Shadowing Practice: (English Vlog) Walk With Me in Vancouver, Canada! - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hi everybody, welcome back to my channel.
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So many of you requested that I show you more of Vancouver, so that's what we're going to do today.
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We're going to explore two of my favorite neighborhoods called West End and Coal Harbor.
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Let's go!
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Thank you.
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Okay, I wanted to start with Davies Street, but there's a lot of construction going on right now.
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We'll leave it for the next vlog.
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So now we are in West End.
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It's a very, very big area or neighborhood.
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And then this neighborhood is also divided into a few smaller pieces.
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So we are going now to Sunset Beach and then English Bay.
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Two little neighborhoods by the water.
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It's just like a beach strip.
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It's so green still because it's September, but just nature in Vancouver stays green literally for the most part of the year.
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The first time we arrived in Vancouver and we went to Sunset Beach,
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I saw palm trees, which was so surprising to me because I thought palm trees only grow in like warm, exotic places.
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We are getting closer.
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Look at this.
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Ah, do you see that's the beach over there?
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Why do I get so excited about palm trees?
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I feel like I'm going to Bali or something
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when I see them vacation yeah like vacation vibes
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so all of these houses are super expensive
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because can you imagine the view
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they're getting over the water over there the sand in Vancouver is not known to be the best out
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there um these beaches I think they're sort of man -made
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so this sand is brought from somewhere else
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then we have these logs everywhere on all beaches pretty much where people can either
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you know sit in their shade or sit on them it's pretty convenient
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if you don't have a blanket
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or something you can walk on this seawall all around the city this is
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so calming and relaxing you can just come sit see
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that person over there you can come sit here
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and just literally meditate no one's gonna bother you except that dog who's digging a hole right now having the best
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time of his life look at that dog oh my he's
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so excited big good boy you have to be careful about the tide
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because i think this water comes all the way here right
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now it's like good for another i don't know hour or
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so i'm not a tide expert the engagement sculpture by dennis oppenheim
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it's made of metal look how big
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this is oh yeah art installation correct can you see how big
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they are no alcohol permitted at the beach here
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so this is a really nice viewpoint there's benches all around you can just sit
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and enjoy the view and then we're going into English Bay
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which is kind of like a different bay area
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and people just kind of call it a neighborhood
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but it's still part of West End and these are the wood logs
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that I was telling you about they usually have volleyball nets
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there i think they took them down for the season
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i'm getting really hungry right now we should get
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we should get some street food maybe usually english bay will
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have a lot of restaurants a lot of street food um
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and people just take some takeout and then come eat at the beach look at
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that tree on top of that building is it bad that i want ice cream for lunch
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or tacos oh look it's a taco truck it's also taco tuesday
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which means tacos are always cheaper on tuesday i don't know
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if they have it we decided against the tacos
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because it was 18 for three little tacos um we're gonna keep looking for better options larger portions for
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that amount of money this is basically well i don't think sunset beach
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or english bay is a tourist trap but the places
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that sell food are going to be overpriced except cactus club cactus club is nice
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we love cactus we love cactus club
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we used to work at cactus club okay
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now we're gonna go up to a really cool spot with a lot of statues
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they're called the laughing statues you're gonna understand why uh it's kind of like weird laugh
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but it's art we don't question art.
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Okay, so do you see these palm trees?
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This is Canada, guys.
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Okay, don't tell me it always snows here and it's cold because it's not.
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Not in Vancouver.
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I live in the warm part of Canada, okay?
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Our winters get like to maximum, I don't know, minus five or something.
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It barely snows.
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It does snow in the mountains, just not in the city.
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This is a cute little area
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and then these are all the city bikes pretty much all major cities have them
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you can just rent them out and explore the city
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by bike and these are the laughing statues you see their hand gestures and their facial expressions
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and their body positions they're quite large okay let me just show you how big they are
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so i'm gonna walk right next to them look
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i'm the size of his waist um these are apparently 259 centimeters tall
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which is two meters and 60 centimeters I don't know how many feet
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that is and they're made of bronze they were installed in 2009
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so we are now on Denman Street we're looking for some good food these restaurants are probably a little overpriced
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because the beach is right there see the ice cream is calling me um is this new I think first
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Iranian juice and ice cream bar oh
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That's the mash tea.
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We were going to try it in North Vancouver.
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Crispy shawarma.
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Oh my God, it smells so good.
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I'm so hungry.
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Oh, Persian barbecue.
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I think this is new as well.
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Looks really nice inside.
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Look at this patio.
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I'm in the mood for something fried, meaty.
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Maybe rice, maybe kebab, maybe shawarma, maybe doner.
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I don't know.
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I think we're gonna do some Turkish food.
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Oh my god, they have kunefe and baklava.
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Oh my god, we have to have kunefe.
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Istanbul, Donair.
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Oh, I think we're gonna do this.
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The platter with dry salad and everything, or it could be sandwiched, the tombik we bake first every single hour.
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Oh, okay.
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Okay, okay.
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Can we do the tombik?
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Kunefe after the meal, right?
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Yes, please.
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Okay, do you want the sandwich cutting out?
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Yes, please.
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Thank you so much.
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Okay, so we got a beef tombik.
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I think that's what it's called.
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And this is halal beef, triple A, from Alberta.
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Oh my God, this looks so good.
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Oh my God.
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The bread is so soft.
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Hey, this is your half.
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We got some sauce and some pickled jalapenos.
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Oh my God.
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This is amazing.
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Yeah, this is way better than ice cream.
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we just finished our food and they brought over this
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Turkish tea we did order this though this is called kunapa
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or knefe I think if you want to visit this place it's called Istanbul Doner authentic
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Turkish cuisine triple A halal Albertan beef and in -house baked bread look at this cheese
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okay so that was a little bit of west end now we're going down a street
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that takes us into coal harbor
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which is the second neighborhood i want to show you and
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that happens to actually be my favorite favorite so
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that way is stanley park we're gonna cover that in a different video
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because it's so big it's literally worth a different vlog
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and now we're going into coal harbor you're gonna hear quite a few seaplanes
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because they also have an airport here for seaplanes
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it might not be called an airport though like a seaport plane seaport plane harbor port
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i think we wanted to live in one of those at some point in our lives maybe we will
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but it gets quite noisy to be honest from the plains
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so we'll think about that
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but it's a really beautiful place look at this doggy park oh my god look that's like a baxterini
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but it's different color do you see the mountains on the side over there
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so beautiful okay so we're gonna continue our walk on
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that alley over there i think they have a restaurant over there
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or no i think they are boarding certain boats they do different events
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and you can rent here a boat for parties
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and also they have cruises
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so you can see it says harbor cruises over there hey
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can we go get a frozen yogurt look crave culture is here i really want a frozen yogurt
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but maybe later these boats are so fancy they're all kind of expensive yachts
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and this is also considered one of the most expensive of neighborhoods in Vancouver.
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It's sort of like a strip as well, just two streets along the water.
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Can you hear the plane, the seaplanes?
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Look at this view.
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You can just come here and take a walk 45 minutes to an hour and you just recharge.
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Look at that person, he's cleaning the...
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the big yacht here.
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Look at these colors.
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Fall is definitely here.
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This is the end of September and it's still quite warm.
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It's like 17, 18 degrees.
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I think today is 19 or 20.
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But then fall in Vancouver gets really, really beautiful and a little bit rainy for sure.
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You can see the boats really up close here.
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And then this is a pretty fancy hotel here in Vancouver.
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I think it's either four stars or five stars.
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I think it's a five -star hotel and you can imagine the views they get over Stanley Park,
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the water, the mountains, that side too.
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It's a really, really good location.
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Hopefully I get to stay here one day.
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A lot of movies are actually filmed in Vancouver.
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It's considered sort of a Los Angeles for Canada
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and everything here is a little bit more affordable than LA
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so a lot of people make movies here
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that's the financial district over there you can see the buildings
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going into the business side of Coal Harbor just look at this view I love
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Coal Harbor so much walking here feels like you're not in real life Vancouver is amazing
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because it's always part nature part city part water it's just it's insane it's one of those cities
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that is beautiful in pretty much any season although people do hate the rain here
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because once it gets late into the fall
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and winter it gets pretty dark and cloudy for many many days in a row
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but September October even if it's cloudy and rainy the colors are still
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really bright and always changing so it's really really nice um
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that is a very popular restaurant here in call harbor it's called carderos
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and then here we're getting a little bit closer to the city life
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you might hear a little bit more noise more cars going around because that is an actual street
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Where is Dan?
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Oh, he's coming.
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He's over there.
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This is a really nice restaurant.
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We came here a couple of times.
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I think we need to go again on a really beautiful day and just kind of like sit on the patio.
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They have live music as well.
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It's just a really, really beautiful spot.
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These crows are pretty reckless.
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Sometimes they can attack people on certain streets if they don't like you being there.
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So you have to be aware of the crows.
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Look at that yacht over there.
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That's a pretty big one.
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That one, so gorgeous.
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We're going to take a ride here.
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We're going to continue walking.
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I don't really know the story of this little house on these pillars here, but I'm sure it's part of some historical moment.
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And now you're going to start hearing the seaplanes a little bit louder
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and that over there is north vancouver look
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that plane is taking off i don't know
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if you can see it someone's having some fun on this beautiful saturday afternoon
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i think they're gonna get a little bit louder later okay
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so look at these colors i don't know
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if you can see them really well
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because it's a little bit dark here now um
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but fall is definitely here and now we're gonna go all around seawall like this
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so again this is another walk that you can do in Vancouver
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and this is downtown Vancouver you can definitely get your steps in
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and meditate and I don't know listen to an audiobook
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or something and I always feel like
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when I'm in Coal Harbor I want to be present
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because this just doesn't feel real to me being from a small country in Eastern Europe
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you know you get to appreciate these things a little bit more.
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Good doggy.
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He's so happy.
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Technically you shouldn't have dogs off leash here because this dog park
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or this is not a dog park and it's not meant for dogs off leash but it's okay.
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So people are just enjoying their Saturday afternoon
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or early evening anytime it's sunny in Vancouver people have to go out like
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when you have these views and it's warm
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and it's sunny like you can't just be inside later it gets
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so cloudy and
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so rainy for like five months well the sun still comes out it's not like straight rain
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but it does get darker and whenever
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people get this weather everybody's outside like for example in November
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or December or in the winter
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if you get a couple sunny days no one is staying yet like you'll see people in shorts
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and in tank tops running on a February day
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if it's sunny outside it gets pretty crazy
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that was very surprising to me how people are not afraid of the cold here
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I am getting a little bit hungry again though
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so i'm gonna wait for dan to catch up
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and then we'll probably go get a snack somewhere
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or an ice cream look that plane i think is getting ready to take off
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or they're testing it i feel like
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because it's it's just parked over there oh he's actually getting out
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i've never flown one of these i really want to i think
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you'll get insane views what you doing getting some pictures so
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So obviously, Coal Harbour is a highly touristic area.
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It's really beautiful.
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So there's a lot of people traveling from all over Canada or the US or some other countries.
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And there's going to be a lot of people taking videos and pictures just like me, pretty much.
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So again, there are quite a few restaurants here, coffee shops, ice cream shops, all of that.
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They might be a little bit overpriced because it's a tourist spot
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but so that place over there is called canada place
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and typically really really large cruise ships will dock over there
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and you can actually see them really up close
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and they are massive they're like titanic you know okay
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so this is another art installation here it's called the drop
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and it literally looks like a massive drop
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and then this is canada place over here
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you can actually go up the stairs over there i think
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that's where all the passengers on the cruise ships get on
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and off cruise ships usually dock here look how many birds there are in the water
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and then down this side you have a lot of restaurants
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and um ice cream shops they're not like restaurant restaurants
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they're kind of maybe like quick snack places okay let me show you inside a gift shop you'll see
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so many canadian things in gift shops look at these lots of postcards and key chains
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and magnets look at these dream catchers lots of signs
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you can put up in your house look at these plaques these are really beautiful snow globes some shirts pens
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so many things obviously mugs shot glasses shirts and hats
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and of course maple syrup maple syrup candy maple candy maple
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biscuits all canadian things hi can i please get a quesadilla can i please do chicken is it okay
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if i just film how you do
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that yeah okay thank you yes please no cilantro please um jalapeno a little bit yeah
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and then this is canada place this is where they have um something called fly over canada
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which is basically like a 3d
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or a 5d experience you get sat in these chairs
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that are like moving and they like blow air into you
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and a little water and stuff and you're flying over certain areas in Canada or other countries.
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It's pretty powerful.
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We did it once in Canada
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and it like you're like on a drone pretty much flying through mountains but it's obviously it's a 5D experience.
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This is where you would buy the tickets.
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I highly recommend it.
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It's a little expensive but it's totally worth it.
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And then you can also go up those stairs and just kind of enjoy the view over the water towards that side.
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I love it when all these glass buildings start reflecting all these different lights both from the sun
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and the city and the cars and everything.
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I used to work up on Burrard, that street, so I would walk either down
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or up pretty much every day and yeah brings back a lot of memories
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and then this is the convention center it's huge it goes all around the corner over there
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and then inside they have this massive globe oh you're welcome yeah this globe is
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huge and it's just floating on top.
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I think it shows up in a lot of TV shows.
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You might have seen it.
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But yeah, it is in Vancouver.
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Okay, so let's go up
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Broad Street into the Financial District.
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I love how all these glass buildings reflect the image of the other building across from them
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and it just gives them a different design pretty much every single part of the day
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because of the Sun and the light
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and we go through some scaffolding this is called a scaffolding it's a very interesting word
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and then this is Cordova Street
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which also goes down towards a different neighborhood do you notice
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that there's not a lot of honking
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and there's not a lot of noise like traffic noise this is the first thing
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that we noticed when we came here is that compared to where we're from you won't hear a lot of
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honking here because it's technically i think considered illegal and then
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that is the place that i used to work at so
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that was my daily walk i lived just a few blocks up
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and then i would walk every day and go to work
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and this was the walk
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that I would do every single day to work how beautiful
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is this I felt like I was just in New York
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or something and then this street also has a pretty expensive area for shopping so you'll see
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Dior and Gucci I think down the street so this is West Georgia this is where where
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Coal Harbor ends.
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This is the border.
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Okay, everybody, that was my little vlog of two Vancouver neighborhoods.
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I did say these are my two favorite ones, but now that I'm thinking about it, there's so many more places that I wanna show you.
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So please do let me know in the comments if you liked this vlog or what else you'd like to see.
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Bye.
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Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “(English Vlog) Walk With Me in Vancouver, Canada!”. This video has 29 sentences and 3357 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:04. The speaker talks at a natural 152 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 22 of its 29 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
harbor noun/ˈhɑːbə/Any place of shelter.
taco noun/ˈtɑkoʊ/A Mexican snack food made of a small tortilla (soft- or hard-shelled) filled with ingredients such as meat, rice, beans, cheese, diced vegetables, and salsa.
cruise noun/kɹuz/A sea or lake voyage, especially one taken for pleasure.
palm noun/pɑm/The inner and somewhat concave part of the human hand or other primate hand that extends from the wrist to the bases of the fingers.
sunny adjective/ˈsʌni/Featuring a lot of sunshine.
maple noun/ˈmeɪpl̩/Any member of any species of genus Acer, characterized by (usually) palmate, five-lobed leaves and winged seeds, and often grown for syrup or wood
hungry adjective/ˈhʌŋ.ɡɹi/Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food.
beef noun/bif/The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.
globe noun/ɡloʊb/The eyeball.
statue noun/ˈstæt͡ʃu/A three-dimensional work of art, usually representing a person or animal, usually created by sculpting, carving, molding, or casting.
yacht noun/jɑt/A slick and light ship for making pleasure trips or racing on water, having sails but often motor-powered. At times used as a residence offshore on a dock.
rainy adjective/ˈɹeɪni/Pouring with rain; wet; showery
cloudy adjective/ˈklaʊ̯diː/Covered with or characterised by clouds.
sand noun/sænd/Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in…
insane adjective/ɪnˈseɪn/Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordPronunciationMeaning
go up verbTo move upwards.
get over verbTo overcome.
go down verbTo descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.
take off verbTo remove.
bring back verb/ˈbɹɪŋ bæk/To fetch something.
bring over verbTo cause to change allegiance or point of view.
catch up verbTo pick up suddenly.
come out verb/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/To be discovered; to be revealed.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

  • Ah, do you see that's the beach over there?
  • Why do I get so  excited about palm trees?
  • Can you  see how big they are?
  • Do you want the sandwich cut in half?
  • Hey, can we go get a frozen yogurt?

Grammar in this video

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

StructureIn the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer trueused to work
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itis also divided · is not known · is brought
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certainmight not be · might hear · might be
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good ideashould get · shouldn't have

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 74 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • The “th” sounds: bother /ˈbɑðɚ/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/
  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: vacation /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, installation /ˌɪn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/, shade /ʃeɪd/, facial /ˈfeɪ.ʃəl/, leash /liːʃ/
  • Long words — get the stress right: installation /ˌɪn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/, technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/, affordable /əˈfɔɹ.də.bəl/, quesadilla /ˌkeɪ̯səˈdijə/

How to practise with this video

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

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 →