from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Today,  I have a special guest, my husband, Dan. 

Dan: Hello. 

Vanessa: Today, we are going to be having a long  

English conversation, because over two years ago,  back in February 2020, we made this conversation  

and millions of you loved this and said that  it helped you to immerse yourself in English  

and have a fun time. Today, we are going to be  doing something similar. We'll be talking about  

at least 10, possibly more, topics. We'll be  giving our opinions and stories and ideas. 

Dan: Answers. 

Vanessa: Yes, whatever comes up  

along the way. There will be subtitles for key  phrases down here, but you can also click CC to  

get the full subtitles so that you don't miss any  words. All right, are you ready to get started? 

Dan: I'm ready. 

Vanessa: Let's do it.  

But wait, before we get started, like always, I  have created a free PDF worksheet for this lesson  

that you can download. Never forget what you are  about to learn. You can click on the link in the  

description to download this free PDF worksheet  today, and you will have a chance to answer all  

of today's questions too. Dan: 

Oo. Vanessa: 

Okay. Are you ready for question number one? Dan: 

Yes, I'm ready. What is it? Vanessa: 

All right. Question number one ... Dan: 

What is the meaning of life? Vanessa: 

Oh, that would be a good start. Topic number one  is family. I'm going to be putting the timestamps  

for all of these topics in the description, so if  you want to rewatch any of these sections you can  

easily skip to them. My first question is about  family, and that is what is an interesting fact  

about your family history? Dan: 

Interesting fact. Well, I don't know too much  about my mom's side of the family. I know they've  

been in the United States for a long time, but  they just didn't really keep any records. On my  

dad's side, on the other hand, I have a, well, I  had a particularly detail-oriented grandmother who  

would remember everything about her childhood. She  went back and looked at, I don't even know how she  

found documents about where they came from. Her  family was in Germany, near, I can't remember,  

I think it's Hamburg, Hamburg. Grandpa was also  from somewhere in Germany, and both of them  

just happened to move to eastern Kansas, which  is if you've ever been to Kansas, it's just corn  

fields and that's it. It's not a very beautiful  place, but somehow they ended up in Kansas. 

Dan: My grandma would always give lots of details  

about growing up there on the farm and how they  didn't have electricity. She would go on about  

these stories about, this is how she would  talk, one time, me and my brother Bern,  

we went to the backyard and filled up  the tin bucket with hot boiling water,  

and he took all the hot water, Daniel. Vanessa: 

She remembered it was a tin bucket. Dan: 

Yeah, and it was cousin Bern, and it  was Uncle Freddie, people like that.  

I think her father's name was Freddie. Vanessa: 

Oh, that's her son's name. Dan: 

Yeah. I don't know how interesting  that is, but it's the only  

cultural knowledge I have about my past. The  other side of the family, they just, we lived  

in Virginia a long time ago, and my great  grandfather was a coal miner apparently so  

kind of interesting, I guess. Vanessa: 

Yeah. I think that's pretty cool though that  because in the US everyone has heritage from  

other places around the world and it gets lost  sometimes. In fact, that's what I was going to  

talk about too in a moment. That area in Kansas,  I remember your grandma saying that there were  

German-only churches. Dan: 

Oh yeah. Vanessa: 

So they would speak only German.  Did your grandma know any German? 

Dan: Very little. I don't think she knew a lot. 

Vanessa: I think that's kind of the generational thing,  

like her parents knew it. Dan: 

She's probably the last generation that spoke  German, or her parents were the last generation  

that spoke German. Vanessa: 

Yeah, but then for her she just understood  probably some German. That community was,  

for some reason, where lots of German people  moved to and that's where your family's from. 

Dan: Yeah. They went through a lot of  

really challenging cultural changes. There was a  lot of German mistrust and hate during that time,  

obviously, for reasons that we can understand. Vanessa: 

Political reasons. Dan: 

We were at war with Germany a lot, so I think  they were trying to scrub out a lot of the super  

German sounding things. Apparently our last  name was more German sounding at one point.  

I don't know how they said it, and speaking  German would certainly be one of those things. 

Vanessa: Yeah, so they tried to assimilate to  

life and that's similar to my ... Dan: 

Tell me about your family history. Vanessa: 

...similar to the interesting point I wanted  to tell you about. My family history is that  

on my dad's side, my great  grandma and my great grandpa, they  

are from around the area of Naples, Italy.  First, my great grandpa went on a boat,  

came to the US, married someone, had three kids. Dan: 

It was a good story. Vanessa: 

Then his wife died. Dan: 

Oh, that's the bad part. Vanessa: 

He had three kids and no wife and he's working,  I'm sure, a really difficult job. That was not a  

time when you could be a single father. Dan: 

This was in Pittsburgh, right? Vanessa: 

They were either in New York or Pittsburgh,  but by the time my great grandma came, they  

went to Pittsburgh. We're getting a little ahead  of ourselves. He wrote a letter to his mother who  

lived back in Italy, and he said, I need to find  a new wife. Can you help me to find a new wife  

from our hometown that will come here to live  with me and help take care of my three kids.  

His mom said, no problem. I'll find you a wife. I  got her. Here's her height. Here's her dimensions.  

Get a wedding dress for her. My great grandpa got  a wedding dress made in the US, the right size and  

everything for his future mysterious wife. We call  this a mail order bride. He basically ordered her  

in a letter like you would a package. Vanessa: 

I don't know what he did with his kids,  but he went to Italy, and as legend has it,  

one day he was in the house. They  were preparing things for the wedding,  

and he looked out the window and a woman walked  by, and he said, oh, that's the woman I want  

to marry. Dan: 

Who is that? Vanessa: 

Was that his mail order bride?  Nope, that was my great-grandmother. 

Dan: Was it her sister? The original woman's sister? 

Vanessa: One of the legends is that  

it was his, well not his sister ... Dan: 

Adds to the drama. Vanessa: 

But my grandma clarified. This was her mother.  She said, oh, he saw her outside the window. 

Dan: Just a random lady? 

Vanessa: Uh-huh. Well, this is all a little vague  

because this is going back quite some time. Dan: 

Excuse me, ma'am? Will you marry me?? Vanessa: 

Basically. She was taller than his other  supposed to be wife. He married her. Her name  

was Antoinette. He married her. She said, yes, I'm  going to move to the US with you, leave my family.  

She must have had a really tough situation, I  imagine. They were all farmers. I'm sure that  

was a really hard life, and that could give her  some hope for the future. In the wedding pictures,  

her dress is a little bit too short because  it was not supposed to be her dress. It was  

supposed to be the other lady's dress.  I'm glad that happened because otherwise  

I would not be here. Dan: 

That's Vanessa's origin story, really. Vanessa: 

Yeah. This lady, Antoinette, she moved to the  US. She had three kids and then her husband died,  

so she had six children in a new country. Crazy  story. She raised them. She's what we might call  

the matriarch of my dad's side of the family. Dan: 

Antoinette Manolfi. Vanessa: 

Everybody who is from that side of the  family knows her and reveres her. Oh,  

she was so amazing. Oh yeah, she just helped  us survive. We might say she was a survivor.  

She really went through a lot, and she  was the right person for the job because  

she made it work. Dan: 

Nice. Vanessa: 

Yeah. That's an interesting story about  my family. I'm sure everyone has those  

as well. I want to ask you the same  question. Let us know in the comments,  

what's an interesting story or an interesting  fact about your family history. We'd love to know.  

Let's go to question number two. This is about  childhood. I'd like to know what's something that  

you did as a child that you still do now. These  are kind of personal questions to start off with. 

Dan: Well, we laughed before  

this because she said everything. I am a little  bit, let's just say, youthful in my approach  

to life. That's the positive way to say it anyway.  Something that I directly do, especially now,  

because I have kids, is catching critters. Vanessa: 

Oh yeah. Dan: 

Catching critters and keeping them. I would  say critters are generally small animals.  

When I was a kid, I spent, I would say 50%  of my life trying to catch frogs, lizards,  

grasshoppers, snakes, bugs of any  kind, and I would keep them in cages.  

I would use nets to catch butterflies, terrariums,  aquariums, fish, anything like that. I caught and  

kept lots and lots of critters. There was probably  a five-year phase where we didn't do that very  

much. Funnily enough, even when we first got  married, and you're into this too, I don't know  

where she got this. Maybe it's infectious. Vanessa: 

We caught tad poles as kids. Dan: 

We would catch tad poles as just a married  couple. We'd go down to the pond and scoop  

in and get some mucky, gucky tad poles and watch  them change into frogs. It's the miracle of life. 

Vanessa: You know what? I have a  

distinct memory on our honeymoon, we were taking a  hike, and you saw, I think this was the first time  

I'd ever caught critters with you because,  I don't know, maybe when we were dating ... 

Dan: She didn't know what she was signing up for. 

Vanessa: Maybe when we were dating, we just  

weren't in those situations. I remember we were on  a hike and you were in a stream picking up rocks,  

and you were so excited. This is a good salamander  spot. There might be salamanders. Then you found  

one and I was so impressed. Dan: 

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Vanessa: 

How did you find that salamander because I caught  tad poles maybe like every summer as a kid,  

but I never caught salamanders or whole frogs or  fish. We had nets and caught fireflies and stuff,  

but I think you take it to the next level. Dan: 

Yeah. Especially as a kid, I took it to  the next level. One time I caught a five  

foot snake. I didn't even know what kind  it was, I just reached into the bushes.  

I didn't grab it the right way. I was like  swinging it through the air. That was probably  

the dumbest thing I ever did honestly catching  critters as a child. It extends beyond that too.  

I've always liked keeping fish. I love making fish  tanks and the environments. Obviously you can do  

that for frogs and reptiles. I have big dreams  for my son because he's also very into this. 

Vanessa: Oh yeah.  

He is crazed about his net and catching stuff. He  just loves that. I mean it's treasures in nature. 

Dan: Soon enough,  

our house will turn into a menagerie of critters. Vanessa: 

I just have one rule. I would ... Dan: 

Scorpions. Vanessa: 

I don't mind keeping frogs and lizards and fish. Dan: 

Snakes? Vanessa: 

But I don't want to keep any snakes. Dan: 

Oh, come on. Vanessa: 

I know a lot of snakes are harmless ... Dan: 

They're cute. Vanessa: 

... but I would rather the snakes live  under our shed than live in our house. 

Dan: That's more dangerous. 

Vanessa: Well, if they're not poisonous.  

If they're not venomous, then they can catch  rats and catch things and keep our chicken safe,  

that type of thing. Dan: 

That's what snakes do? Vanessa: 

Yeah. A lot of chickens ... Dan: 

They protect chickens. Vanessa: 

Yeah. A lot of people, and this  is getting a little deep ... 

Dan: Are chickens critters? 

Vanessa: I don't  

this so. When I think of a critter, I think of  crawling, like something that goes like k-k-k-k,  

like a little crawly thing. Dan: 

Am I a critter? Vanessa: 

That's a good question. I was going to say some  people, we have chickens, you might have seen  

this on our YouTube channel before, some people  purposefully have a rat snake or a black snake,  

a garter snake that lives in their chicken  coop, and they eat like one egg per  

two weeks or something. They don't eat that much. Dan: 

Is that good? Vanessa: 

They do it for protection. They're keeping rats  away. They're keeping other things away from the  

coop. There's a whole, let me tell you ... Dan: 

You want me to bring snakes into  our family, well, but outside? 

Vanessa: As long as they are outside,  

that's okay. I don't want snakes in my house. Dan: 

I have lots of good stories about snakes in  the house. One snake escaped in the house. 

Vanessa: Oh, don't tell me that.