 Hi, and welcome. I'm Avi Arditi. And I'm Carolyn Pursuti from Central News at Voice of America. And welcome to talk to us. Actually, we are preparing to launch in the next few weeks a weekly call-in show on Skype. We've done several of these already, and there's been a lot of interest people calling in from around the world. And so we're actually going to do this from a from a real studio, and we've got some exciting plans coming up at the most exciting event right now is Valentine's Day. It's coming up tomorrow. Every week we'll have a different topic. We'll let you know ahead of time so that you can get your thoughts together, maybe practice your English for when you want to call in, and we'll tell you what the topic is so then you know what you're going to say or maybe some questions that you might have for us. And of course tomorrow, being the big holiday in the United States, Valentine's Day. And we've got with us on Skype from Rawalpindi in Pakistan. We've got Usama. And Usama, why don't you introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about yourself. Here, thank you. I'm from Pakistan and I'm living exactly in Rawalpindi, a city near to Usamaabad. And I have completed my computer engineering from Comsex. And now I'm planning to move to Australia for Masters. But the reason why you're moving to Australia is fascinating, especially because of Valentine's Day. Tell us the real reason you're moving to Australia. Exactly. The real reason, of course, my half is living there. My loved one, of course. And you know, so, of course I will learn also because we have to put the food on the table. So we have to do something. You say you're half. Your what? Your other half? Yeah. Yes, very well said. Now, does she celebrate Valentine's Day? I'm sorry to say that. In Muslim, you know, we are teach to discourage that because, you know, it's different. It's very important to bring out. It actually started out as a religious holiday saying to Valentine. That's right. That's right. Can I explain, please? Because, you know, in our culture, it's like every day is your Valentine's Day. What I think that, I think that only one day is not enough to express your emotions for your loved one. He's a good husband. That's great. There have been many Muslim countries that have banned Valentine's Day. Saudi Arabia, one of them. The printing unions have banned it in Malaysia. So different Muslim countries. It's not only Muslim countries. As I understand from what I've been, you know, I've been reading because I think some people think it's frivolous or, and it originally did have, as Carolyn pointed out, you know, religious basis. But today, you know, when people in the U.S. as Americans celebrate Valentine's Day, often it's with something like Carolyn brought in some, some props here, like these little candies. The, what are these called again? The, wait. They're just candy hearts. But if you can read them, see, they'd have different, yeah, that one says awesome. They're almost like fortunes and you hand them to people that you want to be romantically involved with or just friends with. Like that one says, too cool. And I like the one that you showed email me. That's a new one. That's right. I was growing up. That was not on these candy hearts, of course. And you give these. This one says you rock. And inside, of course, are chocolate chocolates. So, oh man, those look good. We'll have these later. But this is the tradition that you give chocolate. Yes? Oh. Osama, what did you say? I said, I said it's a day in which, I mean, a loved one have to wait. Or I mean, he can express his feeling for her loved one, huh? Exactly. And it's, and then Carolyn also brought in roses. I feel like I should have brought this. This is a biggie, different roses. And the colors mean something, too. Like this is a red rose and that means true love. That's right. That's right. Okay, so the yellow one right here is friendship. So you can give this to anybody. The white one is innocence. Usually white roses are used for our weddings here. And this one you should never give. Do you know why? Which one? See, Bobby knows. Wait, what is this? It's artificial. Never give your loved one an artificial rose. Oh, I see. It's made out of, it's made out of polyester. It's silk. Yeah, it's silk rose. And don't do that on Valentine's Day. So that's kind of really funny. Okay. Of faux pas. You should never do that. It's a French term, but it means something negative that you do. Yeah, but I knew the, yeah, yellow I knew is friendship. And red is love. And then the white is, is doesn't really have, yeah, it's just nice. Innocence. Yeah, yeah. Young youth, maybe you could give those to children. No, so Osama, what does your wife do in Australia? Oh, yeah, she just started his, you know, bachelor's. She just started his bachelor's in Taffy, TFE, Institute in Gold Coast. So she's just starting there. I forgot what exactly she's studying. I forgot the name of her program. So she's also starting her, her family's there. So yeah, I will join her. And you're studying computers? Is that right? Yeah, I'm computer engineer. I'm computer engineer. Great. Great. Well, Osama, yeah, we've got, we've got other calls lining up here. So it's, it's been great talking to you and we wish you the best in, in getting to Australia and, and, and you're schooling. And I need your prayers. No, you've got them. Thank you. Okay, we'll talk to you later. So now we're going to go to Rafiullah. Rafiullah, are you there? Oh, yeah, this is Rafiullah. Hi, welcome. Nice to see you. Nice to talk to you and see you. Welcome to talk to us. And so tell us a little bit about yourself. Where do you live? Thank you. This is Rafiullah from Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan. Welcome. And what do you do in Afghanistan? I'm working in an office ministry of education. Excellent. Yes. I've, I've, I've met actually English teachers and I think an English teacher who worked with the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan. And we have a lot of listeners there. I know that we have a good, good audience, good size audience for the VOA special English programs. And Rafiullah, we, Afghanistan has been in our news just in the past two days. You know, our president gave the State of the Union last night. And one of the feature topics to come out of that speech was the fact that we're pulling out a lot of our troops. About half of them. Carolyn did the main story for VOA last night on the president's speech. So, so what, what did you think? Did you, did you watch the, the President Obama State of the Union? No, exactly. I didn't see, and I didn't watch that. But I just hear about the Obama speed that they want to bring out the troops from Afghanistan. And on my opinion, it's good for Afghanistan people that the troops go back to their country. By this time next year, they'll be back here. What, like 34,000 out of the 68,000 are going to be, are going to be leaving our, so are you optimistic? What, what do you think for the, for the future for your country? For the future of my country, I think here must some troops remain here in Afghanistan. Because when they go out completely from here, then the situation will go back to 12 or 13 years back, like the Mujahideen time. It's good that they remain some troops like 20 or 40,000 troops, and they can control the situation. Raffiella, how often do you see American troops? Just when you're going about your everyday life, do you see them daily, weekly, and how many are on the streets? From the ISAF, what the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul? Usually I, I just see them only once a week in Kabul City. And in other provinces, I'm going to Jalalabad, usually see that two days after. In the troops? We want to ask you a question. In Kabul now they are not, okay. They are not, one more time? The troops in Kabul you were mentioning? Yeah, the troops in Kabul, they are not going outside in the cities mostly. Before one year or two years coming out from here bases and going out farther into the West and were walking in the roads and cities, and now they are not doing like that. Right. They're saying more within the bases. Saying more within their bases, they're saying. Well, Raffiella, thank you for calling. We've got other callers waiting, but we want to wish you the best and thanks for calling. Take care. Take care. Thanks. Thank you for calling. Okay, our next caller is Nguyen. And Nguyen, can you hear us? Hi, Nguyen. We can see you. Oh, can you hear us? You can't see us, but you might be able to hear us. Okay, well, let's go, we'll go to Mohammed here. He's calling. Hello, Mohammed. Hello, Mohammed. Hi, where are you calling from? I'm calling from Afghanistan. Another caller from Afghanistan. Where in Afghanistan? Yes, I got this ID from Facebook, and I'm now learning English. I'd like to improve my English knowledge, and I am very happy for this program, especially for the U.S. special English, that they provide a good program for those students that they want to get improved in their English knowledge. It sounds like you're doing well. Yes, thank you for your kind words about special English at our programs. You can find them on the Internet. If people watching right now aren't familiar with them, you can find them at voaspecialenglish.com, which is also learningenglish.voanews.com, either address. You can get daily news and information programs for people learning English, just like Mohammed, to slower speed kinds of programs. Mohammed, what do you do? Do you have a job, or are you a full-time student? I'm a student at the Polytechnic University of Kabul, Afghanistan, in Engineering University, and I'd like to post TOEFL or IELTS, since because of that, I'm very learning English, because I want to get six health or seven number in IELTS examination, or I want to post TOEFL examination. Because of that, I'd like to learn English, and sometimes I'm using from VUA, Learning English, especially from YouTube. From YouTube side, and it's very good news, very useful news. I'm proud, I'm proud for this. I'm very happy from this system. I'd like to ask from you, how's my English knowledge, how's my speaking? It's great, yes. Very good. I've understood every word you've said. I think you're well on your way to doing well on the listening and speaking parts of the TOEFL and the IELTS. And I do want to point out, we actually have a partnership with TOEFL. They recognize that the special English programs can help people prepare to take the TOEFL. It's reading and listening comprehension. You mentioned you watched the captioned videos on YouTube at the VUA Learning English Channel, and Carolyn is the host of some of those videos. And very happy to have you doing those, and with a lot of fans. And we have a lot of topics for those. And we have a lot of technology, agriculture, health. Yes, because I'm using from these subjects. And I have one problem, especially in reading. Because when I face some examinations in some courses, there are some problems during the reading, especially, there are very difficult passages. And how can I learn that, because I know that in international examination, special and TOEFL examination, there are very difficult passages, I know that. But if you guide me, that will be good for me. How can I improve my reading knowledge? From which books I can use that I want to prepare for international examination? Can you guide me? Well, here, Mohammed, do you go to the special English website, the main website? We have everyday texts and audio files of our stories. I mean, there are a lot of websites now where you can find reading materials, newspaper websites. But if you're looking for materials written for English learners, intermediate and upper beginner, I think you certainly would fit within those to go to the special English stories and read the texts. And you can listen to the words, the recordings, while you're reading along. But really, I think practice. I'm sure you've heard teachers tell you this. But the more you can practice with real materials that interest you, that you can find on the internet, it's going to help you improve your reading comprehension. And another idea, Mohammed, you talked about watching us for those caption videos. Remember, the words are right here underneath my chin, literally. And so if you turn down the volume and you just read the words, you air it one time that way. You play it that time one way. And then the next time, go ahead and play it full and see if you understood it the first time. So it's kind of like your practice. You look at it both ways. All right. Well, Mohammed, thank you so much for calling. And we're going to go on to the next caller. But good luck to you on your testing. So take care. Take care. We're going to talk to Nguyen now. And I think this was, let's see, go back to... Hi, Nguyen. Can you hear us this time? Nguyen, can you hear us? Can you hear us now? We see you. We see you, but we don't hear you. Okay. We're going to go to Ahmed. Hi, Ahmed. No. Can you hear us? Oh, we hear you. We hear someone. Yes. All right. Then let us do this. We're going to call this person you tried to call us. Translator. Translator. Is their name. Well, that will be interesting. Yeah. And we need to ask somebody, what's your favorite date? That's there. There you go. That was we were going to do that. Expression. We've been hearing all from men. So we want to hear from... Hey, translator. Hello, translator. Now, why is your handle translator? Is that what you do for your job? Yes, exactly. In what language do you translate into English? I do. I do translation from English to Arabic and vice versa. Arabic. Excellent. And where are you? I'm Egyptians. I live in Cairo. Cairo. Yeah. You've had a busy couple of years. Oh, yeah. And what is happening in Cairo right now? Well, you tell us. You look out your window and tell us what's going on in Cairo today. As usual, demonstrations and protesters are flooding, flooding into the streets asking and demanding some demands. And as usual, the government also does not respond to any one of them. So we're still rounding toward each other in the same circle. Translator, does that happen every day? It's pretty much every day, right? Actually, yes. Since two years ago. Right. Since two years ago, we've sensed out what we so called the revolutions. So called the revolution having Egypt. Right. Oh, the Arab Spring, we call it here. Did you... So Caroline reported on the President Obama's State of the Union speech last night, and he did talk a little bit about the Arab Spring. And Caroline did the main story for VOA. So remind us, what did the President say about the Arab Spring? Did you listen to it by any chance, translator? Absolutely not. He really didn't touch as much as we thought on the Arab Spring. He did talk a little bit about terrorism. But he did say, you know, that he supported everything that was going on in the Arab Spring. The changes. The changes, right, right, right. Yeah. But he talked more about Afghanistan and... Actually, we know, we heard from the Egyptian, the American embassy here and the ambassador. She is meeting with the Egyptians, opposition members and the Egyptians members from the government. She tried to make any reconciliations and the compromise between them. And also, I know that the Congress is also trying to help Egypt in the economic situations and so on. But actually, I didn't listen to Mr. Obama last night. You can go on voanews.com. We have a lot of coverage there. Look for Caroline's story. And, you know, truthfully, though, the State of the Union is really for the Americans. It's to give our state of our country for the next year in it. Pretty much tells what Mr. Obama is planning for this year. It's never... Well, it depends on the time that the State of the Union is given and what's going on in the country at the time. But lately, it hasn't been really heavy on foreign policy. And last night was true to form. It was very heavy on the economy, jobs, and also gun violence, which we're having a problem with here in this country. But let me say something I heard actually from Mr. Obama. Maybe two days ago, when I was searching to be our special English, I downloaded ESA. He was asking, in his speech, he was asking, asserting to the Republicans and the democratics to gather their opinions together and put the people's work against in order to help the American economy to recover. This is something very, very, it was very amazing, actually, as we here in Egypt suffering from the opposition, from the opposite, as the oppositions and the government, it does not sit on the same tables asking and negotiating with each other. This is actually what we did not see till now. Right, right. And although, isn't there been a lot of criticism that there's not enough, what we call bipartisanship between the Republicans and the Democrats and... Reaching across the aisle. And they all, they both have their individual plans, but they need to compromise. That's the real key. And I think you're learning that, too, in Egypt. You're seeing your government needs to do that as well. Well, translator, it's been a pleasure talking to you. And we're going to go on to our next... Take care. We're going to go on to Ahmed. Well, Ahmed. Hey. Hello, Ahmed. Can you hear us? Hi, how are you? Hello. It's good to talk to you. Well, I'm from Iraq. From Iraq. From Iraq. Good to have you. Where in Iraq? Yeah, I'm from Iraq. Excellent. What part, Baghdad or another city? Basra. I'm from Basra. Basra. How are things? What's going on in Basra today? Well, it's going well. Nothing new. Everything is okay. For me. What do you do there? Do you work or do you go to school? Well, I'm a pharmacist. Pharmacist. Do you work full-time as a pharmacist every day? Uh, more than. Do you work daily every day? Is it a full-time job as a pharmacist? Yeah, I work daily. And where did you learn English? Well, I'm learning English in school, but I've tried to develop myself by learning by internets. Oh, that's good. And you listened to learning English? To the special English? You know, we did a story actually in special English on how to become a pharmacist in the United States. And I was surprised, I shouldn't have been surprised, that at the amount of education, because it's not a medical degree. It's a different kind of, you know, degree. But the number of years of training required to become a pharmacist in the U.S. Can you tell us a little bit about the requirements to become a pharmacist in Iraq or in Basra? How many years of schooling did you need? Well, I don't hear what you say, because internets are weak, so. Okay. How many years did you go to school? To become a pharmacist. Well, I ask you to read the question, I don't hear well. Okay. It sounds like we're having a problem with the connection. We were saying about how many years, but we've got, Prashan has been trying to call us a few times. So Ahmed, we're going to wish you well in your work as a pharmacist, and we're going to go on. Ahmed, we're going to be on weekly, so call back. That's right. And, okay, let's try to go to... Oh, okay, we're going to take... Said. Said. Hello. Hello, is it Said? Hello. Hello. You're on with Avi and Carolyn. Is it Said? Hello. We can hear you. Where are you calling from? Oh, I think we're getting a picture. I'm from Iran. From Iran. Iran. We're in Iran. Yes, yes. It's great to get a call from there, because often it's difficult to call on Skype out of Iran. So tell us about yourself. Welcome to talk to us. Thank you. Said, can I call back in two or three minutes time? Sure. Sure. We will wait for you. Yes, you can. Thank you. We'll check back in. Please do. In the meantime, we're going to talk to Bonita. Hi, Bonita. Hi, Bonita. Beautiful picture you have. Hi. There you are. Hello. Hi. Hi, where do you live? Yeah, I can see you. Great. She can't. Oh, you can't. It's because we're doing this on Ustream, so that the camera is being used for that. So remind us, I believe we've talked in the past. So tell us again, where are you from? I'm from Uzbekistan, Tashkent. Tashkent, yes. Tashkent, yes. So how have you been all this time? We're actually preparing to do, to actually create a real weekly show of this. We've talked about this for a while. There's been a lot of interest here at VOA. For us, for Callen and myself to do this every week, we're going there. We're trying to schedule a real studio. And we'll have a topic. And we'll have a topic. We'll have a question of the day and a topic. And did you know that we have one today? Yes. Perfect date. Yes, that's right. Sentence, date, topic. So what is your perfect date, Bonita? My perfect, you mean for me, any date would be perfect. It's made from the bottom of the heart. Oh, that's from the bottom of the heart. Okay. And would it be going out or staying inside? Anything would be good if it's with a person, with Mr. Right. I take it you haven't met Mr. Right yet. Yes, yes. Have you ever asked Mr. Right out, someone who you thought might be Mr. Right? You know in this country, women do ask men out on dates. It's something new, you know, and some women don't like to do it. But And I think among younger people, I get the sense from what I read that they don't even necessarily call it a date anymore. It's kind of like hanging out, you know, hanging out with their friends, doing it as a group versus the traditional, you know, high-pressure date. Okay, now really, actually, I never asked a man or my Mr. Right to go out. But I was the first one who called. Oh, good. I was the first one who called. So, yeah. And I'm married now. So that's why I'm telling this story. How many years, how many years have you been married? Nine. Congratulations. So what do you do on your anniversary of your wedding date? You mean nine anniversary or 10th anniversary? Well, I guess a 10th is going to be big ones coming up. You've got the 10th. Yes, it will be only in a year and a half. So I haven't thought about that yet. But if you planned it, what would it be, Onita? That would be something great. We prefer, you know, we prefer to stay at home and I prefer to cook some nice dinner and some romantic cook, candlelight dinner and so forth. So I think it will be something like that. And my husband, he also prefers to stay at home. So we'll arrange something very intimate and romantic. Sounds good. Your English is excellent. Are there any local traditions? Tell us about the traditions for a Valentine's Day in Tashkent or in Uzbekistan. Actually, we don't celebrate it here. Frankly, I think it's another holiday here. It's a birthday of famous poet Babur. He's called Babur. But youth, yes, among youth, is widely celebrated. I mean, not officially, but I would say in public, not in public, in between people. Yes, I don't know how to say that. Between individuals, casually. Yes, yes, between people. Onita, I hate to cut us off here, but we're getting a call from Iran. And we were waiting for this caller. So we will talk to you again. Happy Valentine's Day to you. Thank you. Happy Valentine's Day to you too. Bye-bye. Okay, let's call our friend back here, our caller. Let's see. Okay, we're going to try to re-establish our call. We had a call. Let's video call it. You hear me? Yeah, let's try that. Let's see if we can... See if she's there. All right, Saad. Can you hear us? Hi. Oh, there we go. There you go. You just called us a minute ago, right? Tell us again where you're calling from. I told you Iran. Okay, just double check. Because we've been getting a lot of calls, I want to make sure you were the right, the person who just called from a minute ago. So tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you do in Iran? Actually, I'm an office worker, 34 years old, and I'm married. And my son is coming in less than two months. Oh, wow. Congratulations. Congratulations. Do you have a name yet? Do you have a name for him yet? Yes, I may name him Sina. Is that your first child? Is this your first child? Yes, I've been married just for two years. Oh, yes. So many more, right? How many more? Yeah, how big a family do you want? How many kids do you and your wife anticipate having? How big a family? Actually, I think we like to have two babies. Maybe after my first baby, so maybe in two or three years time. That's a good plan. Maybe a little girl. Yeah, that would be nice. That would be great. Now, you said you've been married two years? Yeah, for two years. And so, you know, we're talking about dates today. You know, in America, we celebrate Valentine's Day. It was Valentine's Day. Right. Tomorrow on the 14th, right? Yes. So when you take your wife out, where do you take her on a date? Do you have dates? On the weekend or for a special event? What's a special event like for you and your wife? Actually, for the end of my life, I mean, the best thing we usually do is walking. We just go walking and sometimes we eat out. Excellent. Yes. And you're like, I could say this as a parent, your life is about to change. And I think you'll be strolling. But it will be three of you walking, and it will be a great experience. It really will. Yes. So I've got a question. Are you teachers? Only through Voice of America? I mean, what we do here, I mean, I've been a journalist my whole career. I mean, too. And for the last 20 years, over 20 years, have been here at VOA working in news for people learning English. I used to work in newspapers and wire service and covering, you know, news for native English speakers and for international audiences. But this has been a great experience meeting English teachers. I've met so many English teachers over the years that have taken classes, actually a few classes on teaching, teaching English. And so in a sense, we help people learn, but we're not officially licensed teachers. And I'm the same way as Avi years in the business, in the media industry. But I did teach at the college level. I taught news writing in Richmond, Virginia at. I didn't know that. Yes. That's really cool. Virginia Commonwealth University. So I do have teaching in my background, but that was for a short time. Teaching isn't my first career. My first career is television. And I am married to a teacher. So I am a school teacher. So you are a couple, aren't you? What? I mean, you are a couple. Oh, just here at work. No, just here at work. I probably spend more time with Avi than I do with my husband. No, that's some time. I mean, you were, well, Carolyn was, you were here till three or four this morning. Right. For a, for a, um, three hours of sleep. So that's why maybe I'm a little bit, what we call slap happy. Or punch, punch strong, giddy. Punch strong, those are. Carolyn was reporting on President Obama's State of the Union speech last night. So she pulled together the main VOA video story, TV story about the speech. I don't know if you heard it or read about it in, in the news. Yeah, that's days. And Ron was mentioned in the speech. Why don't you remind us what did the President say? Right. The speech he was speaking about North Korea, and the nuclear device that was, that was exploded the day before the speech. And then he mentioned how North Korea is isolating themselves by doing this. And then he mentioned Iran. And Iran must learn to negotiate. They must learn to tap down their nuclear ambitions too and rather negotiate with countries. So that was the mentioning of Iran. I mean, the State of the Union speeches, Carolyn was mentioning with an earlier caller, is mostly aimed at a domestic audience. Understandably, it's a chance for the President to talk about the condition the State of the Union at, you know, any given year. And so especially in recent years, because of the recession and high unemployment rate, State of the Union has really emphasized economic issues. Jobs. Jobs. But also this year, President talked a lot about gun violence. There were a number of people, invited guests in the audience in Congress, victims or family members of victims of gun violence because of the horrible shooting at the elementary school in Connecticut and other recent shootings that have brought attention to this issue. And many people in the audience were wearing ribbons. Green and white and black ribbons as well. So there were various colors of ribbons and that meant that you were supporting, well, you were in sympathy with those who had been touched by gun violence or you yourself had been touched by gun violence this past year. I thought, no, this is. Yeah, it was an interesting speech because it really included a lot of issues. It did. It wasn't quite the kind of situation I know when your president recently appeared in Parliament and played that video and caused quite a stir. And we don't tend to have things like that here. I'm really sorry. But are we talking about politics or... No. I don't know how we got on that. Well, let's go back to Valentine's Day. We don't, you know, we'll talk about whatever people want to talk about. So, but you see, that's the journalists in us coming out. But not to talk about politics. That's fine. That's fine. Your English is really good. I mean, I feel like I'm speaking to a native English speaker because you're doing so well with your English. Yes. You know, actually, I've been practicing for almost 10 to 12 years. And I know it. I mean, you know, I've got the talent to learn languages. I can speak a little Arabic too. And I speak Kurdish too. Oh, my gosh. Great. It's born. Yes. Yeah. Actually, I was born in Baghdad. Yes. Yes. Yeah. But you know, my great-grandfathers were from the Kurdish part of Iran, so we were exiled to Iran in actually when the Saddam was president. Right. Yes. That's it. It's a little complicated. So when did you come back to Iran? 32 years ago. 32 years ago. And how did you meet your wife? Yeah. Aha. Yes. Actually, she's my cousin. It's just a typical marriage. You know, here we usually do not. Actually, nowadays it's changing, but I decided to marry in the traditional way because I was married once. I got a divorce, and then I decided not to be friends. I mean, just I asked my mom to find me someone. I met her, we talked, and then we married. I think this experience was better than the first one. Wow. First of all, yes, we were friends and we, unfortunately, we didn't succeed. Has she been married before? Ah. Has your current wife, has she been married before? No, no, no. That's the first time. And do you have children from your first marriage? No, no. We were married just for nine months. Oh my, quick. Yes, yes. And did your wife, like, had she also gone to her mother and said, I want to get married the traditional way, or was she looking, or? In Iran, or let's say in Middle East countries, men propose, not free men. What's so typical here, probably, I think it's positional. You know, even if the girls love you, they just try to get your attention. Well, she got yours, I think, after your mom introduced you, right? Uh-huh, yeah. That's great. Great. Well, good luck to you. Well, Saad, it's been great talking to you, and congratulations on about to become a father, and you'll have to send us baby pictures. Can you name my son? Do you remember my son's name? Can you spell his name? It's, you know, I'm a visual person. I like to see it, and then I remember it. Yeah, yeah, there is a desert between Israel and Egypt, which is called Sinai, I think in English. Yes, yeah, this is Sinai. Yeah, this is my son's name. Oh, so that's S-I-N-A-I. It would be in the English. Ah, Sinai. It's pronounced differently. What? We pronounce Sinai. Ah, Sinai. Sinai. Yeah, but you're pronouncing just different accent. You're pronouncing the second accent. Exactly, yes. Well, great. It's been great talking to you, and you'll have to call us back with baby pictures in a few months. All right? Congratulations, Saad. Take care. Thank you. Bye-bye. Nice talking to you. Nice talking to you, too. Bye-bye. Okay, well. It's in English, very well. Very nice, very good. Well, we're going to wrap up this edition of Talk to Us. Now, we have a name. It's been fun. We have a name for our show. We've got chocolates. Yeah, we've got... Oh, you know, there's one thing I wanted to mention. This is something interesting that you can learn. Do you see the X's and O's there? That's something that maybe... Oh, the X and the O. In fact, you know what, listen. New English learners might not know. We're going to do this. Let me take one more caller. Let's call her here. Usama. Hello. Hi, Usama. Where are you calling from? I'm from Australia. I'm from Australia. I'm from Australia. Welcome. Great. This, here's a good question for you. So now, I don't know if you can see our video. Probably not because we're... There we go. All right. Okay, okay. But we... Caroline is asking the letters X and O. If you see XO in like a note, if someone signs a letter with XO, XO, what do you think that means? XO. The letters X and O. X and O is something in the past, no? It's something in English. I think it's probably just for our language. I don't know. It's... It's a deal of language I don't know. Like I do... Well, it's hugs and kisses. This is the first time I heard it. I heard it. First time you've heard of it. That's good. That's what we wanted to teach everyone and X means kiss and an O is a hug. Wait a minute. I thought the X was the hug. Oh, no, because the O, that's your arm. Your arms that form the O. Okay, I just learned something. So I always thought XO meant hugs and kisses because usually you don't say kisses. Well, maybe people do, kisses and hugs, but if you sign a note to a sweetheart, to someone you like, you could sign it XO or a series of XO, XO, XO. XO, sorry, XO, yeah. Those letters. So it's not the mean kiss. Oh, what does it mean? A kiss and a hug. A kiss and a hug. It's, you know, it came long before the smiley face or, you know, the little... You could put that. You could sign a greeting card with that in place of love and then your name. You can put an X in it. Or both. You could put XO. You could say love and XO, XO, you know, and then put your name at the end. When can I use this? Well, do you have a girlfriend? Or a wife? Do you have a girlfriend or a wife? Yeah, and you know, it's often used on texts these days. I see it a lot on texts. No, no. Without it, without it, only X out. Yeah, that's right. You're right. You could say, you know, if you're making... I don't have anything like a friend. If I want to tell her I love you or something... That's right. Well, I'm curious. In Arabic, is there a similar greeting at the end that would be equivalent of a salutation like that? Of sending, you know, to say kisses, hugs, something. Is there a similar... A symbol. A symbol. A symbolic way of expressing love like that. Oh, okay, okay. If the good word, I can use it as a sign. There is a sign, but it's hard to tell. It's hard to describe it up there. Yes, yes, sorry, sorry, sorry. You can email it to us. That's right. Or write it down and hold it up to your camera. So, you know, so we can see, but... Can you see me? Yes. Yes, we can see you. Absolutely. What does it say on your coat? It says something on the left side of your coat. What does that say? Yeah. It's right by your shoulder, right here? Our audience can see you, but we can see you. It looks like you have a coat with words on it. No, it's because we're capturing the video of us on Ustream. So, Skype and Ustream don't work well together with the camera. So, what are... Are you a student or you look very young? How old are you? 22. 22? How do you do? 22 years old. What do you do? What do you do work? Do you go to school? No, I just... I'm just a student. And sometimes I work. Sometimes, not always. And what... When I go to work. Well, that's... Well, can you repeat that? The voice cut out a little bit. Can you say that one more time? What? Sorry. The last... We heard that you were a student and you work some time. But then you said something about giving something maybe to your girlfriend. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. We don't want to put words in your mouth. What did you just... You said something about... But we didn't hear it because the Skype cut out a little bit. But what... I said I am a student. Okay, and sometimes I go to work when I need some money. Oh, okay. You go to work when you need money, sure. And what type of work do you do? Sorry, I can tell you. Where do you work? What kind of work do you do? In the 7th commission, I do more work. Some commission, but what type of... Yeah, education. Education. Education? It's... We're hearing like every... Education commission. Education commission. Well, do you know... Are you going to be doing anything for Valentine's Day tomorrow? Is... Are you familiar with that? No. For tomorrow? Sorry, I didn't understand your question. Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. For people... Lots of people will be writing little X's and O's on their letters. But you mean Valentine's Day now? It's right. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Are you going to be doing anything special with anyone for Valentine's Day? Yes, yes, yes. I mean, going with my girlfriend for trips. A trip? Yeah. Where? Yeah. Where? Going someplace special? Yeah, yeah. In my country. At the place in my country, yeah. The place in my city. Ah, so... Place in the city. I want to ask you if... What do I think about my English? Because I want to test me. What do we think of your... Your English? That's right. I mean, I think your English is very good. Because, really, I have been studying Greek since last year. I have one year only. Osama, your English is good. It's just the internet connection is not good. And that's why we don't understand you. Everything you're saying that we can hear, we're understanding every word. I think your pronunciation is good. Your right intonation and emphasis on the right syllables. So, in terms of speaking it, I think you do a very good job speaking English. I don't know about your reading. I mean, how do you feel you are as a reader? Okay. Keep practicing. Well, Osama, we've got to wrap up here. And we will wish you and your girlfriend a great Happy Valentine's Day. A good time in the city tomorrow. A good time in Algeria, some place special. And we're going to, when we're done here, post the video of today's episode or this show. It was fun. On our YouTube channel. It was fun. A lot of news, a lot of exciting comments. We'll let you know. We'll post our plans for Talk to Us on our Facebook page. And hopefully we'll have the show ready to go in just a few weeks. And we want to thank you all for tuning in. And Carolyn is reaching for... Happy Valentine's Day. Wishing everyone who's people, careful with their thorns on there. But... Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.