Hey, I haven't seen you in a while.
Where were you?
I went to South Korea to join an exchange student program.
You went to South Korea?
Yeah, I applied for the program at the scholarship office of our university and I got accepted.
What were you studying?
Korean language.
Where did you stay?
I stayed at Seoul National University on the campus.
At like dorms or something?
Yeah.
Wow.
Were they nice?
Very nice.
Better than ours.
How long were you there?
I was there for 10 months.
That's a really long time.
Yeah.
Did you get homesick?
A little.
What are the South Korean people like?
Typically, they will avoid talking to foreigners, but if you need help, they are very nice and would go out of their way to help you.
Appearance means everything in Korea.
Your hairstyle, dress sense, the shoes that you're wearing.
They love to look trendy.
They are incredibly respectful to their elders.
If there's even a one-year difference in age, they'll make sure that the elder is respected properly.
Really?
That's so interesting.
What did you do there other than studying?
I visited a lot of attractions like palaces, museums, parks, markets, and temples.
Seoul is unlike any other city that I have visited.
Did you have any difficulties getting around?
Not at all.
The public transportation in Seoul is excellent.
What did you think of the food?
The food was good to begin with.
It has its own kind of spices.
They use pepper paste and pepper vinegar in a lot of their foods.
They eat a lot of seafood, like squid, octopus, shrimp, and crab.
And rice, I suppose, right?
Yes, of course, rice too.
I particularly liked a dish of vegetables, egg, and noodles mixed together.
They also have a traditional side dish of salted and fermented vegetables called kimchi, which is served at nearly every meal.
Food was very, very cheap, and clothing was cheap on the outskirts of the city where the university was.
Cool!
What was the highlight of your trip?
The best part of my trip was probably the cruise along the Han River, when I got to see all the great buildings at night.
It was very beautiful.
The night view was unbelievable, and I was able to have dinner while admiring the view of the Han River.
I could also enjoy a live musical band on board, which was lovely.
It was one of the unforgettable experiences I had in Korea.
Wow!
Did you have any problems during your stay there?
No, I didn't have any problems.
I thought all the people were very nice and I really had a good time.
Can you speak Korean now?
Yes, I picked up a lot of words and phrases.
I enjoyed being abroad for 10 months.
It was a nice experience to get out and live somewhere else.
How's your son, Nicole?
He's 25 now, right?
That's right.
He's 25.
Well, he's a firefighter now.
Does he still live with you and your husband?
Yes, he does.
He says he can't afford to rent an apartment because it's too expensive and he doesn't earn enough money.
He gives us some money every month for bills and, you know, it's nice to have him at home.
But we'd like him to be more independent.
He told us a few days ago that he's planning a two-week vacation to Canada with his friends.
I mean, it's true that he works full-time, and we know he needs a break.
But we think he should save his money so that he can get his own place to live.
Should we talk him out of going to Canada?
You know, to be honest, I think you're being a bit hard on him.
I mean, he's only 25.
It's good that he has a job and everybody needs a vacation.
My advice is that you should let him go to Canada.
And when he comes back, you should sit down with him and talk to him about starting to pay rent.
That way he'll understand that he needs to start planning for the future and to start thinking about renting an apartment.
There are a lot of young people still living at home in their 20s and 30s.
And some of them don't even have jobs.
So in many ways, I think you're lucky.
Yeah, you make a point.
I've got a problem, Maria, and I need your advice.
Sure.
What's your problem?
Well, a month ago, my friend Claudia and I decided to go on vacation together to Los Angeles.
So we planned everything and I was really looking forward to it.
As Claudia is an old friend and I don't see her very often.
But the other day, she told me that she invited another friend of hers.
Somebody I don't know.
A girl called Phoebe to come with us.
Claudia never asked me what I thought.
I don't even know Phoebe, and I really don't want to go on vacation with someone I don't know.
What should I do?
I think it was kind of thoughtless of her to invite Phoebe without telling you.
And she's put you in a difficult position.
You have several different options.
You could say that you aren't going if Phoebe goes.
Or you could just cancel and suggest having another vacation later with just the two of you.
Or you could invite someone else who you like, and then there would be four of you.
But in fact, you might like Phoebe.
Maybe she's a nice person.
So I think you should try to get to know her first.
If you like her, then the vacation will probably be a success.
If not, then you should tell your friend you aren't going because you don't think it'll work with Phoebe.
OK, I'll give it a shot.
I'm trying to get acquainted with Phoebe first and see if we can get along.
Thanks for the advice.
What kind of jobs have you had so far, Mike?
Well, the first job that I can remember was in high school.
I had a part time job working at a fast food restaurant.
Really?
Yeah.
I started out as a cashier and mostly on the weekends.
And after a couple of years, I got to be manager.
So all the way through university, I worked there.
Did you like it?
Yes.
A lot of my friends were working there.
So that made it a lot of fun.
But when I graduated from university, I really wanted to get a job in my field.
So I got a job as an economist after that.
An economist?
Yeah.
I worked as an economist for a little over two years, and, uh, I didn't really like that job.
It was so boring.
On top of that, I didn't get along with my boss.
He was always asking me to work overtime.
I didn't really like the atmosphere there, so I quit.
What did you do after that?
After that, I wasn't sure what to do.
I went back to Phoenix and stayed with my parents for a while.
Then I got a quick job at a grocery store.
I only got the job because I was broke and needed a little dough to live on before moving on.
I thought it was hilarious that this grocery store made me go through some lengthy training and orientation so I could stock dairy and do super basic customer service.
Was it full time?
Yeah, it was full time.
In the meantime, I went back to university and I got my master's degree in English.
Wow, that's great.
So you became an English teacher?
Yes.
I read in a magazine about a job teaching English overseas in Thailand.
So I applied for that job and I got it.
Wow, Thailand?
Did you like that job?
Um, yeah, that was a very interesting job.
I mean, it was my first time overseas, and it was my first time teaching.
So I really enjoyed it, and I liked the students a lot.
But I just had a one-year contract, and certain aspects of living in Thailand were difficult.
So after my contract was finished, I came back to the U.S.
and continued to teach English here.
I needed to try and fail to figure out what I'm good at and what I like.
The more experiences I was exposed to, the more I learned.
Sam, have you heard Ron might be fired soon?
No, I had no idea.
I wonder what happened.
Have you ever worked with him?
Yes, I worked with him last year, and I've heard stories about him for years.
I've never worked with him directly, but I know people that have.
And they say he was always shouting and screaming, threatening to fire people.
And Martha told me he took credit for one of her ideas.
She had this idea for a project, and she brought it up at a meeting, and he liked it.
He made her do all the work planning it.
Then, when the project actually got started, Martha was left out of it and her name was not mentioned anywhere.
I heard the project won an award because it was brilliant.
That's right.
Martha saw red when she heard about the award because she didn't get the credit she deserved.
But she couldn't do anything.
Her hands were tied.
Yeah, Ron would have fired her if she had dared to report him.
It must be a really bad feeling to have your ideas stolen.
How did you find working with him?
It was a nightmare because he was very tough.
Nobody dared to contradict him for fear they might lose their job.
People were genuinely afraid of him.
I heard many people had a hard time working with him.
Were you on good terms with him?
Yes, I did my best to stay in his good books because I needed this job.
And I was lucky I didn't have that much contact with him myself.
They're doing a full investigation, so I suppose a lot of these stories are going to come to light.
I hope so.
I really hope he's not coming back.
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