182 - Discover Nebraska with Tanya Jordening
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Hi, everyone. Today we have an ESL teacher and language coach as a guest, Tanya Jordaning, who runs English Coach 3Ts. She's from Nebraska, and today she'll talk about what it was like growing up in the state. You'll hear about farming, the work ethic, Kool-Aid, and

and more. I hope you enjoy hearing her story as much as I did. Before we begin, I'd like to give you a brief introduction of Nebraska. Where is it? What's it about? Well, Nebraska sits right in the middle of the United States, and its economy is built on farming. Corn and cattle are huge there, but there's a tech side to Nebraska too.

Omaha, the state's biggest city, is home to big-name companies like Berkshire Hathaway and Union Pacific. Lincoln, the capital, has a mix of small-town charm with university vibes because the University of Nebraska is located there.

Back in the day, pioneers traveling west on trails like the Oregon and California trails passed through Nebraska. Real pioneers left behind some amazing stories. Just visit Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff and you'll feel like you've stepped back in time. If you're into nature, the Sandhills region of Nebraska is beautiful.

There's a stretch of rolling grassy dunes. And the Platte River is famous for the annual migration of sandhill cranes.

Now, if you're into sports, you have to check out a Nebraska Cornhuskers football game. Collegiate football, as we'll learn from Tanya, is a big deal. And according to my research, it seems like the whole state shows up in red to cheer them on.

So whether you're into history, nature, sports, or just looking for some hospitality, Nebraska's got a bit of everything. Let's discover Nebraska with Tanya. Hi, Tanya. Hi, Tanya.

How are you today? Great. How are you? Really good. I'm just looking out my window as the workers on my street are hammering a new roof on, so I hope they don't make too much noise during this recording. How's it going where you're at? Can you tell us a little bit about where you are? Absolutely. I currently live in Southern California in the mountains, and it is unseasonably warm here.

So it's a little bit more like Southern California is typically thought of, but yeah. So what's the temperature about today? Like 60s, 70s? Yeah, I would say 60s, but here in the mountains in February, it's typically more like 40s. So it's pretty warm here for this time of year. Are you originally from Southern California or from a different place?

No, I've actually lived in nine of the United States, and I'm from Nebraska is where I would say I'm from, even though I have lived a lot of places, but all of my family is still there, or most of my family is still there. It's from Nebraska. That's one of the states that I have not traveled to, and I'm really looking forward to this episode today. Just

To kind of get into your mind, your childhood mind, your growing up mind, how many years did you live in the state of Nebraska? Oh my goodness. Well, I lived for much of my elementary school years and I graduated high school there. I started college there. I've never added up the years, but I don't know, probably 10.

Probably 10 years. And you don't have any accent, any noticeably different accent than me. Do you feel like Nebraskans have a different way of saying things or a different dialect? What are your thoughts on that? That's a great question. I think, yes, in some ways they do because the farming culture

culture there. The farming is huge there. So sometimes they use words and phrases that are related to the farm. But accent-wise, I think they have a very neutral accent, if there is such a thing. And I think that it's very...

similar to a lot of other states. Yeah. You speak very clearly, very coherently. It's clear you're an English teacher. You also teach intermediate English, if I'm not mistaken. Is that correct? Yes. Yes, that's correct. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about what your business is about? Absolutely. I teach women who are intermediate English learners.

And I have an English fluency program for these women that starts off as a two-month program and continues with everything they need to become fluent in all four skills, reading, writing, speaking, and listening. And yeah, I also teach men with private lessons. I don't do as many private lessons as I used to do, but

That's kind of the rounding off of all of it. Yeah. So they're group lessons then. Is that correct? Yes. I have two parts to the program. One is a small group.

lesson that is two to eight other women with me. And the other is larger groups with breakout rooms, or I like to say conversation rooms, where you can speak to just one or one to three other people. Oh, fantastic. We'll have to talk about that later on. That's amazing. What's the name of your program just so that the listeners can look it up? Yes, the program is called She Speaks English. And

My school is called English Coach 3Ts.

English coach, three Ts. Perfect. And so let's bring it back to the discussion about Nebraska. So you're saying that a lot of the people there sound similar or have, you know, similar to other neutral American accents. So someone like me from California, we sound somewhat similar. And I guess the listeners can kind of give their feedback on that. Maybe they hear some nuances that are different. But

In terms of the vocabulary, you did mention farming vocabulary. I think it would be good to give people an idea about where Nebraska is located because it definitely has something to do with farming. The farming and the geography have a lot to do with each other. Yes. If you were to take your finger and try to put it right in the middle of the United States,

you would either hit Kansas or you might hit Nebraska. Kansas is just south of Nebraska, which is just a little north of right in the middle of the country. And in fact, I like to joke or tease people who say they're from the Midwest because

When actually, if you look at the country, it's more northeast. You cannot get any more Midwest than Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, which is the area where I grew up.

Yes. And that is also the Great Plains region, right? Absolutely. And Nebraska is definitely the plains, meaning it's very flat, very flat. So you grew up with farming in your lifestyle. I mean, I guess a lot of people grew up with farming.

around them, maybe agricultural areas where they could go get local produce, maybe. I mean, can you tell me a little bit about what the farming communities were like there? Yes, that's very Californian of you to think they could go get local produce. In Nebraska, the farmers are big farmers. They grow corn and wheat are the main things that they grow. There are some other things that they grow.

So there are huge fields of corn and sorghum, which looks like corn, but it's like feed corn for cows because ranching is also very common. Cows, some horses, mostly cows, sheep, pigs. And almost everyone, especially on the farm, but even in the little farm towns, have their own gardens. And so in Nebraska...

growing a huge garden is not thought of as like out here in California, kind of like homesteading and that kind of thing. Now, of course, there were homesteaders there, but big, huge gardens with your own produce is very common there. And even to today, now I haven't lived there in a while, but

buying local produce is not a big thing there because I think because so many people grow their own and trade a lot. If I have more tomatoes than I can possibly eat in the next five years, then I'll trade you because you have a huge amount of cucumbers and then we will

preserve these in some way as pickles or jars of tomatoes. And this is also super common and kind of popular or trendy in the West, but totally just a way of life in Nebraska. So then did you grow up with one of these big gardens on your property? Yes. Yes. Even when we lived in town, I lived most of my life in town.

My cousins mostly lived on the farm. Both my parents were born and raised on farms, but we were kind of the weird family. Both of my parents went to college and no one else in that generation went to college. In my generation, maybe half of us went to college. And now in the generation of my children, even more are going to college because big farming is...

taking over the one-man show. Gotcha. So most people grow up knowing they're going to get into the industry and then just kind of continue in their parents' footsteps, sort of. Yes, absolutely. And you were asking about a garden. Yes. When I say big gardens, huge gardens, because Nebraska is, you know, very open. People love

Even more than here in California, they will have a big yard. Even today in developments like we see housing developments here where the houses are super close today. No yard. Yes. Right next to each other. Right. Looking in your neighbor's bathroom. Yes. Yes. But further apart than, let's say, Mexico or some of the places in Europe, but still very close. And

even in housing developments, newer housing developments in Nebraska, they're very wide open. In fact, they often don't have fences between each other. So for example, here, you're very close to your neighbor, but there is a fence between you and your neighbor. When you buy the house and you can't see over it, or you have to get up on a ladder to see over it. In Nebraska,

Even in the newer developments, it's wide open and the children run and play from yard to yard and the big, big gardens. I remember my mom and my aunts always having huge, huge gardens. Have you ever spotted McDonald's hot, crispy fries right as they're being scooped into the carton? And time just stands still. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.

You mentioned your cousins had a big plot of land. Did you often go to their place to kind of run free and experience like life on a farm?

Yes, I spent a lot of time on the farm, actually, especially in the summers. All of the family helps with harvest, the time when they bring in all of the crops like corn or wheat, and played on the farm, help with the farm work, help with watering, which we would say irrigating the fields, help with driving the trucks as soon as your foot can reach the pedal, things like that.

And you would do this with your cousins at a young age? Or what age did you start doing that? My boy cousins might start driving a truck when they were very young, 12, 13, 14. The girls, not as much, but we started driving small motorbikes really young so that we could help irrigate the fields.

And what does that entail exactly? Irrigating? Yeah. Okay. I always thought it was fun. My cousins didn't think it was as fun. Probably because it was chores to them, like their work that they had to do. But they have big, long pipes that run along the field. And the water is going through the pipes. And there's a hole in the pipe.

every so often so that you can put water going down a row of corn, for example. Wheat is completely different, but this is the thing that stands out to me. And so we would go along and check each of those openings to make sure that there wasn't water that was eroding the dirt or washing all the dirt away because the water would all go down to the end of the field into a

what you might think of as a big pond, but it was what we called the reused pit. So a pit is like a big hole in the ground and all the water would go in there so that we could pump it up and use it again and water the fields. We weren't wasting that water. So did you use that as a swimming pool? Yes, totally. And we would

have certain times when we were allowed to do that. And of course, if we were, my cousin and I, who's the same age as I am, it was hot. That's what I imagine in the central part of the United States. I imagine very hot summers. I don't know, not as many trees. This is just in my head, and I don't know if it's true. It's flat for miles. And

Yeah, not as much shade, which is not, okay, you're shaking your head. Yes, no shade. Okay. Except the trees that people would plant trees along the north side of their property where they would build their house as a windbreak.

Because the cold winter winds coming out of the north would just be so cold. We would also play a lot in those windbreaks is what we called them. And it was trees. And usually they were at least a couple generations old. Wow. Yeah. But out in the fields, yeah, no shade. If the corn had gotten taller, there might be a little shade. But it was hot and humid and you're dirty.

I can understand why my cousins didn't like it. But for me, I loved being with my cousins on the farm and going swimming in the reused pit. Yes. And when we would jump into the reused pit, a million little frogs would jump out. Yes. It was like, it was so cool. I tried to draw it once. So my cousin and I would jump in, clothing and all.

And as we jumped in, almost like popcorn, little frogs would come out because this is not water like you're thinking of at the ocean or in a lake. No, it's brown and muddy. And so you can't see in it and there's frogs. Yeah. Okay. And as a kid, did that gross you out or were you like all in? It just, it was part of the experience. Totally. In fact, I would say that's one of the biggest difference we would talk about

farm kids and city kids. And I grew up in what was considered the city at that time, about 8,000 people. But the city kids we're talking about are from like Lincoln, Nebraska or Denver, Colorado. And when the city kids would come to the farm, we would do all kinds of antics or you might say jokes or funny things.

to gross them out because they were easily grossed out. By the frogs in the reuse pit. Yes. I love the visual, though, of them popping out like popcorn. That's a really good explanation of that. Yes. No, we were, we, I think this was one of the first times that I really realized how boys and girls were definitely treated completely different. And I think that's still true there. But

One of the similarities is that if you can help on the farm, then a couple pair of hands is helpful. And so the girls were getting dirty and muddy and we didn't have that feeling of, ooh, that's gross. Now back then, did they use the term tomboy for girls that, you know, tended to do more male-oriented activities?

Totally, totally. I would not say I was a tomboy, even though if I had lived in the city at the time and acted the way I did, I would have totally been considered a tomboy. Gotcha. Yeah, but it was... I was just a farm girl. Yeah, farm girl. Love that. Actually, you were speaking about corn, so there's a lot of corn there. I...

Looked up a few fun facts about Nebraska, and one of them was that Nebraska's nickname is the Cornhusker State, which reflects its agricultural roots. And it's also the name of the state's beloved football team. The Nebraska Cornhuskers football games in Lincoln's Memorial Stadium draw crowds that sometimes exceed the city's population.

Yes. Football is huge. Collegiate football, more than professional. In fact, when I came out to the West and other areas, I was like, what do you mean there's a difference between collegiate and professional football? I was like, there's nothing more important than college football. Collegiate. Yeah. College. She just said that. So it would be

not yet professional, but it's sort of semi-professional. That's where the scouts come to look for the next big NFL players. So did you go to a lot of football games then? Did you tailgate? Can you tell me about what that's like there? Because I didn't grow up with that. Even in my college, I went to UC Santa Barbara. We had a soccer team that was

It was a big deal. Wow. But there was no tailgating. It was, yeah, not the same thing at all. Okay. Well, I have done some tailgating. Tailgating wasn't really my thing. It's more of a real party, yelling, kind of rough experience. Although a lot of families tailgate with picnics and stuff. Our family was so far out in the boonies, meaning so far out of civilization. Right.

We didn't drive to football games. We didn't drive really anywhere. I mean, to go to town was a big deal to get groceries. But so we watched a lot of games on television. But yes, tailgating is super popular there. And then when I went away to college, which I actually, well, I started college in Nebraska. And that's when I first got kind of

exposed to or first learned about tailgating, but in Oklahoma where I went. And Oklahoma and Nebraska are football rivals. They're enemies in kind of a fun way.

Yeah. So you can get dressed up in your gear, but you might not want to go to their stadium in your football gear. Yes. Yes. No, you definitely want to go to their stadium and bring all your people. Oh, it's not dangerous in any way, right? No, but it's very rowdy or in other words, loud and lots of yelling back and forth at each other. And it's a good way to get all your energy out. Love that.

Actually, when you were growing up, what were the other activities then? So if you weren't involved in tailgating, I mean, you were spending a lot of time on the farm. Did you spend a lot of time...

Indoors? Watching TV or doing... In the winter, not in the summer. In the summer, you get up at the crack of dawn as soon as the sun comes up and are working or helping or available to work until the sun goes down. And that's, I think, where the work, if anything, the Nebraska work ethic is huge. And I think that's where it comes from.

When I came out to the West, just putting Nebraska on my resume would get me an interview because of the work ethic. Yes, I had somebody say, oh, put that you started college in Nebraska because of the work ethic. Oh, I love that. I hadn't heard of that before. That's a good little insight there. Yes, and it actually, what's funny is I thought, oh, that's not going to work. But my career, I started as an architect before I was a teacher. And my first

job

outside of the firm I worked for as an intern. I got the interview. I'm not kidding because the woman who interviewed me saw that I was from Nebraska and her mother's friend's aunt was from Nebraska. And so she decided she had to interview me. I'm not kidding. And I was like, oh my gosh, it actually worked. And I did get the job. It is unique. Well, congrats on like...

It's really interesting, though, when I was looking online, I wasn't aware of how many famous people are from Alaska. Nebraska. What did I say? Alaska. I said Alaska.

I've been talking about Alaska in a lot of episodes. No, but Nebraska. So Warren Buffett, Johnny Carson. We had Nicholas Sparks, who now lives in North Carolina. But I was like, oh, he's from Omaha. No, he's from... I don't remember what city he's from. Lincoln, maybe. There's only two cities, Lincoln and Omaha. Okay. Except for the city of McCook, which is 8,000. It's not really a city. Oh, gotcha. So two main cities. What do you mean by that? So they're just...

Like are just many places not populated? Yeah, it's a very, I haven't really checked, but it is not a very populated state. Yeah. Okay. Well, very famous people are coming from there. So you guys are doing something right. I think it's the work ethic. And you're from there. Yes, yes. Yeah.

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You mentioned Johnny Carson earlier. Yeah. And we were just talking about TV. You said you watch TV in wintertime during the daytime throughout the year, though you're up at the crack of dawn. You're out until the sun goes down. So wintertime, you were indoors watching TV. Yes. What sorts of TV shows would you watch? Was that like a big family time? Totally, totally. This was...

you know, I'm old enough that this was when you had to wait for television shows to come on. So we would have a big dinner, always kind of the same thing, meat, potatoes, corn for a vegetable. And then we would know that at seven o'clock or 730 or exactly what time it was, the show was coming on. And I remember my dad always watching Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. And

So a lot of the entertainment centered around this, the family would all sit down together. This still happens a lot there. I think that's one of the things that makes a really strong community and why perhaps there's people with success coming from there is the family connection that I think is not as typical in other parts of the United States. And we would all be together watching the same show, talking about that show, and

telling jokes about that show the next day because we did still work during the day that the days were shorter. And so you're out in the freezing cold working mostly with the animals at that time of year and still laughing about what Johnny said like he was one of our best friends. I love that. Because he's from there. Yeah. And so he was from, yeah, just the neighboring city. Yes. Yeah. Felt like a local. That's really cool. So do you think you...

carried some of that into your family? I just went on your website and I noticed it looks like you have a daughter. Yes, I have two daughters, two grown daughters. Yes, absolutely. I really...

value family time. And even though both my daughters grew up out here in the West, in the Southwest, and the culture is very, very different. I try to keep that part of family, not so much with television, although we did watch The Waltons a lot, which was, reminded me, it's not in Nebraska, it's set in Virginia, but I love all those shows that remind me of the more

simple life that you find in the middle of the United States. Gotcha. Yeah. Love that. So the Waltons and I mean, Little House on the Prairie. Oh, my mom used to talk about Little House on the Prairie. She loved that. And she was all about the Brady Bunch was her show. Now the Brady Bunch, because in Nebraska, and I'm not sure about other states, but in grade school as a young child,

You walk to school by yourself. You walk home by yourself with a sibling maybe or a cousin or a friend. But

You get home after school. Most kids have their mom at home at that time. Almost all my friends had their mom at home. But your mom didn't come get you. You walked by yourself. But then there's after-school programs, and the Brady Bunch was one of them. That's what you did after school. So you knew what time it was coming on. You were like, this is what I'm going to do after school. That's fun.

And so you said your mom is usually at home. And would she be preparing that you said you had meat and potatoes and corn for dinner? Was that like a typical meal in Nebraska? Totally. Daily basis? Yes. And usually from the farm. Usually from the farm or a neighbor. Of course, we had grocery stores, but we grew a lot of our own food. And my mom was...

not at home. My mom was of the first generation to go to college, and so she worked. But she would make a lot of very typical food, corn on the cob, roast beef, fried chicken. Fried chicken, big thing in Nebraska. We raised maybe 200 chickens a year in our family. Oh, wow. Yeah, there's a story on my YouTube about

dressing the chickens, meaning getting the chickens ready to eat, not putting clothes on them. I'm sure that's interesting. Definitely. I've had some stories with that in Brazil with my husband's grandpa and dressing the chicken. I didn't know that was the term you used to say prepare to eat it. I think there's probably a few stories out in the world like that. Yes. Well, and actually, I wonder if you've heard the idiom running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Yes, that's a fantastic idiom. And what does that mean? It really describes me like having so much to do more than you can possibly get done that you're running around busy all the time. Crazy. Like you're just crazy. That's what happens when they cut the chicken's head off. Yeah. It sounds horrible, but it's actually a very humane way

To kill the chicken so that it's very fast. My grandma once did that, and it was a story that was passed down through my family about how she had her white sheets hanging up, and the chicken was running all around, and it was spraying the sheets in red. Yes, because the blood is still, and the boys love to freak out or upset the girls.

Oh, no. Because actually, typically, they have a chopping block where they chop the head off, cut the head off. And as soon as they cut the head off, they put it upside down so that it bleeds into the dirt and it's very fast. But letting it go is just fun to freak out your sister or your cousin. Standing next to you and they just let go of it. Yeah. Or your mother. Yeah. Yes.

Wow. Crazy. So that's what you would eat then with your family. You had the 200 chickens. You would eat some of them. I'm sure some of them you used to get eggs. Totally. Huge, huge amount of egg chickens. So then did you have any international food in your city when you were growing up? Or in your, sorry, not city. What would you call it?

Town. Town. But the people there really did call it a city, even though it's not. It's really a town. No, we didn't. None. Zero. In fact, people almost never went out to eat. And if they did, very, you know, once a month or something. But my mom, I think partly because of her education, partly because she was a working mom, we didn't go out to eat much, but she

tried a lot of different things. And I can remember when she made tacos. I'm making air quotes like they weren't really tacos. A Mexican person would be like, that's not a taco. It's a burrito. Fusion. Oh, it's a burrito. Fusion. Yeah. Fusion is a really new word. But I mean, for this kind of thing. But and our town, when I was a teenager, got Taco John's, which is a chicken

chain a little bit like what we now have called Taco Bell and still

Not Mexican, more Mexican-American. Tex-Mex, maybe. Would you call that Tex-Mex? Do you know? Yeah, Mexican-American Tex-Mex, I would go. Yeah. Now it's probably changed a bit. Look on your face is saying maybe not so. We do have a Pizza Hut. Okay. So Italian. But no, they don't have any. Yeah. I haven't been to McCook for a couple years, but I wouldn't say they have any of the really great

food we get from immigrants who come and open up really authentic restaurants. No, none of that. Probably in the city. Probably in the city. Yeah. I don't love those restaurants. You know, all the immigrants have opened these amazing places. I just think it expands our minds in the culinary aspect and also just to come across new people. It's

Lovely. Yeah. I know. It's fabulous. I have some women in my program who have worked in authentic restaurants from their country like China. It's really amazing the culture that you learn there too. I watch a lot of the Netflix shows like Ugly Delicious. I'm not sure if you've seen that, but they go inside the restaurant and see what's happening. And it's always interesting to see the authentic

side of things and then how they adapt it to like fit an American palette because yes a lot of times there is a lot of change it's not going to be the same thing they're going to serve to people from their own country always exactly exactly so there's always still more to learn for sure yeah

Yeah. I actually have a request for you. Do you mind looking at the document I sent you? There are underneath 10 facts. There is interesting information I've discovered about Nebraska. And I was wondering if you would mind reading a few of them for me. Yeah, no problem. I want to read the one...

Let me look here. You get to choose. Yeah, because there's quite a bit I didn't know. Kool-Aid was invented here. I was hoping you were going to say that one.

I grew up on Kool-Aid. Me too. Oh my gosh, let's read it. Kool-Aid, the popular drink mix, was invented in Hastings, Nebraska in 1927 by Edwin Perkins. The state honors this sweet innovation with an annual Kool-Aid Days Festival. Okay, the thing that's amazing to me is Hastings is not far from where I grew up.

maybe an hour, which, you know, in the United States is not too far. And I don't. Yeah, I didn't know. So did you know this? No. Okay. I don't think I've seen it at a grocery store in a long time. Yeah, I looked for some recently and couldn't find it. Okay. So how would you describe it?

What is Kool-Aid exactly? Kool-Aid for me is what came before Coca-Cola. It was the sweet drink that we had. I think its name comes a little bit from lemonade, except that there are more flavors than lemon you can get. Cherry Kool-Aid, grape Kool-Aid, all kinds. There was a green one. I don't remember what it was because I didn't like it. But it doesn't have bubbles.

But you can take a little packet and pour it into a pitcher of water and add your own sugar, a lot of sugar, and stir it up. And it's fast and easy and cheap, really cheap. I think that was the big thing is that even as it started to go out of style, moms would give it to their kids because it was so cheap, much cheaper than Coca-Cola or Pepsi-Cola or 7-Up. Yeah.

I'm wondering if you had the same experience as me. I mean, we grew up in different places. I remember going to the grocery store and standing in front of the Kool-Aid section, which was expansive. I mean, it took up a chunk of the aisle and there were the little packages of every single different, you know, it was all color coded by the different flavor and you could see the fruit on the front.

And I would stand there with my mom going, which ones are we going to get today? And then I would go through going, okay, I want watermelon. I want strawberry. And it was so exciting to have that little stash of Kool-Aid packages to drink later on. And it's, for me, you know, someone who's interested in language, you can really tell the difference in our ages. My flavors were cherry, grape, orange.

Yours were watermelon. Pardon me, strawberry. I remember when strawberry came out because red was my favorite. Yeah. And or at least when it came to our store. So and raspberry, we didn't have raspberry or blue. Now, now if they still have it, they had a blue one. I don't know why raspberries always blue. Maybe just because there's already cherry and strawberry. I'm like, how did?

How did it go that direction? Right. Blue. I guess because they were thinking, we really want something blue. Yeah. With a fruit that's, okay, there's no blue fruits. We already have purple. I guess blueberry. Blueberry.

Yeah, I don't think they have a blueberry. Yeah. That's so funny. But it just reminded me because this morning, actually, I was talking about Kool-Aid with my husband. He's Brazilian. And he was talking about Tang because we had Tang too. I had a big orange Costco container of it growing up. And I don't know how long we had it, but it was probably way expired when we were still drinking it.

And he said, oh, in Brazil, Tang was always really popular. And I asked him, do the people in Brazil know what Tang means? That it means like sour sort of? He goes, no, no one knows that. It's just a brand for them. But yeah, he was talking about the same thing. They had their different packages and different colors and different flavors and things. And I just thought that was...

Kind of funny. Yeah, it is. And Tang, if I'm correct, I haven't researched this, but I think Tang was developed for astronauts, wasn't it? Really? Yeah, we'll have to look in that to be sure. But I'm pretty sure they developed it as a drink that could be put on the rocket ship.

And go to space. Yeah. I feel like they should have more commercials with that information because that is a very cool fact if it's true. I think they did. I remember commercials of like the guys in space holding their tank. But you know how commercials evolve over time. Because you said another thing. We did not have Costco in Nebraska. They have it now, I'm sure. But we did not have Costco. I remember when they got Walmart, actually.

Like after I was out of college. Was it a big deal? Big deal. Big deal. Yes. Funny. Is that foreign? It's foreign. Walmart being foreign. That's so good. Love that. Was there anything else from the list that you wanted to mention? Okay, let me take a look here. I wanted to read this one. World's largest woolly mammoth bossel.

Nebraska is known for its prehistoric discoveries, and the world's largest woolly mammoth fossil is housed at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln. Mammoths once roamed the region during the Ice Age. So interesting. See, that's not something I knew. Yeah. It's not like you talk about woolly mammoths every day. No, when you can talk about football. Yeah. Yeah.

That's true. It does come up often in conversation. Yes. Carhenge, I thought, was quite interesting. I'd seen pictures of Carhenge before. Mm-hmm.

Have you ever been to Carhenge and what is it? No, I haven't. I've heard about it. A farmer created this on their property, but it says here, Nebraska is home to the quirky roadside attraction Carhenge, located in Alliance. This art installation is a replica of England's Stonehenge, but made entirely of old cars painted gray.

Very interesting. Yeah, I haven't been there and I don't know. Do you have any idea what year this is? Because I think it is a little newer. No idea. When was carhenge made? Let's see. 1987. Okay. By Jim Reindeers. Yeah. That was after I graduated high school and had already left for a university out of state. So...

Next time you go. Yes. You can visit the woolly mammoth and then go to Carhenge. Yes. Yes. So then if people decide to go to Nebraska, what do you think they should do? What would be an activity for them? Gosh, I wish they could meet a farmer and go to the farm because...

We never thought of tourists coming to Nebraska. We never went to any tourist sites like this. It would be great if you could, even if you don't meet a farmer, go out to the farms. If you see a farmer, they're friendly people.

If they're not too busy, they'd love to talk to you and they would probably tell you so many stories, especially if it's not, you know, right at harvest in July, June, July. It's too hot to be there anyway. But I guess the fun things we would do is like a 4th of July celebration is a great experience.

in Nebraska because it's the family and there's nothing fancy. It's just good old time with family and friends and a few fireworks if it's not too dry because of the fields and that kind of thing. Yeah, that's me. No matter where I go, I kind of want to learn about the local people. And it's very American to strike up a conversation or to start a conversation with

With someone you don't know, you can use a little

small talk. If you say to a farmer, how about this weather? You're going to have a conversation. Love that. I love that. Yeah, that's probably right up their alley because everything revolves around the weather, right? I mean, if you want to have good crops and your daily activities. I really love that. And I also encourage you guys to go out and talk to people as much as you can because, you know,

I think once you start breaking down your own barriers, it'll come easier over time. Is there anything else you would like to share about your home state or anything?

No, I think we've covered a lot. I, like the farmer, could talk your ear off, but I think this is a lot of information already. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. And once again, everybody, if you want to check out Tanya's website, I will post the link in the episode notes for you. Thanks again. Thank you so much, Shauna. It's been great being here with you.

I hope you enjoyed that lesson. As I said, I've never been to Nebraska before, but if I went, I would definitely go tailgating at a football game. Tailgating is an activity that we didn't really go into in depth during our chat, but it's popular across the United States, especially at sporting events. At football games in Nebraska,

Tailgating is a cherished tradition, and it usually involves eating, drinking, and partying behind one's truck or car. Listen to this. Quote, Hours before kickoff, the areas around Memorial Stadium in Lincoln transform into a sea of red, with fans setting up tents, grills sizzling with burgers and brats.

Now, sometimes there's entertainment like live music, but in general, there's just a lot of socializing. So it would be a great place to practice English and to meet locals. Just be sure to wear the right colors. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that lesson.

If you would like the premium content that goes along with this, which includes the PDF transcript, quiz, and podcast reader to work on your pronunciation, be sure to check out the link in the episode notes. Until next time, bye!

Thanks and hope to see you soon.