Shadowing Practice: 45 Minute American English Speaking Practice - Learn English Speaking with Video

hello everyone welcome back to another speak american english with me

video this is not a video where i hold your hand

and say okay now class repeat after me no you are

an active adult student well you should be most of you

are do i have any kids watching me get out of here this channel is for adults okay

if you're like 16 it's okay but kids get out get out anyway um Yeah, I don't hold your hand.

I just talk.

I just speak American English in my natural.

This is really how I talk.

Yes, this is how I talk.

I'm not talking easier for you guys.

I promise.

I swear I'm not.

This is how I really talk.

And it's just naturally well enunciated.

Thank you very much.

And well, this is what they tell me.

And so it's easy to understand, but it's extremely realistic it's extremely realistic american english it's super

just simple everyday normal stuff this is how we talk nothing

too crazy nothing too uncommon i don't use like strange uncommon phrases

that most people don't use like i speak the most standard normal everyday american english

and it's for you to listen to

and to actively yourself repeat after me you might have to stop the video sometimes to do so properly.

You might want to stop it.

You might not.

That's up to you.

But it's for however you want to use this content.

Some people just want to listen to it and that's it.

Some people are going to need to practice their speaking.

Okay.

If you're one of these people who's like, man, I understand English, but I just don't speak.

Like I need to practice speaking.

Well, guess what?

Nobody is going to come and rescue you from that.

Nobody's going to show up on your doorstep

and say hey let's speak let's talk in English

and it's like especially a native speaker it's not going to show up on your doorstep

and do that so you got to speak yourself in your room

or wherever you are hopefully at your house listening to this

you got to be practicing speaking you got to be autodidactic

this is how I learned Spanish I watch videos like this

and I said wait let me try to say that

and then I would say it and then I try to talk like the YouTubers that I watched.

Okay.

That's what you got to do.

That's all it is.

I say this a million times in a trillion different ways, but that's what it is.

All right.

So today we're going to get back into a topic that everybody seems to like.

And I like as well.

It's quite entertaining.

It is a topic that kind of requires you, well, it doesn't require you, but it's kind of better if you watch it, or at least you look at the screen sometimes,

because I'm going to be sharing some pictures some pictures from my life

and i'm mostly just going to be talking about the pictures

and talking about all the things that pop into my head related to the pictures

and obviously talking about my life and everything

that these pictures make me think of

and you'll learn a lot of english through that

or you'll be exposed to a lot through that

but also you get a little peek into my life you get to look at these pictures

that may or may not be interesting to you To me, they are because remember, I don't have a lot of pictures.

I only keep pictures that I really like that are special to me.

And my picture collection is so small.

In fact, it's so small

that I think this is the last video I'm going to make talking about pictures

because I really don't have that many more.

And the other ones that I have are pictures of me with other people.

And I don't really want to share that on this channel because I don't have their consent.

I don't have the consent of all those people

and I don't want to be putting their faces on on my channel

when you know they they didn't consent to that

so I think this is going to be the last picture video

but don't worry my next video I think is going to be something really interesting

that is also unexpected and yeah I think it will be cool

so stay tuned for the next video about a different topic

but maybe even more interesting than this one all right so let's get into it.

All right, so for this video, I took a look at my Asia folder.

I have some pictures from my eight months in Asia.

By the way, this word months, when it's just singular, when it's month with the th, we do pronounce the th.

Month, month, month, month, month.

It's subtle, but it's there.

But when it's plural, when it's months, we often just say months.

There's like no th.

Why? because the ths would be weird it's hard to do

so sometimes we don't pronounce things how it looks simply

because we think it's hard to pronounce yes even native speakers

we it doesn't it doesn't set it doesn't feel right coming out of the mouth

so that's why we say months months same thing with clothes we don't say clothes clothes

because that's just like it doesn't feel right in the mouth.

It's hard.

It doesn't flow.

So we just say close.

clothes like close the door same thing clothes i'm wearing clothes

by the way i always wear this thing lately i've been wearing this um i almost called it a jacket

but it's not really a jacket

or a sweatshirt i call it my robe thing even though

it's not either it's not even a robe either uh

but it's it's just a fluffy um thing that keeps me warm

and it's cozy

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and i like to wear it at home i don't wear

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it out i just wear it at home it's my home cozy thing when it's cold this is what I wear.

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So we're coming out of like winter transitioning into spring right now in Argentina, and it's still a little chilly.

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And so that's why I wear it.

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I got it from a thrift shop, actually, when I was in Puerto Rico.

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And why was this in Puerto Rico?

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It's never cold there.

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I don't know, but it was, I got it there and it's a hundred percent polyester.

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It said so on the tag.

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It's not for I'm vegan.

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Thank you.

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Somebody asked in the comments.

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So I just want to clarify that.

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Okay.

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So looking at my photos, looking at my pictures from my eight months I spent in Southeast Asia.

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First, I want to show you this golden temple picture.

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This picture is just so cool.

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It's from Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand.

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It's in the north of Thailand.

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It's an amazing city.

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I spent most of my time in Thailand in Chiang Mai, basically almost the whole time.

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It's a city that has a ton of temples.

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It's very touristy, a lot of temples and it's a cute city.

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It's a nice city to ride around on the motorbike.

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It's not too crazy like Bangkok in the South.

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Bangkok is the capital city.

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I would not ride my motorbike in Bangkok.

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It's just, it's crazy.

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I mean, it would be like, it would be like trying to drive a moped in New York city

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but no but worse but like way worse anyway chiang mai i used to i

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when i was there i was uh riding moto the everybody

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there everybody in southeast asia they ride like a motorbike like

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mopeds like scooters scooters mopeds i used to drive around chiang mai a lot

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when i was there

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and yeah it's just a great city i love it i

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love thailand i love thai people i love the food i love everything.

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Chiang Mai is a cool city, very touristy, but very, very nice.

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Just very great.

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And I could have taken a picture of a lot of different temples, but this is the only one that I kept because I just thought it was so cool.

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It's actually a little bit outside of the city.

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And I went with a couple of friends on the scooters, on the motorbikes, and we went to this temple in the nighttime.

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We took a little drive.

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So you can see that's why it's totally black in the background.

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And I think it looks so cool with the black background and the golden temple.

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It just pops, you know, it just pops.

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I think, sorry, I'm looking down cause I'm looking at the picture here on my laptop.

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I just think the contrast of the black background with the golden temple, it's just, it's so cool.

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It's so cool.

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And this place, everything is gold.

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Like there's like Buddha statues and, you know, all kinds of things, decorations all around that are like golden.

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So the whole thing is like a golden temple zone.

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It's just, oh, it's so cool.

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I wish I had more pictures to show you from that, but, um, I just thought, I just thought it was awesome.

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It's just, it's epic.

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I went to a few different places in Southeast Asia.

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I've just, I don't know.

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I just never saw stuff like this.

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I don't know.

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I just think Thailand has some cool, cool temple stuff going on there.

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There are other temples and other places and other things.

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I went to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, a big famous thing there.

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I know I say thing a lot, but I don't even know what to call it.

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It's ruins.

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It's ruins of a big, it's like a palace.

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It looks like a, well, it's not really a palace, but what is it?

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I don't know.

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It was like, I don't know.

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Okay it's like a cambodian castle but it's not a castle

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but it's you know what i mean it's like a big thing anyway

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that was cool but there are things that in vietnam

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and malaysia indonesia whatever but i just i don't know i just thought this golden temple

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and night in thailand was just the coolest thing it's the coolest

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so anyways there you go that was

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that do i recommend thailand chang my hundred percent hundred percent

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hunted sometimes instead of hundred we say hunted it's kind of a joke.

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We like to play with words in English, a hundred, a hundred percent.

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Anyway.

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Yeah.

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So next one, another cool thing from Asia, Asia life.

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Oh, speaking of the scooter, I got to show you this picture.

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I got to show you, I got to show you, um, this is me obviously on, uh, my first pink scooter, my first pink scooter, my first scooter,

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which happened to be pink, my first moped that I learned to drive on.

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I, I this here, I was like, it was either the day, I think it was the day that I learned to drive, actually.

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My friend took a picture.

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She was a German woman, a German girl.

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She's a little bit younger than me.

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I met her there and I met her at a vegan restaurant.

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I think it was vegan.

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I don't know.

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Or vegetarian, but whatever.

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Some kind of plant -centered restaurant in Thailand.

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I met her there and we became friends and we hung out for a while in Thailand.

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And she taught me how to ride the motorbike.

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She also learned there in Thailand.

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And when people, sometimes I tell people like how fun it is to ride the mopeds around Asia.

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And they always say like, oh, I don't have a license.

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So I don't know how to drive.

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I'm like, girl, me neither.

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We just, we, we learned really quick when we were there.

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Cause it's, it's just fun.

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And it's so easy to rent motorbikes and like, it's so relaxed and like, it's, it is dangerous.

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Like wear your helmet and be like, don't go too fast.

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Like be smart.

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Like there is a risk.

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There is, it can be dangerous.

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Luckily in Thailand, I think they drive pretty relaxed, like pretty, pretty like they orderly, like they follow the rules.

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And I felt like the driving was pretty chill and organized and good in Thailand.

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Vietnam was a lot more chaotic.

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Vietnam, like I sometimes felt like fear for my life riding a motorbike in Vietnam.

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Sometimes they were a little bit too crazy there.

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And they also drive on the opposite side of the road, but it's easy to get used to that.

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But anyway, well, the opposite for me, because I'm from the Americas where we drive on the right side, but it depends where you're from.

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But anyway, I drove also a scooter when I was in Bali, but Bali is like full of traffic.

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I probably will never go back to Bali.

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Bali is a beautiful place, but it's just, it's too touristy.

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It's too much traffic and I don't want to deal with that.

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So anyways, this was when I learned how to ride and I have a mushroom helmet on.

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It's like a mushroom design and it's so big and it just looks so funny.

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It makes my head look so big.

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I mean, I do kind of have a, I don't know if I have a big head, but I have a long face, but I don't know if I, I don't know.

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But anyways, the mushroom helmet is just like, it looks funny.

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So this was super fun.

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I'm so glad I met my friend.

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Her name is Nina.

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She's from Germany.

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I think I already said that, but anyways, I'm so glad I met her and she taught me this.

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And so, cause I probably wouldn't have learned.

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I probably wouldn't have even have done this if I hadn't had, if I hadn't, if I hadn't have met, how do I say this?

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If I hadn't met her, yeah, if I hadn't met her, or maybe I would have learned, but like later on or something, you know, I had just gotten to Asia for the first time.

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It was my first month that I was there and I met her and she, she taught me and yeah.

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The first time I tried it, I was a little like, whoa, like a little scared to just be automatically driving on the road in Thailand.

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And like, it was like, I was a little nervous about it.

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Cause also I have not driven a car since like I was 19.

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I had a car when I lived in the United States

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and I was 19 and I used to drive that car everywhere and in cities and I was fine.

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I was a good driver, but it's been like eight, nine years.

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So I was like, you know, feeling kind of rusty.

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And then I'd never driven something like this, but the motorbike is super easy.

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The scooter is super easy.

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This mopeds, mopeds are super easy you can pick it up

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so fast you can you can pick it up meaning like

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you can like learn a new skill you can pick up a new skill like this super fast it's not

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that hard yeah anyways that's that's the story behind this picture it's it was hot of course

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so I'm wearing like very minimal clothing and

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and it's it's funny because a lot of the locals

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because they avoid the sun

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and they you know they don't want to of course I

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think it was late late in the day at this time

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but but it will be like super hot outside super sunny

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and the locals will be riding their mopeds

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and they are just covered head to toe in clothes

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and you don't even see any skin but of course we don't do

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that as far as the as the taurus as the foreigners we we ride around

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and like some people ride around in freaking bikinis

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so anyways i never uh got in an accident well i can't say

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that there was a couple times

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when it was close like we like we swerved at the

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last minute like we could have hit we could like there were a couple of close calls.

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We say close calls.

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There were, there were a few close calls where I was, I was going a little too fast going around the corner.

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I wasn't really paying attention, but luckily we didn't crash.

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Thankfully.

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Oh my God.

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So the last thing I want to do is end up in the hospital there over this.

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So luckily I'm so lucky.

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I'm such a lucky fricking ducky.

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Nothing happened, nothing serious, but there were, there were some close calls.

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Okay.

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There were some, some close encounters close almost there were some almost almost accidents

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so yeah i love this i miss this about asia having

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a mope having a scooter a moped to just drive around

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you know to like i i felt like i could get

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around easily i didn't have to i don't know i didn't

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have to take a bus i didn't have to get an uber like it was just like you know

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and and the the uber there

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which is like grab it's grab is like asia Yeah uber they have motorbike also

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so you could just hop on the back of somebody else's motorbike

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and it's cheap and it's fine and i probably would have just kept doing

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that but having your own is so fun it was so

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so fun and actually me and nina

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and her boyfriend he came from germany he wasn't there

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when i met her but then he came to to to visit

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and anyways we we went to a smaller town very touristy town.

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It's called Pai up in the north of Thailand.

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It's like a three -hour ride from Chiang Mai and goes up in the mountains.

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And we rode that.

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We went up there with the motorbikes.

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I say motorbikes, but it's this.

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It's a moped.

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We drove.

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Well, of course, the one that I took up to Pai, it wasn't this.

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This is like a little going around town motorbike or moped.

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But the one that I took up to pie was more like designed for longer travel and like higher power.

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You can go faster.

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It didn't look like this one.

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This one is like a little city one, you know, a little just going to the store type thing.

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But yeah, anyways, that was a fun adventure.

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We went, we drove three hours on these and it's just, it's beautiful.

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Like on a nice sunny day, the wind blowing and riding the motorbike.

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Oh, it's just like, it was so fun.

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So fun, so fun, so fun.

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But I don't miss fearing for my life because there were times when I was just like, oh, my God, like any any moment I could crash and die, like any moment I could get hurt.

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And I don't deal with that.

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You know, I have much decreased.

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I have a much lower risk of injury and accidents

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when I'm not riding a moped every day in a in a city with other people riding around,

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you know, chaos and stuff or just being on the open road where there's cars

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and there's motorbikes here in Latin America i don't where i

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am now i don't have a vehicle of my own and

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so it's just it decreases my risk of something happened to me happening to me

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and this is that is something i think about i always think about

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that i'm like geez like because that would suck because

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because all it takes is you know some people some people get in bad accidents

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and like when they least expect it and you never know you never know

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so i don't live my life in fear

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but car accidents are very common especially where i come from in the us yeah

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and every time i see an accident in latin america there's always like some motorbike involved

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and oh god i don't want that but they are

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so fun that's the thing it's so fun motorbikes are

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so fun but so kind of dangerous okay the next thing

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that i want to talk about or show you from asia is um okay

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so vietnam has my favorite cuisine in the world it's a paradise for vegans.

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And it's just, it's my favorite food and my favorite place for food in the world that I have experienced.

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I love Thai food.

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I love many other cuisines, many other countries, but Vietnam to me, oh, I just love their food so much.

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This picture is of one of the many vegan buffets.

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All you can eat.

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Okay.

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It's not, not pay by weight.

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No, all you can eat unlimited, unlimited.

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Maybe you just keep, you can just keep going up.

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You pay one price you just keep going back for more this is one of the buffets in hanoi

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which is in the north of vietnam in the capital there

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are others in other parts of the country like in the

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south in ho chi minh saigon big city also these buffets

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hanoi hanoi has a lot of vegan buffets it's probably like

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the best i don't love like i don't think i'd want to live in hanoi

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but i love the fact that there's just so many vegan buffets everywhere in Hanoi.

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It's really great for that.

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So anyways, this is one of them

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and they're very cheap compared to like the United States compared to even like a lot of countries here in Latin America.

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When I was there, it was around like three, $4 to go to a buffet like this.

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All you can eat like three or $4.

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And that's just unheard of.

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That's just unbelievable for me.

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That's just like, I don't even understand.

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Like my brain can't even comprehend how that's even possible in 2026.

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But, but anyways, it is, and it's in Vietnam.

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So yeah, I, I love the vegan food in all the places I went to in Asia.

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They had great vegan food.

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Asia is really just especially like Southern Asia.

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It's just really, really, really like a paradise for vegans it's just there's

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so much stuff for us and it's just yeah it's just

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so much like plant food culture there and it's just

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so it's so like understood they are they have even their own words for it

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and it's like i don't know it's just it's like a historically cultural known thing

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that has existed yeah i think there's like a day or two a month that Vietnamese people tend to

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eat plant -based for like cultural reasons anyways.

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So anyways, it's just, it's a cool thing for us.

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And all of these countries that I went to, they have amazing food, but Vietnam was the only place where I saw like so many of these kind of buffets, like vegan buffets.

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It's just, they're really, they're really into that.

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And Vietnam also was the place, the number one place in my life for just like freshness of like vegetables

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and like the priority of eating vegetables with food like think

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about it a lot of countries famous cuisines like a lot

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of you know famous cuisines of certain you know the gastronomy

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of certain countries what they're most famous for is not like the things the foods

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that you think of

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when you think of like most famous foods of different countries you don't usually think of

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that being served with like a lot of like fresh vegetables on the side um

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but in vietnam that is the case

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so everything is served with a lot of like fresh vegetable

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and a lot of times there's like cooked vegetable raw vegetable

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the food is just really healthy it just all feels really

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healthy they eat a lot of herbs a lot of veggies it just all feels

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so fresh and i think that's lacking in a lot of cuisines in the world um

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because i'm vegan and if you don't know what vegans eat like

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if you don't know much about plant -based food you might think

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that all we eat is fresh vegetables

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but the reality is we don't we we eat all the same food

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that you do but in like a plant -based version so

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when i go to mexico i have vegan tacos and

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when i go to argentina where i am now i'm having vegan empanadas with with like vegan soy meat

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and seitan and i'm having like vegan version of you know vegan meats

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and vegan cheese and i'm having milanesa you know vegan meal

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and i'm having you know vegan pizza and burgers

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and vegan chinese vegan chicken

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and like you know i'm like all the different you know i have ramen with the tofu

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and whatever like i have all the same things

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but just the vegan version so it's not necessarily

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that we're eating all these all these veggies but but vietnam regardless of if whether you eat animals or not,

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they all really prioritize like just eating a lot of vegetable and a lot of fresh vegetable.

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It just feels very healthy.

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And a lot of their cuisine is just like noodle soups with a lot of stuff in it, you know, veggies and meats, vegan meats in my case,

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like, you know, or tofu or some, you know, different things.

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They have the best broths like I've ever had in my life.

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I never used to think that I even really liked soup until I went there.

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And now I'm obsessed I'm like I think noodle soup is

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I would take a Vietnamese noodle soup over ramen any day

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and ramen's great it's another noodle soup it's more like Japanese

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style there's a lot of great noodle soups there's a lot of great soups there's a lot of great noodles

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and dish and food in general but there's something about a Vietnamese noodle soup

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and the best Vietnamese food

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that I ate I have never had outside of Vietnam there's a lot of Vietnamese restaurants around the world

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and they have some of the most like the most famous dishes

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and the classic things they have the pho and the whatever

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but the best things the best soups and the best things

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that i had when i was there i have only had there

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and i've been to many vietnamese restaurants in the united states

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and you know other places but just it just doesn't compare to to being in vietnam

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so anyways i took a picture of this buffet

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because it's also just really it was a really beautiful place um this was the first first night

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that I arrived in Hanoi, I think I got there and I went to eat there and I was just, I think, yeah, I actually think it was my first night in Vietnam, like ever.

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I think, yeah, I think this was actually my first, my first night in Vietnam, my first day.

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And I was just amazed.

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I knew about this.

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I knew that they had places like this, but it was one thing to hear about it and a one, another thing to actually see it and be there.

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And I just thought this place was

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so beautiful with the the stained glass um the lamps

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and the the decorations and i stood up on the stairs

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so i was like higher up i was above everything i could see everything

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and i just thought it was so beautiful and such a dream

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and it just is amazing and this this lady here sitting at the counter she was

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so nice yeah i was just like blown away i i'm

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just like trying to think of words to describe this

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but this is a really cool exciting time

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and actually i was there in winter

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so it was in the north of Vietnam Hanoi

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so it was actually chilly it was actually cold it's only cold for like a couple months

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and then it gets warm again but still in the north it gets chilly

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but it was all right we were inside there

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and it was it was fine but yeah so I love this picture

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and I love Vietnam I love Vietnamese food amazing yeah I

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ended up in total spending several months think i spent like three

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or four months in vietnam total i spent a few months

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in thailand as well those countries were where i where i spent most of my time in southeast asia

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but i also spent a few weeks in cambodia

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and i spent 10 days in malaysia specifically in penang

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and what i'm going to show you next is the whole reason i went to penang malaysia

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so this is what i did i spent about eight months in Southeast Asia, right?

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Mostly in Thailand, Vietnam, whatever.

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And I planned my last 10 days in Asia before I went back to Latin America.

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I, I, I miss, I love Asia, but I miss Latin America.

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I want to go back.

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My heart is in Latin America.

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So anyways, I, I went back to, I went to Mexico, but my last 10 days before I left Asia,

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I planned a trip to Penang, Malaysia.

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It's like a, it's kind of like a island on the, off the coast of Malaysia.

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And it has a city, a main city called Georgetown.

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I actually never went to that city.

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I stayed kind of in the suburbs outside of that city.

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I stayed somewhere else in the island, a little bit closer to the airport, if you're familiar with the area.

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But basically it's an island where there is like some residential area.

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And then there are just tons of like nature and durian farms, fruit farms, but specifically there are a lot of durian farms.

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Now what is durian?

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Durian is called the king of fruit in Asia.

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Durian is probably the most famous like special fruit in Asia.

457

It is very controversial.

458

A lot of people don't like it.

459

A lot of people don't like the smell of it.

460

It's actually banned in certain public spaces because of the smell.

461

You're not supposed to be eating it in the airport or on the bus or, or in a hotel, or I don't know.

462

There are certain places where you're not supposed to be just eating it

463

because it has a very strong smell and a lot of people don't like it.

464

It bothers them.

465

And so it's this, it's this controversial fruit, but I have always loved durian.

466

I first tried it.

467

Durian is a fruit that if you've never been to Asia, you there's a high chance you've never had it or seen it, or you don't even know what it is.

468

But I actually had it when I was in Ecuador because there are some gringos,

469

there are some people from the United States who live in Ecuador and have small fruit farms and grow it like privately,

470

like not for commercial reasons, but just they have their own private farms and they grow durian.

471

And there's also some in Costa Rica.

472

And yeah, so there are certain people, there's people in Hawaii also growing durian.

473

There are certain people, mostly gringos, like mostly like people from the U S or maybe Europe who know about this, who grow it like fruit nerds,

474

you know, fruit nerds know about durian and they grow it if they can in their climate.

475

It's a very tropical fruit.

476

You can't, I don't think you can grow it in Florida.

477

Florida is not tropical enough.

478

You can grow bananas and stuff in Florida, but it's not like ultra tropical, like, well, like the jungle of Ecuador or, you know, Hawaii or whatever.

479

So it's a super tropical fruit, but you can grow it in any super tropical area.

480

So you can grow it all through the super tropical part of Latin America that gets a lot of rain, you know, from the south of Mexico down through, you know, the Amazon and stuff.

481

You can absolutely grow it.

482

And some people do grow it.

483

I know people who have it on their farms, but generally it's not known yet by the general population of Latin America.

484

But the first time I had it was in Ecuador from one of the gringo farms

485

and since I tried it I loved it and I wanted more

486

and I knew because I'm also a fruit nerd

487

and I'm in the fruit nerd community

488

and I had some even some durian plants some little baby trees on the on my farm back

489

when I had a farm I abandoned it and

490

if you didn't understand that video where I talked about my farm

491

because we abandoned the land it turned into a jungle again like all the fruit trees died

492

and whatever because you have to take care of it you have to protect them from the ferocious jungle

493

or it will they will be killed

494

because their fruit trees are domesticated weak trees they're not they

495

can't compete with the jungle with the wild it's very strong trees

496

and vines and they will die so you have to protect them

497

so that's why a lot of people fumigate they kill the soil basically they kill the bacteria

498

and they they kill all the plants around but we didn't do

499

that we just cut all the weeds with like a weed whacker

500

or machete so as soon as we stopped cutting them

501

because we left the farm everything started growing back

502

so my farm is not there today it doesn't exist well the land is there

503

and the little cabin is there getting overgrown by the jungle

504

but the point is all the fruit trees are surely dead

505

and yeah maybe one survived but it's being strangled strangled absolutely strangled by the jungle So probably not.

506

It's very sad.

507

I have dreams about this.

508

Okay.

509

All my baby fruit trees that I planted and I thought were going to grow and be big and they all died.

510

It's very sad.

511

It's very sad.

512

I think about this a lot, but anyway, so I had durian trees and I'm very familiar with the fruit, but it was one thing to watch videos of it online and pictures of it.

513

And then to actually go to Asia.

514

And this is one of the big reasons I went to Asia was for the fruit and the food.

515

Honestly, that's like the main reason.

516

If Southeast Asia didn't have such amazing fruit and food, I probably wouldn't have gone, honestly.

517

No offense.

518

I'm sure there are many other amazing things about Southeast Asia, but I'm just saying I'm not really the kind of person who travels just to travel.

519

I am a kind of person who travels to eat.

520

And I love fruits.

521

I love food.

522

I love, you know, and

523

that is the best place in the world for my kind of fruit and my kind of food.

524

And so I had to go, right?

525

So it was always a dream place on my bucket list.

526

But anyways, I was eating a little bit of durian here

527

and there throughout the entire eight months that I was in Asia. But one, it wasn't in season yet

528

because I literally got to Asia at like the end of the season or like the biggest season.

529

And so there wasn't really a lot of it.

530

There was some, but you know, is high prices.

531

It's very expensive.

532

Also in Thailand and Vietnam, they, they cut the fruits too early from the tree.

533

They don't let them fall naturally and ripen naturally.

534

And they use something to make them ripen faster.

535

And so sometimes they don't, I was eating some durian when I was in Vietnam and stuff,

536

but sometimes there were pieces that were kind of hard or kind of not really sweet or kind of just weird.

537

Like there were some disappointments and stuff and it it was very expensive.

538

And so, um, I just said, okay, I'm not going to eat too much of it.

539

I'm going to wait for my last 10 days of my trip.

540

I'm going to go to Penang, which is like durian paradise, uh, one of them.

541

And I'm going to just feast, absolutely feast on durian.

542

It's going to be at the, you know, at the prime time durian season, beginning of the season.

543

And well, I don't know if that's the prime time is probably better in the middle, but the point is it was durian season had begun the

544

fruits were dropping a plenty it was a good time

545

and the prices were still high compared to other fruits

546

because it's like a luxury there's high demand

547

but it was doable for 10 days to just go crazy

548

for 10 days it was worth it it was worth all the money i spent

549

so that was my plan and i'm so glad i did it

550

because it was absolutely worth it and it was yeah it was awesome It was, it was like maybe even the best part of my whole trip.

551

So basically I got there and yeah, I got into my Airbnb,

552

I got a motorbike and I just started going around to different places that sell durian on the Island.

553

And then I ended up at one point talking to my Airbnb hosts and it's a family, a local family, and they love durian

554

and they took me to one of their favorite farms and they ate durian with me.

555

So I got to eat durian with a local family in Malaysia and we got to just feast on durian together.

556

And that was just a really cool experience.

557

And they were so nice.

558

And Malaysia has a pretty high level of English, maybe not as high level, maybe not as high as the Philippines.

559

I'm not sure, but it's pretty good.

560

I mean, in Penang, like the English was pretty good.

561

People were able to communicate with me a lot more than in Thailand and Vietnam.

562

Uh, it was, I was impressed.

563

I mean, generally in Asia, like I was impressed a lot of times by people's English, but, but Malaysia, Malaysia is very multicultural.

564

There are like Chinese people, there are Indian people, there are Malaysian, there are a lot of Indonesian people.

565

Actually one of my, my, my hosts, my Airbnb host, the, the father, he was from Indonesia.

566

His kids spoke English and it was just, yeah, it was just, it was cool.

567

I feel really fortunate, like so privileged to be able to fly across the world

568

and to be able to talk to people in my native language.

569

Like, oh, it's so cool.

570

I can't even believe it.

571

But anyways, so, so I had a day with them and he actually texted me this year.

572

He told me when during end season was happening again, he was like, are you coming?

573

Like, I was like, ah, not this year, but anyways, maybe next year.

574

I hope I can go next year.

575

I would love to go back.

576

There are also some other things on my list that I didn't get to do.

577

So, but yeah, I'm going to, I know I've been talking a lot.

578

I'm going to show you some pictures.

579

So, so yeah, so I got my motorbike in Penang and I was just riding around and, and, and going to different places that sell durian.

580

And basically the places that sell durian, a lot of them have like a menu

581

because there are a lot of different kinds of durian

582

and okay I didn't really explain so durian is a fruit

583

that it's sweet and it's it has a little bit higher fat percentage than your average sweet fruit.

584

And the texture is also very like creamy.

585

So it's not like an avocado.

586

It's not like that fatty and whatever, but it's the creaminess in the, you know, texture of it with the sweetness.

587

And there's also like savory, a savory flavor to it.

588

Sometimes it's bitter.

589

Yeah.

590

There's, there's complex flavors and there's a lot of different kinds.

591

And basically during it is so amazing because it, it tastes like a pastry or a dessert that has many different ingredients.

592

You know how fruit is like really good, but it, it often has kind of like a simple flavor, you know, it doesn't have like a super complex flavor.

593

Cause it's, it's one ingredient, you know, you eat a banana, you eat a mango, you eat a papaya.

594

It can be good.

595

It can be sweet, but it's, it's a kind of a very like one dimensional flavor.

596

If you know what I mean?

597

It's kind of like a simple flavor profile, but durian has a complex flavor profile.

598

It's just, it really feels like you're eating like a dessert with multiple ingredients that somebody made.

599

It's just, it really, when I tell you it tastes like creamy ice cream pudding stuff, like it does.

600

It really does.

601

Um, it tastes like frosting on a cake.

602

I can't, I can't explain.

603

It's just, it's that like creamy gooey, like, and the flavor is complex and it, it's just, I can't, it's really hard to explain if you haven't had it.

604

And like I said, there's a lot of different kinds.

605

There are some durians that I tried it and I'm like, whoa, that's like too bitter, too like sometimes alcoholy or like, I don't really like that one.

606

And then there were other durians that I tried and I was like, oh my God, I want to eat this every day for the rest of my life.

607

This is so amazing.

608

And the same goes for fruits as well, like mangoes or some mangoes i'll die for some mangoes i never want to eat ever

609

so you know it's the same thing but

610

so in the case with durian there's often a durian menu

611

this is just one example of like a menu where they

612

have different types different names of different kinds of durians

613

and then they have the price listed

614

so this is in the um malaysian money currency but

615

so i can't i don't remember exactly how much

616

that is like in dollars you can you can look it up

617

but um so they have a price range and the ones

618

that are more like famous or higher demand you know the ones

619

that are like more special they they're they're more expensive for me personally i chose one of the cheapest ones

620

and i fell in love with it and it became my favorite kind

621

and i liked it more than the more expensive kind i liked the taste better

622

so the price does not necessarily mean

623

that it tastes better it's all subjective just

624

so you know my favorite kind that i tried And I didn't try all of those kinds in the list.

625

I tried a few different ones, but I didn't try all of them.

626

But my favorite kind I had was this one called D11.

627

It's just a simple name.

628

A lot of them, they just have D and then some number.

629

Some of them have a cooler name like Musang King or Blackthorn.

630

But this one is just D11.

631

But it's so good.

632

The flavor is just, oh.

633

When I discovered this one, I just kept buying this one.

634

I just only bought D11 after this.

635

I didn't really care about any of the other ones

636

so this was the first time I had D11 this picture

637

and I had squished it a little bit with my fingers the first one

638

so you can see this like some dents where I put my fingers in

639

because yeah it's just like it's squishy you just want to squish it

640

so that's the part you eat is this fruit part it

641

kind of looks like lungs you know your lungs in your body

642

so that's the part

643

that you take these pods you take these um they're these

644

ones are yellow sometimes they're more white sometimes they're more reddish like there's a lot of different kinds of durian

645

but a lot of times it's just yellow you take this pod out

646

and you just eat it and there's a seed in the middle

647

but it's not it's not too big there's a lot of

648

flesh there's a lot of meat on there the seed's not

649

that big and then it's in this outer shell

650

which is very hard by the way super hard

651

and it has these thorns on the outside so

652

when they're handling the durian

653

when they're picking up the durians they usually have at least one glove on

654

so a lot of times you see the the sellers they have a glove

655

and they're holding it and then they got a knife

656

and they're like cutting it open

657

but it's a it's a dangerous fruit it's a dangerous fruit

658

because it's so hard and there's thorns and you got to be careful

659

because if you're near a tree

660

if you're walking under a durian tree it could fall

661

and it has fallen on people's heads and killed them

662

so you You got to wear a hard hat if you're going to go walking under the durian trees.

663

You got to be careful with that.

664

So it's a little bit of a dangerous fruit and it's not the easiest fruit to open.

665

This is definitely a heavy duty jungle fruit that's not going to give you its flesh very easily, but it's worth it.

666

It's worth cracking it open.

667

A lot of people who don't know about fruits, they get this confused with other fruits.

668

It's not jackfruit, it's durian and it is special and unique

669

and it's not in the jackfruit family it's a totally different family And yeah, a lot of people don't like it.

670

Some people don't like it at first, they give it another chance and then they start to like it.

671

So, you know, there's different kinds.

672

Like I said, a lot of times the only durian you can get in like the US is like frozen.

673

It's like the mon thong variety.

674

It's like a very basic kind that's frozen

675

and you can maybe find it at an Asian store for a lot of money.

676

It's not worth it.

677

There is someone who sells really, really high quality.

678

She's like a durian expert.

679

She's an American woman.

680

She ships very high quality durian to the United States and maybe Europe.

681

I'm not sure.

682

Her name is Lindsay.

683

You can find her on like Instagram under durian writer, like someone who writes, you know,

684

like a, like a journalist, like durian writer, right?

685

She's a durian expert and she has a website.

686

I think it's called year of the durian and she sells like high quality durian and other fruits to other places.

687

I don't know if she would sell it.

688

I don't know if she can ship it to like Latin America.

689

I don't know.

690

I think it might just be like the U S and Canada and maybe Europe.

691

I'm not sure, but it's very expensive.

692

I'm warning you, but I've never ordered from her, but I know that that is an option.

693

If you really want to get high quality durian

694

and you're willing to spend a lot of money for it

695

but really the best thing is to just save up your money

696

and go to asia during durian the you can find durian all year round

697

but the the peak main season especially in penang malaysia i think it's it starts around like may

698

and june yeah it starts in like may

699

and goes through uh like august maybe

700

so it's basically like what would be the summer time in the u .s you know you can save up

701

and you can just go you can just go

702

and you can just feast for yourself if you want

703

but yeah so that's durian i love durian

704

and i could clearly talk all day about it jesus well

705

i didn't think i was going to make this video

706

so long but look look it happened it happened

707

and get me talking about fruits and food and my trip to asia

708

and god but i i just talked about fruit

709

and food the whole time jesus but that's that's what i do those are my favorite topics Yeah, I don't know.

710

Gosh, you get me going.

711

You get me going.

712

You get me wound up and I don't stop.

713

I just keep going, rambling, rambling.

714

I love everything that tastes good and I can put it in my mouth.

715

I love everything that is a plant or a mushroom.

716

I love mushrooms too.

717

Either a fungi, a fun guy or a fungi or a plant that is delicious that I can eat.

718

I love it and I want it and i'm gonna talk about it

719

and i'm gonna travel for it so if

720

that offends you well i'm just around at this point i'm just i'm just procrastinating

721

because i don't want to end the end the video now i've been i've been talking for a

722

while and i don't want to end it and i shouldn't have to

723

and i shouldn't have to because why

724

because why do i have to end the video you can click off

725

if you don't want to keep watching the video

726

if you don't want to keep listening to me you can

727

go there's the door leave click off go ahead get out of here i don't want to see you

728

I didn't mean

729

that I'm just okay I I'm gonna go rest now bye

730

the last video someone said like why you you seemed like frustrated at the end of the video

731

because I literally was just like okay bye I was like

732

I just ended the video like all right take care bye

733

and someone was like I think you're you seem frustrated

734

and I was like girl that's just me boy that's just

735

me I'm just being silly I'm just like what do you mean I'm not frustrated I'm just like bye

736

because I can

737

because it's fun everybody's always hyper analyzing me on here you

738

know what I actually didn't even show you all the pictures I wanted to show you there's still more

739

but I I okay I'm gonna have to make another video then I'm gonna have to make another video

740

but I don't think it's gonna be as exciting as this one though

741

because those were the best ones I wanted to show you from my Asia trip.

742

And now I just have some like random outliers.

743

I have some random, doesn't have to do with anything, silly pictures that I don't think I have much to talk about.

744

So, but I don't know.

745

Anyways, next video, if you stay to the end, you get a little special treat.

746

I'm going to tell you, I think my next video, I'm going to be sharing an audio message that my aunt recorded for me.

747

So you're going to hear my aunt, my mother's sister.

748

You're going to hear my aunt talking to me

749

and I'm going to be talking about what she says and breaking down some phrases and words that she's using and stuff.

750

So that's hopefully it's next video.

751

If I procrastinate, it might not be next video, but I think I'm working on it right now.

752

I'm trying to edit her message.

753

Yeah.

754

So that's my, that's my idea.

755

That's my plan.

756

All right.

757

What are you still doing here?

758

Get out of here.

759

Bye.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 759 sentences and 8764 words to shadow. The speech runs for 44:50. The speaker talks fast, about 195 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

vegan /ˈviːɡən/ (noun) — A person who does not eat, drink or otherwise consume any animal products
anyways /ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/ (adverb) — Anyway, anyhow, in any case.
temple /ˈtɛm.pl̩/ (noun) — A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.
flavor /ˈfleɪvə/ (noun) — The quality produced by the sensation of taste or, especially, of taste and smell in combined effect.
vegetable /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ (noun) — A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice…
southeast /sawˈθɪjst/ (noun) — The intercardinal compass point halfway between east and south; specifically at a bearing of 135°.
jungle /ˈd͡ʒʌŋ.ɡ(ə)l/ (noun) — A large, lush, undeveloped, humid forest, especially in a tropical region, thick with vegetation and wildlife; a tropical rainforest.
scooter /ˈskuːtə(ɹ)/ (noun) — A kick scooter or push scooter; a human-powered land vehicle with a handlebar, deck and wheels that is propelled by a rider pushing off the ground.
tropical /ˈtɹɑ.pɪ.kəl/ (adjective) — Of or pertaining to the tropics, the equatorial region between 23 degrees north and 23 degrees south.
soup /sup/ (noun) — Any of various dishes commonly made by combining liquids, such as water or stock, with other ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, that contribute the food…
mushroom /ˈmʌʃˌɹuːm/ (noun) — Any of the fleshy fruiting bodies of fungi typically produced above ground on soil or on their food sources (such as decaying wood).
topic /ˈtɑpɪk/ (noun) — A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
feast /ˈfiːst/ (noun) — A holiday, festival, especially a religious one
naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ (adverb) — In a natural manner.
consent /kənˈsɛnt/ (verb) — To express willingness, to give permission.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
get out of (verb) — To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
think about /ˈθɪŋk əˌbaʊt/ (verb) — To ponder.
come from (verb) — To have as one's origin, birthplace or nationality.
deal with (verb) — To handle verbally or in some form of artistic expression; to address or discuss as a subject.
get in (verb) — To get into or inside something, literally or figuratively.
get out (verb) — To leave or escape.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 242 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: southeast /sawˈθɪjst/, clothing /ˈkloʊðɪŋ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: mushroom /ˈmʌʃˌɹuːm/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, dish /dɪʃ/, flesh /flɛʃ/, decoration /ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like vegan, anyways, temple.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to i · used to drive · used to think
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	i've been wearing · I've been talking
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have done · have not driven · have experienced
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be exposed · is also unexpected · are just covered

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

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Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

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What is the Shadowing Technique?