– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Hey everyone,

I recorded this episode before

everything that happened. Working on it

after the assault has helped me clear my

mind a little bit and it's reminded me

of all the beautiful moments I spent

with my sister traveling. Those memories

mean a lot to me right now. I'm really

proud of this episode. Enjoy.

Hello

and welcome back to my Slow English

podcast.

[music]

I love traveling.

and

teaching.

And to be able to do both

is a dream

for [snorts] me.

to be able to share these experiences

with you while

you practice your English listening

is so

special.

Thank you for all of the unconditional

support that you give me

and for appreciating

what I love to do,

teach

English.

So, get

comfy

and get ready to practice your English

listening.

Listen to slow English

while I tell you about my

stressful trip to China.

Last week

I went from Tokyo

to

Shanghai.

Our flight

left at 10 p.m. [clears throat]

and we arrived

in Shanghai

at 100 a.m.

So to make sure we caught our flight,

we left our hostel

at around

11 a.m.

really early.

We got breakfast

and I bought a new suitcase.

I needed one to use as carry on luggage.

Very big luggage to fit

all of the things that I bought

in Tokyo.

I did a lot of shopping.

I bought hats, sweaters,

coats, some very big clunky shoes,

and lots of souvenirs

for all of my friends and family.

After I bought the big suitcase,

we took the subway train

to the airport. I love this video. My

sister is so strong. To get to the

subway,

you have to go down

so many flights

of stairs.

And there were no escalators.

So, my sister carried our giant suitcase

all by herself. We bought a ticket

at the vending machine

and we waited for our train. I was a

little

impatient.

I didn't want to wait any longer.

So,

I told my sister,

"This train is it.

Let's get on this train."

So, we boarded the first train that

passed by

and it was the wrong train. My sister

was so annoyed at me because I was so

restless,

impatient,

and I made us board the wrong train. So,

we had to get off at the next train

station.

Finally, we boarded the right train and

we were on our way to the Tokyo airport.

We arrived at the airport and we walked

a long way

until we found the counters.

We have to wait

until it's 2 hours

before our flight leaves.

We checked the time and we were 8 hours

early.

My sister and I don't like being rushed

or late.

But this time I think we were too early.

[laughter]

Definitely.

How early do you go to the airport

before your flight leaves?

What's the most comfortable

time for you to have

before your flight?

I need at least

4 hours.

Otherwise, I feel like I'm going to miss

my flight.

Since we had so much time on our hands,

we went to the food court and we ate

some delicious udon noodles. Then when

it was time, we checked in.

We went through security.

We found our gate number

and

we waited some more. After 4 hours, we

were in Shanghai. I tried to connect to

the Wi-Fi

so we could start setting up

our payment apps

like Wee Pay or Alip Pay.

If you didn't know,

China is almost

cashless.

They don't use cash

and they don't accept

our cards,

only their own.

So, we basically

need these apps to pay for anything in

China. People look at you like you are

crazy if you want to use cash.

It's not common at all.

We had set up these payment apps before,

but now the apps weren't working.

Our banks were rejecting

the payments.

We were so frustrated

and

exhausted.

It was 300 a.m. and we still

couldn't get any of the apps to work.

Finally,

I managed to use my Weay app to buy a

little pancake

from a vending machine.

And it worked. So, I figured

it works.

Let's go.

But now

we couldn't find the taxis.

We were walking back and forth, back and

forth, and we couldn't seem to find

them.

So I asked a guy.

I said,

to

excuse me, where are the taxis?

And he said

something.

He answered in full fast Chinese.

And he spoke for one full minute.

He gave me directions,

hand gestures, everything. I had no idea

what he said, but I was too embarrassed

to tell him that I didn't understand,

especially because I was so excited

that he understood my Chinese.

So I just smiled and said,

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

And I left.

Once my sister caught up

with me, I told her, "Okay,

follow me. It's this way."

So she followed me

and once we were far away from the man I

told her I didn't actually understand

what he said. She laughed at me. But

finally we found another man

and I asked him in English. Then we

found the taxis. We hopped in

and we were so

[sighs]

relieved.

We made it.

And I was so

shocked

at how fast the cars could go from zero

to 100 in a split second.

In a split second, the car would go from

zero to 100.

Then my sister informed me that China

actually has some of the fastest cars

in the world. It was something I didn't

know about China. We finally arrived at

our first hotel

near the airport

just to sleep.

And tomorrow we would book a new place

to stay. I scanned

my WeChat code to pay.

I sent the payment

and my card

rejected it.

We couldn't believe it. We had spent so

much time setting it up and we were back

to square one.

back exactly where we began.

We didn't know what to do. It was

120 RMBB.

So, we asked the receptionist

inside the hotel

to see if maybe she had some cash and we

could pay her back with our credit

cards.

She said no.

So, we asked the driver if maybe he

could drive us to a nearby bank

and we could take out some cash

and then pay him. He didn't speak

English,

but he was shaking his head.

No, no, no, no. So, we didn't know what

to do.

The receptionist

grabbed my sister's phone

and tried to use Alip Pay. We told her.

We already tried.

It doesn't work. But she tried anyway.

She sent herself

0.01

RMBB

and it worked. So we figured, oh,

maybe my sister's Alipay works.

Let's pay him. She sent

120 RMBB

and it was

rejected.

The payment did not go through again.

I had it up to here with my bank.

But

I realized

maybe we can make small payments. Maybe

smaller payments would go through

easier. So I sent him

10 RMBB and it went through. So I

started sending him 10 RMBB at a time.

10 then another 10 and another 10

until we finally completed the 120

plus a little tip.

But phew,

we could finally [gasps]

breathe.

We went inside the hotel and it was a

little scary.

I can't lie. A little dirty and smelly

and scary.

Straight out of a horror movie. But we

didn't even care at that point. We just

wanted to sleep.

When we finally got into our room,

I slammed my body on the bed

and I passed out.

It was 5 a.m. by then.

I slept so well that night. Once we woke

up,

I booked our next hotel

and we ordered an Uber to our hotel.

Now that it was finally working, we

arrived at the destination

that Google Maps marked.

But

Google Maps doesn't work well in China

either. So, the location

was wrong.

It had sent us about

17 minutes

away from our hotel.

Keep in mind we had two huge suitcases

and two backpacks.

But

we took a deep breath

and we began walking to our hotel.

We arrived at the second location.

It marked

and it was a McDonald's,

not a hotel.

The location was wrong again. [sighs]

So, at that point, I decided,

let's take an Uber.

I was fuming.

>> [gasps]

>> I seem like a happy,

positive person, but when I am stressed

out,

I am a whole different person. My sister

and I were so annoyed at each other at

that point.

I also understand

we were both super stressed out.

After 30 minutes of lugging around

our luggage,

we finally made it to our hotel.

I went to eat some delicious xiaolong

bao,

some crab row noodles,

and a crispy pancake.

So good. It has been one of the best

meals I have ever had.

I went back to our room.

I took a shower

and I went to sleep.

At night, I got a little bit hungry

again, so I walked outside

to Nanjing Road to get a snack.

And the streets were so alive,

full of colorful lights and food

everywhere.

Literally everywhere.

The next days in China were super fun.

I went for a run in People's Park

and I found the cutest little kiosk

to sit down and read.

I saw a lake with lily pads and cowi

flowers.

There were so many cats in China.

My sister loves cats. I try so much

food,

sweet and salty.

My sister and I talked about how soft

everything is in China.

The dumplings,

the mochi.

>> Why is everything so soft here?

>> Everything's so soft. But I like that

flavor more than the bean stuff we've

been getting in Thailand and Japan. This

tastes more Mexican.

>> The noodles,

it's all so

soft.

I love it. These soup dumplings.

Wow.

I bought a new hat.

It's red and warm and I love it. It's my

new favorite hat. And we had been eating

[snorts] so much Asian food.

We needed some Mexican food.

So I ordered a quesadilla.

In the evening

we went to see Yuan Garden

and that was something else.

I had never seen anything like that. You

could also see a skyscraper

touching the clouds.

It looked unreal

from a movie.

In Mexico, we have oritas,

little ears.

They're like sweet bread.

And I kept on seeing this bread in

China.

They looked a little different.

But I tried one

and they tasted really similar.

Interesting.

I was obsessed with Shaolong Bao on this

trip.

I had at least one order of Shaolong Bao

every day.

I had more sweets like caramelized

strawberries,

and we saw the bund,

a very unique view of buildings

right in front of the river. I would

love to live near that area.

I could go for runs every morning right

next to the river.

Nanjing road was busy all the time,

full of people

and being around so many people

can make me feel [sighs and gasps]

exhausted.

So to regain

our energy,

we got a hot pot.

It was so

spicy.

Our lips were on fire, but it was so

tasty

and flavorful.

Don't forget to like and subscribe to

practice English listening every day. I

also tried a pimmen.

That was interesting.

It tasted almost like a tomato

and a raisin

mixed together.

Then we saw the cutest car.

I want a car like that. One that doesn't

take so much space. Like those big

trucks that everyone has in the USA.

It's so unnecessary.

Like why do you need that much space?

You are one person.

We should all have tiny cars like this.

At this temple, there were so many

little red notes

with people's dreams and goals.

They wrote down, "I want to meet a

beautiful partner. I want to speak

fluent Chinese."

And hung them on the trees. What would

you write down on one of these notes?

What dream would you want to come

true?

These are protecting dragons.

One of them is a man and one of them is

a woman. You keep them in your house to

protect your house. It's supposed to

bring good luck

and good fortune.

I actually bought two little ones

to keep with me all the time.

On our last day, we checked out of our

hotel

and we moved to a different hotel

closer to the airport.

It was so cool. It was like a resort.

They had a theater to watch movies in, a

restaurant,

hot springs,

and an arcade.

We played Mario Kart, and I was number

one a lot. We snacked on popcorn

and chips and we ate a lot of food. We

were only in Shanghai

for 4 days. We did what we could with

the time we had, but I will definitely

apply for a visa to have a longer trip

next time. And let me know in the

comments if you would like to see more

of my trips in Asia. I have so many

students

from Somalia, Bangladesh,

Saudi Arabia, Vietnam,

Brazil, Morocco,

Turkey. It's crazy to see how diverse

my audience is, but I'm so proud of all

of you for sticking with me, for staying

consistent, and not only building your

English skills,

but also working on yourself. Please

never lose that motivation.

No matter what you do or where you are,

you can reach your goals if you set your

mind to it. If you're ready to take the

next step in your English learning

journey, then come practice speaking in

my English community to encourage you to

practice your English every day. See you

next time. Bye.

[music]

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
episode /ˈɛpɪsoʊd/ B1	noun - a part of a series of broadcasts or podcasts
assault /əˈsɔːlt/ B2	noun - a violent attack
reminded /rɪˈmaɪndɪd/ B1	verb - to cause someone to remember something
memories /ˈmɛməriz/ A2	noun - things remembered from the past
proud /praʊd/ A2	adjective - feeling pleased and satisfied with something
special /ˈspɛʃəl/ A2	adjective - better or different from what is usual
support /səˈpɔːrt/ A2	noun - help or encouragement
appreciating /əˈpriːʃieɪtɪŋ/ B1	verb - recognizing the full worth of something
comfy /ˈkʌmfi/ A2	adjective - comfortable
stressful /ˈstrɛsfəl/ B1	adjective - causing stress
impatient /ɪmˈpeɪʃənt/ B1	adjective - not willing to wait
luggage /ˈlʌɡɪdʒ/ A2	noun - bags or suitcases for carrying belongings
souvenirs /ˌsuːvəˈnɪrz/ A2	noun - things kept as reminders of a place or event
annoyed /əˈnɔɪd/ A2	adjective - slightly angry; irritated
exhausted /ɪɡˈzɔːstɪd/ B1	adjective - extremely tired
cashless /ˈkæʃlɪs/ B2	adjective - not using cash