Shadowing Practice: the trip to China I didn't know I needed - Learn English Speaking with Video

The last time I visited China was 2017.

At the time, I did not think the next time I would visit would be a whole decade later.

I've been meaning to visit China again, but year after year, things would come up and I would keep postponing this trip.

But finally, I booked the trip.

This time is extra special because I will be traveling with my grandparents.

The trip first began at my family home, where we spent a few days together before our 14 -hour journey to Guangzhou, China.

I'm actually sort of being my grandparents chaperone, which is such a full circle moment.

I remember being a kid and following them around the airport.

But this time, I am the adult and they are like the kids.

I would show them where the bathroom is, take them to buy snacks before the flight, and they even asked me for iPad time.

Growing up, I loved family trips to Guangzhou.

There was always this feeling of warmth and comfort.

It was a place that felt like home, yet so different from my life in America.

During this trip, I will be exploring Guangzhou, going to Hong Kong for a day trip by high -speed train,

and most importantly, spend time with my family in a place they used to call home.

We are now at Guangzhou.

It's about 5 .42pm.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Guangzhou.

Sitting in the backseat, watching both my grandparents recall places they used to work

and talk about old memories was a really surreal feeling.

All of my life, I've only known the version of my grandparents in America.

They didn't really have friends or co -workers they would hang out with, at least not from what I've seen.

Their lives were so busy going to work and raising me and my sisters.

I'm realizing now they didn't even have time for themselves to have friendships.

I've always known my grandparents to be strong, but realizing this made me admire them even more.

They somehow navigated life without a support system around them.

They didn't even go on trips to get a break from work or grab lunch with a friend over the weekend.

Hearing them talk about old friends they used to work with

and wonder if they are still alive honestly broke my heart a little bit.

My grandparents uprooted their life in China and immigrated to America 40 something years ago, which means they were in their 40s at the time.

I am currently 33, so to think they were only about 10 years older than me right now

and did that big move is still wild to me.

On our first night, we went out to dinner with my family and my grandma was reunited with her sister.

And guess what they did before dinner?

They went to the salon to get their hair done.

I am convinced that no matter your age, you are just a girl that needs time with her sister.

After dinner, we walked around the neighborhood my grandparents raised their family in before moving to America.

And I just trailed behind them and soaked in the moment.

Oh my goodness, she's awake!

Hello, amory!

I'm going to go to sleep.

I'm currently loving this foundation.

It's the MPH foundation and I have the shade medium 130.

Oh my forehead is looking so shiny right now.

I love this brush from Say.

This formula is really thin, so it doesn't have a lot of coverage,

but recently I am trying to get more used to wearing less makeup because sometimes in the middle of the day, I would look at my skin and it looks really,

it just looks like there's makeup on there.

You know what I'm saying?

And I'm trying to go for the ultimate clean girl look.

So there is a little adjusting to that

because i've always gotten used to myself hiding every imperfection

but right now we're trying to embrace the little dark spots the acne on my chin

and not try so hard to cover it

because it does get a little cakey looking especially right now being in gongsao where the humidity is pretty high

and it just gets so oily look at how oily

and shiny my forehead looks already it looks like i have fresh botox on my forehead

because it just looks so tight and

but i haven't even gotten botox in over a year now i think

or maybe almost a year the humidity is great for the

skin satchi beauty contour stick i always like to do a little bit on my eyes nose say brush once again

Loneige powder.

I also want to say brush.

I'm going to mattify the areas that are just really shiny.

It's just a oily, oily mess.

This is from Colorgram.

It's 01 Warm Tone.

This side, and I just draw a little bit of a line right here to create a shadow.

Just a very subtle.

And then I take the other side and I'll place that in there.

And it balances the eyelash extensions a bit.

What do I shadow today?

Rode Peptide Lip Tint in the shade Ribbon.

When I first heard about Rode, I thought it was just like an overly hyped celebrity brand.

But I've really come to enjoy it and I really like all the products that I've tried so far.

This is one of my current favorite products.

It's from Say.

It's the Super Suede Radiant Baked Bronzer in the color Bellermo.

just looks so good the shade gives a really nice flush of color

and the formula blends really really smoothly i usually try to

cover up the acne scars here i'll put concealer on those spots to really hide it

but recently i thought you know maybe i should just let

it be i like it oh my god i don't feel

So my aunt just got a grocery run and they delivered fresh shrimp and by fresh I mean they are still alive.

I've never seen anything like it.

Wow.

I'm going to eat the chicken.

I don't want to eat this.

Why?

It's cold.

I bought some water in the bag.

There is water in the bag.

I don't want to eat this.

I want to try this.

Camo Thank you Camo is good What do you say?

What do you say?

What have you done?

I'm out of the way out I'm out of the way out When you're with your grandma

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Good morning

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I just made it to the train station in Guangzhou and oh my god, it is insane how beautiful it is here.

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The ceilings, the way the sun is shining through, it's so, so gorgeous.

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I can't believe I'm saying this about a train station, but this train station is gorgeous.

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Today, my aunt and I are going to Hong Kong.

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I was not expecting to go to Hong Kong this trip, but she's heading there today for a day trip, so I'm going with her.

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I don't really have any plans, but I think I'm just gonna get dropped off, and then I'm just gonna explore.

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So as you can see, I am in a train station right now where sometimes I'll connect to the public Wi -Fi, and if you're someone that travels, then it might be good for you to look into Surfshark, which is a VPN.

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Surfshark monitors your data, and it will let you know if there has been a data leak.

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So for example, I don't know if it's ever happened to you, but one time I opened an email It looked

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so legit like it looked super legit and I clicked on the link

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and the moment I clicked on the link I knew I knew I messed up

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because I realized then that it was probably a sketchy link

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So in situations like that That is where a vpn would be really useful

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because it monitors your data and lets you know

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if there has been a data leak And there's also an email scam checker

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that protects you against phishing attacks When you browse online, every single link click, every search history, it leaves a digital footprint.

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Having a VPN ensures that your data is encrypted, therefore making it harder to track your online activity.

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So for example, I don't know if you guys have ever gone online and then you looked up something, and then within a few hours, you will start getting all these targeted ads for a similar product.

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Surfshark also has ad blockers to block trackers and ads.

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Since I'm in China right now, YouTube and Instagram and some apps are blocked here.

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That's actually when I first heard of a VPN.

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It basically allows you to change your virtual location

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and your IP address so that you can continue to use the websites and apps that you're used to using.

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So if you plan to travel or you're someone that uses public Wi -Fi often, then I will leave a link to Surfshark in the description below.

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Well, it's time for my train, so I'm going to go meet up with my aunt now.

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You know what is so amazing about China?

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Trains are on time.

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They are fast, safe, and efficient.

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It's nice knowing you can travel around so easily.

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You don't have to sit in traffic.

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You can hop on the train and get to wherever you need to go for the day.

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It made a few stops along the way and about 1 hour and 15 minutes later, we arrived in Hong Kong.

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Arriving in Hong Kong instantly gave me a feeling of nostalgia.

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All the TVB dramas I grew up watching were filmed here and I love hearing Cantonese.

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Just made it to Hong Kong!

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I'm gonna get breakfast at Wahzou Bing Sun.

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Whenever I visit Hong Kong, the first thing I have to do is go to a cha -chan -tang

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because no matter how good the Hong Kong cafes could be in America, nothing comes close to how authentic and delicious the food is in Hong Kong.

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Can't go wrong with this. That gave me life.

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It's so sweet, sweeter than I would normally have it, but it's so good.

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It's so good.

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It's so good.

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It's so good.

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It's so good.

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Wow.

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You know it's good when the satay sauce is so thick.

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There are a lot of places where it's super watered down.

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You don't want that.

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Oh my.

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I used to not be a big fan of satay, but...

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Yaa always orders this, and now that I've been converted, this is a go -to.

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Mmm.

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Wow, the beef is so tender too.

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Mmm.

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Oh, sweet.

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Oh. So happy right now.

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This is so bomb.

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Look at how thick.

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Can you see that?

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That is nice and thick.

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Just how you would want it.

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Wa would be so happy if he was here right now. So tender.

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Oh my god.

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before leaving the house this morning i checked the weather report

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and saw that it will be raining and

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so i thought i will bring an umbrella

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and all will be well let's just say this california girl

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was in for a real surprise i first felt a little sprinkle

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and so i busted out my umbrella and i was still naively just going about my day at this point

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Then the rain really, like really started to pick up.

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And now I understand those rainy scenes in TVB dramas.

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I used to think they were over -dramatized when the rain would come out of nowhere.

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Like at the perfect moment when the lead actress is crying and she runs out the building.

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Then the guy comes after her with an umbrella and they start to make out awkwardly.

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Yeah, those kind of scenes, the rain was not dramatized.

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I got the full experience.

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I can't believe how wet I am.

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The skirt is so short.

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I think you can see my underwear.

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I'm going to go in there and at least pick up a skirt

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or some bottoms because my skirt is completely soaked right now And it's kind of see -through.

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I was able to drive my shirt a little bit But my back is completely soaked.

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You can't really tell on camera

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After shopping around I couldn't find something that I really liked

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and I didn't want to just buy something just to buy something to change into

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So I just accepted my fate and walked around in soaking wet clothes

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But luckily after walking around for a little bit I started to dry off

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and guess what the Sun came out to play

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It's open here, I need to find a spot to hide.

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Later that day, I went to Absolute Apex for a skin treatment.

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I decided to get Surf.

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So far, it has been two months, and I'm so happy with how subtle the results are.

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My skin looks and feels more bouncy and lifted.

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Let me know if you want me to talk more about this.

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I love all the accessories that you can add on these bags.

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I've actually been eyeing one of their bags.

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I just transferred all my stuff into here because my tote bag that I was wearing, this was digging into my shoulder and killing me.

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There are so many compartments in here.

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Earlier, I had everything tossed into this tote bag and it was so unorganized but look at this.

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It is so organized now.

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There are so many compartments in here.

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Now we're going to go get dinner.

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This is the one that I'm getting.

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I don't even know where to begin to describe this bowl of chasiu watan fan.

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It was the best I've ever had.

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The barbecue pork was really tender and there was a balance between fat and lean pieces.

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The egg was also scrambled to perfection.

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I mean look at that.

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This was hands down the best bowl of char siu wa dan faan that I have ever had in my life.

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It's something about the way they barbecued that pork.

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Oh my goodness.

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This was the perfect way to wrap up a day in Hong Kong.

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I have told everyone in my life about this bowl of char siu dan faan.

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I texted everyone in my family to let them know how good it was.

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After that, I went back to the gaolong station to meet up with my aunt

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and we took the last train back to Guangzhou.

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I really didn't know I needed a trip like this.

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I mean, going on a trip is always fun, but not often do I get the chance to travel with my grandparents.

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They are both in good health overall, but going on a trip like this is still tiring for them.

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For years, we would talk about going to China together, because the last time we did, I was in middle school, but we just kept postponing it.

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During this trip, my family kept asking me what I wanted to do and see.

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I really didn't have an itinerary.

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I initially felt a bit of FOMO, like I was thinking, am I missing out

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if I didn't go to see all the viral places or go to the trendiest cafes and restaurants?

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But you know, there's always another chance for that.

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Going on a trip with my grandparents though, that doesn't happen often and I truly don't know when we would do this again.

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This was our last full day together before I head to Taiwan alone.

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So my grandparents explored a nearby area while I explored a neighborhood called Yongqingfang, which in Cantonese is Winghengfang.

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This area was really unique with old and new architecture.

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It was really cool to see the mix of old and new, but not just in the buildings.

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I saw so many people riding bikes to get around, while every corner I turned, I also saw lots of electric cars.

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I've heard many people share their stories online about visiting China and just how advanced they are with technology.

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To see it and experience it on my own, I thought was really cool. So sweet.

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It looks like, I think that's like grapefruit.

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I actually have a little story to share.

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So there was one night I called Tic Tic, which is their Uber, and the driver took a wrong turn and we turned into this dark alleyway.

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It was kind of sketchy because of how dark it was but shortly after that, the driver's phone speaker, it just came on with an alert saying

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that Thic Thic is aware of this detour and that this ride is now being monitored.

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I legit had culture shock in that moment and was amazed by how technology could be used in such a helpful way.

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Look at these cups. So adorable.

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Look at all these little clips.

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They have these phone sockets.

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I feel very lucky to share a special bond with my grandma.

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Over the years, you have seen her in many of my videos, and something I may not have shared before is that we didn't always get along.

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In fact, growing up, I did not feel close to her.

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I thought she favored my sister more, and there was always this unspoken grief I felt with our relationship, but I think it was around high school when her and I hashed it out.

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We actually sat down and talked about our feelings, and that forever changed our bond.

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And I will always be so thankful to her for guiding me and being the light of my childhood.

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She always protected me and my sisters and the love she has given us showed us what unconditional love really is.

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It wasn't based on if we got good grades or hung out with good kids or had big dreams.

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She loves us just the way we are, even when we are hard to deal with.

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I don't know how we got so lucky, but I know every single day,

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me and my sisters are grateful to call this amazing woman and our grandma. So

Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?

Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.

Shadowing Practice: the trip to China I didn't know I needed - Learn English Speaking with Video

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