The KrakCast

After a review of Halloween in Poland, we jump into supermarkets limiting their hours due to energy costs, Poland chooses a foreign partner for its first nuclear power plant, overrated New Year's Eve celebrations Krakow's main square, LOT and their new 737 (not so) Max, Poland quietly builds a wall, the people want a bigger army but don't want to pay for it and more. 

Isn't reading census data fun? Ok, it isn't but we did it so you don't have to. Listen as we discuss some of the insights into Polish society provided by last year's census, including religious beliefs, divorce, the urban / rural divide and more. 

The news this week includes weird Polish privacy laws, a new runway at Krakow's airport (eventually), Poland is #1 in something good, the worst mascot ever, a Wisla stadium update and IMAX (kind of) returns to Krakow. 

UJ can't pay their heating bill, U.S. nukes in Poland (or not), discussions of iodine distribution, an urgent toilet renovation update, unfair money exchange rates at the airport and more on this week's news! 

William Shaw is a trained, experienced psychologist with a practice here in Krakow. He joined us to talk about the kind of mental health issues that are common among foreign residents here, the growing acceptance of the importance of mental health awareness and answered various dumb questions from us. Listen and learn what it's like to help people deal with life's problems as a psychologist.    Learn more about him at https://william-shaw.com/ 

The two sides in this story tell different versions of what happened but the result is the same - Roger Waters will not play in Krakow in April of next as originally planned. Did the city force him to cancel? Did Roger Waters just decide on his own? Listen as we discuss what happened and if it was the right thing to do (whatever "it" was...). 

We start with a super non-sexy but important topic before moving on to Netlflix filming again in Krakow, new ideas about what to do about the plague of electric scooters, yet another bike sharing program starts (with 30 bikes...), preschool/playschool/kindergarten drama and Happy Birthday to Galeria Krakowska!

Dari, the most widely spoken language in Afghanistan, is essentially the same language as Persian, also known as Farsi, spoken next door in Iran. It's complicated. Our guest today is a native speaker of Dari and takes us through all the essentials, including the complex issue of calling someone "a dog". Listen as we learn about language and life in Afghanistan along with some great insights into the current situation there from someone who had to flee to safety in Poland. 

After a sports update, this week's news covers Krakow's new train station, the infrastructure issue that will not die is back, vegetarian restaurants in Krakow, signs going up where they shouldn't, noise at night in Kazimierz and our newest "naked in public" story. 

This year's observations of the anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland were spiced up by demands from the Law & Justice party for reparations from Germany in excess of a trillion Euros. Should Germany pay? Does Poland have a good case for reparations? Listen as we discuss these and other issues related to this controversial topic. 

The long national nightmare is over. We are back from vacation and serving up the news, including anatomically correct waffles, Krakow Plaza-Galeria Plaza-Whatever It's Called is disappearing, Donald Tusk says you must support abortion rights or else we reveal the REAL low-price leader in supermarkets and more. 

Kuba Widlarz was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as a teenager. He joined us to talk about what it means to have Asperger's and gave us some insights into many aspects of the disorder that you might not be familiar with. Join us and listen to Kuba's story and learn more about this increasingly common diagnosis on the Autism spectrum. 

The news is back and so is the beach at Hotel Forum (next year), little dragons are almost ready to go, murder in the center of town, universal basic income comes to Poland, the Polish Senate welcomes Sweden & Finland to NATO and more. 

There are some places and things that are part of any conversation about Poles and the holidays they take. Join us as we go down the list of cliches that define Polish habits when it comes to enjoying a week or two off and add "parawan" to your list of must-know Polish words. 

After a review of Hungarian profanity, we move on to Poles and their strange relationship with water, Zakzrowek will be open...next year, "Free Ukraine Square" in Krakow, scams take advantage of old people and more. 

Poles REALLY support U.S. troops in Poland, pass rates for the Matura, Papa Smurf makes the rules in Krakow, reaction to attempts to catch ticket-cheaters, the Krakow Airport apologizes, Krakow has amazing Spanish restaurant we've never heard of and more. 

We start with more proof that any story is better with "naked" in it and a story about sex on a bench. After that, it's no more cheating on buses and trams, penalties for the people who drive them, ugly signs come down, what to do with Hotel Forum and OMG THE RABBIT CAFE IS COMING!!!!

Anyone who lives in Krakow has seen them many times — groups of Israeli high school kids on trips to visit various places associated with Jewish history. After being suspended in 2020 because of Covid, these trips were supposed to resume this summer but have been canceled by the Israelis after a dispute over some of the details of how the trips are organized. Listen as we discuss what the argument is all about and if there is a solution going forward. 

Our first news of official summertime covers locks disappearing on one bridge and an insane design on another, skateboarders like the Grunwalk monument for their own reasons, death on an electric scooter, strip clubs finally get, uh, busted and a rare example of "good" graffiti disappears. 

Hungarian is a strange language but we love it anyway. Join us as TWO experts guide us through the unique sounds, absurdly long alphabet and references to horse anatomy that make this Europe's most mysterious national language. And, yes, as usual, we include some seriously bad words. 

The news is back with Iga Świątek and her second win at the French Open, Wisła Kraków's tragicomedy gets even funnier, a Polish woman turns 116, wages are WAY up since last year, sign reform and ugly streets in Krakow, you cannot keep Poles away from a place to swim and more. 

Join us as we talk about two studies that rank Poland last in Europe for both access to contraception and LGBT rights. After that, we look at statistics that show a dramatic decrease in the number of university students in Poland and that more than 60% of current students are female. What does it all mean? We're not sure but that doesn't stop us from offering very strong opinions on everything. 

The news is ON, with updates about parking problems, an end to free rides for Ukrainians, most Poles still think Russia is a threat, U.S. troops to stay here permanently, Le-ROY MerLIN (or however you say it), 130 women for 100 men in Krakow, another example of how bomb jokes in airports just don't work and a brush with fame in our HQ.  

The Polish government places a lot of restrictions on various professions regarding how they can operate, just like any government. But there are some especially interesting restrictions on how lawyers in Poland have to work and a new law will add an indirect limitation on how doctors are used in advertisements for medical products. Listen as we discuss how these laws work (or will work) in practice and what the point of it all is. 

The news is back with insulting ethnic slurs, Zakrzówek gets a makeover (and kills another person), another huge private student dormitory opens, a Good Lood update, little dragons will soon be all over town, drinking alcohol outside and Wisła Kraków goes down, down, down. 

John has been open about his weird fascination with Eurovision and this week is a good time to talk about it since Poland has a chance to make the finals. Listen as we give a brief history of Poland's mostly disappointing history at Eurovision and speculate on how many millions of points Ukraine will get at this year's "competition". 

This week in the news, the Matura has high school students nervous, everyone except Dr. Mike is making a lot more money than they did last year, cat cafes weren't awful enough so now we have rabbit cafes and who really thinks that Krakow has amazing street food? Seriously, we want to know. 

In our second news of this week, we talk about coal mine disasters, how nobody likes skateboarders, France's Macron has some harsh words for the Polish PM, supermarket self-checkout fraud, Leroy Merlin and others attracting protests, the ongoing mystery of the blue sausage van at Hala Targowa, marathons, cheerleaders and boring European flags. 

Among our totally random topics this week are vaccine shots, Iga Swiatek, nuclear power from Ukraine (?), Ryanair expanding in Poland, a mystery film crew in Krakow, new license place for cars in Krakow and pretty much everyone wants to go on strike. 

Did you know that the numbers 2, 3 and 4 have some mystical, magical power in Polish? When you look at a door, do you see one or two of them? Did you know that humans and animals die differently in Polish? These are just some of the mysteries we discuss in this look at some "WTF?" aspects of Polish. 

Ukrainian men are not allowed to leave the country and have to stay and fight or somehow help the war effort. What would Polish men do in a similar situation? It's a tough question with no one correct answer but we try to find one anyway in this discussion of how Poles would react to a theoretical Russian invasion. 

Lots of people talk about it, but few actually do it. Losing a lot of weight takes time, discipline and a lot of...steak? Listen as our guest describes the lifestyle changes he made to lose 30kg, the foods he ate to do it and why you maybe shouldn't invite him to your next party. Congratulations, Paweł! 

A Krakow City Council member says Auchan has blood on its hands, more free transport and parking (?) for Ukrainians, no increased tram prices (for now), bad timing for an air raid siren, we will never mention "Cracow Monsters" again and the worst funeral ever. 

Born in Białystok, Ludwik Zamenhof was the creator of Esperanto, an invented language that was supposed to help erase conflict and bring humanity together. Join us for a short discussion of this multilingual peace activist, doctor, philosopher, humanitarian and namesake of countless schools, buildings and streets, including here in Krakow. 

Listen as we discuss more news items involving the effects of the Ukraine situation on Poland, including more volunteers for the self-defense force, Biden's people clarify what he "really" said, more problems in the real estate market and more. 

In the news this week, we cover how Sean Penn saved the world, the mask mandate is (mostly) gone, another tax fail by the government, stealing from nuns, getting stabbed on Florianska street, the REAL "oldest" football club in Krakow and the European Games can't find their wallet. 

When a country of 40 million people adds another 2 million in less than a month, what happens to the real estate and job markets? Should Russian runners be banned from Krakow marathons? Is being associated with refugees going to affect tourism? Where are a million Ukrainian kids going to go to school? There are bigger, more important issues still in play right now but in this episode we look at some emerging topics produced by the conflict in Ukraine. 

The news is back and this week it's beauty pageants, the Sahara comes to Krakow, a passenger dies (is killed?) on a local bus, a weird Polish soldier dies a weird death, baby bison are bountiful and the hardest jobs to fill in Krakow. 

Everyone knows somebody who works at State Street, Shell or Cap Gemini, right? Listen as we go through the list of Krakow's 15 largest employers and see if you can guess who made the cut. Also, if anyone has any idea about what State Street actually does, please let us know. 

The fighting in Ukraine is the only thing worth talking about this week, so our regular News episode is instead a discussion of what's going on, how it is affecting Poland and what could be next. Listen and remember to help out any charity or organization you can in these difficult times. 

Political commentator and regular KrakCast guest Matthew Tyrmand stopped by to give us his take on the war in Ukraine, the situation at the Polish border and about 100 other topics in between. 

The daughter of our own John Adkins was effectively kidnapped from him 15 years ago and his book about the story has recently been published in Polish. Listen as he recounts what happened, what it's like to disappear into the black hole of the Krakow court system and how it all became a book (which is free for five days, btw).  Maja Adkins Krakow. 

Kazimierz Funk is generally credited with being the first researcher to identify the substances that didn't have a name before he called them "vitamins". Listen as we discuss his primary contribution to science & medicine before getting to the real point, which is to make lots of "funk" jokes. 

In this week's news, tourism is down (duh), traffic in Krakow is horrible (duh), VAT is gone (for now), the "Polish Deal" is a PR disaster and 40% of Poles don't have enough space at home.  

Starting from a small settlement on some rocks by the river to the city that we see today, there have been a lot of steps in the growth of Krakow's boundaries. Listen as we list the major expansions and additions to the city's borders, from Kleparz and Kazimierz to Podgorze and Nowa Huta and a few places in between. 

The news this week includes Burger King's (latest) failure in the Polish market, Krakow Plaza finally officially dies, another book retailer disappears, the European Games are more of a joke than you thought, another bike rental program is coming, a sad story about the criminal justice system, Poles love Albania (?) and Polish "travel tattoos" are apparently a thing. 

There are always words that either don't translate well or have no equivalent in another language. There are also useful Polish words that we'd like to have an English translation for but, as far as we know, there isn't one. Listen as we go through our list and try to explain why English would be better if we had a more simple way to say things like "przedwczoraj" or "pojutrze" and more. 

The news is much less handsome and sexy this week with John out, but fortunately Gabi is here to help the guys discuss a quota for Polish music for radio stations in Poland, mandatory COVID vaccinations & quarantines, a horrible incident brings the abortion debate back to the news, a fake cop gets in real trouble, Dr. Mike's thoughts on the subtle differences in the colors of amber and some stats on getting busted for having no bus or tram ticket. 

The situation in the mobile phone operator market in Poland today is quite stable but it wasn't always this way. Listen as we discuss the history of this business here in Poland, the many brand names involved and the billions of irritating advertisements they made us watch. 

Why does it seem like almost everyone in front of you in line at the Post Office needs to do five or six very complicated things, each involving lots of documents that have to be pounded with red stamps? Listen as we discuss why any contact with Poczta Polska makes you think about some easier, more efficient way of communicating with others, like smoke signals. 

A new film made for Polish Netflix presents the story of a small-time thief who became one of Poland's most infamous gangsters. Listen as we give our opinions on a film that may (John) or may not (Dr. Mike & Josh) be worth your time, depending on whom you believe.