Topic Talk | Xochitl’s trip to China

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl talks about her trip to China.

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Transcript:

00:00:00

Jack

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00:00:30

Xochitl

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00:00:57

Jack

OK.

00:00:58

Jack

Now let’s get on with the show. Welcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I’m here with my co-host social. And today we are doing a topic talk.

00:01:16

Jack

And today’s topic is social’s trip to China when she was 16 years old and social I I didn’t know that you went to China when you were sixteen. I think this is the first time I’m learning of this and.

00:01:34

Jack

Why did you go? Who did you go with? What did you do? You know all the WH questions? I’m so curious.

00:01:41

Xochitl

UM so.

00:01:45

Xochitl

What can I say about this trip?

00:01:48

Xochitl

UM, well, we went. I was learning Mandarin at the time I started learning Mandarin in the in freshman year of high school, which for our listeners that means first year of high school and in US we have four years of high school so.

00:02:06

Xochitl

My I want to say it was my junior year. Yes, because I was 16 my junior year.

00:02:12

Xochitl

I the summer of my junior year, we went to China on a trip because as it turns out, my dad is a a university professor and his university, the Confucius Institute, holds a trip to China. And you have to pay like your ticket. But I think everything else is paid for it.

00:02:29

Xochitl

It’s like it’s subsidized, so that means like they pay for a lot of your trip and.

00:02:34

Jack

So you just buy the ticket, but they pay for like your accommodation. They pay for your food and that kind of stuff they travel.

00:02:41

Xochitl

Yeah, I believe either that was the case or it’s subsidized, meaning they put a lot of money towards your your accommodation and your food and your travel. And. Yeah, so it was pretty affordable. So my dad said.

00:02:50

Jack

It lowers the price down so.

00:02:53

Jack

Don’t have to pay much.

00:02:55

Xochitl

Hmm.

00:02:57

Xochitl

Hey, I’ll pay for it. My dad found it, actually, and he said he would pay for it for me. And so I.

00:03:01

Xochitl

Said.

00:03:02

Xochitl

Yeah. OK and.

00:03:07

Xochitl

A few like only one other person who was in my class in Chinese went, and besides, that was all students from Louisville, which is the capital of Kentucky.

00:03:17

Jack

Yeah.

00:03:18

Xochitl

And so we all went to China, and it was a a an age range from.

00:03:27

Xochitl

1617.

00:03:30

Xochitl

Pretty much and.

00:03:34

Xochitl

We it was a really great time. I think we landed in Beijing and we went to Shanghai and Xian.

00:03:41

Jack

Hmm.

00:03:42

Xochitl

And I really, really loved it. I think that’s probably one of my favorite places that I’ve ever visited.

00:03:48

Xochitl

I really like the food. I liked the weather, I liked how busy it was, and there were a lot of really beautiful parks, like especially she had a really beautiful park and we spent the most time in Shannon and spent a week in Shannon. If I’m not mistaken, and went to a high school and got to meet like other kids our age. And then we went to host family and have like, dinner with them.

00:03:54

Jack

Yeah.

00:04:04

Jack

Yeah.

00:04:13

Xochitl

And we got to go shopping and we got to take the subway and like, we got to, like, eat street food and we got to go on the Great Wall. We hiked on the great.

00:04:23

Xochitl

Wall of China.

00:04:24

Jack

Oh cool.

00:04:25

Xochitl

Yeah, we went to Shanghai, we went to like some traditional palace. I want to say.

00:04:32

Jack

Yeah.

00:04:33

Xochitl

Yeah, because we went to some gardens. Some like traditional gardens in Shanghai, and it was very hot and humid in Shanghai and in Beijing it was very rainy and cold. It was like.

00:04:44

Xochitl

Very because Shanghai’s the South and Beijing’s like the north, right? And then Shian was probably my favorite because.

00:04:53

Xochitl

The weather was just perfect the whole time, so I really liked it there.

00:04:57

Jack

So social you said you went to Shanghai. I I heard some quotes by a famous chef and traveler, Anthony Bourdain. And he said.

00:05:00

Xochitl

Yeah.

00:05:09

Xochitl

Yes.

00:05:10

Jack

Shanghai makes New York City look like a.

00:05:13

Jack

Third world country.

00:05:14

Jack

Country.

00:05:15

Jack

Like and and I I’ve always found that really interesting because I think the perception that Americans have of China is that it’s somehow backwards or, you know, it’s not developed or whatever. And if you look at some of these projects that they have and they’re building.

00:05:37

Jack

And the things that they’re doing in China, they’re it looks like it looks like it’s in science fiction movie like it’s in the future.

00:05:43

Xochitl

Yes. Yeah.

00:05:46

Xochitl

That this was almost 10 years ago. At this point, I guess, or 10 years ago. So. But I do remember that it was really insane how tall all the buildings were, and we had a race after I think in Beijing is where we ate Peking ducks because it was a specialty. And I want to say that’s from Beijing.

00:05:57

Jack

Yeah.

00:06:06

Xochitl

But he’s saying.

00:06:06

Jack

Yeah.

00:06:07

Xochitl

Just correct me if I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure that’s.

00:06:10

Xochitl

And so after he had pecking dunk, it was really delicious. But it’s heavy because it’s kind of fatty and sugary, and it’s really.

00:06:15

Jack

The duck is the duck is is wonderful, but it’s so oily and so.

00:06:22

Xochitl

You’re saying it’s like delicious cake buds, and then your stomachs like so. My friends and I like waist because we were staying on like the 13th floor or something. I don’t think any of it. No, it was higher than that. None of us had ever been that high up and like, stayed that high up. And so I remember that we got in like an.

00:06:23

Xochitl

Rich.

00:06:26

Jack

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:06:40

Xochitl

There and they got an elevator and my friend and I tried to.

00:06:45

Xochitl

Race him up the.

00:06:45

Xochitl

Stairs. There’s no way we could make.

00:06:47

Xochitl

It you know we.

00:06:48

Xochitl

Were just like running. It isn’t good, I think made it and I made it and like they were. I think they had, like stopped on the floor because of something or something. And so they we made it close to the same time.

00:06:48

Jack

You got to like the 8th floor and.

00:06:52

Jack

Yeah.

00:07:02

Xochitl

But I like threw up after cause I ran so hard and I was like, no, I’m not taking that.

00:07:09

Jack

Amazing duck goes in Beijing. Duck goes out. Yeah.

00:07:12

Xochitl

So it was very.

00:07:15

Jack

Ohh my gosh.

00:07:15

Xochitl

Yeah, and seeing how I was very beautiful, we actually I believe we stayed at a university in Shanghai and.

00:07:23

Xochitl

It was really nice. I remember the dorms and everything and.

00:07:29

Xochitl

We were saying some college dorms, even though we.

00:07:31

Xochitl

Were.

00:07:31

Xochitl

High school students, but it’s because I think the university Shanghai has like some exchange program. That’s what we are looking at. And yeah, it was really fascinating. I we really enjoyed it. And I would say it’s a beautiful country. I think it’s one of the the.

00:07:39

Jack

Yeah.

00:07:48

Xochitl

That in Seattle are two places that I went and I was like, I love it here. I I could live here. I could stay here forever, you know.

00:07:55

Jack

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shanghai is a city that I’ve I absolutely must visit. I’m I’m I’m more interested in visiting Shanghai than I am in visiting Beijing. Oddly enough, I know it’s the capital city and everything, but I really want to visit Shanghai. It seems like such a cool.

00:08:14

Jack

Vibe, like such a cool city.

00:08:16

Xochitl

Yeah. And the Chinese listeners don’t hate me for this. I like the Southern accent more, even though it’s more improper.

00:08:25

Xochitl

The the northern accent is more difficult for me to pronounce because it’s like it’s rougher and like the the tones and like the the sounds like the consonant sounds are much sharper and the Southern accent is like.

00:08:38

Xochitl

Mm-hmm.

00:08:41

Xochitl

More, it’s softer and it’s easier for a foreigner because it’s hard to like. Enunciate those. Those like sharp consonant sounds like like that kind of for the for the north and for the South. It might be like the instead of the. And so it was just easier for me to pronounce because my first teacher was actually southern Chinese.

00:09:02

Jack

No.

00:09:02

Jack

OK.

00:09:03

Xochitl

And my tutor after that was also she was from Nanjing, so she was from the South southern capital city. I guess so I was more used to that. And then when I went to college.

00:09:13

Xochitl

The professors were from the north and it was so hard to keep up because it’s like it’s a more proper, supposedly I think pronunciation.

00:09:21

Jack

OK, be more formal or something like that. Like yeah, yeah.

00:09:26

Xochitl

I guess it’s more. It’s kind of like how in in the southern US like dialect or regional accent, we kind of slow words together or whatever.

00:09:35

Jack

Yeah, there’s a southern drawl. They call it, you know, which I think it would be really funny if if for like, a a Chinese student or a Korean student to go to America and study English in Louisiana or Georgia or Alabama.

00:09:38

Xochitl

Yes, OK.

00:09:52

Jack

And so they learn, you know, English with that, like how y’all doing, you know? Hey, y’all, you know, something like that. It’s it’s like, yeah.

00:09:58

Xochitl

Hey. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s basically how I learned Chinese. So that’s what I had this funny accent to them, to the Northerners. So it was fun, though. But yeah. So yeah, that was my trip to China. I have so many very fond memories, and I loved it. And I definitely, I think it’s one of the number one.

00:10:18

Xochitl

Countries that I that I really want to go back.

00:10:21

Jack

OK. And what how about the people I we we I forgot to ask you about the people but.

00:10:22

Xochitl

The one that I.

00:10:26

Xochitl

Everyone was so friendly and it was crazy because everyone was so friendly and it felt really safe and I remember I left my like wallet full of money at one of these stands and the the old lady went after me and I was like, hey, you forgot this.

00:10:40

Jack

Wow, I love that.

00:10:40

Xochitl

And crazy cause a lot of places they’d be like, oh, I just do that in the US. Don’t do that. You know what I mean?

00:10:44

Jack

Hey.

00:10:47

Jack

In the US, that money is Gonzo. Yeah. Gone for sure. Yeah.

00:10:52

Xochitl

And here you left your money here and I bought all this merch because I knew my dad would really like it. It was really fun. It was like these.

00:11:00

Xochitl

T-shirts Obama was president at the time, and they were called like Obama. Mao, like Mao did. The only guess, but Obama added it’s like not in the Red Star. And it was really, I really. I had a fun time with that. I got my dad like a watch and AT shirt and a hat and all this stuff.

00:11:07

Jack

Yeah, Obama.

00:11:18

Jack

Nice. That’s great.

00:11:20

Xochitl

Yeah. And the people are so nice, so friendly and.

00:11:24

Xochitl

They were, so they were.

00:11:25

Xochitl

So, like nice and flattering to us and and like accommodating and I don’t know, I really, really appreciated it. And yeah, nothing, nothing bad to say, all good things. And I really hope to come back someday and be able to see.

00:11:40

Jack

You maybe wanna go to China. I really wanna get there so.

00:11:43

Xochitl

You have to go. My dad also really wants to go. And I tell him, like, come on, man.

00:11:48

Xochitl

You should go because the circus we also went to the circus. It was so cool. And The thing is really funny is that the popcorn is like sweet there. It’s not salty. It’s not like like.

00:11:58

Jack

Yeah, it’s the same in Korea too. They got, you know, yeah, the, the the sweet popcorn, the caramel popcorn. Yeah, it’s.

00:12:02

Xochitl

Yeah.

00:12:05

Jack

It’s it’s interesting.

00:12:07

Jack

Yeah, I’m. I’m definitely a savory. Over over. Yeah, yeah.

00:12:10

Xochitl

Yeah. Anyway, listeners, let us know, are you too sweet or salty popcorn? Have you been to China? Are you from China? Tell us your experiences. I really love it. Definitely country that I want to go.

00:12:22

Xochitl

Too, and yeah, we’ll see you guys next time. Make sure to join our WeChat and WhatsApp groups. That way we can interact with you directly if you have any money to spare, make sure that you join to see our exclusive content episodes. It really helps. I can I make more content for you guys and send us an e-mail at at ozenglishpodcast@gmail.com and leave us a comment.

00:12:43

Xochitl

And below at A-Z englishpodcast.com and we’ll see you guys next time. Bye bye.

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