【话匣子英语】采访罗伯托

 今天来话匣子英语做客的嘉宾是罗伯托

Roberto: Well, hello everybody. My name is Roberto, otherwise known as the Vegan Yoga Dude. I guess I could tell you a bit about my recent life. My recent… I have no idea what to say. Where are we going? Do you want me to start at the past?

Harp 1: Let’s start at the beginning. So you were telling me that you were born in Trinidad and Tobago.

Roberto: Yes I was. I was born in Trinidad and Tobago, and we immigrated 2 to Canada when I was 6 months old. So I spent my early years, the first 10 years of my life, in Canada. My father was in the Canadian Air Force, so we moved around between London, Ontario; Ottawa, Ontario. Then, when I was 10 years old, the family moved back to Trinidad and Tobago. I went to high school in Trinidad and Tobago. The school system there was run under the British system, which was quite rigorous, and I’m grateful for that. And then when I was 18, after high school, we came back to Canada, where I attended the University of Western Ontario. And I studied economics.

Harp: OK. And then, now do you work in a field related to economics?

Roberto: Absolutely not. I have done so many things. The only thing I’ve ever done vaguely 3 related to economics is right out of university, I worked for 6 months with an accounting 4 firm. And I realized that that was not the career for me, so I moved on. And I have done a few dozen other occupations since then. I went from accounting to freelance writing. I worked as a groundskeeper at the Toronto Harbourfront. That was a wonderful time. It was physical work; I quite enjoyed that. And at that time, I had a short career as a stand-up comic and as a professional actor. I didn’t get very far in either of those fields, but I did enjoy my time in show business. I also became an aerobics 5 instructor 6. And after a couple years of all of those things, I joined the Canadian military, where I became a logistics officer. And I did that for 10 years. However…

Harp: OK. So you followed in your dad’s steps?

Roberto: In a sense. He was Air Force. He was a physician, so he was a military doctor, and qualified 7 as a jet pilot. I stayed closer to the earth. I was in the ground forces, or the army. I was an army officer.

Harp: OK. And you were in the army for 10 years, you said?

Roberto: Ten years, but I broke it up. I have to keep things interesting. I broke it up into two segments of 5 years. I did 5 years, and then while I was in Germany, which was a wonderful posting, I left the Armed Forces to work for a while as a musician. And having had a very limited amount of success as a musician, I re-enlisted… I re-enrolled in the Canadian Forces and did another 5 years.

Harp: As a logistics officer again?

Roberto: As a logistics officer again, yes. While in the Canadian Armed Forces, they sent us to French school. And so I became bilingual, and that has been a huge addition to my life. I’m very grateful for that, to be able to speak English and French now.

Harp: That’s great that they sent you to French school.

Roberto: Yes. The requirement was that all officers had to be bilingual, and so that was part of the training for everybody. Off we went to French school.

Harp: Ah. Definitely gonna come back to this topic later.

Roberto: OK.

Harp: And then now, as a civilian 8, what do you do?

Roberto: Well, I did a few more things before I ended up doing what I’m doing now. I got out of the Armed Forces and took yet another shot at show business. I worked as an actor and, again, a stand-up comic. I did a little bit of freelance writing. I worked as a medical writer and I also did a little bit of security, including a brief stint 9 doing security for Celine Dion. And about 7 years ago, I moved into what I currently do, which is I work as an editor. I’m a book editor for English-as-a-second-language books, produced right here for the Quebec market. So I work on books for the high-school and college levels.

Harp: Wow. Very interesting life. I have a million questions. So, let’s get started with my questions. Are you ready,

Roberto? Roberto: I’m ready to go. I’ll do my best.