The Kabul Amusement Park

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Chris, Traveler: “I’m thoroughly impressed with your demeanor during that extreme interrogation.”
Emma, Traveler: “Well actually I was sweating because I still had photos on my phone from my last Taliban experience where they deleted pictures from my phone.”
Chris, Traveler: “We made it out alive.”
Emma, Traveler: “Yeah. We left to tell the tale, except for Stephanie.”
Stephanie, Traveler: “Oh yeah. Straight from the interrogation to the amusement park.”
Chris, Traveler: “Yes we’re celebrating our release from activities, yeah. Stephanie found an amusement park. Yeah, you’re really on the spot.
Tour Guide: “And it’s a nice place to visit. People visit this place on weekends and holidays. Yeah that’s all I have to say.”
Chris, Traveler: “Have you been here before?”

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Emma to Peddler: “No thank you. No I don’t want flowers thank you.”

Here we are at the amusement park . . . Wow, oh my gosh. We made it to the amusement park. We are absolutely only ones here.

They’re gonna have to fire up some machinery here. We’re gonna investigate this place.

Emma, Traveler: “What’s the name of this lake; we’ve got a dried up late here.

Are you excited, Stephan?”
Stephanie, Traveler: “Yes, let’s have some fun!”

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Emma, Traveler: “Oh the swing ride is starting up too. Wow everything is coming up now. It’s all action packed now — they saw us coming.

Oh you’re like a child; you want to go on everything.”

Stephanie wants to go on everything; he’s all excited. This is his first time yeah.”

Chris, Traveler: “We’ve had a decent relationship; this is the first time I’ve seen you truly excited.”

Emma, Traveler: “Wow, bless him.”

Tour Guide: “This is the entrance for women; you’re not allowed to go on that side. That’s for men.”
Emma Traveler: “But am I allowed to go in the same ride?”

Tour Guide: “Oh I have to ask first.”

Emma, Traveler: “That would be pretty great. I’m going on a ride by myself. I hope they don’t do it.

Chris, Traveler: “Do you know who he looks like? Zac Efron. Zac Efron of Afghanistan.”

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Emma, Traveler: “Okay, I have to go on a separate part here. They’re coming on the ride with us. Where’s the best vantage point?”

And we’re off!

No rules on the ride!

Oh my God! Oh my God. Oh my gosh. They’re all crazy!

That was a bit more than I was expecting.

How are you feeling, Chris?

That was fun! That was fun!

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Here we are on another ride. The children in us is coming out today. Look they have little cabanas here that you can sit and watch your partner right across the desert like Lawrence of Arabia.

The Taliban over there just laughing at us; they think we’re mental.

Oh my God! I can’t keep my headscarf on.

How are you doing Chris, Stephanie? I swear to God; it’s been going so fast.

I don’t know if it’s a baby one — it’s like a little mini roller coaster, except it’s not a roller coaster that goes up and down. It just goes round and round.

The flat roller coaster we’re going on is a roller coaster with no bumps humps on it, no elevations — oh it has a small elevation.

Stephanie, Traveler: “I’ll treat you for free.”
Emma, Traveler: “You want to come? Come on. Are all the kids coming?”

How many kids do we have? One, two, three, four . . . all the kids here.

All right, we’re hoping this one’s not like the others. Oh this is going to be painful.

Oh my God. It’s very rickety. That was the most painful ride I’ve been on. I was squashed into the bars here. I’m gonna have bruises on my side. That was painful; that was the most painful ride I’ve ever been on.

It’s so funny when there was one kid crying, so we said okay, “Come on a ride with us.” . . . And then we ended up with a buying tickets for a whole lot of kids.

Right now it’s group photo time and then I have to go try and get a permit again.

Chris, Traveler: “So when’s the last time you saw a Canadian, a German in a British here at the same time? Have you ever seen foreign tourists visit this amusement park?”

You know what was a privilege to come. And my last thing is you are crazy. You are crazy man. How do you say ‘you are crazy’? He’s the one that was jumping; he’s a crazy man!”

Tour Guide: “No, no.”

Chris, Traveler: “Yes when you were jumping like this, my heart was coming out of my chest. I mean crazy in a good way. But thank you for having us at your amusement park. We had a good time.

One picture together. Yeah let’s do it. Thank you.”

Emma, Traveler: “How about you Stephanie, what’s your thoughts on the amusement park?”

Stephanie, Traveler: “I found this so amazing — these rides are just so much rougher than in other countries. They’re so bumpy. I almost passed out on the swing.

Yeah and you see no security, no security, no regulations, no safety, just a little bar. So nothing actually, nothing to hold you in. At the same time, this way it’s more fun.

All the safety precautions is boring.”

Emma, Traveler: “Yeah the most dangerous place in Kabul. All right I’m gonna sign off because I gotta go and see if I can get permits today.

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Questions

Roller Coaster. In the beginning, Emma, Chris, Stephanie and their tour guide were walking around Kabul, Afghanistan. True or false?

Merry-go-Round. Were they talking about a night in a disco or club?

Ferris Wheel. The Kabul Amusement park is new, modern and full of visitors. Is this right or wrong?

Tower Drop. Was there only one ride or many different types of rides there?

Swings. Were there university students selling balloons, cotton candy and popcorn? Did they see a famous Hollywood actor at the amusement park?

Entrance. They rode every ride at the park. Is this correct or incorrect? Were the rides boring or exciting? Was everyone sitting on their seats?

Bumper Car. Were the foreign visitors greedy and selfish, or generous? Did the Taliban get angry with Chris?
 
 
 
Ticket Booth. I have been to an amusement park. I have ridden on a roller-coaster. Yes or no?

Popcorn. Are there (many) amusement parks, theme parks and rides in your city, region and country?

Balloons. Everyone loves to visit amusement parks and go on the rides.

Canal Boat Ride. What might happen in the future?

Haunted House. Would you like to visit many different theme parks and ride on many different rides?