0:02

Hi,

0:04

everybody. My name is Shauna, and this

0:06

is the American English Podcast. My goal

0:09

here is to teach you the English

0:11

spoken in the United States. Through

0:13

common expressions, pronunciation tips, and

0:16

interesting cultural snippets or stories,

0:19

I hope to keep this fun, useful,

0:21

and interesting. Let's do it. Learning

0:26

the post office in the

0:28

United States can be both

0:30

a chore and a

0:32

new experience to practice English.

0:35

In this 5-minute English lesson,

0:38

you are going to hear a true story

0:41

about my grandma. I'll

0:44

use her true story as

0:46

a canvas to expose you

0:48

to a bunch of new

0:51

vocabulary related to this topic.

0:53

By the end, you will be

0:56

prepared for your next trip to

0:58

the US Post Office and for

1:00

any situation in which you need

1:03

vocabulary related to mail, sending

1:06

letters and cards, packages,

1:08

and anything in that

1:11

realm. So,

1:13

this is a topic-specific

1:15

lesson. It will be

1:17

advanced. Don't worry,

1:19

though. I've created a full

1:22

lesson that goes alongside this

1:24

audio to help you out.

1:26

The supplementary lesson contains an

1:28

image sheet with pictures

1:31

of all of the key

1:33

vocabulary discussed, a video

1:35

for you with those images

1:38

to practice your pronunciation, as

1:41

well as many exercises and quizzes.

1:43

As a language learner myself,

1:46

this will be incredibly useful

1:48

not only for the comprehension

1:51

side of learning, but

1:53

for the retention side

1:55

as well. We all

1:57

want to remember what we learned. You'll

2:01

find the links for the premium

2:03

content in the episode notes. I

2:07

think a lot of you will relate

2:09

to this story. If

2:11

you do, I'd love to hear from you.

2:14

You can write a comment on Spotify.

2:17

You can write to me on

2:19

Instagram at American

2:21

English Podcast. Or

2:25

I'm so excited about this one. You can

2:27

send me a real

2:29

postcard. Yes, real

2:32

mail, real post. I

2:35

want to decorate my wall in my

2:37

office with postcards from you guys. I

2:40

got this idea from my friend Pete and

2:43

I want to use it as sort of a

2:45

reminder why I create this podcast. It's

2:48

because of all of you and

2:50

I'm excited to see if I receive

2:53

anything. So stay tuned

2:55

to hear the address. It's at the

2:57

end of this episode and you can

2:59

also find it in the episode notes.

3:02

Without any further ado, I'll begin

3:04

with an introduction. Then

3:06

you'll hear the five minute English episode

3:08

with all of the intensely

3:11

topic specific vocabulary.

3:14

And then at the very end, you're going to

3:16

hear the recording one more time. Don't

3:20

miss listening to it the second time

3:22

around. That is

3:24

going to be a great way to

3:26

pick up vocabulary you didn't pick up

3:29

the first time. Reinforce

3:31

the words that you understood from context.

3:34

Just listen to the end, all right? My

3:39

grandma, Maria, was

3:42

Spanish. She was born

3:44

and raised in Spain in

3:46

a small town called Sonseca

3:49

in Castilla, La Mancha. Or

3:51

should I say the land of Don

3:53

Quixote. Sonseca is small.

3:56

It's teeny tiny. I mean, it's to the point

3:58

where you can't find it. Point: Everyone

4:01

knows everyone on the

4:03

streets. For some

4:05

that the military sounds like a

4:08

dream. For. Others. It's

4:10

a nightmare. My grandma

4:13

well as he wasn't meant for

4:15

a small. Town. In

4:17

English, she was what we'd

4:19

call a big fish in

4:21

a small pond. Meaning.

4:24

Her dreams and ambitions, Didn't.

4:27

Sit in a town of a few

4:29

thousand. With. Not much to do.

4:31

She had an adventurous spirit and

4:34

a travel bug. So at

4:36

the age of nineteen see left.

4:38

And. Became an au pair. In

4:41

Washington, D C. The.

4:43

Capital. Of the United

4:45

States. Au pair is

4:47

a French loan word we use

4:50

in English. It's essentially a

4:52

nanny someone who lives with a

4:54

family. And takes care of the

4:56

kids. She. Was an au

4:58

pair for an American family. Who.

5:01

Taught her about the culture of

5:03

the United States. And

5:05

they helped her master English

5:07

as a second language. She.

5:10

Loved. English. So.

5:13

After returning to Europe, she used

5:15

English as a tour guide in

5:17

Madrid. And spent her

5:20

days sharing Spanish. Called with

5:22

American. One. Day

5:25

she met a very tall

5:27

Michigan under. My.

5:30

Grandpa. Together. They

5:32

traveled the world, got married,

5:34

and had kids. The. Point

5:36

is, they eventually settled in the

5:38

Us. Far. Far

5:41

from Spain. You. May

5:43

be wondering what does this have to do

5:46

with the post office? Get to the point.

5:49

Hold. Your horses and getting to it.

5:51

So. My Grandma story. Sounds

5:54

like a typical international.

5:57

Love Story Night. But.

5:59

What? Hall? what Hollywood doesn't tell you

6:01

about international love stories

6:04

is that they're bittersweet. There

6:07

are always friends and

6:09

family members left behind. My

6:12

grandma was one of six girls, and

6:15

as she got older, she craved

6:17

a stronger connection with them. The

6:20

problem was international flights

6:22

to Spain were not in the

6:25

family budget. International

6:27

calls were too expensive and

6:30

reserved for special occasions

6:32

like Mother's Day and

6:35

birthdays. Email didn't

6:37

exist yet, so she

6:39

wrote. She wrote

6:41

postcards and letters. She

6:44

sent pictures of her kids and

6:47

eventually her grandkids. In

6:50

her lifetime, the United States

6:53

Postal Service was her lifeline

6:55

to the people she'd left

6:58

overseas. Let's

7:01

begin this five-minute English lesson. My

7:04

grandma permanently moved to the United States

7:06

from Spain in the 1950s, and the

7:08

only way

7:11

she could afford to keep in contact

7:14

with friends and family was

7:16

through writing letters. Flying

7:18

and international calls back then were

7:21

not in her family's budget. In

7:23

a way, it's sort of sad. Sending

7:26

letters through the USPS, the

7:29

United States Postal Service, is

7:31

called snail mail for a

7:34

reason. In comparison

7:36

to email, which can be

7:38

sent and received in seconds,

7:41

letters can take a while to

7:43

arrive. Waiting for snail

7:45

mail, so standard post

7:48

or standard mail, led

7:50

to a lot of anticipation.

7:53

When the mailman brought my grandma handwritten

7:56

correspondence or letters

7:58

from her sisters, She

8:01

was thrilled, and

8:03

rightfully so. Unlike

8:05

junk mail, ads,

8:07

or flyers that fill up our

8:09

mailboxes and end up in the

8:11

trash, personal letters

8:13

are meaningful. They

8:16

require thought and time to

8:18

create. Don't handwritten

8:20

letters make you feel special? My

8:23

grandma was on a mission to

8:25

make her sisters and mother feel

8:27

extra special. After

8:30

all, this was pretty much the only

8:32

way they communicated. So

8:34

she bought beautiful stationery,

8:36

such as decorative paper,

8:39

pretty envelopes, stickers,

8:42

and nice ink pens to

8:44

make her letters look pretty.

8:46

She didn't do calligraphy with

8:49

an ink pot and quill,

8:51

but she wrote her messages

8:53

in cursive, so

8:56

with beautiful, connected letters.

8:59

Her handwriting was a sign of the

9:01

times. Back then, penmanship

9:04

classes were a thing. Today,

9:07

however, many Americans

9:09

write in print, each

9:12

letter separate from the next.

9:15

Even though print is more legible,

9:18

it's easier to read,

9:20

cursive looks more elegant, doesn't

9:23

it? My grandma wrote

9:25

her messages in cursive.

9:28

After she filled lined paper or

9:30

her beautiful stationery with stories about

9:33

her life in the U.S., she

9:36

folded the sheets nicely and

9:38

placed them in an envelope.

9:41

Then she would address the envelope to

9:43

the recipient, either her mother

9:45

or one of her sisters. Under

9:48

their name, she would write out

9:50

the delivery address, and

9:52

up in the corner, she would

9:54

write the return address in

9:56

case the letter got lost in the mail.

10:00

As a kid, I noticed how

10:02

those Spanish delivery addresses look different

10:04

from what I was used to.

10:07

In the US, we typically use

10:09

only three or four lines when

10:11

we address an envelope. On

10:14

the first line, we write someone's first

10:16

and last name, perhaps

10:18

their title if it's a formal

10:21

letter, such as Miss, Mrs.,

10:24

Mr., or maybe even Dr.

10:27

On the second line,

10:29

we write the street address. The

10:32

street number always comes first. For

10:34

example, the first Starbucks in the

10:37

world is at 1912 Pike Place. If

10:42

there's a suite number or apartment number, it goes

10:44

after the street name.

10:47

On the third line, we write the city, the

10:52

state abbreviation, and the zip

10:54

code. Starbucks is

10:56

in Seattle, comma, WA

10:59

for Washington, 98101. The

11:05

zip code, those numbers at the end,

11:08

always go last. Three

11:10

simple lines. If we're

11:13

sending something overseas, then

11:15

we'll add the country on a fourth

11:17

line. USPS

11:20

was created in 1775, and

11:24

today it's an independent agency

11:26

of the US government. For

11:28

the past 10 years or so, they've

11:31

worked with companies like Amazon

11:33

and UPS to help deliver

11:35

packages. One promise

11:38

they make is to deliver posts

11:40

anywhere in the United States,

11:42

no matter how remote. Yet,

11:45

some people who live in

11:47

Timbuktu might get a

11:50

PO box, a post office box,

11:53

which is a locked mailbox in

11:55

a post office. That's

11:57

to ensure their mail arrives safely.

12:00

The US Post Office offers other

12:02

services as well. They can file

12:05

a change of address for you.

12:07

They can get you a money order,

12:10

which is great if you don't have

12:12

a US bank account and you need

12:14

to pay someone by check. At

12:17

some locations, you can even apply for

12:19

a passport. But what they're

12:21

most famous for is mail. How

12:25

do you send mail in the US? Well,

12:28

mail can be dropped in a big

12:30

blue collection box. You'll see

12:32

them around town. They can

12:34

also be mailed directly from home. My

12:37

grandma lived in a house, and

12:39

like many houses in the US, she

12:42

had a mailbox out front. Whenever

12:45

she wanted to send a letter,

12:47

she sent it inside the mailbox

12:49

and raised the red flag on

12:51

the side to let the mailman

12:53

know there was outgoing mail. She

12:57

didn't live in an apartment building, but if

12:59

she had, there might have

13:01

been a communal area with

13:03

a slot to leave letters.

13:06

Every letter, of course, regardless of where

13:08

it's sent, needs a stamp,

13:11

which is a small square

13:14

or rectangular-shaped sticker placed on

13:16

the corner of an envelope

13:18

to show you've paid for

13:20

that letter to be delivered.

13:23

My grandma always kept a

13:25

booklet of first-class forever stamps

13:27

on hand, which is

13:29

smart. Once you

13:31

have them, they retain their

13:34

full value forever. Traditional

13:38

snail mail isn't always ideal. If

13:40

something is time-sensitive or

13:42

urgent, it'd be smart

13:45

to head to the post office

13:47

to take advantage of their priority

13:49

mail options, which come with

13:51

insurance, tracking, and

13:54

a speedy delivery time. If

13:56

you're sending important documents and want

13:58

proof of mailing and delivery,

14:01

you can send certified mail.

14:04

That's common with legal documents. On

14:08

occasion, my grandma sent care packages

14:10

to Spain. Filled with

14:12

treats and homemade gifts, she'd

14:14

buy her shipping supplies directly at

14:16

the post office. They have

14:19

packing tape and cardboard boxes,

14:21

bubble wrap and padded envelopes,

14:24

all to make sure your fragile items

14:26

don't break in transit. When

14:29

she was done packing up her care package,

14:31

she didn't stick 100 stamps

14:33

on the front. She bought

14:35

postage. Who knows how much

14:37

she spent on postage back then. International

14:40

shipping rates have increased significantly

14:42

in the past 50 to

14:44

75 years. Actually,

14:47

a lot has changed in that time. Today,

14:50

we have technology and we don't

14:52

need letters. We don't need postcards

14:55

and nice stationery to communicate with

14:57

friends and family that we love.

15:00

We can send a text or an email, but

15:03

that's exactly why I think we should

15:05

send letters through the mail, through

15:07

regular posts, snail mail, whatever

15:10

you want to call it. You

15:12

know someone really cares for you

15:14

if they send you a handwritten

15:16

letter. Am I right? You

15:19

can be the one to do it. That's

15:24

the end of this extra long

15:26

five minute English episode. I

15:28

get carried away sometimes, but I hope you don't

15:30

mind. I got

15:33

a little emotional thinking about my

15:35

grandma waiting for the mailman. That

15:37

look of excitement on her face,

15:40

thinking that she might get a letter from her

15:42

sisters or her mom and

15:44

how disappointed she probably was when there

15:47

wasn't a letter. Maybe

15:49

there wasn't that much drama in real

15:51

life. Maybe I'm just inventing these visuals

15:53

in my head. In

15:55

any case, I just want you

15:57

guys to think about the people that live. far,

16:00

maybe send them a letter, think

16:03

about it. Anyway, my grandma and I were

16:05

kindred spirits. Very,

16:08

very similar. On

16:11

that note, if you

16:13

want to help me decorate my wall with

16:15

a postcard from your

16:17

country, maybe from the city you live

16:19

in, I'd be over

16:22

the moon to receive your

16:24

postcard in my P.O. Box.

16:27

I'd be so happy. You can

16:29

write to me, Shauna Thompson,

16:31

on the first line, S-H-A-N-A,

16:34

last name Thompson,

16:37

T-H-O-M-P-S-O-N, second line,

16:39

P.O. Box 9074, third

16:42

line, Asheville, N.C. 28815, and

16:52

remember on the fourth line, you

16:54

put the country, so United States

16:56

if you are currently living

16:58

outside of the United States.

17:01

I'll also put the address in the episode

17:03

notes. I'm going to

17:06

play the audio one last

17:08

time. Remember, this is advanced,

17:10

so don't be discouraged if

17:12

you don't understand everything. Do

17:15

the best you can. If

17:17

you want an image sheet

17:19

with pictures of the challenging

17:21

words, a pronunciation video, the

17:23

annotated text with downloadable files,

17:25

then check the links in

17:27

the episode notes for the

17:29

premium content or

17:32

visit americanenglishpodcast.com. Let's

17:36

hear the audio one last time.

17:38

Here we go. My

17:41

grandma permanently moved to the United

17:44

States from Spain in the 1950s,

17:46

and the only way she could

17:49

afford to keep in contact with

17:51

friends and family was through

17:53

writing letters. Flying and

17:55

international calls back then were

17:58

not in her family's budget. In

18:01

a way, it's sort of sad. Sending

18:04

letters through the USPS, the

18:06

United States Postal Service, is

18:08

called snail mail for a

18:11

reason. In comparison

18:13

to email, which can be

18:15

sent and received in seconds,

18:18

letters can take a while to

18:20

arrive. Looking for

18:22

snail mail, so standard post

18:25

or standard mail, led

18:27

to a lot of anticipation.

18:30

When the mailman brought my grandma handwritten

18:33

correspondence or letters

18:35

from her sisters, she

18:38

was thrilled, and rightfully

18:40

so. Unlike junk

18:42

mail, ads, or flyers

18:45

that fill up our mailboxes and

18:47

end up in the trash, personal

18:50

letters are meaningful. They

18:53

require thought and time to

18:55

create. Don't handwritten

18:57

letters make you feel special? My

19:00

grandma was on a mission to

19:02

make her sisters and mother feel

19:05

extra special. After

19:07

all, this was pretty much the only

19:09

way they communicated. So

19:11

she bought beautiful stationery,

19:13

such as decorative paper,

19:16

pretty envelopes, stickers,

19:19

and nice ink pens to make

19:22

her letters look pretty. She

19:24

didn't do calligraphy with an

19:26

ink pot and quill, but

19:29

she wrote her messages in

19:31

cursive, so with

19:33

beautiful, connected letters. Her

19:37

handwriting was a sign of the times.

19:40

Back then, penmanship classes were

19:42

a thing. Today,

19:44

however, many Americans

19:46

write in print, each

19:49

letter separate from the next.

19:52

Even though print is more legible, it's

19:56

easier to read, cursive looks

19:58

more elegant. Doesn't

20:00

it? My grandma wrote her

20:02

messages in cursive. After

20:06

she filled lined paper or her

20:08

beautiful stationery with stories about her

20:10

life in the US, she

20:13

folded the sheets nicely and

20:15

placed them in an envelope.

20:18

Then she would address the envelope to

20:20

the recipient, either her mother

20:22

or one of her sisters. Under

20:25

their name, she would write out

20:27

the delivery address. And

20:29

up in the corner, she would

20:31

write the return address in

20:33

case the letter got lost in the mail.

20:37

As a kid, I noticed how those

20:39

Spanish delivery addresses look different from

20:41

what I was used to. In

20:44

the US, we typically use only

20:47

three or four lines when we

20:49

address an envelope. On

20:51

the first line, we write someone's first

20:53

and last name, perhaps

20:55

their title if it's a formal

20:58

letter, such as Miss, Mrs.,

21:01

Mr., or maybe even Dr. On

21:05

the second line, we write the street address.

21:08

The street number always comes first.

21:11

For example, the first Starbucks in the

21:13

world is at 1912 Pike Place. If

21:19

there's a suite number or apartment

21:21

number, it goes after

21:24

the street name. On

21:26

the third line, we write the city, the

21:29

state abbreviation and the zip code.

21:32

Starbucks is in Seattle, W-A

21:35

for Washington, 98101.

21:42

The zip code, those numbers at the

21:44

end, always go last. Three

21:47

simple lines. If we're

21:50

sending something overseas, then

21:52

we'll add the country on a fourth

21:54

line. USPS

21:57

was created in 1770. And

22:01

today, it's an independent agency

22:03

of the US government. For

22:06

the past 10 years or so, they've

22:08

worked with companies like Amazon

22:10

and UPS to help deliver

22:12

packages. One promise

22:15

they make is to deliver posts

22:17

anywhere in the United States,

22:19

no matter how remote. Yet,

22:22

some people who live in

22:25

Timbuktu might get a

22:27

PO box, a post office box,

22:30

which is a locked mailbox in

22:32

a post office. That's

22:34

to ensure their mail arrives safely.

22:37

The US post office offers other

22:39

services as well. They can file

22:42

a change of address for you.

22:44

They can get you a money order,

22:47

which is great if you don't have

22:49

a US bank account and you need

22:51

to pay someone by check. At

22:54

some locations, you can even apply for

22:56

a passport. But what they're

22:58

most famous for is mail. How

23:02

do you send mail in the US? Well,

23:04

mail can be dropped in a

23:06

big blue collection box. You'll

23:09

see them around town. They

23:11

can also be mailed directly from home. My

23:14

grandma lived in a house. And

23:17

like many houses in the US, she

23:19

had a mailbox out front. Whenever

23:22

she wanted to send a letter, she

23:24

set it inside the mailbox and

23:26

raised the red flag on the

23:29

side to let the mailman know

23:31

there was outgoing mail. She

23:34

didn't live in an apartment building,

23:36

but if she had, there might

23:38

have been a communal area with

23:40

a slot to leave letters. Every

23:44

letter, of course, regardless of where it's

23:46

sent, needs a stamp,

23:49

which is a small square

23:51

or rectangular shaped sticker placed on

23:53

the corner of an envelope to

23:55

show you've paid for that letter

23:58

to be delivered. My

24:00

grandma always kept a booklet

24:03

of first-class forever stamps on

24:05

hand, which is smart. Once

24:08

you have them, they retain

24:11

their full value forever. Traditional

24:14

snail mail isn't always ideal.

24:17

If something is time sensitive or

24:20

urgent, it'd be smart

24:22

to head to the post office

24:24

to take advantage of their priority

24:26

mail options, which come with

24:28

insurance, tracking, and

24:31

a speedy delivery time. If

24:33

you're sending important documents and want

24:36

proof of mailing and delivery, you

24:38

can send certified mail.

24:41

That's common with legal documents. On

24:45

occasion, my grandma sent care packages

24:47

to Spain. Filled with

24:49

treats and homemade gifts, she'd

24:51

buy her shipping supplies directly at the

24:54

post office. They have

24:56

packing tape and cardboard boxes,

24:58

bubble wrap and padded envelopes,

25:01

all to make sure your fragile items don't

25:04

break in transit. When she

25:06

was done packing up her care package, she

25:08

didn't stick 100 stamps

25:10

on the front. She bought

25:12

postage. Who knows how much

25:15

she spent on postage back then? International

25:17

shipping rates have increased

25:19

significantly in the past 50 to

25:22

75 years. Actually,

25:24

a lot has changed in that time.

25:26

Today we have technology and we

25:29

don't need letters. We don't need

25:31

postcards and nice stationery to communicate

25:34

with friends and family that we

25:36

love. We can send a text

25:38

or an email, but that's

25:40

exactly why I think we should send

25:43

letters through the mail, through regular

25:45

posts, snail mail, whatever you

25:47

want to call it. You know

25:49

someone really cares for you if

25:52

they send you a handwritten letter. Am

25:55

I right? You can be the one

25:57

to do it. All

26:05

right, that's it. Thanks for tuning

26:07

in. I have one last challenging

26:09

question for you. What

26:11

travels around the world and stays

26:14

in the corner? Do you

26:16

know? A stamp.

26:21

Enjoy the rest of your day. Bye. Thank

26:24

you for listening to this episode of

26:26

the American English Podcast. Remember,

26:28

it's my goal here to not only

26:31

help you improve your listening comprehension, but

26:33

to show you how to speak like

26:35

someone from the States. If

26:38

you want to receive the full

26:40

transcript for this episode, or you

26:42

just want to support this podcast,

26:45

make sure to sign up to

26:47

premium content on americanenglishpodcast.com. Thanks and

26:49

hope to see you soon.