooking up all these delicious things for us? Our chef's name is Brenda Allen and she also makes fabulous desserts that are delicious and don't disappoint. Wow, that's amazing! Well that sounds really good, I think I'm gonna cut podcast right here because, I'll tell you what: it's time to eat! All right, let's do it! **Thats it!** If you like the show, please support my efforts by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Follow of Spotify, leave a good review on Apple Podcasts and check us out on Instagram. Thank you for your support!

Yes, it's more Unexpected English to help you improve your listening skills while you have fun. Listen and find out what's next! [Transcript below] Hi everybody and welcome to Season Four --- I think it’s a season four? Season four, I'm gonna call it season four. Season Four of Unexpected English. your favorite English podcast! That's right, that's right. That's right. And I'm saying season four, and you’re saying What? How can that be? Well, here's how. For one thing, if I say it’s season four, boom! It’s season four, why not? So there’s one reason. Another reason? It's been more than a month since my last podcast from my closet. That's right, I did a podcast in the closet, it's been a month and you know why, right? Because we are all trying to cope with... and cope with means deal with ... and deal with means handle... and handle means... hmmm what does it mean? Live with the conditions that we’re living with, right? But enough of that! That's what I decided ENOUGH of that. Enough! Enough! So I said boom, OK forget that, we’ll just start a NEW season right there, and that's what we're doing right here! So this is the introduction to Season Four. But you'll have to just listen to the next episode to get to Season Four. But I promise you, it's a good one. I recorded it sometime ago, and I was saving it because uhh it's a lot of fun, I had fun doing it and I was like “This is good!” So now is the time. It's time to bring out a good episode and start Season Four. So if you're subscribing, you'll get it next! This is just a little teaser, so thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time! Ciao ciao! *** That's it! *** If you enjoy the podcast, subscribe on Spotify, Apple podcasts etc etc, tell your friends Oh! Share this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish And follow @UnexpectedEnglish on Instagram... Or you can always just send me cookies!!

Your favorite English podcast here with a new episode from my closet! I try to sound positive. Does it work? [Transcript below] Hi everybody and welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English, your favorite English podcast! Yeah. Yeah this one is unexpected, maybe the most unexpected because, I dunno, I personally did not expect to be sitting in my closet ... sitting in my closet recording a podcast because I'm under quarantine. But I think you know all about it, right? Now, I mean, quarantine in Italy ... quarantine in Spain ... quarantine in France ... quarantine in New York and here in California. So there it is. Now, what can I do to make your day a little happier? I don't know! I'm thinking, well people have more time for podcasts, that's for sure. But, at the same time, I .. I don't understand how people... some people apparently, can just, you know, go about their business, go about their theirtheir podcasting (and instagramming and facebooking) just like... oh, it's all good, life is good, huh? Because right, I know, it's not good for a lot of people. But... at the same time you don't want to hear about that right? You don't want I hear about that because you may be living that, right? So, who needs that! Um, I just wanted to explain anyway that well, obviously, for one thing, I won't be putting my phone in anybody's face anytime real soon for spontaneous interviews. And you know Unexpected English is always spontaneous! So instead I thought I would sit here in my closet and see you what I would talk about. Although I can tell you I do have maybe two or three episodes ready and so when you hear those and they sound all so happy and you know, “Where is he?” and “How can you be out interviewing people?” They happened some time ago. Right? so I thought I would explain that. And I thought I would end a little solidarity out there to everybody who is ... uh.. living under... living under difficult conditions. Actually, and I can tell you here... I'm in California, and it's not bad here at all because we can go out. Everything is closed, and if you want to go shopping there’s, you know, there's no toilet paper! There's like a global panic on toilet paper I don't know. No toilet paper, but you can go and get groceries if you want to go out, you know. Personally we did some shopping here and hope to stay in for a few weeks and hope for the best. So that's our situation here, but I do go out every day and have a nice walk because I live in an area where I don't see very many people. But again don't wanna talk about that don't want to talk about the quarantine. Anyway I guess I'm rambling at this point, so I'll just stop and say, well, I thought I should continue podcasting, even if, uh, I am only talking nonsense. At least you know I'm here and maybe it gives you something to listen to? And let me know how it's going and ...you can ... I'll catch you next time! All right, yeah. OK! See, I’m staying positive. That's what we need to do. So let's do that, all right? All right, we'll catch you next time. Ciao Ciao! *** That's it! *** If you enjoy the podcast please share this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish tell your friends etc etc. STAY SAFE!

Listen to real American English! Improve your listening skills with this Interview episode, complete with transcription to help you! Please support the podcast by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish [Transcript] OK so I was walking down the street and I saw a United States Postal Service truck with a uhh uhh “postal carrier” inside. I that’s what we call, do we call “postal carrier” A “letter carrier,” yeah. Letter carrier -- it used to be mailman back in the day, but as you can tell from the voice I'm not talking to a mailman, I'm talking to uhhh.... uhhh... we don’t say “mail lady” that sounds funny! Yeah, no, a mail lady is about right, yeah, about right. OK mail man, mail lady, LETTER CARRIER, ok! So how long have you been a letter carrier? Since 2014. Since 2014 and ... how about walking, do have any idea how far you walk every day? It depends on the route. Um, I actually have a route over down the street from here. It's about 14 point something miles. Wait a minute, that's a long route... but you don't walk 14 miles. Well, no because, you know, you cover one side of the street and then you do the other side. So it's a good.. yeah it's a lot, it's a lot. Definitely more than 20,000 steps. So do you have a pedometer, I mean, do you ever check it out to see, it’s on your phone. Yeah, on the health app, on the iPhone. OK, and you said more than... It's definitely more than 20,000 steps. Right, so she does more than 20,000 steps uh, five days a week. Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. So, so OK that's why she know she's in shape because that’s 20,000 steps, five days a week delivering the mail. Umm, I'm thinking you must really hate Christmas time! Oh for sure, for sure! That's like, 12 hours plus every freaking day. For the whole season, it's so bad! And so can you tell people why, if they can't put two and two together, why a letter carrier would not like Christmas. Because of that, it's not only just packages but everything, always has to go out and that's like, every day. And it's ... it's a lot, it's a lot! It's just a lot of mail, a lotta Christmas cards, a lotta packages, a lotta presents, a lot of work! A lot of presents, for sure! OK, well that's about it, I guess I ran out of questions, but thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Yes of course, you’re welcome. Bye! ** That’s it! Thanks for listening and please tell your friends! Follow @UnexpectedEnglish on Instagram!

Another interview episode with a transcription to help you. I spoke too fast in this episode, I know, because I got agitated! That’s because "you know who" is still in the White House, and I'm sick of it!

Your favorite English podcast finally brings you a new episode! [see Transcription below!] Please support the podcast by telling your friends and sharing this link --> https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish Thank you! OK so here I am with one of my neighbors and I thought I would ask him a question, basically because I was walking by his garage and I saw that he has a boat in there. So tell me, why do you have a boat in your garage? Because my entire life I have always enjoyed small boats. When I was about seven years old my brother and I bought a very poor little wooden boat that was about seven foot long. It cost us $15, but it was my own little vessel, and I was the captain over my own little ship. OK so he loves boats, you love boats but... how did this boat end up in your garage? I built this boat. About... Uhh, excuse me, let me make sure I understand. You're saying YOU built this boat? Every stick of it, yes sir. Wow! OK, well umm we're talking to a man then who built a boat and it's now housed in his garage. How long did it take you to make, I mean to build a boat? I don't know I can't even build a model car, so building a boat seems to me kind of an incredible thing. How long did that take it? It took about three years to build this one I had built two other boats in the past... OK, wait a minute now... three years to build a boat, it's his third boat that he’s built, so I guess you could say I'm talking to a boat-building guy here! OK thanks, I guess we're gonna cut, cut it right there. I hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for more. Bye! ****************** You listened, you liked it... so now you have to share it!

Your favorite English podcast opens Season Three with a surprising man on the street interview! Listening tips:

This wraps up not only Season Two of Unexpected English, but also 2019! Season's Greetings and best wishes to all for a Happy and Prosperous New Year! TRANSCRIPT: (Musical Intro) Hi everybody! Welcome back to Unexpected English! And I want to thank Mr... (name deleted in case Bob's lawyers don't like it)  for playing that introduction and for recording maybe in the worst Christmas album of all time! My opinion! I mean, c'mon, that was Bob (name deleted for to protect myself) singing "Here comes Santa Claus!" Really? Well, that shows where we're at! And where were at is... is December and coming close to Christmas, but not really coming close to an episode. That's right. But you can keep on listening just for fun because I'm gonna play a little more crazy Christmas music for you. How about that? A little more crazy Christmas music for YOU! Right now! OK!  (Musical interlude) All right, have you had enough Christmas spirit yet, or do you need little more? OK I know it's not an English learning episode but it's Christmas time, right? So we're supposed to have fun! And.. that's why I'm playing this music for you and I promise you this: we'll do one more little clip and then I'll have a serious message for you. OK? All right! (Musical interlude) OK, thanks for letting me have a little bit of fun with the music. And now I do have a message for you, because I want you to know that I know that you are doing lots of good things to improve your English. I mean, listening to this podcast is one, but I know you do a lot more, and I know what that means is you're getting better and better. And every day is getting better and better! And let's hope this New Year is going to get better and better. So I wanna take you out with one of my favorites Mr. Van  (name deleted in case Van's lawyers don't like it)  with some great thoughts to carry on into the New Year. Here we go! Better and Better!

We visit San Diego's Little Italy and hear not one but TWO lively interviews with Luca at Civico 1845. Does he have an Italian accent? Of course! Will you understand him? Listen and find out! Because in this episode, I'm only giving the transcript of my introduction. For the interview, you are on your own,  but  I promise it will be fun!   [TRANSCRIPT OF INTRO BELOW] Hi everybody! Wait a minute, let me start again. Hi everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English, your favorite English podcast. Ha ha, I know it is... NOT! But that's OK because I'm happy because I have a special, an especially good Italian episode for you. I know you’re thinking, “Wait a minute! I listen to this podcast for English not Italian!” OOO K, OK that's true., but in this episode we're going to Little Italy in San Diego, to one of the best known restaurants there. And I had a quick visit, and I had a lot of fun, and actually I did the interview twice which I normally don't do. And instead of editing the interview, I will just play it for you. I will play both versions for you. And because I'm doing that, and because I'm lazy, and because it's Italian-accented English, I'm not going to do a transcript. So if you're in Italy, I think you can understand what’s said. And anybody else, hey just enjoy it, right? Just have fun because that's why we’re here. OK, here we go! ----> Thanks for sharing with your friends on social, and thanks for following Unexpected English on Spotify, Apple or wherever you do!  You can always find Unexpected English with this link: https://linktr.ee/unexpectedenglish