Hi everyone! I was going to edit a new interview I had done with a hitchhiker from Singapore who stayed with me for two days. But my computer won't start! I think the problem is the fake Windows operating system that the technician installed in the computer when I had a hard drive failure six months ago. So now my laptop won't work, but at least I can still use this old desktop computer. I have to give you another old interview, with a young man from a warm country (Malaysia) who was traveling north to a cold part of the world (northern China and Russia)! This interview is from November 2016. I just ordered a new, small, cheap laptop (though I hope my old one can be fixed, too). I'm leaving for the U.S. in two days, so the new laptop will arrive soon after I do. I handed my grades in to the English Department yesterday and I feel so free now. :-)

TQ 055 William from Malaysia

William stayed with me for four nights after spending several months in Southeast Asia. Now he's on his way up through China on his way to Russia and then Europe. He plans to travel for two years! He's from Sarawak Province on the island of Borneo, which is the eastern part of Malaysia. His family has been there for four generations. He tells us his English name, Chinese name and Malay name. Listen as we talk about the warm clothes that he has bought here and about his experience of staying awake for more than three days.

Warning: He has a strong accent and speaks quickly. Some listeners will have problems understanding him. Sometimes when he said something that was hard to understand, I repeated it, but other times I didn't. His accent is typical of Chinese Malaysians and Singaporeans.

Here are some words you may not know: ethnic group, moral, morals, trend, backpacking, backup income, ginseng root, dialect, randomly.

Personal note: Near the end of the interview I said that I was going to start teaching the 3 1/2 year old daughter of some Chinese friends of mine. I said that I was scared. Well, I was so scared that I contacted my friends the night before our first lesson to tell them that I couldn't do it. I shouldn't have told them yes, but they kept asking me. I finally gave in and said OK. My mistake.