044 Valentines Day and My First Love

In this episode, we talk about Valentines Day, and what that means for every day people in the US, as well as in Japan. Since Valentines Day is a day about romance, I also talk about my embarrassing story about my first love.

Chapter Bookmarks:

00:00 Start
02:00 Valentine's Day in the US
13:08 My First Love
23:25 My First Love (continued)

Chapters

• 0:00 Start
• 2:00 Valentine's Day in the US
• 13:08 My First Love
• 23:25 My First Love (continued)

Transcript

Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Kuli English Podcast. It's me, your host, Chris. So today is Sunday, February 8th, and this episode is going to release on Tuesday, February 10th. 

And you know, remember, we always have new episodes on Tuesday. But actually just this past week, I want to tell you about my past week. I did a bunch of stuff to apply for a new visa because, you know, I'm an American citizen and I live in Japan. 

So I need a visa to stay in Japan. But I did a bunch of stuff for that visa. And then I have some stories to tell you. 

But because this week, there's a really special holiday coming up. We'll talk about the visa stuff next week. And then this week, we're going to talk about Valentine's Day. 

So Valentine's Day is on Saturday this week, Saturday this week, this year. And it's always on February 14th. That's like the special day. 

And I think it'll be pretty interesting to talk about it. I'll talk a little bit about the Valentine's culture in Japan and a little bit about the Valentine's culture in the U.S. And I also have some childhood stories to tell you about like, you know, things that we did as a kid. We meaning like me and, you know, all the other people that I went to class with as a kid. 

And then I'll also talk about like some general stories and things about like a little bit of romance stuff, things that I've actually talked about in my very, very old podcast. So not this podcast, but my old one, the one that's not available to listen to anymore. But I'm going to talk about it now. 

And I have this new mic. And it's a new me. And I've had like, you know, over two years of experience recording podcast stuff. 

So hopefully it'll go a little bit better. So anyways, let's take a short little music break. And then we'll come back. 

And I'm going to tell you about Valentine's Day in the U.S. 

All right, so welcome back. And I'm so excited to tell you about Valentine's Day. So I'm going to be telling you about kind of two main things in this section here. 

One is like Valentine's Day for adults. And then one is Valentine's Day for kids and the kids I'm going to be telling you like my own personal life experience as a kid, like going to elementary school and stuff. And then as an adult, then I'll tell you like, okay, so what I think Valentine's Day kind of means in the U.S. But so again, let's go ahead and restart and talk about Valentine's Day for adults in the U.S. So Valentine's Day is on February 14th. 

It's actually this Saturday. So if you haven't prepared a gift for someone and you need to, then you still have some time. But hopefully you can be okay with that. 

So anyways, typical things that people do on Valentine's Day include something like, you know, giving chocolates. So that's like a really common one. So you buy like chocolates and maybe the chocolates are like normal chocolates or maybe they're like heart-shaped Valentine's themed chocolates. 

And you see that at the supermarket a lot. So there are supermarkets and some of them are called like Target or Walmart or Kroger's Safeway. And then at those places around Valentine's Day. 

So if I were in the U.S. right now, which I'm not, then if I were to go to those kinds of stores, definitely I would see a lot of like signs that are like, and it's like pink. Okay. Valentine's Day has a big color association with pink. 

So it's like pink hearts and it's like pink heart. Oh, Valentine's Day sale. Oh, like buy two chocolates, get one free or something like that. 

And then so there are like chocolates and they're heart-shaped chocolates. And then giving chocolates is a pretty common thing. 

But I should also mention that I think I don't really know if it's the case everywhere, but I think it's more common that like guys give girls chocolates because it's kind of like by the same idea, I think like when people like ask people out, which is, which means like, you know, to ask, hey, do you want to date me? Do you want to be boyfriend and girlfriend? When people ask each other out, I think it's usually the guy that asks the girl. 

And of course, you know, some people might be thinking, oh, that's not true. And I'm just saying like, I think it's more often than not. So more than 50% is probably the guy asking the girl and same for Valentine's Day, like the guy usually gives chocolates to the girl. 

The girl can also give chocolates to the guy and it's totally fine. But actually I think I, if I think about it, I have never received chocolates on Valentine's Day. Well, actually I did as a kid, I did as a kid, but I don't know who it's from and it doesn't mean anything. 

And everyone in the class has to give one. So anyways, actually let's, let's talk. Actually, let me tell you also besides giving chocolate, you can also like just go and hang out with them. 

I think, I think that's a pretty common one. So you hang out, maybe you watch a movie or something, or maybe, you know, you go on some kind of date or you go eat a meal or you write a card. And that's a pretty common like thing that people do on Valentine's Day. And of course it depends, okay? So if the two people, they're like too busy or something, maybe they won't meet or maybe if they live together, then, you know, like going to out to eat at the same place again is like not really that special. 

So maybe they do something else or maybe they don't celebrate it. And, you know, it really depends on the people. So some people don't celebrate it, but it's kind of like an association of, oh, Valentine's Day, you got to do something romantic. 

And it's also the day that people like usually confess their feelings. So confess, like asking out. So it's like, oh, hey, like, for example, this is just an example.

It's not true. I don't have any friends named Sally, I think. But if I was interested in a girl named Sally, then around Valentine's Day, so around now, so today is like February, it's like early February, right? And I would be asking, hey, Sally, are you free on the 14th? And then this is kind of like, it has like an extra meaning here because, well, because we both know Valentine's Day is the 14th. 

And if we hang out on the 14th, then maybe there is some like special meaning there. So then I would ask, and this is also a little like small little tiny lesson about English. But when you ask people, I think in Japan, when people speak English, a lot of the times they speak with like Japanese grammar. 

So they say something like, don't you want to hang out on the 14th? And then that's like the negation form, which in Japanese, it sounds smooth, but it's not very smooth in English. Like, don't you want to hang out on the 14th? It means like, why don't you want to hang out? It's very, very strong. It's like, why would you not want to? You must. 

And then, so the version that I would recommend is like, hey, do you want to hang out on the 14th? Like, do you want to hang out on the 14th? And that's like the most natural way to ask it. I've talked about it before, so let's not talk too much about it. But anyways, that's like the adult version, right? Adults on Valentine's Day, if they celebrate it, maybe they do, maybe they don't. 

If they do celebrate it, then they probably do something like give chocolates, give gifts, give like a card or something. Or maybe they go out to eat, or maybe they go on a date. Maybe they go to an amusement park. 

I don't know. It depends on the people. But now let me tell you about the kids version. 

So Valentine's Day is a day that I think even kids know, okay? So it's not just a day about like, oh, romance, about marriage, about being an adult, about having kids or anything like that. No, it's just a day that I think everyone is familiar with after like, I don't know, first grade. So first grade is like, I don't know, when you're seven years old. 

And I remember, I think it was since first grade, basically every time we had a Valentine's Day in school. But what happened is you give chocolates or like small gifts to everyone in class. So in class, there were probably like 20 people. 

And my first grade teacher, her name was Mrs. Sutton. But in Mrs. Sutton's class, there's probably like, you know, 20 kids. And I'm like kid number 11. 

And what happens is you don't rank the kids based on like their grades, but you just alphabetize their last names. So the person whose last name is like, I don't know, Alistair or something, it starts with an A, then they're like number one. And there's someone whose last name is like something that starts with a Z. Like, I don't know, Zamboni or Zebra. 

Those are not common last names. But if someone had a last name that started with a Z, then they would probably be like number 20. And I was number 11, because my last name starts with a J. So then, you know, you everyone has like a bag, and it says their name and their number. 

So like, mine would say like, Chris 11. And then everyone has to write a card for every single person in the class. And of course, this depends on the elementary school. 

So not everybody had to do this, like because they were in the US. But everyone in my class had to do it because that's what the teacher said, and the teacher decides the rules. So what happened was, you would buy all these small little cards. 

And when I say you, I mean, like your parents, you have to tell your parents, you have to say, Hey, Mommy, hey, Daddy, we have Valentine's Day coming up, and I have to write cards for everyone in class. And the parents are like, okay, so then they go to Walmart, or like, you know, Target, or like Safeway, or whatever the name of the closest store is. And they go buy some cards, and some little little chocolates, and then give it to the kids.

And then you have to write like, Dear Allison, and then you know, Dear Brandy, Dear Chloe, and these are like actually names of like classmates. But anyways, you like write those, and then you drop them in the little bag. So like, I write a little card that says like, Dear Allison, Happy Valentine's Day from Chris 11. 

And I think I always put my number, although I don't think you actually need to put the number, but it was like a habit that we had to do in class. So then I put my number there. And then I put it on, I put my number on the card, and then the card I drop off in like Allison's bag. 

And then like I go, I move on. And then you give it to all the girls, and you give it to all the guys like you have to, I think you give it to everybody. You can't like choose who to give it to. 

But of course, you know, like that's the rules. And it's not like the teacher's checking, like, did you give one to Bobby? And then you're like, yeah, I have a, I have a log here. Like I put it in, I put it in the bag at 1.06 p.m. and 32 seconds. 

There's none of that. So like, if you really didn't want to give it to them, you probably didn't have to. You could just not do it. 

But the teacher said, you have to do it. And you know, back then, all the kids are like, oh, we got to listen to the teacher. The teacher's rules are the law. 

And they kind of were the law. So you like, you know, give chocolates to people. And then after Valentine's Day, I think the next day, so probably like February 15th, or the next school day, if the February 15th was on like a Saturday or a Sunday, then the next school day would be Monday. 

So then, you know, the next day, you check your bag, and there's a bunch of chocolates and a bunch of cards. And I remember always thinking like, I only want the chocolates from the people that I like. So like, you know, there's some people that were like mean to me, and I don't, I don't like them. 

So then like their chocolates, I like threw them away. And, you know, looking looking back, I it like chocolates are just chocolates, like, you know, I should have just like given it to somebody that wanted to eat it or something like that. But I remember thinking like, oh, this person like we're not really friends, so I'm gonna throw it away. 

And then I had like, you know, one or two friends. So then I ended up having like one or two chocolates. And I'm like, I'll eat these because these are from my friends. 

And then I remember once I was like throwing away cards, like Valentine's Day cards that said like, oh, you know, like, thank you, Chris. And then at some point, I actually moved to Oklahoma. And then when I was moving to Oklahoma, like a bunch of people in class, like wrote me these cards. 

And then the cards were all like, oh, like, dear Chris, you know, like, good luck in Oklahoma or something like that. And they like, they printed that out, and they gave it to me. And then I was like, okay, yay. 

And then when I went home, like, I like sorted them. I feel so bad saying this, because if there's anyone in that class that actually thought of me as a friend, then like, you know, maybe they're going to be sad if they hear this. But basically, the people that I liked, which was probably like, I don't know, like two people out of the class, or maybe three, like friends, people that I considered my friends, like I kept their letters. 

So I had like three little papers. And it's not even like a really interesting letter. It's like, dear Christopher, good luck in Oklahoma, from and then whatever their name is. 

And then so like, the ones that I liked, I kept them. And the ones that I didn't like, or like the ones that were fine, I just like threw them away. And then my mom saw me, and my mom was like, why are you throwing away people's letters like they wrote them to you? And I was like, yeah, but they're not my friends. 

And my mom's like, you should keep them. That's like, that's like, good stuff. And I was like, No, I don't want it. 

And so I just threw it away. So anyways, sorry to talk about some unrelated stuff. But on Valentine's Day, it's really common to, I guess, give chocolates and cards to people. 

And there's also another interesting thing, which is like the version in Japan. So actually, let's take a short little break here. And then I'm going to come back and I'll tell you about like the Valentine's Day version in Japan.

Alright, so let's go ahead and talk about Valentine's Day in Japan. So, I guess, do you remember how, when I talked about Valentine's Day in the U.S., I said it's probably more often the case, it's more common that the guy gives chocolates to the girl. Well, in Japan on Valentine's Day, usually girls give chocolates to the guys, and then the guys just don't do anything. 

They just receive it, and then they eat it, and then they think about, ooh, does she really like me? But anyways, I'm going to tell you about these general tradition things, but it doesn't mean that everybody does them, because in the end, does everybody celebrate Christmas? And it's like, well, everyone probably knows about it, but I don't know if everyone actually celebrates every single year. It depends on the person. It depends on the timing and stuff. 

But on Valentine's Day in Japan, the girls give chocolates to the guys, and depending on, I guess, how they actually feel about that guy, then the chocolate becomes one of multiple types. So, if a girl gives chocolates to a guy, and it's like a colleague or a boss or something, then it's a ギリチョコ, is what it's called. And then if they give it to a friend, it's like a トモチョコ. 

And if they give it to someone and they actually kind of have romantic interest in them, then it's called a ほんめいチョコ. But it's not like you write it on the chocolate and say, oh, this is a real feeling chocolate because I'm interested in you. You don't say that. 

You just hide that feeling inside and then you give it to them. And then the person who receives it is kind of like, hmm, I wonder which one it was. I wonder if I'm a friend or I wonder if I'm like a special romantic interest or something like that. 

But that's just like, again, it's just like a cultural traditional thing. It doesn't necessarily mean that everybody does it. And it's also something that you probably see on TV if you watch like anime or something, or if you like read manga, then you'll probably see a little bit about it. 

And then there's kind of like the part two of Valentine's Day in Japan, which is not like actually February 14th, but it's actually one month later on March 14th. And that's called White Day. And then White Day is when the guys give chocolates to the girls. 

So this is like decided. OK, so like on Valentine's Day, the women give chocolates to the men. And then one month later on March 14th, it's the opposite. 

The men give chocolates to the girls and the girls just receive it. And then so, you know, that's enough about this cultural stuff. It's time to get into some kind of juicy stories. 

So I've already talked about this story before in like my old, old podcast. So the podcast that was like started, you know, two or three years ago. And in that podcast, I think it was probably like episode two or something.

And it was called Episode Two, Hatsukoi. Hatsukoi means in Japanese, like your first love. And then I figured, well, you know, for Valentine's Day, I can talk about my first love.

And it's kind of like a long time ago and it's a little bit embarrassing, but, you know, maybe it's a interesting story and people always like listening to interesting stories. So I'll talk about it. And then as I talk about it, I'll try to explain like certain phrases that might be hard to understand. 

So anyways, let me tell you about, when was it? It was probably like fifth or sixth grade, but fifth or sixth grade, by the way, that is like the last year of elementary school or the first year of middle school. And so actually let me calculate how old was I? It should have, I should have, I think I was 12 or 11 years old, but I was taking violin lessons. Okay. 

So violin was like, I started taking lessons in fifth grade and then I went to my teacher and my teacher's name was Mr. Encinas. You don't have to remember his name, but he was a, he was a pretty nice teacher. He like fixed my violin when, when I broke it. 

And then he, he like fixed it with a fork. It was actually pretty amazing. But anyways, when I went to Mr. Encinas' like classes, like it's not like a class, like I went to his house and we had these private lessons and he teaches me how to play violin. 

And then I got home and then here comes the story of like the actual like romance stuff. But at some point, Mr. Encinas had a niece visiting and he, Mr. Encinas is from Portugal. So he has a niece and she's visiting from Portugal.

She doesn't really speak English, but she's like my age. And so, because she's like, I think she was staying in like the U.S. for, I don't know, maybe half a, half a year or something like that. She was staying with Mr. Encinas. 

And every time I went to take violin lessons, sometimes he has like, you know, a previous student. And then, so he has to like finish those lessons. And then I am like in his living room. 

And then, and then her name was Monica. Okay. So Monica is in the living room.

And then Monica, like we don't really share like a common language. Okay. Like she doesn't speak English. 

She doesn't speak Chinese and I don't speak Portuguese. So then she, she was just like "ball?" And then there's like this big ball. 

And she's like, do you want to bounce the ball back and forth? And then I was thinking like, yeah, sure. Let's bounce the ball back and forth. So we're like bouncing the ball back and forth for, I don't know, like five minutes or something. 

And then the lesson starts and then I do the lesson and then I go home. And then I went to school. And actually, I remember now this was not fifth grade. 

This was sixth grade. And so in sixth grade, she actually started going to the same school that I went to. And so like, sometimes I would see her in school, but we don't take the same classes. 

But we did take the same bus because Mr. Encinas lives kind of close to like me. So, so that means, you know, Monica and I also like live kind of close to each other. So then we go and we take the bus. 

And then she doesn't really have any friends. And the sad part is I also didn't really have friends because I was like a, I was like a super loser as a kid. Just as a kid? I don't know, maybe I'm still a loser? 

But so we have to take the bus like back. And then, you know, then we started like sitting together on the bus. And I guess like when you sit together on the bus, normally you like talk, right? But we don't have like a really, like she can kind of speak English, but I don't think she could speak it that well. 

And, and I super understand this because like, when I started learning Japanese, then you know, I didn't really speak Japanese. And then sometimes it's like, you understand the situation kind of, and you just don't know what to say. But then sometimes it's like, I know what I want to say, but I can't say it. 

And then from the outside, other people see it as like, oh, like, you don't want to say anything because they don't know about your, your like limitations. They don't know that you're not able to speak well. And then as a kid, I think I didn't really have that much experience talking to people who can't really speak English. 

So then I just assumed that she didn't really have much to say. So then like, she would like try to tell me about music. And then I didn't really listen to music as a kid. 

So I would just be like, oh, okay, and she would be like, this song, it's good. And I'll say, okay. 

And then it's like, really, really nothing. But I remember thinking like, oh, Monica's pretty. So I like Monica, Monica's pleasant. 

And like, you know, she's like, not mean to me, which is nice. And I don't really remember that much about it. But I do remember, I do remember this, and I actually regret this a lot. 

But once we were riding the bus back, and then so you know, the same thing happens. And we're riding the bus back, and we're sitting together on the bus. And then like, on the way back, she's telling me like, oh, like, I really like these chips.

And then, and chips are something that I super like, right? Like, I know, like all the flavors of the chips, because I've probably tried them all. And then I remember the flavor, it was the Flamin' Hot Cheetos, but it's the, it's the lime one. So there's the lime jalapeno chips. 

And so if you don't know what Cheetos are, it's like a cheese potato chips kind of thing. And it's really popular. And there's like normal Cheetos, which is pretty popular. 

And then there's Flamin' Hot Cheetos, which just means spicy Cheetos. And it's like decently spicy. So like in Japan, I think people don't really eat much spicy food. 

So if you are used to like Japanese levels of spice, then Flamin' Hot Cheetos is probably a little bit too hot for you. And then there's like a different version, which is like the lime jalapeno. So it's still spicy, but it's kind of got lime, and it's a little bit like sour, because you know, lime is sour. 

So it's like a lime jalapeno Cheetos. And then she has like a small bag of those. And then, oh man, I'm so embarrassed telling this.

But she was like, oh, I like these chips. And then I was like, oh yeah, I know those chips. And then I like, I flipped it over to the back. 

And on the back, there's like this part that tells you like, it's called the nutrition facts. And it tells you like, you know, what, what's inside, what are the ingredients of this. And I always check this because I'm allergic to nuts and peanuts. 

So then like, it'll say like nuts or peanuts. And then I'll think, oh, okay, I can't eat it. But these Cheetos, they're fine. 

They don't have nuts or peanuts. I like flipped it over to the back. And I pointed to the part that says, oh, it has a lot of fat. 

So if you eat this, you're going to get fat. And Monica, Monica was like, she's, she's like, you know, she's pretty skinny, but she's not like super, super skinny. And then I think after I said that, then we didn't really talk for the rest of the ride back. 

And I was just thinking, I'm nervous. I don't know what to say. And then she's probably thinking like, this guy just called me fat. 

And like, I, I didn't mean it that way. I didn't think she was fat. I just remembered. 

I was like, oh yeah, I saw this at the supermarket and I flipped it on the back. And then I remember it has like 33% of your daily value of saturated fat, which is like one of the lines. And I've like wanted to show her, Hey, I remember this. 

And then, uh, yeah, it didn't really go that well, but I don't think she was mad or anything. She probably wasn't too mad. And you know, the next time I saw her, like we played ball or something, but he didn't really hang out that much. 

And then, uh, I think there was not really much more after that. Like, we didn't really see each other that much. Sometimes we saw each other on the bus, but then she went back pretty shortly. 

I don't even think she was there for like more than two or three months. Um, and then, so, you know, like, uh, this was probably my first crush. I mean, I kind of liked her, but I didn't really do anything and I was kind of too stupid. 

And I also accidentally called her fat, which is not something that I should have done. So like looking back, I feel kind of bad. If I ever met her again, like I would say, I'm, I'm sorry if, if I said some weird stuff and she'll probably be like, what? I didn't even understand what you said back then. 

Uh, so anyways, that was the short little story about Hatsukoi. Um, let's take a short little break here and then we'll come back and I'll tell you about some more stuff.

All right!

So here we are in our last section here. And, uh, what I want to tell you about is just like, uh, I guess like the dating scene in the US and, uh, you know, people might be thinking like, Oh, this is going to be really interesting, but we don't have enough time to talk about like, you know, that much. So I'm just going to talk about the dating scene in middle school. 

Okay. Because, you know, in, in my mind, I was like, Oh, I should have dated Monica, but you know, we didn't really talk well. And I accidentally called her fat and then she like left the country. 

So that's like impossible. But I do want to tell you about like, what was the dating scene in middle school? And so like in middle school, remember middle school, uh, this means like, you know, about sixth or seventh grade. So probably everyone's like 12 or 13 years old. 

And, uh, in middle school, like when you're dating someone, there is this phrase that you call, uh, that they use and it's called "going out". Okay. So if like Alice and Bob are going out, then they're dating and they're like, you know, maybe boyfriend and girlfriend. 

And, uh, if they are official, then they are boyfriend and girlfriend and they are dating. So like going out is like, you know, it might be at the same level of boyfriend and girlfriend, or it could be a level before that. And it just means like, we're going out and we're going on dates, but it doesn't mean that we're like official. 

And, uh, you know, in middle school, like the gossip for like going out is like, you know, it's a hot topic, hot topic, meaning it's like a really popular thing to talk about. So people are always like, Oh, did you know Sierra is dating like Timothy or something? And people are like, Oh dude, no way. We saw it coming from a long time ago or something like that. 

Um, but in middle school, like what do you actually do? I don't think you actually go on dates. Cause like in middle school, you can't even like drive and, you know, America is a very car oriented country. So if you want to like go and do stuff with friends, you kind of have to drive. 

Like you, you can't really like, you know, go on the train and then go somewhere. It's not like Japan. It's not like Taiwan or it's not like Taipei or Tokyo.

So anyways, um, I think what a lot of people did was, um, there was like the snack bar in middle school and at the snack bar, they sell like, you know, like snacks. And I remember like some of the names of the snacks, which I'm not going to mention, cause you probably don't know what they are, but, uh, those snacks, they're actually more expensive. Like, uh, in middle, if you buy it there at the school, then if you go to like a grocery store and buy it.

So like, I'm thinking about like, there's a snack, for example, the previous example, um, the flaming hot Cheetos, like those, uh, I think they were like, I don't know, maybe 50 cents or a dollar. And then if you buy them at the supermarket, like there's like a package of like 12 or so, and it ends up being like around 30 cents or 40 cents. Uh, but of course this was like a long time ago because you know, I'm like over 30 years old now. 

So, uh, you know, if you buy it at the supermarket, it's a little bit cheaper. And I remember always thinking like, Oh, like, I don't want to buy it there because it's too expensive. And I don't know why, I guess I was just like raised cheap. 

And I'm always thinking about, Oh, which one's better. I'm gonna save 10 cents if I go buy it at the supermarket. So I'd be thinking that. 

And I'd also be thinking, Oh, this one has lots of saturated fat. So I got to eat the other chips that I think tastes fine. And they don't have as much fat or something like that. 

I was kind of like a weird kid thinking about that kind of stuff. Uh, but anyways, in middle school, if you had a girlfriend, then what you were supposed to do is, uh, during lunch, you're supposed to buy like gifts for them. And the only gift you could possibly buy is like a snack from the snack bar. 

And they have like a couple options. And by a couple, I mean like maybe five, they have like, you know, potato chips, a candy bar, like soda. And then, uh, there's something called a zebra cake, which is kind of like a small little cake thing. 

Um, and they were like really, really sweet and they're really good, but also they're like really bad for you. Yeah. It's like, Oh yeah, that's, that's American level snacks. 

Uh, so anyways, um, if you had a girlfriend then during lunch, like you eat lunch with them and then you're supposed to also buy them a snack or like some kind of junk food. So you buy them some chips or maybe you buy them a little cake and then they get it for free. And you know, everybody likes free food. 

So they're like, yay. And then they eat it and then they're happy. And then they love each other. 

Um, and then like, what else do you do? Do you like hold hands? Like, I don't know. I think, I think in middle school people were still pretty young, so they didn't actually like hold hands or not that I really remember. Um, and maybe they held hands or maybe they hung out like outside of school, but not that I really knew of. 

I think in high school, so high school is probably like from ninth grade. So after everyone's like 15 years older, then they actually start like hanging out and doing stuff. And in Oklahoma, you can get a driver's license as early as like a 15 and a half, uh, depending on certain stuff. 

And so like at that point, maybe you can drive and go hang out with people. So like the dating scene in middle school, it's like, um, I, uh, I was like shaking my head. Um, but you know, whatever makes people happy. 

Okay. So if you love having like a boyfriend that buys you snacks at lunch, then that's great. But, uh, it's definitely not the same meaning as like an adult when people talk about, oh, like my boyfriend emotionally fulfills me. 

So like, you know, the boyfriend listens to me and my boyfriend cares about me or like, oh, my girlfriend understands me. My girlfriend understands me on a deeper emotional level. Like these are different conversations because these are like different age ranges. 

Okay. So we are adults. Well, I'm an adult. 

I don't know about you. You might be a kid and that's totally fine. But in middle school, then it's like, uh, it's a bit more simple, at least the one that I, uh, that I went to. 

Okay. So, um, now let me, ah, no, it's okay. We don't have to talk about that. 

I was going to tell, talk about like this little high school romance drama thing. And none of this stuff really pertains to me. Like my romance stuff doesn't really start until like later in like late high school stuff. 

So I don't even have any stories for you. But, uh, maybe that's a good point to go ahead and stop and call it a day. So we talked about Valentine's day, which is very thematic. 

I remember Valentine's day is on Saturday, uh, this week. It's always on February 14th. So, you know, if you want to prepare a gift, then, you know, you should probably go and prepare that gift. 

You can always like order something in advance. Maybe you can order on Amazon, something like that. And if you don't want to celebrate it, or if you don't want to have a gift, or if you don't have anyone to celebrate it with, it's totally fine. 

There's also one thing, uh, which I heard about. Um, I, I heard about it online. Like I read about it online, but I didn't actually hear about it from friends, but there is something called instead of Valentines, you call it a galentines and gal, gal, meaning like a girl. 

And this means like girls hanging out because they're single. So this is like galentines day. Uh, and I don't know if it's actually true. 

Like sometimes, sometimes online stuff like is, is not true. Uh, so anyways, that's probably an actually good point to end it. So next week, I'm going to be telling you about, uh, like some visa complaints and, um, uh, besides that, well, I guess, you know, thanks for listening until the end of this episode of Kuli English podcast. 

And as always, we'll have a new episode for you next Tuesday. You can follow, you can subscribe if you want to help support me and do whatever you want, but, you know, good luck with your English studies and I hope to see you next week. Thank you!