3 Scary Things I Experienced in Syria (Extreme Travel Syria)

Transcript provided by YouTube:

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listen to those sounds in the distance
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it’s it’s a machine gun sound dude I can
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all see some smoke
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some days ago uh published a video blog
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my daily life in Syria we spent seven
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days traveling all around the country
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and I mean that was obviously one of the
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most emotional travel experiences of my
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life for sure and also during that time
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three different really crazy and scary
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things happened to me that were
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completely unexpected I think most
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tourists who have ever been there
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probably weren’t in situations like this
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and hopefully this video along with the
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rest series will will will show people
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that you shouldn’t be making wars we
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should be making peace these are the
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three craziest things that happened to
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me in Syria okay so the first thing is
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once again something I talked about in
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the video and that is so I spent a
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couple days exploring the masks and
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Damascus actually didn’t really feel too
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much affected by war which was very very
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interesting for me because that’s
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something I I didn’t expect I mean I
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even went to like shopping malls and
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these really beautiful mosques and these
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old treats and I mean I I saw absolutely
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nothing that was actually affected by
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the war but the moment I left Damascus
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with my guide and my driver in our car
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everything changed you know because the
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outskirts were demolished bombed down
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and and we were going through you know
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lots of different checkpoints literally
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everywhere because obviously the
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security there is very very tight and
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because our first destination was the
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city of Aleppo which was actually you
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know the most affected by war and go
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there we had to go through one of the
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most dangerous roads in Syria and and
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you know the security there was so
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incredibly tight it was crazy I mean
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there were so many checkpoints
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everywhere and
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and and those checkpoints had armed
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guards would like machine guns and
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everything it was it was very intense
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you know
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and so we easily went through you know
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many different checkpoints and then
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around halfway from Damascus to Aleppo
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we stopped at checkpoints where they
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said oh yeah the documents look good and
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everything but can you please call the
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driver to the office
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so my God and I were just sitting in the
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car waiting time keeps passing by but
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the driver doesn’t believe you know 10
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minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes 40 minutes
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an hour he’s still in the site you know
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and at that point I mean I’m actually
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getting quite paradigm kiss I’m thinking
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what’s what’s happening to him and then
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after about an hour and a half they come
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out and they say sorry your driver
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cannot leave this place he cannot move
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forward and we’re like what why and then
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they said that his name is somehow
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similar to some sort of a person that
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they’re searching and they want to make
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sure that they’re not related or it’s
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not that person I was sitting in this
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car and I see them you know taking my
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driver out of the building like this you
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know and then my guide takes all of his
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possessions which we’re a lighter
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cigarettes and his mobile phone brings
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it to him and then they take him away
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and so then my my dad came back and I’m
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like hey so what’s happening so then I
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hopped behind the wheel and continued
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driving forward but I mean this was some
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sort of a pretty intense situation
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that I certainly didn’t expect that
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would happen for me you know what I mean
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the second thing once again I somehow
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mentioned it very briefly in the video
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but when we finally made our way to
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Aleppo were walking around the city and
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everything was okay and then eventually
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we went inside the citadel of aleppo
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which is you know the the most risky the
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most popular place in in Aleppo
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obviously UNESCO World Heritage Site one
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of the oldest inhabited places in the
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whole world that’s like I don’t know six
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or seven thousand years old you know
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like like really really beautiful places
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and so we’re walking around there and
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obviously the place is very much
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affected by the war some of the some of
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the buildings have been restored most of
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them haven’t you know but but it’s still
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very interesting to sort of see the
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ruins and learn about the history and
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interact with the local people and
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everything and then we go up to the
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highest point in the citadel which is
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this viewpoint you know and then I’m
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member you know filming and sort of
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looking around everywhere and stuff and
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all of a sudden I hear machine gun
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sounds in the distance and I look to my
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left and I see that in just a couple of
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kilometers there’s this black smoke
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going up you know and I’m thinking oh we
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had that’s it’s like a terrorist attack
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in the city or zone with this crazy you
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know and then I looked to my kind and
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said eh what’s happening he said dude I
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told you because apparently she didn’t
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really want to go tell everybody and
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dangerous but I really did so we went
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one thing I really want to see here is
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that the craziest thing for me about
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that situation was actually the fact
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that when I was looking at the people
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around me and the traffic around me and
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everything
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everything was completely normal you
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know none of the people were running
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none of the people were shouting none of
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the cars were driving fast everything
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was okay even though everyone heard
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those sounds you know and that just once
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again proved to me that you know for
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those people that they’ve gone through
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so much they’ve seen so much that I mean
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something like this isn’t really even a
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thing you know like it’s just almost a
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daily occurrence you know it’s very sad
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that you know suddenly this happened to
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them because they certainly didn’t
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deserve that and finally the third
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situation that I actually didn’t talk
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about in the video because I obviously
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have no footage of that but this was
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maybe the most intense out of the three
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and that was when I was in the city of
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promise which was once again very much
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destroyed by war and and and and
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everything and we’re rocking while the
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city were meeting all these really
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beautiful really kind wonderful people
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that are actually rebuilding their city
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and running their business stuff and you
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know that was great
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but then at one point my guide said
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Jacob is it okay if I leave you for a
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couple of minutes I’m gonna go to this
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you know bakery to buy some sweets for
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my family I said oh of course don’t you
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worry you know so then my guide left
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from the show three or four minutes and
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then I was standing there taking some
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photos taking some video she’s being a
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tourist you know and this policeman
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approached me it was like what are you
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doing here and obviously he was talking
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in Arabic so I hardly understood what he
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was saying but obviously he’s like what
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are doing here you know what’s what’s
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your thing and everything and I said oh
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sorry
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um tourist Judas Judas he’s like
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passport passport and my passport of you
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made you know so said best portal with
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my god guide passport is like what what
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I saying bro I have no idea and I don’t
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have any cell phone connection I don’t
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have any I can translate anything I can
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do nothing you know what I mean so I’m
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just sitting there thinking what’s it
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happening you know and then a few a few
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bystanders they were obviously very much
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interested in the situation you know and
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so they were standing around me and you
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know sometimes Arabic mandating
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feel a little bit intimidating because
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they were all which the other and bigger
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than me and everything her like her you
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know I have no idea what everyone’s
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saying and so I’m thinking oh weekend
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what do i do you know and then my guy
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it’s not showing up you know so then
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next to me I saw a bakery and I thought
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oh okay well maybe my guy go in there so
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I’m telling these guys hey guys sorry my
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guide in this shop guide shop
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here you know come with me come with me
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so then we start walking towards the
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bakery and I approached the bakery I
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opened the door and guess what my god is
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not there you know she went to another
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bakery and then I look back at them and
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they’re like so and I say oh no guys
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sorry you know and at that point he
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picked up the radio he was talking to
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his colleagues probably about picking me
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up and taking me to the police station
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for further investigation or some of
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this and I’m thinking oh my god I’m
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definitely gonna end up in some sort of
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a police station and then I’m just
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adding there I have nothing to say
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nothing to do what can I do you know and
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then at the very last minute but my
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guest shows up and she’s like oh hello
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hello Bert ha ha
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these are his documents this is passport
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everything’s okay he’s a tourist and
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stuff and then they said oh nice
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wonderful shoot my hands hugged me and
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went off with their thing but but yeah
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that was a bit of a tricky tricky tricky
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thing I really hope you know the video
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that I made before in this video
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hopefully will prove to you that we
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really should be making peace and not or
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it’s very important it’s very important
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to spread love and not hate kindness and
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not you know agitation and
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and and and anger and stuff you know
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because we’re all beautiful world kind
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world and I swirl wonderful in our own
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ways despite our religions genders you
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know the colors of our hair the colors
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of our skin none of that matters at all
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you know and hopefully all of us can
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prevent something like this from
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happening again in the future and now
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that you watch the video until the end I
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want to tell you that throughout this
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series I’m trying to raise as much money
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as they possibly can for this nonprofit
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organization called International Rescue
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Committee that is actually helping the
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millions of displaced Syrian families
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around the world they’re helping them
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with education finding shelter homes you
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know getting jobs getting visas and and
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everything and a really new thing that
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all of us really need to do our part to
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help those people because they did not
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deserve this more than I did for example
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you know what I mean like it just
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happened to them so if you want to
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donate to that organization I’m gonna
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put the link in the description box down
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below you can donate whatever amount you
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want completely up to you no pressure at
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all and hopefully together we can make
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the world the better of a better place
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powerfully thank you so much have a
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wonderful day see you next
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you