REAL American English Conversation With Native Speakers

REAL American English Conversation With Native Speakers

Welcome to Mind Life In English, hosted by Profe Lao.

In this exciting episode, you'll experience real American English conversations and discover how native speakers communicate naturally in everyday situations. If you've ever struggled to understand fast English, informal expressions, or authentic American pronunciation, this episode is designed specifically for you.

Through realistic conversations and practical listening practice, you'll learn how native English speakers use common vocabulary, natural sentence structures, connected speech, and everyday expressions in real-life communication. Understanding authentic conversations is one of the most effective ways to improve your listening skills, speaking confidence, pronunciation, and overall fluency.

This episode is ideal for English learners who want to sound more natural, understand spoken American English more easily, and communicate confidently in daily conversations, business settings, travel situations, and social interactions.

By regularly listening to real English conversations, you'll become familiar with the rhythm, tone, and speaking patterns used by native speakers. These valuable insights can help you reduce misunderstandings, expand your vocabulary, and develop stronger communication skills in English.

Whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced learner, this episode offers practical exposure to authentic American English that you can apply immediately in your own conversations.

Subscribe to Mind Life In English for more educational episodes focused on English speaking, listening comprehension, pronunciation improvement, vocabulary building, and real-world communication skills.

Hosted by Profe Lao.

Keywords:
American English, Native English Speakers, Real English Conversation, Spoken English, English Listening Practice, English Speaking Skills, Learn American English, Everyday English, English Fluency, English Pronunciation, English Vocabulary, English Communication Skills, Listening Comprehension, English Learning Podcast, Education Podcast, Mind Life In English.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, people of the internet. I have a special guest with me today. We have a very special video. I am finally giving you a conversation with a native English speaker other than me. Because you know I have conversations with myself on this channel, but in this video we're talking to Gustavo. Also known as Gus. I know he is the second Gustavo on this channel that I've had. The other one was from Argentina, but he wasn't a native speaker. This one is a native speaker, even though he grew up in Puerto Rico all my life. Also known as.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Um Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

I don't know what else you want me to say. In Spanish.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Um Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Calm down before you click off. He grew up in Puerto Rico, but he is a native English speaker. When I first heard him talk, I thought that he grew up in the continental United States. Now, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, but normally people in Puerto Rico they don't speak like, you know, like exactly like English native speakers that grew up in like New York and Colorado and California and you know. But this man, if he told me I grew up in New York, Colorado, California, I would say, of course you did. I don't notice the difference between him and other native speakers. If you want to fight me in the comments about it, don't, because he is a native speaker. Tell us how you are a native speaker, even though you grew up in Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

I basically um learned both languages at the same time. Um even growing up early, my grandfather would speak English to me. He grew up in New York, he was Puerto Rican, he moved there with his family early on, and then he moved back to Puerto Rico, started businesses here, um, met my grandmother, you know, all that. So he used to speak um English to me when I was growing up, and I also went to a a school that had a pretty good English program. They had most of the classes were in English, so I got a good exposure to it, and just I think I I took more into it because of like American pop culture, music, video games, just media in general. I consumed a lot of TV shows in English. Um, I just having a lot of exposure to the language early on. Um, I think I I developed pretty good, um, um, pretty good accent from that, just just from like listening. I think a lot of it was comprehensible input, just spending a lot of time listening to the language has helped and uh I was exposed to it a lot. So I think that's what contributed to me having less of a noticeable accent than other people, especially older people in the island. I think a lot of the older people they didn't grow up with uh with American pop culture, the internet, so they don't have as they're not gonna have as good of an accent. So I think just be growing up, being Gen Z, growing up around the internet, I think that that helps a lot. That that helped me a lot. And you also told me that you had exposure with people who weren't your family Okay, so when I was growing up, um I used to live in a community that's like it's um like uh it's villas. It's basically uh um but it's just a large it was a there was a pretty big community there and there were people from all over. Um there's some people from New York, some people from Tennessee, like literally left lived right next to me. So I used to hang out with them, uh play board games with them, you know. I I talked to them, but they were friends, they were family friends, so they would come over. I I so I had a lot of exposure to speaking English with neighbors and shit early on. So that probably helped a lot too.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Um you played with kids.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Oh yeah, American kids, yeah, definitely. I would go I lived literally next to a hotel. So I would just sneak in there and I would make friends there. So that that was yeah. I was very touristy area too. So it's like next to hotels and it's Dorado. Um if you know in Puerto Rico, Dorado um there's a lot of hotels, there's a lot of um tourists. It's it's a tourist um town basically.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

And you also went to an a school all in English.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yes, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Anything more to say about that? It's like can can you imagine like your school 100% in English? Like everything in English. You're gonna learn English.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Yeah, definitely. That helps a lot. Yeah. The only class that was in Spanish was a Spanish class.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

That's funny. So you you said she went to like the same school I went to, but just in Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

And the students were Puerto Rican.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yes, most of them were Puerto Ricans. There were some who came from the mainland and just studied there because they could um they had the classes in English, it was easier for them. So there were some Americans at that school.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Okay, but just to be clear, like Gus is a special case because he's acting like, oh, if you just expose yourself to American culture, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But he he was privileged because a lot of Puerto Ricans, like we have a friend, he's fluent as hell in English, but he still has a very strong like Puerto Rican accent. Yeah, so Gus Gus had the opportunity, the privilege to like actually learn English like a native speaker learns English, basically. So we're or almost like that. So so yeah, so don't be thinking everybody in Puerto Rico talks like him, but um, I would say that on average, like compared to the rest of Spanish speaking Latin America, Puerto Rico has a higher level of English.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Yeah, I think so, yeah. And the younger generation are gonna be better at it. I think Gen Z and Gen Alpha, the new generation coming up, like my li um my cousin, um her her her daughter speaks perfect English too. And like she speaks it because she's always on her, she's always like on social media, on TikTok, on just watching American content, TV shows, the owl house, she watches that. And she's always watching uh, you know, American cartoons, so of course you're gonna pick it up.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

That's true. That's cool. Do you still feel like there's just a certain level of effortlessness and comfort, like when you're speaking Spanish compared to English, or do you feel like like what our friend Ari said, like because he has explored so many advanced topics in English, but not in Spanish, sometimes he feels like he can communicate even easier in English. So how does your brain think about speaking Spanish versus English at this point?

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Yeah, I think um maybe in English is better for like deeper topics because I've read more books in English. So I think, yeah, I think my vocabulary is a little bit better um when it comes to like more advanced things, but I don't know, I think I can do both, but I'm gonna use Spanglish. If it's like if I start speaking Spanish and doing in those topics, I'm probably gonna switch to English for certain things and just um certain I think, yeah, I think I do that.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

But when you're just like at home farting around, you know, just whatever, like you're you wake up in the morning, your brain isn't even like fully awake yet. Like, do you go to like thoughts in Spanish, comments in Spanish first? Or no? Or does it it depends?

SPEAKER_01 6:04

It depends on what I was doing the day before. If I was interacting with a lot of people who speak English, then mom probably gonna go to English. Or if I was like watching um videos in English, then it's gonna be my brain's gonna be in English mode. But if I was um watching something in Spanish or talking to people in Spanish all day, then I'm probably gonna be in Spanish mode. I think it just switches. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

That's kind of crazy, but cool. Yeah. That happens to me if I'm speaking a lot of Spanish.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Switches. I mean, I I also speak a little bit of German and sometimes German gets in there. Like I'll start speaking it out nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

You don't you're not fluent in Germany.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

No, not at all. I'm like an A2 to a B1, maybe at best.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

But you want to be fluent.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

I I would like to learn more.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

And you want to go to Germany?

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Definitely want to go at some point.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

This man grew up in the paradise island of Puerto Rico and he just dreamed of being on the streets of Berlin.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Oh yeah. So RC is interesting, it's the opposite, so that's you kind of want to see the complete opposite when you travel, I think. You want to see something you don't have access to.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Do you think Berlin is really the opposite of Puerto Rico?

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Very different. Uh people are less they're colder, probably. They're uh the the the language is different, the culture's different, um public transportation is better. It's a different society, it's a different culture and completely, completely different culture. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

You know, we always want what we don't have. We the grass is always greener on the other side, right? But but you love Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

I do love it, yeah. And I appreciate it more the older I get, the more I've appreciated it.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Why so?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

I don't know. I appreciate the climate more. Um I I've I've interacted with people who live in the States with the cold, the cold weather. And the more I've gotten into fitness fitness, um, surfing, cycling, the more outdoorsy I've become, the more I appreciate living here because I can just do that year round. If I was living somewhere where it was cold, I couldn't do the things I do year round. So I I've come to appreciate that way more as I've gotten older. I don't think about that much. But I used to want to be in the cold. I used to like, oh, I want to see snow so fucking bad, I never seen it. And yeah, but every person I talk to who's seeing snow, they're like, fuck that, that's the worst thing ever. You can't go outside. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

So I am from there.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

But you always have that curiosity about something you can't experience. So you just want to see the other thing, you know, the new thing, the thing that's different from what you grew up with.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

No, I I grew up in snow land and I am a tropical woman at heart, is what I always say. I always dreamed of the tropics, so I am happy here in Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah, same. I'm happy. Yeah, I do want to do more traveling.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

No, traveling is great, but um, yeah, I don't think you're missing out on snow.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Yeah, no, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

You can travel to warm pla you can go to Germany in the summer.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Exactly. That's what I'd probably do. Actually, my aunt, um, who travels a lot, she likes to go to cold countries because she's from Puerto Rico. She likes to go to Norway, she likes to go. I think she went to very south of um Argentina, like to the very like the coldest places you can go. She likes to go into Europe in the in the wintertime. She l like loves the snow.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Some people love it.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Some people are like that, yeah. They like the different vibe.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Some people like to freeze.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah, I guess. I would like to try it. I would like to do crazy shit where it's really cold just to see how much I can bear. Like maybe cycling in like very cold conditions, or like running in very cold conditions, or just jumping in lakes that are freezing. I would love to do shit like that just to challenge myself.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

It just popped into my head that we have a good topic we could talk about because you're like an ex extreme guy into I guess everything like fitness related, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah, pretty much bodybuilding, calisthenics, cycling, surfing, rock climbing. I've done a little bit of. Um, just yeah, challenges in general, calisthenics, I do a lot of. Um, so yeah, I do a lot of it. I'm very passionate about it. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

And you yeah, you could do that anywhere. So you you like the idea of challenging challenging yourself in different climates and places, fitness related challenges.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Oh definitely. I would love to do like the crazier the better. Like doing like fucking a hundred running a hundred miles in the freezing cold, fuck it, I'll do it. Like that's yeah, I love the extreme, like the like challenging myself, making myself as uncomfortable as I possibly can. I love doing shit like that. The more challenging, the better.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

You like taking cold showers?

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Uh I've done it, and yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Ice baths.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Ice baths I haven't done because I just don't feel like setting the fucking thing up. But if I had access to it, I probably would. Even though I don't think there's much of a benefit to them. I think it's just more for like the mental thing or for like the the fun of it, because I don't think it's plays that much of a role in recovery. I could be wrong, but I've heard people studies saying that it's not that important or that it doesn't do much. I've heard it's more of a fat thing, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Yeah, wake up, shock your system. Yeah, I don't think you have to do that, but not only are you super into fitness and you have a great physique and you're very strong and capable and you're a cyclist and you can bike all around the island like it's nothing in the heat, in the sun, you are also vegan. Yeah, so tell us tell us about how you are a vegan athlete.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Um yeah, I've been vegan for about six years. I went vegan around 2019, I think. 2019. And yeah, I found that it's like not only when I first went vegan, um, I was worried because I didn't know much about it. And there's a fucking plane just right now. God damn it, ruining my train of thought. Fucking assholes. Can you travel at a different time when I'm not doing an interview? No, but um when I first went vegan, I was already into athletics, I was already into powerlifting, bodybuilding, I was doing all that, and I was maybe worried, okay, I went vegan for ethical and environmental reasons. Like it was the ethical arguments that appealed to me, the environmental arguments. And I was like already into bodybuilding, powerlifting at that time, and I was worried I was gonna lose my gains, but at the same time, I was kind of having like um my conscious was like um I was fighting with my conscious because I was like, I'm exploiting animals, um, I'm like causing environmental damage. So I was like, I can't keep doing this um just to like look better or be stronger. So even if I would have lost muscle, I probably still would have been vegan. But not only did I not lose muscle, I noticed I would get leaner. I was able to like increase all my lifts, I would be getting stronger and stronger every time. I was able to like after I went vegan, is when I started biking, dormant more, the cardio, the surfing. So I noticed like my energy levels improved as I went vegan. Like people will say, no, you're gonna get brain fog. No, no, no. Everything athletically I noticed improved as I went vegan. So I haven't noticed any like downsides to it. Uh, worst case scenario is the same as an um an omnivorous diet that's like well planned, that's like um a bodybuilding diet, but at best, I think it has benefits for um athletic performance, and I think I've noticed that.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Like vegan and healthy are not synonymous. You could be an unhealthy vegan because veganism is really about animal exploitation and rejecting that. But you try to eat healthy for the most part, and you think that that has really helped you improve your performance.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yeah, 100%. Like if you eat healthy, I I mostly do like whole foods. I'll have like a little bit of like stuff that's not whole foods here and there, especially when I'm doing like cycling, I'll have sugar, I'll have like stuff that you need to consume to like be able to perform at that level, like processed sugars here and there. But for the most part, when I'm eating normally, it's just um whole food plant-based for the most part. That's mostly what I do.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Beans, soy tan oatmeal.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

I do a lot of oatmeal, protein powder in the oatmeal, um, veggies. Um, not veggies, fruits, I'll like throw fruit in there. Um, for dinner, I'll have like salads or um sweet potato, tempeh, um, tofu, I'll do a lot of that. Fait 10 here and there. So yeah, I just mix it up, but usually it's uh whole foods plant-based for the most part.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Do you eat rice, pasta, bread?

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Um rice, I'll I'll eat rice. Um uh often I think I do more sweet potato um and potatoes in general. I think it's easier to cook, but um rice I'll do. I just don't have to I don't have access to a fridge right now, so uh I'm just using potatoes more. But yeah, rice is good. Um pasta I love. Um, and I'll do some of those protein pastas that are with chickpeas here and there. Those are really good, like the protein pastas, the edamame pasta, those are good.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Are you focused on like hitting a certain protein goal? Like do you count, you know, your your protein grams?

SPEAKER_01 13:35

I try to get around like 0.8 grams per pound of lean body weights. So that for me that's like like around 120 grams. So I'll try to aim for that most of the time. Um, but like sometimes I go above, like usually I go above because that's pretty low, and I'm eating a lot of calories. So sometimes I'll hit a gram per pound of body weights uh with protein like 170 grams. But yeah, like the minimum is like usually 100, 120, that's like the minimum, and I don't notice much of a difference going higher than that.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

And when you hit 170 gram, do you feel like you're like forcing yourself to eat protein at that point, or or it's easy?

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Um, not really, because I'm eating so many calories, like I'll easily eat like 4,000 calories a day. So 4,000, 3,500, something like that. So um at that point it just comes with the with the amount of calories, so it's super easy. I think when you're cutting it can be a little harder, um, but still, especially if you know the food state, if hit those goals, like it becomes easy the more you do it for the long if you do it for a long time, you're gonna you're gonna get the hang of it.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

That's true. You're so active, you can eat so many calories and you still be shredded.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Yeah, I'm like working as a surf instructor, I'm there, I'm going to the gym, I'm biking around the city, going to the gym. Like I'm doing a lot of physical activity. On my days off, I'll do like 60 mile bike rides, all that shit.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

He never stops moving.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Yeah, exactly. Most of the day I'm moving.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Even even in his sleep, his legs are doing cycling. Anything else you want to add about being a vegan, a Puerto Rican, athletic, high athlete, high training, well, not high, like, you know, it's not on drugs. Like high athleticism, um, no steroids. No. Natural.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Completely natty. 100% natty.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Anything to add about your lifestyle? Anything you want to share?

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Um, I don't know. That sums it up pretty well.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Um Is it easy to be vegan?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Um, it's fucking super easy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

And if you want to be like me and be like have no muscle and be skinny and um not move very much in a day, and also eat plant-based, you can do that too. That's another option.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

But his options are better.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah. No, that's just what um what you want to do. Like you don't have to. Different people like different things.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Um, I'm gonna ask you some random questions on the topic of food. I want to ask you what is your go-to comfort food or what is your like favorite food or foods?

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Uh lately comfort food. Um, probably granola and monster.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

And how do you eat your granola?

SPEAKER_01 15:51

I eat the whole fucking bag usually, yeah, and I eat it dry.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Dry, the whole bag in one sitting.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah, that's what I'm working, so it's like easy, it's easy calories, so I do that a lot.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Is does it have a lot of protein?

SPEAKER_01 16:02

It the one I have has like 58 grams of protein, because it's like a protein granola. So the whole thing is like 50, 50.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

What is the protein in it coming from?

SPEAKER_01 16:10

I think it's soy protein or some sort of protein powder, pea protein. I don't know what's in it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

And do you drink water when you eat it?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Yes, I do. Uh usually a white usually a fucking white monster. Here are my bad habits. I'm talking about my bad habits, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Yeah, you're his guilty pleasure is monster.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yeah, I love fucking caffeine. I have a serious ca serious caffeine addiction.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Coffee and monster.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Yeah, pretty much. Coffee. I used to try matcha, but uh matcha kind of sucks.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

It doesn't taste as good.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

It's not strong enough.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Well, what about have you ever compared like caffeine versus just loading up on like a sugar, like a sugary drink is for energy?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

I'll do I'll do a lot of sugar if I'm doing like hundred plus mile bike rides. Usually casually I'm not doing that, but uh yeah, the sugar thing can work, but I do do it, but just for longer rides. I don't do it that often when I'm just day-to-day. It depends what I'm doing on the day.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

But what about like um like talking about meals? Do you have a particular like kind of meal or food that you really love? Like some kind of uh cuisine, like do you love Puerto Rican food or some kind of like do you have any special food that you like?

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Special food that I like. Damn. I like going to restaurants here and there. Like what we had at HP was good, um, the burrito wraps. I like those.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

We went to a vegan restaurant last night. Me, him, and our pretty all those loaded fries.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

I had the burrito, like it was like uh a um an impossible meat burrito with like um vegan cheese and some loaded fries. That was fucking bum. That was pretty good comfort food.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

I had a burger, it was very authentic. I felt like I was eating a cow, but it was vegan. It almost grossed me out because it was so cow-like.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yeah, another comfort food is a but that's healthy, so it's like I fucking love acai. I just had one like before coming here.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

I want one. That is a good answer to the question. Next one would be I w Oh, I wanted to ask you if money and logistics didn't matter, what would you be doing?

SPEAKER_01 18:06

I would probably be doing some version of the same thing. Um, still doing like the hybrid athletic stuff, but probably uh travel more. I don't know. Uh go around different countries collaborating with people who are doing similar things. Uh that's probably what do you mean similar things? Um people who are athletes, hybrid hybrid athletes, people who are doing a lot of like um calisthenics, parkour, fucking climbing, surfing, just probably collaborating with different people, meeting, connecting with more people, um, doing more of that because what I actually like doing, um probably working less and just traveling more and doing more collaborations, doing more like stuff that's creative and and yeah, stuff like that. That's probably what I'd be doing.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah, like the question is like if you didn't have to like even think about money or work, essentially you just like could do literally whatever you want, that's what you would do.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Yeah, something similar to what I'm doing right now, but just not working, obviously, and just doing it, not doing lessons and just surfing myself or improving there, uh um rock climbing more. Uh yeah, just doing more outdoorsy stuff and and with like-minded people. Yeah, and traveling.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Cycling the world.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Probably would do that too. I would probably that's something I've wanted to do. I wanted to do South America, cycle from maybe I think all South America, probably.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

I have a Colombian friend who's a cyclist and he wants to go from like Alaska to Patagonia.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Oh yeah, I've heard people doing that. That's crazy. And that's doable. I can do it. That's gonna take you uh maybe like two years. Yeah, but it's it's an amazing journey.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Germany, you can go to Europe, you can do that in Europe. Europe is the easiest place to start because the infrastructure is really good in Europe. It's safer, there's more of a a culture of like couch surfing um and uh just hitchhiking, all that stuff is more popular in like Europe. So I think it's easier and safer to do it in Europe first. But yeah, I've seen people doing it in Africa, Asia, that stuff is amazing. I don't think I would do the Middle East right now because of what's going on, but but I I would love to go to the Middle East, Afghanistan, all those places, they're beautiful. Syria, all of it, but it's a little hot right now.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Basically, you would just live an extremely active lifestyle even more than now. And in more in in like more social.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Probably, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

And in different countries.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Definitely. I'm meeting people and just collaborating and doing stuff and just doing like projects and shit. I don't know, just collaborations.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Collabs.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

Yeah, just meeting people who are doing the same thing. That's where it's at.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

What's the challenge you faced that made you stronger?

SPEAKER_01 20:26

I think just recently, I think working at a hostel was like one of the most challenging things. Because I think I just overcame a lot of my fears, my social anxieties is being forced to be around so many people and just running a hostel. I think I'm ready for more things because of that. Like I survived that, so I think I can like uh put myself in those situations more often and just be fine with it. I think that helps with the travel thing. If you're comfortable just being around a lot of people, different people, different perspectives, different walks of life. I think that's very valuable if you want to like travel, if you want to do shit like that. So I think that made me stronger as a person having gone through that experience.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Living in a hostel and running a hostel.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

For a fucking year.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

For a year.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Crazy shit.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

In Puerto Rico, and it was the cheapest one, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Cheapest one, so a lot.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

So a lot of crazy a lot of like, you know, like not I don't know how to say it without being rude.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

I mean just the craziest people you're gonna meet, veterans, like there are veteran there was like a veteran there who was an alcoholic, like left the room with so many fucking beer cans, like the motherfucker, like we had to kick him out. I think he called me like um the I think the N-word or something. He like insulted me some like you fucking N-word or something, something like that. And uh, we I think we kicked him out, but afterwards, the the people who do uh get them the housing, I don't know, something veterans something, they called, um, do you know um where this guy went or something? And they were like, uh, because they were looking at him because he was on like suicide watch or something that he was like, you know, he they were worried about him. Do you know where well he was here last? Well, you know, they wanted to reach out to him. There was a Peruvian guy who would I would be sleeping in the dorms because before I had a private room, I I would sleep in the dorms and there was this Peruvian guy, and he would curse his ex-wife in his sleep. He would be like, That fucking bitch, that fucking bitch, that fucking bitch. And he would have telenovelas on his like laptop or whatever, playing at at full volume.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

What's a book, movie, or show that changed your perspective?

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Um, books, damn. Let's see. Uh Critique of the Gotha Program by Marx that had an influence on me and made me question capitalism and all that shit. Um, think you have a different like um starting to think of different alternatives. And I think capitalist realism, Mark Fisher, uh really like that one. That made me think more about like looking for alternatives and stuff. Yeah. Those are those are ones that I can think of off the top of my head. Oh, I think David Graber too, um, bullshit jobs. Like most jobs are like complete bullshit and uh they they serve no real purpose. Like they're just there, like like they don't really serve a purpose in society. Like society would be just the same if they didn't even exist. There's so many jobs like that, I think.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Yeah. No, a lot of a lot of bullshit jobs.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Yeah, a lot of bullshit jobs. I think you talk about mana um managerial class, um, some sort some forms of lawyers that wouldn't have to exist. Um, yeah. A lot of jobs.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

If I'm gonna read something, I want it to be nonfiction, I want to learn something about some topic I'm interested in. I'm personally not really interested in fiction. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 23:14

I'm not that interested in fiction. Like I don't read it that often. I I would like to get into it. I would like to be out, you know, somebody who but I think it's good. I think imagination is good. I think like think even if something's fiction, it can it can uh apply. I think imagination is good to like if you want to envision different um ways society could function, I think imagination, I think creates like stuff in fiction could become stuff that you can apply in to the real world. Um I've heard people talking about how we should like write like fiction and into like um how do you say this to think of alternatives, think of different things, different ways society could work.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

I usually say with fiction books, like I just want to watch the movie, I don't have time for that.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Yeah, but usually the book is better. Everybody who reads the book says it's better, and it usually is because less budget, you know, uh more time.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

And there are certain like fiction books that are kind of saying something deeper about society, like like 1984, for example, that I think should be essential to read. We read that in school.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Yeah, George Orwell classic.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

That kind of stuff, you know. Is there a skill you've always wanted to learn?

SPEAKER_01 24:16

A skill I've always wanted to learn. Let's see, that I haven't learned yet. Front lever. I haven't managed to be a front lever yet. That's like a calisthenic skill where you like um hold the bar and you like stay completely um horizontal. Like I really want to learn that. I'm getting closer, but haven't unlocked it yet.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

I'm excited for your journey.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

I think you're gonna be one of the best. You're you're only you're only 25. We didn't even say his age. He's only 25.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Oh, yeah, I'm 25.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

He's so great for 25.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

He's doing very well, right? You like what were you doing at 25? Be honest. Be honest. Not this. Okay. I'm kidding. No, but I want to be with you when I grow up. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Superpower. Hmm. Teleportation would be good.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Oh. But then you wouldn't have to ride your bike that you like doing.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

I bet I can still do that, but then I can teleport the bike to fucking Europe or Asia or like fucking South America and just do it when I wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Get rid of the planes.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Let's just teleport. That would be fucking awesome.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

No, that would be that would be great. Because planes, I don't like planes in in in airports.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

They do scare me. Planes are anxiety inducing.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

And they are not good for the environment.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

No, they're terrible. They're one of the worst.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

So we need to work on our teleportation technology.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Yeah, I think so. Star Trek, they had like a little thing they went in and they would like teleport, but they would not be like the same because there's like this thing, like if you teleport and you change every cell in your body, like they there's like how do you say that? Separate. They separate. Are you the same person when you teleport back? Oh. Yeah. Scary. I think you pretty much have to die for like a second, right? Because you're your your brain, your heart all is separated and then it come back together, right? Comes back together.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

No. I never saw Star Trek.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

No. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

But they had the same kind of thing in Harry Potter, teleportation.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Yeah, I saw a few episodes of Star Trek.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Are you a nerd at heart?

SPEAKER_01 26:02

A little bit. A little bit more than I give off.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

You'd never know. He used to be uh what would you call yourself when you were a teenager?

SPEAKER_01 26:09

I would say I was pretty um alternative metal goth type of thing. I was really into like all the the fucking goth bands of the Cure Bow House, Sisters of Mercy, the Joy Division, and then I got into black metal, Dark Throne, Um Satiricon, um, Emperor, all the fucking black metal bands, Mayhem, all that shit.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

But you're still into the music, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:30

I'm still into the music on a little bit. I think I still have the undertones of like somebody who was um very alternative.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

You just don't wear colored contacts anymore.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

And and dye your hair. Oh no, you do dye your hair.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Yeah, I have a like some a little bit blonde, a little bit. I bleached it. And the guy who bleached it was like a Norwegian punk guy, so at the hostel.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

But you don't dress like a goth most of the time.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Yeah, not as much.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

He dresses for fitness.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

And hot climate.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Like I still kind of have like the sort of like a hippie nomad type of like like alternative look. I don't think I look like a fucking like your normal boring.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

No normies here.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Yeah, no boring ass like uh polo shirts.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Okay. I thought of another question. When is your birthday?

SPEAKER_01 27:12

August 4th.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Are you a Leo?

SPEAKER_01 27:14

I'm a Leo.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

Anything else you want to say? Or yeah, to the world, because this is your platform. Thousands of people will see this. So anything you want to get out there or anywhere that like if you want people to follow you on Instagram, you can put your.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

That's where I'm more active. Uh El Vegano Ivrido on Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

It stands for the vegan hybrid, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Vegan hybrid athlete, basically. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

And what do you mean hybrid athlete?

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Uh just multiple sports, like not just one thing. I do surfing, I do cycling, I do um calisthenics, bodybuilding stuff, so and rock climbing here and there. And I just yeah. It's like you do multiple disciplines, uh cycling also.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

And what kind of stuff do you post on there?

SPEAKER_01 27:52

I just post uh mostly training stuff, um um just training, physique um pictures, uh, modeling stuff. I do that too.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

So oh yeah, he's trying to start m modeling.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Yeah, I'm getting into the modeling thing and um more TV stuff.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Thank you for watching. Uh hopefully the audio quality came out good. Uh because you know, it's uh I don't know. There's always issues, but uh but you guys are always nice and tell me it's fine, it's fine, we hear you fine. So hopefully that is the case. Thank you for watching to the end. Those of you who watch my videos to the end, I love you. I always tell you this, and I will never stop telling you this. I love you very much from the bottom of my heart. And if you found it difficult to understand him, uh Gus, well, one, like I said, you could turn on the captions, try it again. You can also play with the speed on YouTube. I should have said this at the beginning, but you can like slow it down or whatever, you know. Uh Gus, I would say that Gus speaks pretty fast. I that's just him, I think. Like it depends on the person. I speak kind of slow generally, uh, even slower than how I'm speaking right now, usually. Some people speak slower, some people speak faster. Native speakers I'm talking about. Don't be too discouraged if you found it difficult to understand him. He talks fast. I think he speaks clearly. People say that I speak very clearly and that other native speakers don't. So this will be interesting to see how you guys react to him if you think that he speaks clearly or not. We're gonna go now. So have a wonderful day.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

That was fun. Peace.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Bye. Bye. Bye.