editor’s note: We spent time with Mr. Hoots two weeks ago. Here’s what we learned about him.

We take pride in our staff, and now we get to know them with their “last ten.”

What was the last restaurant that you visited? “The last restaurant that I visited was Pasta House.”

• Do you go there often? “Yes, I love the salad. And the fish.”
• Is that what you usually get? “Yeah. The Pasta House salads are the best.”

What was the last T.V. show or movie you watched? “Probably the last TV show last night was ‘Seinfeld.’”

• What is “Seinfeld?” “’Seinfeld’ was way before your time. It’s a show in the 1990’s. Jerry Seinfeld was a comedian with Kramer and George.”
• Do you watch “Seinfeld” often? “Whenever it’s on TV, or whenever I see it.”
• Is it one of your favorites? “Yes. ‘Seinfeld’ is one of my favorites, or the ‘Big Bang Theory’ or any football that’s on. I like watching football, too.”
• So do you like comedies mostly? “Yeah, I like comedies. I like all different types of movies. I like documentaries.”
• You said you also liked watching football. Are you a fan of a specific team? “I like watching Mizzou playing college football.”
• Do you like NFL, too, or just college? “Yeah, I like NFL. No specific team though.”
• You just like football in general? “Yeah, I coach. I coach freshman. I’m one of the coaches on the freshman staff.”
• Is this your first year coaching? “Yes, here at this school.”
• Have you coached anywhere before? “I used to coach at Marquette a few years ago.”

What was the last thing that you ate? “A turkey sandwich.”

• For lunch? “Yes, for lunch.”
• Do you bring your own lunch? “I do.”
• Do you usually pack a turkey sandwich? “I typically have the same thing every day. I have a turkey sandwich. An apple. Carrots.”

What was the last thing you did at your former job? “I was living in Asia for the past three years. I was teaching in an international school.”

• Where in Asia? “China for two years and one year in South Korea.”
• How did you like that? “I absolutely loved it.”
• How did you get into international teaching? “I always wanted to. When I first became a teacher I knew that. And I love to travel. The combination of both of those two things in my life got me thinking, ‘Well I can go teach international.’ There are international businesses and international schools all over the world. So I first did my student teaching in Thailand, and it helped me understand how to teach international school, what needed to be done. It also taught me where other international schools were located. So I did my research and headed over to Asia and spent three years teaching abroad.”
• Why did you come back to Eureka? “I wanted to come back to my family. My family lives in St. Louis, so I wanted to come back and stay with them for a while.”
• Do you see yourself teaching abroad again anytime in the future? “Possibly yeah, I mean I’m not excluding it. Who knows, possibly. I’d like to stay at Eureka. I like Eureka High School.”
• What did you teach abroad? “I taught physical education.”
• What was your favorite part of teaching abroad? “It was the multicultural diversity that was in the school. The students I was teaching they were from all over the world. From Europe to Africa to the Middle East to India. They spoke multiple languages. They spoke sometimes three languages, so they were elementary to high school students and they could speak usually Chinese, English and then another language.”
• Do you speak any of their languages? “I speak a little bit of both countries. I speak more Chinese than I do Korean.”
• Can you write in Chinese? “I can’t write. I could write Korean easier though. The characters are Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin is one of the most difficult languages that you could learn.”
• How well could you speak it? “The basic. The very basic.”
• So did they speak English in your school? “In the actual school, yes, the instruction was in English. But the students were from all over the world.”

Who is the last person that you shared a phone call with? “My wife.”

• What did you talk about? “She was wondering how I was feeling today.”
• And what did you say?  “I said I’m feeling fine.”

Who is the last person that you hugged? “Probably my wife.”

• What’s your wife’s name? “My wife’s name is Chrissie.”
• How long have you married? “Married one year. Almost one year and one month.”
• How did you meet? “We just met through mutual friends”
• You met her when you were in Asia I assume? “I did. Yes I met her in Asia.”
• Is she originally from there? “Yeah she’s from a really big city Northeast of China.”
• Did she move here with you when you got the job here? “Yes.”

What’s the last store that you went to? “Macy’s.”

• What did you get? “I got pillows.”
• Pillows for what? “Pillows for sleeping.”

What was the last soda that you drank? “It was probably a couple years ago because I don’t drink soda.”

• Did you drink anything else recently? “Powerade.”
• What’s your favorite color Powerade? “I would say either blue or red. But if I had to choose one I guess it would be red.”
• Is that Powerade of your favorite drinks? “I drink a lot of water.”
• .Do you mostly drink water? “Water mostly. Or I drink orange juice in the morning. “

What was the last out of state place you visited? “I was in the Chicago airport”

• Why were you in the Chicago airport? “Because we had to fly in from China. Beijing to Tokyo, Tokyo to Chicago.”

Who was the last person you communicated with over social media? “My wife.”

•  What did you talk about? “We talked about what we were having for dinner.”
• What were you having? “She’s a really good cook. She makes really good Chinese food. Authentic Chinese food. She was asking what I wanted to ea,t and I said I wanted cashew chicken.”
• Is cashew chicken a favorite of yours? “Yeah.”
• Do you prefer her Chinese food over take out Chinese food? “Yes. It’s definitely a lot healthier. It’s made with authentic ingredients from a Chinese market. It’s a lot healthier than you would get at a normal American Chinese restaurant.”
• Does it taste better as well? “Oh yeah!”