Today, what we’re going to do is flip the script. Flip the script. Do you know that idiom? “To flip the script” means to do something in the opposite way or in a wildly different way than usual. So instead of me telling you a story today, what we’re going to do is actually flip the script and listen to stories that were sent to me by Culips listeners from around the world.

As you may know, over the last several weeks, I’ve been asking Culips listeners to send me stories to feature in this episode. And I have to say, the response was fantastic. So, a sincere thank you to everyone from the bottom of my heart who took time out of their busy schedules to send me an audio clip.

I know this isn’t an easy thing to do, but I really appreciate it, and I think probably all the listeners out there as well will appreciate it. So, thank you to everyone who sent in some audio because thanks to you guys, we’re able to make this episode really special. So the plan here for today, everyone, then, is I’m going to just play you all of the audio stories that I received here in no special order.

And some people sent me in some text stories as well by email, but I just didn’t have the time to actually read those out and record them this week. So, thank you to everyone who also sent in an email or a text story, but I decided just to include the audio stories in today’s episode. So, I’m going to play them all here for you, like I said, in no special order.

And originally, I was thinking of leaving a comment after every story, but I actually got too many. And if I were to leave a comment after each story, I think this episode would be like three hours long. So I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m just going to play the audio that I received. Now, some people in their audio clips told a funny story. Others left some English study tips.

Others just left a quick congratulatory comment. But guys, once again, it really does mean a lot to me to hear from you all. Now, one funny thing that I noticed, I thought this was really interesting. There were several kids who sent me a story. And funny enough, a lot of them commented that they started listening to Culips because their parents forced them to.

So, that really cracked me up and made me laugh. And I thought that was hilarious. So kids, if you’re out there right now and you’re being forced to listen to this from your parents, please just keep this in mind that you’re going to appreciate it when you are older.

Maybe right now it doesn’t seem like listening to English is too fun, and you’d probably rather listen to something else or be doing something else with your time. But believe me, when you grow up and you become an adult, you’re going to appreciate the time that you spent here with English today. It will make your life better in the future. I really, really believe that.

And I sure wish that I had the chance to study my second language, Korean, when I was younger. So keep it up. You’re doing awesome, guys. And a big thanks to all the kids who sent in a story as well. And to everyone else, you know, most of the people who listen to Culips, I think, are adults.

And guys, I was so touched to hear all of your kind comments and inspiring words and hearing all your different accents and ways of speaking was so, so interesting to me too. And I really love that about English. I’m sure there are a few other languages where this happens, but when I compare English to Korean, you know, the other language that I spend the most time with in my life is Korean.

And Korean doesn’t really have that. Like, most people who speak Korean are Koreans and they don’t have, like, a foreign accent. But just listen to these stories here in a second, everyone, when I play them for you. And you’ll notice that there are so many different accents and it just is so wonderful to hear the unique flavor that this brings to English.

And it’s one of the things that I love about English is how it’s this global language and it can really bring us all together and we can all communicate with each other through it. And understand each other better through it. So, it’s a little bit of a cheesy thought, but it is really cool how English has the power to do that.

And hearing the stories from today’s episode really underscored and highlighted to me just how global the Culips community really is. And hearing about how hard you work at improving your English communication abilities is also just really motivating for me. And I’m glad that Culips can play at least a little part in helping you achieve your English goals.

So, everyone, this episode is about you. It’s about our community. We’re here to celebrate 100 episodes. And because of that, I should shut up and turn the mic over to you. So, I’m going to do that now. But just a quick reminder before we start that there is an interactive transcript for this episode for free for everyone. You can get it by following the link in the description.

But there isn’t going to be a glossary or a quiz for this one just because it’s a special one-off episode. But that will return next week. We’ll be back with the glossary and the quiz starting next week. Alright, so, time for me to be quiet, to turn the mic over to you. I hope you all enjoy listening to these stories from our awesome community as much as I did.

And without any further ado, let’s get right to them. Enjoy!

Sodam: Hello, this is Sodam, and I’m from South Korea. I’m glad to participate in Bonus episode of the Culips English. I started listening to the Culips English since 2021. At that time, I got used to hear Andrew’s daily life in South Korea, and hearing the story made me funny because I was living in the same country.

Recently, I moved to the U.S. because of my job. From moving here, the stories in Culips English make me feel miss my hometown Seoul. So, listening to the episode became my go-to in the mornings, and it cheers me up every day. I want to say thank you to Culips English, and hopefully I have more opportunities to listen to Korean episodes in the future.

Thank you so much, and please, please enjoy the wonderful spring days in South Korea instead of me. Thank you.

Sandra: Hi, my name is Sandra, and a few days ago, I had an extraordinary experience that I would like to share with you. My brother received an invitation from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, my favorite museum, to attend a reading by a writer of a book on the painter Paul Cézanne.

This reading took place in front of Cézanne’s paintings in the evening after the museum was closed, and my brother invited me to share this experience with him. It was incredible to walk around this great museum, which is a former railway station, with any visitors, to get behind the big station clock and walk for these rooms decorated with masterpieces by Toulouse-Lautrec, Sisley, Renoir, Manet, and Monet.

And it was also incredible to meet this writer, listen to her read her book, and talk to her about her relationship with art. I know that tourists in Paris often visit Le Louvre, but if you have time, don’t hesitate to go to the Musée d’Orsay, the former railway station, known as a magnificent, peaceful museum.

Ray: Hi Andrew, I want to share two stories about my daily life when learning English. Recently, my four-year-old son has been really into Pokémon. As we all know, Pokémon is super famous around the world, not only for the animation, but also for the game called Pokémon Go.

My little boy started watching the animation on Netflix, and that gave me an idea. I decided to turn on the audio and the subtitles in English, so that I could accompany him while watching the videos and also learn English myself. It has been really helpful, and we both enjoy watching Pokémon together.

The second story is about Fluency Files. Since I rarely have the opportunity to speak English, I noticed that I cannot speak fluently and confidently, so I started recording short Fluency Files using an English learning AI app. This AI app can note which word I spoke is not accurate, and helped me to practice again and again, such as “lo” at the end of the word, and the “ing” at the end of the word.

And I’m still struggling in this world. So far, I have recorded about 30 files, and my goal is to complete all the Fluency Files step by step. Additionally, I’ve been revisiting the Speak Easy series, where Suzanne and you taught us how to improve our English pronunciation to sound more natural. I will continue practicing to achieve that.

Thank you for your efforts, and you guys are doing a great job.

Jin: Hi, Andrew, other co-hosts, our moderator Alina, and the Culips lovers from all around the world. First, congratulations on the bonus episode 100, and thank you for throwing things over to us. I’m so happy to have a chance to talk about how amazing this Culips podcast is. I’m one of the big fans of the Culips podcast.

As I remember, I got to know the Culips podcast in 2020 during the pandemic. At the time, I was stuck at home, and one day I thought I need to study English for speaking skills. You know, at the time, you couldn’t go outside as often as before due to the pandemic. So, I thought it was a really nice timing to study something. And for me, it was English.

So, for the first year, I just listened to the Culips podcast while I was doing house chores. But the next year, I decided to be a paid member because I realized that there are lots of lots of useful daily expressions in the Culips podcast. I wanted to memorize all of those expressions. So, now, one of my English studying routines is practice shadowing with the transcript.

You know, you can use an interactive transcript on the Culips website by using your phone or tablet, whatever. The interactive transcript function is really helpful for me to improve my English pronunciation, intonation, or accent. If you want to listen to a certain word repeatedly to check out the pronunciation, you can just click the word and listen to it over and over again.

By using the interactive transcript, you can get the difference between your pronunciation and the host pronunciation. So, eventually, you can get the right pronunciation. I still do the same practice every day. I’m still working on it. Whenever I find my wrong pronunciation from listening to the Culips podcast, I’m so happy because it feels like I find a treasure.

I’m like, wow, they pronounced the word in this way. I should follow their pronunciation. So, what I want to say is, if you’re not using the interactive transcript function, make sure to use it when you practice shadowing. I highly recommend using it. That’s all. Have a nice day.

Shun: Hi there. My name is Shun from Japan. I really appreciate Culips team for creating great English learning tool. Here in Japan, it is originally the cherry blossom season in late March. But we still cannot see any cherry blossom due to the recent cold weather. So, we are still waiting for the cherry blossom to bloom. Here, I’m going to talk about my English learning style.

But before that, let me introduce myself a little. I’m living with my wife and a daughter and a cute dog, Cookie. And my hobbies are going camping and enjoying snowboarding with my daughter and playing Nintendo like Legend of Zelda. And also, I was a marathon runner in the past, but I’m not now. I gained a lot during the pandemic, to be honest.

My resolution for this year is, of course, get in shape. And I’m working as an IT engineer in an international company. In this company, there are lots of online meetings where I have to communicate with foreign colleagues. So, I have to improve my English skill to have better communication with my colleagues. In June last year, I was looking for a good podcast on Spotify.

And in the end, I successfully found Culips there. I fell in love with Culips from the very first day because of the great content and the voice of the Culips’s host. So, let me move on to my English learning method on Culips.

To be honest, my English level before I joined Culips was, I was able to read and write English well, but I was not that good at listening and speaking English, which sometimes causes a communication problem with my colleagues at the meeting. And this is the main reason I joined Culips.

My learning style here is to listen to an episode first, like a bonus episode and a Simplified Speech, and then read it carefully. Sometimes look up new words that I don’t know. Then, I think the most important thing is that I do a lot of shadowing practice by impersonating the voice of the host.

Shadowing practice is really good not only for speaking skills, but also improving listening skills. This is because I think it’ll be difficult to catch the sentence that I cannot speak. I’m gradually getting better, and after a few months, I successfully completed some IT project working with my foreign colleagues without any communication issues. Definitely thanks to Culips.

And about how I do this practice, well, I commute to the office by walking and taking the train, and it takes me an hour to get to the office. I practice shadowing while I’m on the train and walking to the office. Actually, some people who pass me sometimes look at me as if I’m a strange person because I talk by myself all the time while I’m walking to the office.

But I try not to care about that too much and continue practice. It is very effective way to improve your conversation skills. Please give it a try if you are interested. Thank you again Culips’s team for providing great resource. And everyone, let’s practice English with Culips. Thank you. Bye.

Mery: Hi, everyone. My name is Mery. I’m from Spain. And here is a little anecdote that I just wanted to share with you today. I hope you enjoy it. It all began when my boyfriend, who works in a prestigious consultancy firm, earned a promotion for his great performance at work.

It came with an extra price, an invitation to a management consulting conference, which was taking place in London. So that meant some preparation plans needed to be set up before leaving for our destination. We made arrangements for a cozy hotel downtown and booked flight tickets in advance. The much anticipated day finally came. We couldn’t be more stoked and excited about it.

We took a train that was supposed to leave us in the airport with plenty of time for checking our bags and suitcases and boarding the plane. However, things didn’t turn out that way. There was a massive train strike, resulting in the last up to 40 minutes. We were pulling our hair out. At last, the train arrived and we got on while anxiously waiting for our stop to come.

Despite the strike, the journey wasn’t taking too long and it kept a good pace. Apparently, everything seemed to be running smoothly, but then disaster struck. As we were approaching our destination, a large group of executive men wearing pretty elegant suits, like my boyfriend did that day, got on our coach.

No one got off, though. It was bursting at the seams when the announcement of the final stop eventually went off. Next station, the airport! Immediately, I grabbed my boyfriend’s tie and pulled him out. Once we were on the platform, I looked at him and realized that man wasn’t really my boyfriend. He was one of those executive men who I happened to mix up. I felt extremely embarrassed.

I didn’t know what to say or do. He looked puzzled and quite irritated. I apologized and told him about our adventure. He sympathized with me and even helped me to find my boyfriend, who was standing at the boarding gate with the bags and all our belongings. Then, we checked them in and got on the aircraft.

Well, after this experience, I must say both my boyfriend and I proved to be quite compatible travel companions. In spite of all the setbacks that we encountered along the way, we were able to make it to London successfully and attend the conference as well as spending a good, wonderful time there. Thank you very much for listening to my story.

Excuse me for any grammar or pronunciation mistakes. I hope you enjoyed and could get at least the gist of it. Thank you very much.

Edit: Hi, guys. Hi, Culips community. I’m happy to be here today with all of the great listeners, but I’m not going to speak about my language learning journey because it will be quite a long and maybe a bit boring story. But I still do want to thank Andrew and all the hosts for the great job they are doing for us, for learners.

I’ve been a listener, I guess, from the beginnings and the member and the Discord member as well from November 2023. I was thinking about what story I can bring to this bonus episode which can make all of you smile. But before I start, I have some questions for every listeners. Have you ever heard the word “somniloquy”? Do you know what it means?

Somniloquy is just a medical name of sleep talking. Second question. Have you ever slept with a person who was a sleep talker? It can be a little irritating or embarrassing depending on which side of it you are on. To be honest, in my case, it wasn’t neither irritating nor embarrassing. On the contrary, it was funny.

And briefly, the story about this which occurred to me a long time ago and only once is basically when one night I was sleeping with my husband on my side and I awakened for his sleep talk. I remember as he firmly said, “In New York.” Only these words, “In New York.” He really surprised me with that because he never speaks much even when he’s awake.

In addition, you know, guys, sleep talking is mostly like a gibberish or a mumbling or a silent speech. But at this point, he was speaking like he would have been awake. I mean, with normal speech. I opened my eyes and checked him. Maybe he really wants to have some nice conversation in the middle of the night with me about New York and it’s still OK. But his eyes was closed.

He was unquestionably sleeping. Soon he repeated, “In New York.” OK, I said to myself, it’s not a joke anymore. And something popped into my mind. I have heard before that sleep talkers often gives away their secrets during their sleep talks. “Yes, my time has come,” I thought. “Now, I catch you. You will admit everything what’s going on in New York!”

I knew that he was not aware of his action and our conversation may be one sided as he may not respond or engage in a coherent manner. But I wanted to experience it. I was so excited. So, I snuggled up to him carefully and whispered my question to his ear on the same volume he was talking before. “What happened in New York?”

Honestly, I didn’t really expect any answer for that. I was really skeptic about that rumor. And this skepticism made me nearly jump out of the bed when I heard him said completely disgusted and scolding me with his answer. “What? Why you ask me what happened in New York? Is it that you don’t know what happened in New York?” And I was like, “Oh, OK, my bad.

Sorry. No, why? What happened in New York?” And he replied, “Someone opened the message in the bottle in New York.” So, what the heck? Oh, that’s great. Here we are, the big secret of my husband. Someone opened the message in the bottle in New York.

My gosh. So, in the morning during the breakfast, I asked him if he had a dream about New York or remember any message in a bottle. And he said no, he had no. I told him how exciting conversation we had last night and he didn’t want to believe it. I thought he wanted to prank me, but he actually had no good acting skills.

Anyways, did you know guys that sleep talks are pretty common? Studies have found that up to 66% people are talking in their sleeps. And this number shocked me. But here’s the good news. It is harmless and most cases of sleep talking are not thought to be connected to mental illness. OK, this was my story. It’s time to say goodbye. Take care of your secrets, guys.

I hope we will get together again in the bonus episode 200. See you.

Pijon: Hi, everybody. I want to share one unforgettable memory about learning English. About 20 years ago, I went to the US to pursue my master degree. That’s my first experience to go abroad. Because I didn’t have an opportunity to practice English conversation in my country, so even though I got high score at TOEFL test, and I knew a lot of high level vocabularies, I couldn’t speak English well.

I remember at the first three months, I hardly any communicated with my classmates. And I couldn’t figure out what they were laughing in the class. It was a tough time. One day, a friend invited me to join a potluck. Because I knew I should try to connect to other people, I got my courage up to go. At that party, everybody was eating and chatting.

I found some of my friends brought many delicious cookies. So I told one classmate that there were some snakes on the table. If she wants, she could try them. They were very tasty. Suddenly, she had her eyes wide very open and said, And I said, “Snakes?” Yeah, I nodded my head. “Snakes?” She asked again. I knew something wrong.

But I don’t know what happened until one of them said, “You mean snacks, right?” All of a sudden, all the people were bursting out laughing. And I feel my face became hotter, hotter, hotter. At that moment, the classmate gave me an expression that I never forget in my life. That was a disgusting expression. This experience made me feel so embarrassed.

And I learned, when learning English, the most important is don’t be afraid of being teased if you make mistakes. Thank you.

Navid: Hi, Andrew, I hope you are doing well. My name is Navid. I’m from Iran. However, I have been living in Toronto, Canada for almost three years. As you know, when you immigrate, you have to face many challenges and adapt to a new country, its culture, and way of life.

And I think one of the most important aspects is language proficiency, because difficulties arise if you cannot communicate fluently. Because of that, since I’m moving here, I have been trying to improve my English skills to reach the level I expect. I utilize various methods like reading books, watching movies, listening to music and podcasts, and something like that.

One day on my way back from work, I searched for an English podcast on my phone, and accidentally I saw your Culips icon on top of that. I played and instantly enjoyed your voice and accent. And later on, I realized you are a Canadian living abroad, and it was quite a pleasant surprise.

And that episode I listened to was about your trip to Australia and your running experiences there, which captivated me. And so discovering you are a runner made me even more eager to hear your stories every day. And for almost a month now, I have been listening to your podcast daily, and your running stories really captivate me.

You know, running is one of my hobbies too, but I’m not a professional runner like you, to be honest. And my longest run has been just 12 kilometers. And also, I still haven’t gotten used to running in the winter in Canada. As you know, it gets so cold here from the end of the fall. OK, buddy, that’s a brief overview of my life here.

And I’m delighted with your podcast, because I find it very helpful for improving my English. And I truly enjoy your stories, especially those related to running. They energize me for my own runs. Thank you, buddy. Keep up the good work, and I hope to meet you someday.

Suhavi: Hey there, Uncle Andrew, it’s Suhavi here from India. And I’m 11 years old. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t really fond of your podcast at first. But here I am, framing a story for the same podcast I couldn’t relate with. My mom wouldn’t get off my back until I listened to your episodes.

She had your podcast playing everywhere, in the car, during meals, while putting me to sleep, you name it. Gradually, your podcast started growing on me. What really surprised me was how much I was learning along the way. Not only did I improve my English vocabulary, but I also learned about different places.

I particularly enjoy the episodes where you and your friend Kassy co-host. I recently listened to your episode, bonus episode, about binge watching. And it made me want to share my own experience of watching my favorite Netflix show, “Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.” So, let’s dive into the topic. Well, we came across this one while scrolling through Netflix.

And after watching its trailer, we instantly took a liking to it. So, it’s basically about a young dentist, Yoon Hye Jin, who opened a clinic in a make-believe town, Gonjin. Well, let me tell you about Gonjin. It’s like a dreamland with stunning beaches, vintage cafes, lively markets, and breathtaking views.

Sorry, where were we? Yes, Hye Jin. So, she fell for Chief Hong, the handyman of the village. They started off on the wrong foot, but started having feelings for each other. As time went by, the other characters have their own story to tell. They make the show hilarious. The character I admire the most is Gamri, one of the elderly ladies.

She is warm-hearted and one of the most loved persons in the series. She reminds me of my own grandmother, who makes the tastiest foods and even resembles her a bit. She is as stubborn as my grandmother, as she hates visiting the doctor as well. Let’s not forget the other characters, like Hwa Jeong, who is the zonal chief, and her walking just cracks me up.

And Mi Pyo Mi Song, she has the cutest eye smile. And Jun Jae, the cafe owner, who just boasts about his singing and has the funniest laughs. And it becomes even more hilarious when he and his daughter Joo Ri fight over her obsession with the K-pop group, D.O.S. Well, all in all, I absolutely loved the series, and I would recommend it to you, everyone, as it truly lifts my spirits.

After I was done watching it, I looked it up and found out that it was a remake of a movie named “Mr. Handy Mr. Hong.” It is one of the best series I’ve ever watched, and thank you for having me on the podcast. I look forward to sending you more such audios. Hope you have a wonderful day. Take care. Bye.

WangJae: Hey there, Culips.com and all the fantastic listeners out there. I am WangJae Lee, proudly hailing from South Korea. For only two years, I’ve been on this incredible English learning journey with Culips.com. When I heard about the celebration of the 100th bonus episode, it resonated with me big time.

It was the perfect opportunity to dive deeper into my English studies and reinforce my determination through this unique challenge. Last December, at my 45 years old, I was blessed with my first son, a bundle of joy that turned my world upside down. Juggling work and dad duties is not a walk in the park, but when he flashes the adorable smile, it’s like hitting the jackpot of happiness.

My wife and I are on a mission to provide him with the best start in life, focusing today on the idea of kicking off his English learning journey early on. I might not have all the answers about the perfect timing for introducing a child to a new language, but we are eager to get the ball rolling as soon as he starts recognizing his own right around the 12-month mark.

My first move is to bring a slice of that heartwarming western bedtime story tradition into our home, opting for simple English fables before he drifts up to dreamland. The sort of recreation of those movie scenes where a dad reads to his child at bedtime fills me with excitement. Next up, my wife and I have devised a plan.

I’ll take a crack at chatting with him in English as much as possible. This means I’ve got to double down on my English lessons, making my time with Culips.com even more crucial. It’s anyone’s guess how these moments of bonding and English chitchat will shape our family’s journey, but I’m all-in for sucking up every second of emotional connection and growth with my little one.

A massive shout-out to Culips for hitting the 100 bonus episode milestone, and here’s to dreaming about my son sending a DM to Andrew mirroring what I’m doing now by the time you celebrate your 1000th episode. Let’s keep the learning, growing, and story-sharing spirit alive and kicking. Cheers!

Grimes: Hello, Andrew, and hello, listener, as well. Today, I’m here to tell you my story in my saga while learning English with Culips. Well, my story started, I believe, in 2021.

When I really started looking for podcasts to learn and improve my language, and I was searching on YouTube when I came across a video that was titled, “Best Podcast to Learn the Language”, and I clicked that video, and I believe Culips was on the top of the list, so I searched for that very new podcast to me.

I wasn’t really familiar with Culips at that time, and guys, ever since I’m such a listener to Culips. And guys, to be completely frank with you, at that time, I was listening to Culips on and off, not really each and every day in a row, but the milestone occurs about 10 or 9 months ago when I really started listening to Culips each and every day.

And guys, I’m here to tell you that you have changed my entire language and also my entire life. Just by listening to you each and every day, my language improved, my level improved, my vocabulary has very expanded in a really insanely way, and guys, this is thanks to you.

I’m here to tell you that, keep up the great work, you have changed my language, and now I’m in a very comfortable and convenient level that I could really speak about.

Kalléu: Hello guys, my name is Kalléu, I’m from Brazil, I’m 26 years old, and I have studied English for two years. I’m here to thank you, Andrew, for your great job, because since I started listening to your podcast here, I have improved my English skills, especially my listening.

I would like to encourage you to keep on this work, because through this work you can help a lot of people around the world, because your episodes are very important for us, and your team is great. The other teachers who participate in this English podcast are great, are very good as well.

And I’m sure that the more we’re listening to these podcasts, the better English communicator we can become. So, thank you for all you have done, and bye-bye.

Dominika: Hey Andrew, and hey everyone, my name is Dominika, I’m from the Czech Republic, Central Europe, and I’m excited to talk to you right now. First of all, I want to give a shout out to Andrew, because you are such a great and passionate teacher, and one of the things I really appreciate about you is actually the way you can turn a seemingly mundane, everyday task into an exciting adventure.

I would call it an art, it’s really inspiring to me. And I was wondering about how I could inspire the listeners, and a beautiful Czech tradition came to my mind. As we are slowly approaching May, the trees in Europe are starting to bloom everywhere, presenting their beauty and releasing a charming scent.

And the first of May is not only Labor Day in my country, but also the day of all those in love. It’s a day for couples to express love to each other. The tradition consists of going out with your significant other and kissing under a cherry tree, but it can be whatever blooming tree you like.

I don’t know, it’s really beautiful to see so many couples, young or old, to stroll around the park holding hands and searching for a tree to kiss under. I really like that this tradition is followed by all generations. I follow it with my husband.

Jiwoo and Chloe: Once again, my mom had opened up the app and played the newest episode of Culips. It’s been a year and a half since my mom decided to dedicate her life to Culips. As soon as my mom started using Culips, she immediately purchased a Culips membership. I knew my mom was determined to master English, but this was something new to me.

After purchasing the membership, it was clear that I wasn’t getting sleep anytime soon. I admire my mom’s dedication, but it was a lot to tolerate. Before bed, my mom always played any Culips episode. In the afternoon, while I was studying, all I could focus on was the 24-7 playing Andrew’s voice in the background.

My mom was talking non-stop while practicing reading the transcripts and asking me to listen to her recordings. When on a ride in the car, she would immediately pop in her headphones, close her eyes, and listen to Culips. Even my sister listens to it constantly now. She is so determined that I end up sleeping in my dad’s room just so I can get some sleep for the next day.

I am glad that my mom has found an interest in Culips, so she is practicing every day. I want to thank Andrew for helping my mom achieve her goals, ruining my sleep schedule, and bursting my eardrums open. Thank you. Congratulations on achieving your 100 bonus episode. That is my mom’s favorite. My tone was a little bit sarcastic, but to be honest, I love Culips as well. From Jiwoo and Chloe.

Sarah: Hello, my name is Sarah who’s Korean living in Western Canada. I go to middle school and I love it so much. I got to know this Culips through my mom. I listen to this every day because my mom always tunes in Culips. My mom told me about this special 100 episode event, and I thought it is interesting.

My mom tried recording with her own story before, but she gave up and decided to but she gave up for some reason, so I said, OK, I’ll try, and I guess it’s going well. I’m going to talk about my Canadian school life. I really enjoy my school life here in Canada. The main reason that I love it is because I don’t have to study a lot.

We play games during the class, and sometimes we just go outside to play. I like doing all those teamwork projects, but on the other hand, when I was in Korea, when school is finished, I had to go a lot of hagwon, and when I get back from hagwon, I still have to do a lot of homework. That’s insane.

And when it has a heavy snow in winter in Canada, we get a notification from school that it’s no school day, but on the flip side in Korea, regardless how much it snows, we go to school. Last winter in Canada, we stayed home for three days in a row because of a thick snow. I just love nature, fresh air, especially no hagwon. It is so peaceful here, and we have a snack time and recess to enjoy outdoor activities here in Canada.

However, we hardly go outside in Korean school. We just have 10 minutes short break between every period. It is a big difference. Another my favorite in Canadian school is that we have band class. I love to learn new instruments. I’ve already learned clarinet, trumpet, and I’m learning percussion now.

I really want to leave here forever, but unfortunately, I’m going to go back to Korea in three months. So sad.

Usako: Hello, everyone. I hope you’re all doing well no matter where in the world you’re hearing this from. I’m Usako from Taiwan. A few years ago, my family and I moved to Japan. I’ll share some small things happening in my life with you. I have two things to share. First, I’m joining a decluttering course. It’s inspiring to be around others with the same goal of self-improvement.

Seeing my small successes build up in this course is rewarding. Though I’m not perfect, I realized how a clutter-free space greatly frees up my mind and life. That’s the first thing I wanted to share. The second thing is becoming a practice partner for my sons.

I started playing table tennis a few months ago and fell in love with it. It’s not just about improving my son’s skills, but also enhancing my own well-being. My husband has even joined in on the practice. It’s wonderful to see my family come together through table tennis. I hope you enjoy my stories. Lastly, I would like to say that recording myself was difficult.

I’ve tried this many, many times and I still feel nervous and not used to it. I wasn’t very confident with my recording, but this is an excellent way to practice my speaking skills. I wanted to say thank you, and I feel lucky to have a stage to voice my appreciation. Thank you so much, and I appreciate Andrew and the Culips team’s hard work.

Slowly but surely, my English will improve. Thank you for your great help and support for all of us along the way in our English learning journey.

Kelvin: Hello, Andrew. Hello, every Culips listener out there. My name is Kelvin, and I’m from Vietnam. Today, I’m gonna tell you, all you guys, about my journey in learning English. So, here we go. Actually, I have learned English when I was a kid in a primary school when I was 9 or 10 years old, kind of. But, you know, I do not learn seriously. I learned on and off.

So, that’s why now, actually, last year, my English is just like basic, understand basic things and communicate in basic. It’s just like a beginner. So, last year, I decided to learn English again, learn seriously. So, yeah, and I randomly searched on Spotify about English podcast, and I saw Culips, and I find it very interesting, and yes, that’s why I’m here. So, thank you, everyone.

Mina: Hi, guys. I’m Mina from Japan, and congratulations for 100 bonus episodes. I’m so glad to share this special moment with you all, and thank you for this opportunity to be a one-time host. I’m a little behind to record this, and as Andrew said, the shorter, the better. I’m gonna try to quick talk about what’s going on today.

I had a baby last summer, and I’m going back to work next week. So, I need to put my baby in a daycare, and that started just two days ago. It was a kind of strange feeling not being with my baby, but I felt like doing something that I couldn’t do with her, and today, I went running for the first time since I took maternity leave. I have no doubt that Andrew’s marathon episodes inspired me.

It was short distance with very slow pace, but it was so refreshing, and I felt the vibe that spring was just around the corner. I heard the birds called skylark are singing in the sky, and saw a lot of green spots spreading on the field.

I mean, the grass were growing, and I also found yellow flowers that blooms first in spring, and as I live in countryside of northern Japan, even the scent of the soil tells me that spring is coming, because long cold winter here covered the ground with snow. Now, snow melted, and the ground was exposed, then I could smell the soil.

So, I enjoyed the nature while I was running. Thank you for listening, and again, congratulations. I promise Culips is the best podcast ever. Bye-bye.

Sergey: Hello, everyone. My name is Sergey. I’m from Moscow. Happy new hundred. Culips podcast came into my life some years ago, and nowadays I hardly imagine my daily morning routine without Culips. I like to listen to this podcast when I go for a walk with my pet, and when I go to walk by subway.

It’s very important that there are no political issues in this podcast, only simple human stories, which are understandable for everyone. I hope we will celebrate anniversaries of the bonus podcasts again and again, so every week a lot of people all around the world will again be looking forward for the words. Hello, everyone. How is it going? I hope you are doing well.

My name is Andrew, and I will be your English study buddy for today.

Muhammed: Hi, Andrew, and hi, everyone. My name is Muhammed. I’m in Egypt, and I’m recording this record for Andrew because he’s reporting about his 100th Culips episode.

So, for that, I want to say to him, you’re the greatest source to anyone who wants to speak English because you helped me a lot, and I got a lot of vocabulary from you, and every day I used to listen to your podcast when I’m going to my college, when I’m going to my job.

In the morning, every day, I used to listen to your podcast, and of course, you helped me a lot, and I got a lot of vocabulary from your Culips episode, and I want to say to you, I hope you are doing well, and I want to see you in good positions. Thank you.

Anthony: Hi, Andrew. Hi, Kassy. Hi to all Culips members and listeners. Thank you for your amazing podcast that helped me so much to be more fluent and easy in English. My name is Anthony. I’m 42, and I am the CEO of a French biotech company that I launched 11 years ago. Our job is to design and manufacture a new type of sustainable inputs for agriculture.

It’s called biostimulants. These products help crops to better resist numbers of stress that are responsible for the loss of yield and quality. Six years ago, my company obtained its first marketing authorization that allowed us to sell our products in Europe. For that reason, I needed to better understand and speak English.

Of course, I already had some notions of English because I studied English at school from 10 to 20 years old, but as you know, French education is not the best for learning languages, so I had to work by myself. Two years ago, my business became bigger, and we now expect to deploy our technologies in different countries outside Europe.

We focus on countries which had big issues with climate change and wide agriculture areas such as Australia, Brazil, and the US. So you get it. It was very important for me and for my company to improve my English, discuss easily with partners all over the world, and I made it thanks to Culips podcast, and of course, thanks to you, Andrew.

Last two years, I have been traveling from Sao Paulo to Sydney, from Cape Town to San Francisco, from Washington to Singapore, and it was so amazing to be able to discuss with so many people being so enthusiastic. That is something I repeat to my kids.

They are 10 and 12, and every time we travel in Italy, Portugal, and mainly in Spain because we love Barcelona, I try to give them the opportunity to talk in English with others, people from hotels, restaurants, and so on. Even when we are at home in France, I give them some words because I think they need to hear a little of English every day to be more aware of the language and the understanding of the language.

Andrew, the day I decided to improve my English, I started to turn all my stuff in English, my phone, my computer, my car, etc., and the best thing that happened to me was the discovery of the Culips podcast. Most of the time, I listen to your podcast when I travel by car, train, or plane, so I discovered your everyday life, and it was such a big help to improve my English.