Maura: Today is a Chatterbox episode, and that is where we chat. And sometimes we interview people. Today we’re going to interview someone who’s very important.
Harp: Yes. Today, Maura is going to interview Andrew. And Andrew is the newest member of Culips.
Maura: That’s right. Harp and I have been co-hosts at Culips for a long time, but we are adding Andrew to the mix.
Harp: Yes. So Andrew will be joining us and co-hosting episodes with Maura or me.
Maura: That’s right. So, this is the first time that you’ll be hearing Andrew’s voice, but it definitely won’t be the last. We’re really excited. He has a lot of experience teaching English and learning languages, and is really excited to start helping you learn to speak English better.
Harp: Yes. So we thought we’d start by giving you an interview with him so you could learn a little bit more about Andrew.
Maura: That’s right. Now you can hear about what kind of person he is and what he’s into.
Harp: So, I’m gonna leave it to you Maura.
Maura: All right. Let’s go. All right. So, Andrew, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Andrew: Sure, absolutely. OK, my name is Andrew and I was born in Toronto. And when I was a toddler, I moved to a city called Langley, which is right outside of Vancouver. When I was a teenager, I moved to Kelowna and I went to high school in Kelowna, British Columbia. And I moved to Victoria to go to the University of Victoria, where I majored in history and English. Upon graduation, I moved to Korea. I taught English at an elementary school in Seoul, South Korea, for 3 years. And then I moved to Montreal, and here I am. I’m currently attending Concordia University, studying linguistics.
Maura: Cool. So you’ve been around the country and the world a little bit.
Andrew: Yeah. A very long life, yes.
Maura: So, what was it like growing up in Kelowna? I know I’m from Ontario, which doesn’t have mountains and is a little bit more flat, and I’m always jealous of people who are from the West Coast and have beautiful natural scenes around them.
Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. Well, the nice thing about Kelowna is the four seasons, I think. We have summer, a beautiful long summer, and the winter. It’s fairly grey in the winter but it’s not too cold, which is nice. And of course there’s skiing, lots of mountains. And I’m a big snowboarder, so, yeah, it was great for that.
Maura: Yeah. That’s something that I think a lot of people maybe don’t know; that there are parts of Canada where the winter isn’t that bad.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the coldest it would get in Kelowna during the winter is maybe minus 10. So it’s not that bad in Kelowna. And then in the summer it’s… Yeah, it’s really warm.
Maura: Yeah. Minus 10. It seems not bad at all, actually.
Andrew: It’s not bad compared to Montreal.
Maura: No. OK, cool. And then you moved to Victoria, which is a pretty chill place.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It’s very laid back. It’s on Vancouver Island, so it’s got a bit of an island mentality.
Maura: And then you decided to go to Korea. Now, what made you, first of all, decide to travel, and also choose Korea?
Andrew: OK. This is a long story.