Category Archives: Life in the United States

The traffic on the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles is so heavy (a large amount), that it’s difficult and dangerous to look around while you drive. But if you had been driving on the 101 recently, you might have … Continue reading →

I can’t say that I have never, never, never listened to a song by Taylor Swift, but I can say that I’m not exactly (I’m not really) a fan of her music. Ms. Swift is, however, extremely popular in the … Continue reading →

A glass of milk, and as many Oreo cookies as her mother would let her eat. That’s what my wife had for a snack (a small amount of food eaten between meals) after school almost every day when she was … Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, I was planning to spend an afternoon and evening with a visiting Russian student. He asked me to suggest what to do, so I gave him two choices: we could stay along the coast (where the … Continue reading →

Every city has its particular characteristics that, for whatever reason –  the culture of the city, the geography (the physical area) of the city, the history of the city – help shape (change) the people who live there. People adapt … Continue reading →

Remember your first job? I do. And I remember learning something very important from it. I got my first “real” job when I left home after high school to go to college. My parents couldn’t afford (didn’t have enough money) … Continue reading →

Who is the best? Or, at the end of the year or end of the season (the time of the year that a particular activity takes place), who was the best? Sports commentators (someone who knows a lot about something … Continue reading →

In the U.S., you start to hear Christmas music played on the radio after the late November holiday of Thanksgiving, and you continue to hear it all the way through the month of December. By New Year’s Day, the radio … Continue reading →

It’s nearly here. The year 2014 is coming to a close (end) and we’re getting ready to welcome 2015. At parties and get-togethers (informal social events) this week, we’ll be hearing a lot of people ringing in (welcoming) the new … Continue reading →

In 1933, there were not many gifts under Christmas trees in Canton, Ohio. The Great Depression had taken most of the joy and much of the hope out of Christmas. Jobs were hard to find. And the jobs that people … Continue reading →