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….

Somebody separated the two boys.

They were separated.

They were taken away from one another.

They did not see each other any more.

They were born.

They were separated when they were born.

They were separated at birth.

They were separated as soon as they were born.

They were separated soon after they were born.

at John W

Mark: Ok so. You. So. Misun. You were born in Japan. Is that right?
Misun: Mm. (Yes)
Mark: Where were you born?
Misun: I was born in Osaka.
Mark: In Osaka. In Osaka City?
Misun: Yes.
Mark: How old are you now?
Misun: I am twenty.
Mark: And your mother and father; were they born in Japan?
Misun: Yes, they were.
Mark: In Osaka?
Misun: My father was born in Osaka but my mother was born in Hyogo.
Mark: Uh-huh and excuse me.
(Interruption from third person)
Mark: (to another person) Can you talk to me later? I am doing something now.
(to Misun) ahm so your father was born in Osaka but your mother was born in Hyogo. Where were your mother’s parents born?
Misun: My mother’s father was born in Korea and my grandfather was born in Korea.
Mark: Where in Korea?
Misun: Is it “Cheju-do“?
Mark: Ah the island.
Misun: Yeah.
Mark: Ok ok. How about your mothers parents; where were they born?
Misun: Ah no my fathers parents were born in Cheju-do. But my mother’s father was also born in Cheju-do. But my mother’s father was born in Japan.
Mark: In Hyogo?
Misun: I don’t know.
Mark: Are your grandparents alive?
Misun: (Japanese pause word) Only two grandmothers.
Mark: Right Ok. Do you have a Japanese passport?
Misun: No, I don’t. I don’t have.
Mark: Do you have a Japanese name?
Misun: Family name; I have.
Mark: Can you get a Japanese passport?
Misun: I can(t?). (can? cannot?)
Mark: So you have a Korean passport.
Misun: I have.
Mark: If you …if you change your Korean name and make (a) total(ly) Japanese name, can you get a Japanese passport? Is it possible? Do you know?
Misun: I don’t know.
Mark: Ok. Good. Thanks.

at zoomar

Australian Guy: So Mao’s wife was married to Chiang Kai Shek’s wife?
American Guy: No.
Australian Guy: Mao’s wife and Chiang Kai-Shek’s wife were sisters.
American Guy: Chiang Kai-Shek’s wife and Mao’s wife were sisters.
Australian Guy: Right.
American Guy: And the females in that family were spread throughout both sides of that battle.
Australian Guy: Right ok.
American Guy: The females were on both sides. It is really interesting
Australian Guy: They came from the Shanghai area?
American Guy: Yeah.
Australian Guy: And Chiang Kai-Shek came from the Shanghai area?
American Guy: Yeah. So did Mao.
Australian Guy: Mao came…? Did he come from…?
American Guy: Oh yeah. His power base was Shanghai. Shanghai produced all the …Sun Yat-Sen ..When Sun Yat-Sen overthrew the emperor .. what was it…nineteen twelve or nineteen thirteen…whenever it was? He came from the same area.
Australian Guy: Nineteen nineteen was when they…
American Guy: Twelve or thirteen. Nineteen twelve. Nineteen thirteen. Something like that…
Australian Guy: Nineteen nineteen something happened.
American Guy: Yeah. But it all came from the same area.
Australian Guy: Shanghai is the real capital of China. Like in terms of…
American Guy: Oh yeah. Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Yat-Sen was related to Chiang Kai-Shek’s wife. That is where Chiang Kai-Shek…But Mao also married into the same family.
Australian Guy: Right.
American Guy: My feeling is that the history of the last hundred and something; hundred and twenty years of China, was on the female side. Nothing to do with the guys. Because they were so diverse. Sun Yat Sen, who was probably the most enlightened leader…
Australian Guy: Everybody loves him on both sides.
American Guy: Oh Yeah. He was a most enlightened leader.
Australian Guy: I do not know much about him but everybody loves him in China and Taiwan.
American Guy: Well he overthrew the imperial dynasty but…
Australian Guy: Sun Yi-Sen.
American Guy: He was a republican.

at Pulseman

Mark: OK, so I was arrested and I was in a prison cell and now I am free and I have got a week’s free accommodation at the Grand Hotel. I am going to go and check in….Hello.
Receptionist: Hello Can I help you sir?
Mark: My name is Mark White and..
Receptionist: Hello Mark. How are you? Are you having a good time?
Mark: Yes, I am as a matter of fact.
Receptionist: Wonderful.
Mark: The man at the police station told me that I was to have a week’s free accommodation.
Receptionist: That is right.
Mark: You know about it?
Receptionist: Here is your key.
Mark: Oh thank you very much.
Receptionist: And the bellboy will take you up there. Have you got any luggage, sir?
Mark: No.
Receptionist: No, no luggage. No cases? OK.
Mark: They lost my luggage.
Receptionist: Just up those stairs.
Mark: OK thank you.
Receptionist: And have a wonderful time and if you need any help…(If you have) any problems, just give me a ring.
Mark: OK. Thank you. So what’s your name?
Receptionist: Rodney.
Mark: Rodney, Mark. (shaking hands)
Receptionist: Hello. (shaking hands)
Mark: Nice to meet you, Rodney. See you then.
Receptionist: Bye.

at Kevin Sall

Mark: You were born in..What state were you born in, Aaron?
Aaron: I was born in Tennesee.
Mark: What part of Tennesee?
Aaron: Memphis, Tennesee.
Mark: Memphis, Tennesee. Right. That is where Elvis comes from.
Aaron: Actually, I believe he was born in Mississippi.
Mark: Was he?
Aaron: Yeah, originally and, um, he sort of took up residence in Memphis when he was doing all of his recording and performing.
Mark: Right.
Aaron: So that is where he based himself and he made, you know, “Elvis” synonymous with Memphis.
Mark: Right. Memphis that is a pretty big city, hey?
Aaron: Ahm. I don’t know a whole lot about Memphis. I would not call it a big city but I would call it a … I would say a small-size big city.
Mark: It is kind of famous for music, isnt it?
Aaron: Yeah blues.
Mark: Country music?
Aaron: No, country music is more east Tennesee. Nashville.
Mark: Nashville. So is Memphis west Tennesee?
Aaron: Yeah, it is west Tennesee. It is right on the Mississipi River across from Arkansas and very close to Mississipi.
Mark: Across from Arkansas?
Aaron: Yeah.
Mark: Right next to Arkansas?
Aaron: Yeah, that is where Bill Clinton is from, actually.
Mark: And the capital of Arkansas is Little Rock, isn’t it?
Aaron: That is right.
Mark: Right. Ok.
Aaron: I believe I have an uncle living right there somewhere.
Mark: Right. I would like to go there.
Aaron: (laughs)
Mark: So you were born in….

at Monique Hofland

Mark: Did you say…? Burke! Did you say you were…? Did you say you grew up on the road?
Burke: Ahm. Well. Actually I grew up in the back of a backpack but that is because … I was born in … in West Africa.
Mark: Wow!
Burke: … in Kumasi, a small town in Ghana.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Burke: And left there when I was about two years old.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Burke: … went through Europe for about a year, with my parents, and then returned to Canada at the age of two and a half or three years old to Ontario. Toronto.
Mark: Wow!