Shadowing Practice: SURPRISING MY DAD WITH A TRIP TO VIETNAM (his first impressions) - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B1
Tell me what's going on.
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Tell me what's going on.
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Did you know about this?
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Are you pregnant?
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No!
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We're Cara and Nate.
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We've been on the road for almost four years, traveling to 94 countries.
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We wouldn't trade this life for anything.
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But the hardest part about this lifestyle is that we don't get to spend much time with friends and family.
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That's why this week is going to be so special.
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We have been living out of these suitcases for the last two years.
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That is what you call a well-packed car.
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It is seriously a miracle that the zippers have not busted over.
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Yes!
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And the wheels have not popped off.
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Which is why we love them so much much.
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Oh, wait, the company
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that makes this awesome luggage has given us the opportunity to
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help one of our loved ones mark something off their bucket list.
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So last week, completely out of the blue, we called Kara's dad.
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Do you think he's going to say yes?
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I don't know!
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I'm so scared.
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Yeah.
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Woohoo!
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Woohoo!
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Woohoo!
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Woohoo!
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Daddy!
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How y'all doing?
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Getting ready to go to a festival and then we're going to go to Cape Ronde.
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Okay, I have a question for you.
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Fire away.
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Out of all the places that we've traveled to in the world, which country would you be most excited to travel with us if you could?
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I've always wanted to go to Vietnam.
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You know that.
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I'm fascinated with the country.
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So, you know how?
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Bye!
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What if we told you that we would fly you there for free, but it has to be next week?
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Oh gosh.
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Our first time to Vietnam was back in 2016, and when my dad saw our videos from that trip, they left a big impression on him.
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Up until that point, he had always pictured Vietnam as the war zone that he had seen on TV as a kid, but what he saw in our videos was completely different.
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We have the opportunity to send one person a bag and it'll send them anywhere in the world.
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Well, send it to me.
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Could you be ready to leave for Vietnam in five days?
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Yeah, that's cool.
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Let's do it.
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Oh, this is gonna be great.
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So after jumping off that call, we booked three tickets to Hanoi, sent Kevin some new luggage for his journey, and one week later we all boarded our flights for Vietnam.
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Bucket list, going to Vietnam waiting to take off from Indianapolis to Tokyo, Japan.
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I love this airlines.
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We have just arrived in Hanoi and we beat my dad here.
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So we've already checked into our Airbnb.
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He should be arriving later tonight, but before he gets here, I wanted to give him a quick introduction.
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To the pit, Cowboy!
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He grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and when he was 22, he moved to Nashville to work in the car business.
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That's where he met my mom, and they've now been married for 33 years.
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He has a lot of energy.
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Ooh, yeah.
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Ah!
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Might be a tad bit ADD.
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But he has the biggest heart of anyone I know, and he's never been to Asia before.
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Southeast Asia is one of our favorite regions of the world, and we both feel like being here for the first time is a really special experience.
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It's like culture shock to all of your senses in the best way possible.
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The sights, the sound, the smells, the food.
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It's just like nothing else you're ever going to experience back in the United States.
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So we're both super excited to get to share this next
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week with Kevin as he experiences Southeast Asia for the first time.
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Our first time to Asia was a trip to Thailand that we took back in 2014.
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And it was a life-changing trip because it exposed us to this culture that we ended up falling in love with.
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And we met people for the first time who were traveling long term.
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I remember being so proud that we were on like this two-week trip around the world
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and then we started talking to other travelers
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And they were on like a six-week sabbatical
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or they had been teaching English in Thailand for two years
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or they were taking a gap year Which for us as Americans that was completely foreign.
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And so I think that trip specifically is Responsible for planting the seed
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that ultimately led us to this life of full-time travel.
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I just got chill bones I don't think this trip is gonna turn my dad into a full-time traveler
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But I do think it could be really life-changing for him in a lot of ways.
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Also, school's just letting out.
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Look at how cute this is.
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He's here!
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That's one of the craziest rides I've ever seen in my life.
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No red lights, and when you get to an intersection, you just turn.
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You're the first one with the nose out, you've got the right of way right away.
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This is the car expert here.
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I'm sure you're in shock.
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It's beautiful.
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I mean, everybody's chilling.
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I don't know what they're all doing, but they're all out.
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They all have motor scooters.
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This is nice.
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You know, just to have all those documents right there.
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I can't wait to take you on a walk.
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Crazy.
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Yeah, I'll walk tonight a little bit if you want.
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Okay.
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So in order to get to our Airbnb, you have to walk through a barber shop.
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It's on the second floor.
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Daddy, I'm so happy you're here.
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Get some regular things.
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My favorite cheeses?
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Can I open them right now?
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I cannot believe you carry these in your carry-on all the way from Nashville.
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Slow and steady.
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Slow and steady.
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One, two, two, more.
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Nine, five, go!
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Nine, five, go!
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Something like that.
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What are your first impressions of being off?
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It's just unique the way everything just kind of fits.
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They do things and it works, like the traffic.
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The way they just all live together in a small area.
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They're happy people.
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It is 10.30 p.m.
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We walked by a massage place and now we're all getting foot massages.
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Hard to be hard to be daddy's first night in Asia is going perfectly so far
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It's our favorite way to explore any new city is through the food
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So we thought the best way to break Kevin into Vietnam
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would be by going on a food tour He doesn't know this yet, but I picked a few of the foods a few that I think are gonna be really delicious
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a few that'll be adventurous He also doesn't know that we're going on the back of motorbikes
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My life insurance is paid up Perfect I'm so smart!
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Maybe I will fight for your dad, he like Batman?
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Yeah.
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I will fight for him, Batman.
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Ready?
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Ready?
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Boon cha.
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Boon cha.
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Did you heard about Boon cha before?
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Yes.
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First day.
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Here, you see we have chili.
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Thank you.
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So now you need to use your hand to pick the leaf and put it inside the bowl.
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I cannot believe this.
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I thought we were bringing my dad here to learn something about Vietnamese food.
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But turns out, I have a lot to learn.
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Apparently there's a rule here with noodle soup.
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You never touch chopsticks to your mouth.
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You only touch the spoon to your mouth.
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So you make the perfect bite with all the flavors in the spoon.
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makes perfect sense.
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I've been noodle soup wrong my entire Vietnamese life.
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Mmmmm.
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That's what Kara does every time.
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I had a feeling you were mocking me a little bit.
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I ordered eel noodle soup.
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What'd you order me?
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Eel.
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Fried eel.
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It's pretty good.
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So it's fried, so it's pretty crunchy.
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Very tender on the inside.
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We're also in someone's house right now, like the top floor of their home.
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They live in this part of the house, and they cook down on the street because...
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Not enough room to cook in the house.
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How's that going?
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You're doing this to work.
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I think you're going to take that to tomorrow to eat that.
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Do you need some help?
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Oh, no, sorry.
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Good night, Kara.
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I had some.
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This is great.
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Daddy-dark. Was it worth it?
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Ready?
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Here we go.
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Clams or snails?
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Snails.
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Everything here is very fresh.
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So that we boil when we order.
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This is why the adventure stops.
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That's not a big stretch.
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Just wait.
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I think he's really surprised when he's excited to have a snail as a westerner.
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I think he's the least nervous of the three of us.
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Oooh!
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That's a big bowl!
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To make it safer for you all so much, we have little bit of grass inside and ginger.
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It makes me nervous when I'm told that I need to add something to it, but it's good for my stomach.
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Exactly.
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We're not really sure about your stomach, so we'll really take it.
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We only eat the top because the back here is not very clean.
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Cheers!
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You'll love it.
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The texture of the snail.
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A little chewy.
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Okay, Nate.
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Daddy had eight.
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I have five.
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How many did you have, Nate?
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There's four right here.
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She's been helping me.
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Is this because it's good for our stomach?
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It would be terrible tonight.
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Like, you need to go to Thailand a lot.
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So you need to do this.
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Okay, so here we have something.
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Yes.
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I'm going to cut a half.
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I think something inside.
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It's a duck.
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Oh, maybe just one.
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Maybe that one?
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Maybe just one.
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Yeah.
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I'm gonna take it again.
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More.
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More.
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More.
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I don't know if I can do that.
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No. You first.
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Is that a real duck?
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A what?
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A real duck?
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Inside?
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Yeah, yeah.
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More duck.
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More duck.
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More duck.
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More duck.
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More duck.
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How will you eat this?
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So with this one they already have flavor inside.
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Close your eyes and try.
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I'm doing it.
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Oh I got a good yolk.
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Oh girl.
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You ready?
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Okay we are about to eat a duck egg.
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A duck egg with like a parsley formed baby duck.
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One, two, three.
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Tastes like chicken.
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Tastes like chicken.
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Weird texture.
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Mm-mm.
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No?
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We got a different piece.
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Lots of different pieces going on here.
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The yolk actually tasted like an egg.
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It tastes like boiled chicken that just falls apart a little bit easier than chicken does.
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Does that make sense?
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I'm proud of you.
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Me too.
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I'm daddy.
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I was just kind of sad for the poor little duck.
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I've heard of this before.
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And I've always told myself, never could I do that.
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I like a since Nate's on it.
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Just one.
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That's all we need.
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Just one.
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You want to finish it?
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I'll have another piece of this right here.
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Wow.
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Very good.
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I never thought you would outdo me.
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Stick with me baby.
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This is crazy.
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I have to say I'm really impressed with Kevin and I think I've learned where Kara gets all of her positivity from.
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I was saying good things.
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You need to say cheers.
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We need to say more Thai Ba Yo.
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That means one, two, three, cheers.
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Malt Thai Ba Yung!
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Tastes like whiskey.
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My favorite coffee in the world, egg coffee.
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You're not even ready for this.
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You love it.
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That is like dessert on steroids.
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It is.
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It really is.
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This is what traffic's like in Vietnam.
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No lights, but everybody can go.
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Xin chào.
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Beginning lesson.
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We made it through our first Vietnam scooter experience.
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That was wild.
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But really, everybody drives so slowly and calmly.
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Nobody gets mad.
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Yeah.
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That's what surprises me.
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It looks like you just cut somebody off.
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It's no big deal.
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They just wait until you pass them.
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He wouldn't make it here.
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I wouldn't make it here.
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No. Daddy, you had never had Vietnamese food before this.
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What do you think?
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Correct.
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Very good.
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It's seriously one of the best ones ever.
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Well, she loves every food, but...
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It's true.
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It's true.
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In our next video, we continue this journey with my crazy dad.
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You gotta tell him, he only got me a bottle of champagne, then.
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Good one for you guys.
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I got this.
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Good father-son-in-law bonding.
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Yeah.
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I love Vietnam.
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Love Vietnam.
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Thanks again to Away for making this all possible.
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Click the link in the description below to check out the luggage we've been traveling with the last two years.
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Oh yeah, we're just being, we're just being chill.
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This is just cool.
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This is not a conversation.
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I'm not excited.
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I'm just climbing up.
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Just catching up.
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Just catching up.
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Just catching up.
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Round the sake for all my new friends!
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And he's like, yeah!
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Oh, I have a trip planned to Hilton Head.
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Canceling it.
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Go to Bingo!
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Have you ever noticed your, your feet swell up when you travel?
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All the time.
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I never knew that.
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I thought, darn they feel like they're swollen.
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They look like they're swollen.
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A little wet.
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Fine.
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Kevin, what'd you say about the rain?
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Better than a good day at work with the sunshine.
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It's already gone shopping.
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It's where I get it from.
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I don't get in trouble when I do that.
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Yeah, come on.
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What's the rule when you're done with that?
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Yeah, you can do that too.
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Okay.
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Oh!
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Did I just drop a seed in there?
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No, not yet.
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Not yet.
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Not yet.
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Tarantulas, scrubs, brain, testicles, eyeballs.
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I mean, we've literally had everything.
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and I never thought I could do that.
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But it was probably the least disturbing.
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It was pretty normal.
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Yeah.
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Hey, what about these?
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Normal.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will enhance your English speaking skills by practicing shadowing based on the engaging transcript from a YouTube video titled "Surprising My Dad with a Trip to Vietnam." This content not only highlights personal storytelling but also incorporates emotions and important life experiences. By shadowing the dialogue, you will work on improving English pronunciation and intonation while gradually building your conversational fluency. This will be particularly beneficial for learners who wish to express their thoughts and feelings clearly in English.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Bucket list - A list of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to accomplish during their lifetime.
- Fascinated - Very interested in something.
- Impression - An effect produced on someone or something.
- Life-changing - Having a significant effect on a person's life.
- Surprise - An unexpected event or experience.
- Opportunity - A set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.
- Excited - Very enthusiastic and eager.
- Travel abroad - To go to another country for a trip.
Practice Tips
When practicing with this transcript, take advantage of the shadowing technique. Make sure to listen closely to the video, focusing on both the speed and tone of the speakers. Try to mimic their speech exactly, including pauses and emphasis on certain words. Start by playing the video at a slower speed if necessary, gradually increasing to normal speed as you become more comfortable with the dialogue.
To maximize your learning experience, repeat each segment multiple times. As you shadow, pay special attention to how the speakers express their emotions, particularly moments of excitement or surprise. Use the following strategies:
- Take notes of phrases or sentences that resonate with you, as this will help you remember them better.
- Record yourself while shadowing to analyze your pronunciation and to identify areas for improvement.
- Practice with a friend or language partner to create a dynamic conversation around the theme of travel experiences.
By incorporating these tips into your practice routine on shadowing sites or during your independent study sessions, you will see significant improvements in your English speaking skills. This method is especially effective for enhancing your shadow speech and overall fluency.
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.
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