at MorBCN

(the sound of a child crying out)

Father: What did you say?
Child: (???)
Father: What does that mean?… Can you hear the boat?
Daughter: Yes. (hesitantly)
Father: I can hear the boat too.
Daughter: It is like an aeroplane.
Father: Yes. It sounds like an aeroplane. It is an engine. It sounds a bit like a helicopter, doesn’t it?
Daughter: What about “aeroplane”?
Father: Or an aeroplane. A helicopter or an aeroplane. It sounds a bit like a helicopter or an aeroplane, but it’s a boat. Can you see it? Go and have a look. Can you see it?

(the sound of a sneeze)

Father: Did you sneeze?… Can you see it?
Daughter: I want to go and play in the water.
Father: Now?
Daughter: Yes.
Father: Ok. Let’s go and play in the water.
(unintelligible childish sound)
Father: Shall we go now? Shall we go and play in the water now?
Daughter: Yes.
Father: Let’s go.

at Etrusia UK

Londoner: The words they use might change. Certainly. Vocab would definitely change.
Australian: Yeah. Yeah. That’s interesting. because I have a friend from London and I can’t understand half of what he says. Just the words… the slang. It’s so…
Londoner: You see my accent has been described as “home counties”…
Australian: Mm.
Londoner: … and if I had of stayed in London or where I was and not got a professional job, I would have had a very very coarse London accent. You might have the same problem understanding me.
Australian: Mm.
Londoner: But I came from those roots but my accent has improved through college and stuff like that so I speak probably clearer than a proper Londoner or cockney.
Australian: Mm.
Londoner: I am almost a cockney.
Australian: I get called a cockney.
Londoner: I was born not that far from Bow Bells but….
Australian: When I lived in London I had been there for twenty-four hours and people thought I was a Londoner ..maybe my accent..like the Aussie accent and the London accent are not that different.
Londoner: There are a lot of similarities . Yeah.
Australian: And I mean you know I remember being in…I was working in Sainsbury’s and this guy come up and he said “oh I thought you were a cockney like me” and you know I can put it on like you know what I mean like …
Londoner: Yeah.
Australian: You can kind of talk like this. I can’t do it at the moment. You get in to a roll …Have a beer and that. You know? Lets try something. Like. I will say one thing and you say exactly the same thing: Where are you from?
Londoner: Where are you from?
Australian: I am from London.
Londoner: I am from London.
Australian: What part of London?
Londoner: What part of London?
Australian: The north.
Londoner: The north.
Australian: The south.
Londoner: The south.
Australian: The east .
Londoner: The east.
Australian: The west.
Londoner: The west.
Australian: North-west London
Londoner: North-west London.
Australian: Where’s Wembley?
Londoner: Where’s Wembley?
Australian: It’s is in north-west London.
Londoner: It’s is in north-west London.
Australian: Where’s Wimbledon?
Londoner: Where’s Wimbledon?
Australian: It’s in south-west London.
Londoner: It’s in south-west London.
Australian: Is that right?
Londoner: Is that right?
Australian: Is that right ?
Londoner: Is that right?

at Starr Gazr

Father: Come and sit on my lap. Ok so once a upon a time there was a…
Little Girl: About this…
Father: There was little girl and she came up the stairs with her yellow laptop and she sat on her daddy’s lap and she put her laptop on her lap. But it wasn’t really a laptop. It was a book. Her laptop was a book. And she opened it up
(the sound of a passing tractor)
And the first page said the words “dining room”. And on that page there were the words “dinner set” and there was a picture of a dinner set. And on the next page there was the word “chairs”
(the sound of a passing car)
And there were two chairs and then there was a picture of a table and there was the word”table” How many chairs can you see?
Little Girl: Ten. One two three four five six seven eight nine ten.
Father: Ten chairs. And how many tables can you see?
Little Girl: One.
Father: One table? Ok would you like to turn the page?
(a pause while the page is being turned)
Father: Now on the top of the next page you can see the word “kitchen” k-i-t-c-h-e-n. And there is a picture of a toaster and there are two pieces of toast sticking out of the toaster and there is the word “toaster” and at the bottom of the page I can see four pots and pans. And…
Little Girl: I want to ..I will count them. One two three four five six seven eight…
Father: Mm.
Little Girl: …nine ten.
Father: Ten pots with lids on them.
Little Girl: One two…
Father: One.
Little Girl: One two three four five six seven eight…
Father: Eight pots and pans..
Little Girl: Nine.
Father: That is nine. And this one is different. The handle is different.
Little Girl: One two three four five six seven eight nine.
Father: These pots have two handles but this pot has only one handle.
Little Girl: One two three four five six seven ..One two three four ..
Father and Daughter (together): One two three four five six seven eight nine.
Father: And this is a kettle. This is a picture of a kettle and here is the word “kettle” k-e-t-t-l-e. Look at the kettle. Here is the handle. Here is the spout. And now the next page and you can see the words “living room”. And there is a book shelf with lots of different books. It is picture of a book shelf. And there is the word “bookshelf”. B-o-o-k-s-h-e-l-f. Bookshelf. And underneath there are lots of sofas. I can see a picture of some sofas.How many sofas can you see?
Little Girl: One two three four five six seven eight nine.
Father: Ah that is a pillow. I think that is a pillow. You are counting the sofa and the pillow but I think that is pillow. I would say: “One two three four five six.” Six sofas.
Little Girl: One two three four five six…
(the sound of a passing motorcycle)
Father: Seven. There is a big one. There is a big one. What’s the difference between this sofa and this sofa?
Little Girl: No.
Father: What’s the difference? Do you know? Look. Look at this one look at the big one. This one is bigger than that one, isn’t it? This one is smaller than this one. And look at the pillows. What is the difference between this one and this one? Look at the pillows. What is the difference?
Little Girl: Sofa.
Father: Hm?
Little Girl: Sofa.
Father: This one has two pillows but this one has only one pillow, doesn’t it?
Little Girl: (???)
Father: How many pillows can you see here?
Little Girl: Two.
Father: And how many pillows can you see here?
Little Girl: One.
Father: Ah so these two sofas are different. This one has one pillow but this one has two pillows.
Little Girl: (???)
Father: We forgot the fireplace. The fireplace is the place where the fire is. It is safe. Fire is dangerous but the fireplace is safe. It is a safe place to put fire. The house will not burn down. I am turning the page now. And what is that word? Do you know?
Little Girl: Mirror.
Father: No. That word is “mirror”. This word is “bedroom”.
Little Girl: “Bedroom”.
Father: Right. And can you see the mirror?
Little Girl: Here.
Father: And is it a magic mirror?
Little Girl: Yes.
Father: And what do you say when you look in the mirror? In the magic mirror?
Little Girl: I don’t know.
Father: Mirror on the wall. Who is the most beautiful woman of all?
Mirror mirror in my hand. Who is the most beautiful woman in the land?
Mirror mirror on the table. Who is the most beautiful woman in this fable?

at albertopveiga

First Guy: Prohibition; it started many gangs you know? Irish gangs. Italian gangs. You know what I mean? In New York and Detroit and Chicago and all he big cities. And they were all pushing beer and they were driving up into Canada and bringing whiskey down from Canada because it was legal in Canada. And. You know? Created a lot of crime. Ok? And it was like one gang would go into a place and say “you have to buy your beer and whiskey from my gang” and they would buy it from his gang and then the next week another gang would go in there and the people were scared!
Second Guy: Mm.
First Guy: Ok? And some people had actually been murdered and their shops were blown up and so all it does…all it does…these stupid laws create more problems than what they were designed to do. And I firmly believe that if they took a look at some of the drug laws that we have. And I am not saying that they got…they should …you know…make every drug legal. But you know… some drugs should be legal… like… you take marijuana … you know which has already been proven that it is good for people with glaucoma. It increases the appetites in people in hospice who are dying from cancer so there is benefits to many drugs.
Second Guy: Yeah.
First Guy: And I think they should stop and get off this stupid idea…you know what I mean?..that it is going to promote …you know…more crime..actually drugs promote crime being illegal. It doesn’t promote crime if it was legal because it would take the profit out of it by being legal.
Second Guy: Yeah.
First Guy: And that is pretty much what it comes down to and I cannot prove this but it is firmly my belief that my own government, the United States government is involved in drugs to bring in enough money to fund the CIA’s covert operations to run and destroy governments around the world who do not play ball.
Second Guy: I believe that too.
First Guy: You know? That’s it. And I believe we have a government behind the government.
Second Guy: You know like…Have you ever heard of a website called LEAP L-E-A-P. “Law Enforcement Against Prohibition” and its narcotics agents, lawyers; like all people who worked in the war on drugs…
Third Guy: I agree with you. I agree with you.
Fourth Guy: It is a major industry. Lot of money involved.
Third Guy: I don’t think they should have prohibition. I think you should be able to buy your heroin right next to your alcohol and whatnot. Absolutely.
Fourth Guy: With large federal taxes. They should tax hell out of it.
Third Guy: I totally agree. Totally agree. You know? I just think it should be treated as …addiction to drugs should be treated as (a mental illness?) problem.
Second Guy: As a medical problem. Yeah. It’s a medical problem.
Fourth Guy: It’s an income creation problem.
First Guy: Let me just say this. Let me say this. Ok. If you stop…and my first feeling is number one we gotta get churches, synagogues, mosques ; all religions…organized religions out of politics. Ok? They don’t belong in there.
Fourth Guy: Well they are out of politics. But they aren’t. Legally they are not allowed to be in politics.
First Guy: Yeah but they have so much influence.
Fourth Guy: I know. They won’t stay out.
First Guy: And this is the problem because they want to inflict their philosophy and their ideals and their morality on me and you and everybody else and I don’t want these people’s morality on me. I know what is best for me. I know what I have to do. I am big boy now. Ok?

at gbaku

Mark talked with a veteran of World War Two about his experiences in India

Neil: But the countryside was very much like Australia; barren and open and no water.
Mark: When were you there? What year?
Neil: Oh, that was during the war, about 1943 or ‘44.
Mark: Did you…?
Neil: (coughs) Did I what?
Mark: Did you fly there or take a ship?
Neil: No, I was in the air force. Flying.
Mark: Where did you go? Calcutta?
Neil: Everywhere in India: Bombay, Delhi, Colombo. All over the place. Flying all the time.
Mark: 1943. What (for) a couple of years or…?
Neil: I was there for a year and a half.
Mark: Where did you go then?
Neil: Ahm…I think I came back to Australia. Yeah, I left Calcutta by boat at the end of the war…
Mark: Yeah.
Neil: And came back here.
Mark: I went there last year.
Neil: Oh yeah. What is it like? Very populated?
Mark: Now, it is getting rich.
Neil: Really?

at ShellyS

Mark: So you went to high school in Toronto?
Burke: Ahm no actually. I went to elementary school and in grade three I moved to a small town about an hour north of Toronto called “Stouffville“.
Mark: Stouffville. S-t…?
Burke: O-u-f-f-v-i-l-l-e. Named after the Stouffes who were the original settlling family in the area. It is now basically all part of the GTA of Toronto. It is kind of been absorbed into the massive thing that is Toronto. Now.
Mark: Ok. Right. Ok. A small place that was absorbed by a big city.
Burke: Yeah well it is pretty close to that anyway. Yeah. Now it sort of a bed-town for people who work in the city and stuff….Pretty much…So yeah…
Mark: So you did your education in Ontario…like..?
Burke: Yes and as is typical for north Americans moved away to attend university and I went to a city called Hamilton which is a little bit east …No. Is it east or west of Toronto? About an hour and a half west of Toronto.
Mark: So you are still in Ontario?
Burke: Still in Ontario. Yeah.
Mark: What did you study for that first degree?
Burke: I was a … it is embarrassing to say it but a psychology major.
Mark: Psychology. I think psychology is very interesting.
Burke: It is very interesting but it is not really job applicable unless you get a PhD.
Mark: It gives you a good background, you know…
Burke: Mm.
Mark: to a lot of things; a lot of things like; when you first leave high school I think it is good to read and travel and talk to a lot of people and get a general understanding…of many things.
Burke: Well, I remember…The thing is I was reading my sisters psychology textbook in her undergraduate studies when I was in high school and I was thinking “my god! I can actually study this?” Because it just seemed really interesting; incredible. Abnormal psychology.
Mark: M-hm.
Burke: And so that is what convinced me right there that that was what I wanted to study at that point in time.
Mark: Did you read Freud or Jung?
Burke: Yes, of course it is a little bit considered… Jung is considered a bit on the philosophical side of things and Freud is sort of considered a little bit too sexual in interpretation.
Mark: Sex is an unpopular topic isn’t it?
Burke: Yes. Yes. Exactly. Cover it over if you can. So but yeah… We covered all the major people and …. I just became a bit disillusioned with it in the end because it was trying to act too much like a science.
Mark: Yeah.
Burke: Whereas it is very hard to have that kind of criterion on human beings. You know?
Mark: I agree totally. A lot of things… A lot of questions are not easy to answer and we try to get definite answers, like in maths and physics, and you can’t get definite answers like that in some areas like that.
Burke: But I agree with the basic premise of therapy which is to let out, you know, your feelings and have somebody to talk to as a sounding board, and hopefully guide you into an area where you can, you know, heal any problems or dark areas that you have gone through in your life.
Mark: I agree. I think talking is a great therapy.
Burke: Yeah.
Mark: I think so many people; they suffer and they don’t…they have problems. And just by talking to their friends; by opening up…
Burke: Mm.
Mark: … they can solve their problems and yet so many people aren’t able to talk. They are not able to articulate what it is; how they feel; why they feel that way
Burke: Particularly men obviously.
Mark: Yeah.
Burke: Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. You know. Women are just..I think.. have a natural… a better ability to express themselves. They just talk more. Men tend to hold back expressing of, you know, emotional type issues or things that…
Mark: Yeah:
Burke: You know are a little bit…
Mark: But, you know, I think that is generally true but I think a lot of our male friends are more articulate too.
Burke: Yeah, I agree.
Mark: And I have met some thuggish inarticulate women in my time as well.
Burke: (laughs) There you go.

at Edgeworth Johnstone 2

(the sound of a passing vikram)

Mark: Ok so I am just sitting at a cafe in New Delhi and I am sitting next to two people. What is your name?
French Guy: Jeremy. My name is Jeremy.
Mark: Jeremy. I am Mark . Hi.
French Guy: Nice to meet you.
Mark: You too. Where are you from Jeremy?
French Guy: From Paris.
Mark: From Paris.
French Guy: Yes.
Mark: And you grew up in Paris? You were born there?
French Guy: Near Paris.
Mark: Uh-huh.
French Guy: (French)
Mark: But you look Japanese . You are not Japanese?
French Guy: I am not Japanese. (French). I am Vietnamese.
Mark: Vietnamese? Ok. So your parents were Vietnamese but you were born in France?
French Guy: Yes. Yes.
Mark: Have you been to Vietnam?
French Guy: Just one time.
Mark: Just one time?
French Guy: Yes.
Mark: And you don’t speak the language?
French Guy: Just a few words.
Mark: Ah Ok. Was it difficult traveling there? Being Vietnamese. Being ethnically Vietnamese and not speaking? Was it strange?
French Guy: Yes a little but
Mark: How do you say…?
Jeremy: : Can you repeat?
Woman: Can you repeat?

at edmittance

Man: So multi-level marketing…
Woman: That is right.
Man: So what exactly is that?
Woman: Oh just. You can go into the website. There are just thousands. It is like I introduce two people. Two people introduce two people. And so there are tiers to this marketing.
Man: Like Amway?
Woman: Network marketing or multi-level marketing. Yeah.
Man: Tupperware and Amway. Are they examples?
Woman: They are good examples. Yeah. They are in the same category.
Man: How did you get involved in it?
Woman: A very good friend of ours introduced us to it when my husband and I came to the Gold Coast.
Man: M-hm.
Woman: We were approached by this couple who became friends and we were introduced by friends, which is the deceptive element in multi-level marketing because very often they recruit friends and because they are your friends you naturally assume…
Man: That they are ok.
Woman: Yeah… have your interests at heart. Unbeknowns to us our friends although they are good business people they themselves were quite inexperienced in this particular business so they actually without meaning to misled us.
Man: Right. Ok. And what product initially..?
Woman: Well this company is called Omega trend and it is a sort of a replica of Amway.
Man: Right.
Woman: And so they started with cleaning products and…
Man: They broke away from Amway?
Woman: Yeah. They actually are a breakaway from Amway though they didn’t like people to know that because of Amway’s rep.
Man: Amway has a bad rep?
Woman: Incredibly bad rep so that Amway had to change its name that many times to disguise its…
Man: Past.
Woman: Yeah past or…
Man: I thought Amway like…I have that heard it is expensive but the products are quite good.
Woman: Actually that is what most people say and I think there is something to be said for quality. I think it is quite good quality but the fact is there is a high profit margin so I think it is inherently unethical and they pump up the price and they have to because the different tiers of people have to make their profit along the way, to me, for me, I think it is unethical.
Man: And you felt you got burned? You felt like deceived. You weren’t happy with your experience?
Woman: I felt, yeah….

at haversack

Londoner: Great Dover Street. SE1. You know Great Dover Street? Near the Bricklayer’s Arms.
Ninety-four year old year old Cockney Man: EC1?
Londoner: SE1. SE1.
Ninety-four year old Cockney Man: SE1. Lovely.
Australian: Is that cockney?
Londoner: No. No. No. It is halfway between London Bridge and the Elephant and Castle. Borough.
Ninety-four year old Cockney Man: May I ask your age, sir?
Londoner: Forty-four.
Ninety-four year old Cockney man: Forty-four. Hello, son.
(the sound of hands shaking)

at Tambako

Mark: So John..
John: Yeah.
Mark: You are working on a dissertation for a PhD. That is for an American university?
John: Yeah, that is right. It is a university in San Francisco, California
Mark: And what is the area?
John: I am studying..It is philosophy but with an emphasis on Buddhist studies, you know, and Buddhist philosophy.
Mark: In any particular country?
John: Well, yeah, I am mainly interested in Thailand even though I live in Japan, you know. I like Thailand’s version of Buddhism better.
Mark: Is that theravada?
John: Yeah. That is right.
Mark: Ok. So are you studying any particular temple or any particular aspect of Buddhism?
John: Yeah. I am doing research on a couple of temples there in Thailand. One is called Suen Mok, which is pretty famous. It is got a very good program for ten day meditation retreats and they are geared for teaching foreigners meditation; meditation techniques.
Mark: What is the other temple?
John: The other one is north of Bangkok about three hours bus ride and it is called Tam Krabok.
Mark: Uh-huh.
John: And it is… Well it does different things but one thing it does is it helps addicts recover, you know. It has probably cured about one hundred thousand addicts; mostly heroin or opium addicts, you know, and so I am really interested in how meditation can replace an addiction. You know what I mean?
Mark: Wow! So they are like teaching people to meditate and overcome the problems that caused them to become addicted to drugs?
John: Right. Exactly.
Mark: Wow! Isn’t that a wonderful thing. A hundred thousand.
John: Yeah.
Mark: Wow! That is really amazing. You have been to the temple?
John: Yeah and interviewed several of the head monks and some of the other people there and it is just a really really, to me, an effective way of applying Buddhism, you know?
Mark: Right.
John: To eliminate our addictions and work toward something more significant
Mark: Right excellent. That is really…That is great. Like. To use something like that to…That is really good.
John: A real practical form of Buddhism. As I understand it to try to help people live better lives and things like that and this seems to be a real, you know, obvious way to do it.
Mark: Drug addiction is a big problem in a lot of different countries.
John: Yeah.
Mark: And if they are finding something they can do about, it that is really great.
John: Yeah I agree totally there. And it was a big problem in Thailand. You know until 1959 opium was legal in Thailand.
Mark: Really?
John: And suddenly they made it illegal and all these people who would take it as a normal part of their life suddenly were illegal addicts.
Mark: Wow!
John: And so this place has really done something that I think is really important.
suddenly they made it illegal
Mark: What is the name of the temple again?
John: Tam Krabok. It means cave of the “prabok”.  It is kind of like “telling it like it is” or something like that. Originally it was just a group of monks and they lived in caves
Mark: Wow!
John: And then they started making a big temple out of it.
Mark: The caves of truth.
John: Yeah. That would be a good way to translate it. (laughs)