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From Communism to Capitalism at 9: Rafal's Journey · Whereabouts Tales | Stories of Belonging and Immigrant Experiences

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Hey everyone, I hope you had a good week so far.
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Welcome back to Whereabouts Tales.
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Today I'm thrilled to introduce Rafal, who brings us a truly
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unique story. He grew up for 10 years in
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communist Poland, a world of limited choices and a distinct
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lack of color. Then just nine years old, flying
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solo to the vibrant, fast-paced United States of 1989, Rafael
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shares his incredible stories of culture shock, from Hollywood
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expectations that didn't quite maturity to the challenges of
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building friendship and a career in Newland.
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We dive into his unforgettable experiences like the immigration
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officer with the Polish Dictionary and the fascinating
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impact of American movies on Eastern Europe.
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Join us as we explore how this dual experience shaped him, what
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home truly meant, and the deeper cultura he carries.
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Get ready for a conversation that's both personal but also
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incredibly insightful. And Paul and this is whereabouts
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Tails. Enjoy Rafael.
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Good evening on on both of our size this time and welcome to
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Whereabouts, Tails. Yeah, thank you for having me
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and and I'll try to do my best sharing my story and answering
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all the questions. Thank you for being here, I much
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appreciate the time. Maybe for the beginning, please
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tell us where you are originally coming from and where you are
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living at the moment. OK so I'm going to date myself.
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I am 46 years old, which is my birthday.
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My my birthday is next week. So shout out to myself for for a
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birthday. So I'm 46 the 1st 10 years I
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spend in Poland, Eastern Europe or Central Europe, if you like
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to look at it that way. But I lived in a communist
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country for 10 years and then I came to the United States for
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the for the last 30-6 years. And so I have an understanding
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of what capitalism looks like and, and feels like and what
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communism looks like and feels like.
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So I see both extremes and I experienced both extremes. 11
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Funny thing is I came in August of 89 and communism felt like a
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couple months later in Poland. So it was, it was very eye
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opening when I went back the first time a few years later.
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So it wasn't it wasn't your decision then you you went with
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the parent, am I guessing right? Well, my mom was in the United
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States for a while, and she send out like, one of those special
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visas. And I got lucky when I went to
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the embassy, I had to sell a, you know, you have to pitch
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yourself. You have to sell the concept of
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you want to visit your mom. And I was nine years old.
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I flew by myself from Warsaw to JFK.
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Yeah. That's how was that man.
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What do you remember from that? Oh man, I do remember the plane.
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You know, first time on a plane. I do remember coming, coming
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into JFK and I was going through immigrations and remember I
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didn't speak a lake of English and it was the first time I saw
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someone of different ethnicity. So, you know, I never, I never
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saw minorities, you know, brown black people.
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And I remember going through immigration, there was a
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gentleman and it's the first time I saw in real life an Asian
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person. Obviously I see him in movies,
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but this the first time and he was an immigration officer and
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he's trying to tell me something in English, you know, telling me
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to write something. And then he got frustrated.
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I'll never forget this. I was nine years old.
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He opened up the translation book.
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Remember this is 89. So no Internet, no cell phones.
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And he goes Emia Emia, which means name in in Polish.
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Oh, and I'm like, oh, you want me to sign my name?
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OK, so I took a pen and I and I wrote my wrote my name for the,
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for the paperwork to in order to, to be legally here in, in,
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in the United States. So that was interesting
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experience. Everything all of a sudden, I
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remember that day was so hot because it was August 25th and
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there was so many cars and everything was fast, very fast.
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And coming from a communist country, it was colorful.
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That's one thing I've noticed, Color, it's like it was popping.
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It was vibrant. Remember the 80s, you know, a
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lot of teal and and pink and and hard Reds.
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So yeah, that was that was interesting.
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We come from the same area of Europe.
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We talked, we talked about this before that.
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So I know what you mean by colorful and because I know what
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what it means to be lack of color.
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And I think you have the same this grey.
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You have this grey in memory of Poland, right?
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Right. So now it's someone who makes
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fun of a communist country and they show you a picture of like
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this grey capital city with, with barely any snow and it's
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sloppy and and there's like fog everywhere.
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I'm like, Yep, that's about right.
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Yeah. That's, that's typical. 100
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percent, 100%. It's crazy.
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The, the, the story itself, it's, it's, it's interesting.
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So first of all, that you were allowed to fly alone with 9.
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But I I don't even know. Yeah, that would never happen
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today. That would never.
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Happen today exactly. So I, I think it's important to
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say and the fact that the guy from immigration had the, had
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the dictionary and they had the, the Polish words inside.
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So most probably all the words in the of of the of the, of the
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world because they were having experiences like this all the
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time. Yep, Yep, I I totally agree.
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Interesting, I do remember and maybe for someone who didn't
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live in the communist area I do remember this the ethnicity part
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as well. It happened to me back in 97, I
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think. I was outside of my home city in
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another city in Romania and I saw someone of a different
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ethnicity. And man, I was shocked.
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And this is this like I, I, you cannot really explain because if
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you have lived a certain period of, of your life only in your
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small, small bubble, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's really
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crazy to explain. Yeah, people don't understand
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any, especially in the United States, what lack of diversity
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means, where it's just one color, 1 brand.
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And it was just a reflection of communism as well, 'cause when I
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grew up in communism, you go to the store and everything's the
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same. You have one brand that you
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can't really pick and choose. So it was just a reflection of
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society as well. So we were, we were familiar
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with that concept. Lack of diversity for
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everything. Correct, correct.
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You arrived. I do guess that that your you
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Met Your Mother after immigrations.
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How was the how was the shock ruffle?
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How was the So like you said, the colours.
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I think the colours important topic.
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But after the first day. So the first day was the colour,
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the fact that everything was alive and it was colourful.
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But after that, what was the the daily shock?
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Shock. Let me say it like this.
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OK, so couple positives and negatives.
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I went to a school that had quite a bit of Polish students.
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So the transition wasn't 100% drastic.
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You know, I had like a buffer. I had some kids that spoke to me
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in, in Polish because they, they knew how to speak Polish,
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because their parents were Polish.
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They were born in here. The, the main thing I've, I've
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realized is there was a lack of, you know, cars were everywhere.
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There's a lack of walking like in in Europe, you walked to your
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friend's house, you met at a certain place to have a good
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time. In the United States, everything
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is car centric. So you have to get in a car to
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go someplace. So I started missing that.
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That hit me hard where you couldn't just leave your house,
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walk over to your friend's house and you know, play video games
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or whatever. Usually they, they live 20-30
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minutes away, 3 towns over. So there's a, there's a lack of
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like community. That was, that was the
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interesting aspect. But then at the same time, one
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of my best friends, this has happened in 4th grade, I was in
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4th grade, he was Cuban, so he's Hispanic and he became my
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closest friend in grade school. So that was kind of interesting.
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You know, I, I try to learn English and, and he knew English
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quite well, but he was also Spanish.
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So the actual connection that we had was was fascinating and
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something I would I would never experience in in back in Poland.
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In so crazy. So first of all, I know there is
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a huge Polish community in the US, but I didn't know that it
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was really that big like that, that concentrated like you have
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a lot of people in the same place then.
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There are the main the main cities are New York and Chicago,
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and then between those two there's quite a few towns that
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have Polish communities. A lot is based off manufacturing
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and and factories. Back in 1800 and 1900s, that's
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where a lot of Eastern Europeans came in and they start working
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there because it was the easiest job.
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It was hard labour but at the same time you got paid doing it.
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Exactly, exactly. Maybe maybe it's safe to say
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that there was a lot of immigration also from Eastern
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Europe at the beginning of the century as well.
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And I know also that there are some movies made in Romania with
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the first guys that went to US with the with the with the boat.
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And there was an experience for everyone that that that was
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doing that. What how was it in, in, in
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regards to expectation, Rafael? So what did you expect when you
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left home, when you left Poland? And what did you find there from
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what did you expect there already?
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Well, everything was based on Hollywood movies, my perception.
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So. So when I came in and I'm like,
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oh crap, not everyone has a Corvette.
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Everyone has to go to work and work to earn that money like the
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two did. Never clicked as a child, as in
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yet to go to work in order to afford all the good stuff, all
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the fun stuff. So I was just surprised by how
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many crappy cars there were on the street.
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I was like, Oh my God, not everyone's driving a Ferrari.
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I mean, I just watched Miami Vice like 6 months ago and
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where's the Lamborghini? It's that was that was kind of
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fascinating. Did you have the shock?
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Because I, I had the on my first trip to US, my one of my biggest
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shocks and it was my first trip to US was 2017.
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I think there was still my biggest shock was the school
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buses. I didn't expect that they really
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exist in reality. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
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It's, it's, it's interesting because they're such prevalent
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and they're such a big part of the society where, you know,
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parents just kind of shove the kids into the bus and we're done
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with you until about 3:00 PM when you come back off that bus.
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One of my guests said that they are the most unsafe means of
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transport from US because they don't have a seat belt in the
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back seats. They don't have any kind of
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security. But no, they were always there
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and they are staying the same. Yep, always the same.
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If you watched films or movies and shows from the 50s and 60s,
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they kind of look the same. It's one of those things, if
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it's not broken, don't change. It exactly so you said with the
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language you had the you had the soft a soft landing.
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Let's say it like this, but what other things were hard to adapt
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to in US besides the language? No friendships, there's no way
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around it, whether I came from Poland or another country, you
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know, having that connection and having that bond with, with
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friends, it's a little bit difficult when you start at 10
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years old versus at four or five.
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And then you also on top of that don't have, you know, you don't
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speak the language. So there's that barrier.
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So the friendships was, was kind of difficult, but I made quite a
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few friends that I'm still friends with.
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And you know, we're talking about 35 years.
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So that was that was interesting.
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Also the leisure aspect of it, how you spend your time having
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fun as a kid was different in the United States than in
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Europe. It's, it's a little bit, I, I
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admit there, it's a little bit more mellow in, in Europe where
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you just kind of, you know, you have a beverage, you know, when
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you're a kid, you, you know, you have a coke and, and whatever
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and, and you talk and you can keep talking.
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But here it's like, let's do something, let's do something
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video games, let's let's do something else.
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And it's it's a little bit more fast-paced and constant.
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What you're having in what you're having in Poland is this
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habit to play outside and meet together with the neighbor.
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Neighbor kids like to make like a football game, like a
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spontaneous football game and so on.
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And something like this was not happening in the US.
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Yeah, exactly. And part of it is that whole car
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centric aspect aspect of it. You can't like even with cell
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phones, you say, hey, let's meet up.
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Well, that's going to take like 30 to 40 minutes because you
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know, you have to get in your car or your parents have to get
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you in the car. So it was almost like a
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scheduling thing. While while in Europe it was
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like, all right, at 3 PMI can expect my friends after school
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to be on the soccer field and I'll meet him there.
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And it was just a a a better connection.
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It's so interesting because it's so different to everything that
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we have seen in in movies that we were feed in in the Hollywood
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movies because every kids was in front of the house, everyone was
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playing with each other in small communities that there was this
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connection there. And it was always something that
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you you looked and think, wow, that that that might be so cool.
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Yeah, that's one thing movies get wrong is the transportation.
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I remember when someone was talking about a movie that took
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place in Los Angeles where the characters were meeting each
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other and someone who lived there told me that would never
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happen in real life because you have to set aside 4 hours in Los
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Angeles just for traffic. You can't tell someone, hey,
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1:00 PM I'm going to meet you there.
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No, no, it doesn't work like that.
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You have to like plan days ahead.
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Absolutely, absolutely. And traffic in traffic in there
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is is crazy talking about the this, this mono product world
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from from Eastern Europe and going to US.
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How how big was the, the sweets impact and the, and the, and the
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beverages impact that you have? So the, the, the multi choices
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that you had in the US? How did you feel that as a kid?
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Yeah, that's, that's a big thing.
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Walking into a superstore like a market, a supermarket and having
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options. That was the first thing.
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Remember, if that happened like five years later, it wouldn't be
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so drastic because, you know, five years later Poland was in a
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capitalistic state. But coming from communism to
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like you walk into a supermarket, you get to cherry
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pick anything you want. You get to pick anything you
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want. And as long as you have money,
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you buy it. And I do remember one of the
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last things that I remember in Poland is my uncle, he won a
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lottery to buy a car. And that was a big thing.
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So first you had to put your name in a lottery.
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Second, you have to win, and then the third you have to wait.
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And he says, yeah, it's, I'm supposed to get it in about 2
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1/2 years. I was like, Oh my God, I, I in
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the United States, I swear to God, every single car I, I
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bought, I, I drove off that day or then it was waiting for me
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the next day. You know the the crazy thing,
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I'm struggling now because I actually actually know what you
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mean. This lottery of the right, you
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are winning, not the car. And this is something that I
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tried to explain as well to my colleagues in Germany.
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You are not winning the car, you are winning the right to buy
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the. Opportunity to Yeah.
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And then and then on top of that, the food stamps, everyone
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had food stamps. So if people are listening to to
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this and, and watching in the United States, just imagine
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everyone on food stamps, they'll get it.
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But so you would have allotted number of stamps for gas,
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cigarettes, meat, clothes. It's, it was, it was bad.
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And then a few years ago, a few years later, I bumped to someone
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from China and they said, Oh yeah, we still have that
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actually. So even in the 90s Chinese
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people had that where same thing food stamps and stamps for
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anything. And maybe also they're important
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to say is not that you got something for free.
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No it the stamps are again the right to buy something.
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Right, exactly. There's always that barrier in
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in between. It's not like you get it.
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It's just an opportunity. And and it's frustrating looking
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back out of like, how do people do it, deal with that and do it,
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you know, waiting in line 3 hours for milk.
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I mean, that was that was stuff. Every time when I see in Germany
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a huge line, I haven't, you know, I have a direct rejection
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of of of sitting in the line because I do remember that
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bloody lines at 45 AM in the morning with the bottles of
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milk, trying to get some milk for the day or trying to buy
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bread or I don't know what. And people are here.
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I know it's only a small I hate them.
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I just hate them. I just.
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I remember, I remember that meme when there was people camping
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for the first iPhone and someone took a picture and said
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communism at its best because there was a line of people
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waiting for. But the difference was this was
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a a luxury versus a need, like food.
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Exactly, exactly crazy, but it's so, so interesting to of of
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course you. I heard that he's I I'm
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interested in the history of Eastern Europe.
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I like this, this part to study how how common is was different
17:55
in different countries, but to realize that they actually had
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the same bloody thing everywhere, like the food
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stamps, the the car lottery, even the car lottery, That was
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crazy. That was just crazy.
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Yeah. Yeah, people would not
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understand. If you try to explain this to
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them, they might have like a, They might understand the
18:13
basics, but they would never understand how difficult it was.
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Have you ever thought as a as a kid that was much more
18:21
complicated the US culture than the Polish one?
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Yeah, yeah, exactly. Polish culture was very simple
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because you had limitations. So you know, a, a low floor,
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also a low ceiling, but in between you had this much while
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in United States it's like this wide, it's very wide.
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So you can fail in life in in United States and end up on the
18:43
street or you can become a multi billionaire.
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In Poland at the time, it was like lower middle class or maybe
18:51
middle class at most. Maybe if if you get lucky or you
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know, the black market played a big role in, in the economy.
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And also if you had friends who are overseas and connections,
19:04
they'll send you money or products.
19:05
That was big. And one of the first things,
19:08
first signs of communism falling apart in Poland was watching
19:14
American movies, Western movies. So Rambo, Rocky, you know,
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Terminator, that kind of slipped in.
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Someone made 20 copies of VHS in the 80s and spread them around
19:28
the village and and someone always had Avhs player in the
19:33
village or the town and they and and you had a gathering and and
19:37
you would watch them. You know what?
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It's it's crazy again, again, trying to explain people from
19:42
the West that you met to watch a small, I don't know, 50
19:46
centimeters TV. Yeah.
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Yeah. And there were 20-30 people in
19:50
the room and there was someone was selling tickets because they
19:53
were buying the tapes from outside.
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Yeah. And as far as I remember in
19:57
Poland was a guy translating the movies right.
20:00
It's always he's famous. There's actually, I think a
20:02
documentary about him because he had very distinctive voice and
20:09
and it was funny because if you watch a comedy, same guy,
20:12
romantic, same guy, action horror, same guy, and you know,
20:17
he would say whole letter and it's like, dude, it's it's a
20:22
romantic comedy. You can't, you can't bring it
20:26
down. And then I think towards the end
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they might have got a female in for the female parts woman, but
20:34
that was all the way at the at towards the end of communism.
20:38
But yeah, it was the same guy. He must have made a killing, you
20:41
know, translating all that. So it's it's so interesting to
20:44
start because in Romania we had the lady that did it.
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Was. Absolutely the same.
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And they actually made It's so, so interesting that there is a
20:52
movie also made after her because she was the voice of
20:54
every movies and she was a translator for the national TV.
20:58
So she she was the official, that was the official job and
21:02
the unofficial job was doing this and sometimes 10121416
21:08
hours a day. And what what she was saying was
21:12
that she was not yeah, she got money of course, but of course
21:15
you didn't have anything to do with the money.
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That was the first problem. And second, she did only because
21:19
she enjoyed watching movies and when they offered her the fact
21:22
that she's she's there and she's able to watch the movies, she
21:25
said I would have done it for free, but they offered me money
21:27
so. I want to watch a documentary.
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I'm curious about that stuff. That is fascinating.
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Exactly. It's it's and what she said.
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Because this is how I know there was a man in Poland.
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There wasn't, I don't know. I think somewhere around 10
21:41
years ago there was a someone the organized a meet up between
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all those guys from Eastern Europe.
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Yeah. So there was a lady in Romania,
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there was this this guy from Poland, there was a guy from
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Czech Republic, there was a guy from Hungary.
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So somebody organized the meet up from those for those guys.
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Man, that is. One of the film festivals and
22:01
she told the story of this and this is just fascinating.
22:05
Wow, I would want to be there. That's so many memories.
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I guarantee you for each one of those individuals, there is a
22:16
kid that's born because of them, because they watched a movie and
22:19
a couple fell in love together or there's a fight because of
22:24
them. So they were A cause for so many
22:28
problems and and solutions to man.
22:32
Yeah, same guy, same guy. Crazy the the the interesting
22:35
thing is what you are saying is this that the fellow of
22:38
communist start with with the American movies.
22:41
You know that the Ceausescu, so the dictator of Romena actually
22:43
said this, that the, that the big satellite dishes are the,
22:47
the, the, the reason why people are getting this open minded
22:51
mentality and they they should be forbidden.
22:54
Right, right. So actually, to go a little bit
22:58
deeper, one of the first shows to to pop up in Eastern Europe
23:02
and Central Europe was Dallas from the United States.
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And the reason that the communist government allowed it
23:10
is because they thought it was so bad and trashy that people
23:13
watching it would think, well, we don't want any part of that.
23:15
It's fun to watch, but we would never want to go there and
23:18
experience all that stuff. But it backfired because it
23:21
became entertainment. And another thing that that, you
23:24
know, kind of came back to to haunt them in Indiana's is the
23:29
church. They allowed the church to
23:30
exist. And that's where a lot of people
23:32
met to discuss the downfall of communism to, you know,
23:36
progressive. Yeah.
23:38
Yeah. Plans.
23:39
Yeah. The interesting in so
23:42
interesting Dallas was they, they, I think they broadcast
23:44
this for about one year and then when they realized it's
23:47
entertainment, they they forbid they stopped it.
23:50
OK. It was restarted after the
23:53
revolutions, after the 90s yeah, in Romania.
23:56
It's so, so interesting. So interesting, so.
24:00
So one more, one more thing about that.
24:01
There's a documentary I forgot the name I've seen.
24:03
I've seen it like 10 years ago. That's why I can't remember the
24:06
name, but it's about VHS movies making their way to Central and
24:11
Eastern Europe. And they did, they did scenes
24:16
what happened at the border because the soldiers on the
24:19
border we're the same like us. We're they were desperate for
24:21
cash. So a guy would slip like
24:24
chocolate, you know, Swiss chocolate or, or real good bacon
24:29
or something for the kids toys, American or Western toys.
24:33
And, and the guard would just look the other way.
24:35
He's like, yeah, we know he got VHS tapes.
24:37
Go, go. You can come in.
24:39
Absolutely, but this is this is a really good so money were not
24:43
that important as products. Products.
24:45
Oh yeah. Like you said.
24:46
So if you had, I don't know, a stack of cigarettes in Romania,
24:50
Kent was huge back then. Yes, yes, yes.
24:54
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
24:55
That was huge. And every time you went to the
24:56
doctor, you had a pack of cigarettes or a pack of coffee,
24:59
because we didn't had coffee. They had the coffee replacement
25:02
that they were selling in Romania in the market.
25:04
Yeah, yeah, it was disgusting. Exactly.
25:07
And yeah, it's crazy. It's really crazy.
25:11
So you know what I will link, I will link the the the
25:13
documentary with the with the Romanian lady in the in the show
25:17
notes because I think it's interesting.
25:19
It's really interesting for the part of history you went to US,
25:26
you realize, OK, movies. So life is not like in the
25:30
movies. Did that destroy somehow the
25:33
happiness of seeing the movies for you, where you are when you
25:36
are in the US? No, because I was living my
25:39
life. It's just like you were shaping
25:41
yourself. Yeah.
25:42
You quickly kind of realize, hey, this is this is not real,
25:46
you know, just like an American kid watching an action movie
25:49
saying, oh, my God, everyone has guns around here and shooting
25:51
each other or whatever. No, it's not like that.
25:54
So I was living my life. I like at that time I I made
25:57
friends. I was going to school and, you
25:59
know, by 1516, I had a job. So yeah, it was.
26:04
It was just something normal. How do you think it it it
26:08
impacted the way in which you developed the fact that you
26:11
didn't grow up in in Poland that you you you did part of your
26:15
childhood in the US? Well, I'm and I, I have a wife
26:21
and a child. So I can say this that I see
26:24
both sides, how my wife raises our child versus me, myself.
26:29
And, and what I do is, is I'm a little bit more, sorry to say,
26:34
but grateful for what I have because I know the other
26:37
extreme. I lived in a village where we
26:40
didn't have plumbing. So, so there's that.
26:44
And you got one gift per year for Christmas and that's it.
26:49
My daughter gets one gift probably a a week because she
26:52
saw something on Amazon and can click purchase and boom, it's
26:55
hers in two days. So what I try to instill in her
27:00
is what I instill in myself. Experience stuff, don't buy
27:04
them. There's there's a saying that on
27:08
your tombstone when you die, there's a date of your birth and
27:11
your death and there's a dash in between.
27:14
Make it about people in our possessions.
27:17
And that's what I try to do. And that's the reason I do it is
27:21
because what I experienced the first ten years when I was
27:23
living in in a communist country, because I didn't know
27:27
it at the time, but we had nothing, absolutely nothing.
27:29
There's a, there's a famous car that everyone makes fun of,
27:32
which is the Fiat, Fiat 126 Maluk.
27:35
It is one of the tiniest cars. And if you saw a picture, maybe
27:38
you can show a picture, a graphic, the 126 P Oh my God.
27:43
And people were hoping to get a lottery to win that car, to get
27:47
that car. And I'm thinking, Oh my God,
27:50
this is pure crap. Like you, you bump into a wall
27:52
at 10 mph or you're going to die.
27:56
Literally no safety. You know Thatcha Thatcha 1310?
28:00
Yeah, yeah, thatcha too. Yeah, absolutely.
28:02
So you got dacha WADA. Yeah, Fiat was big.
28:08
If you got a Volkswagen, that was, oh man, you were, you were
28:13
a High Roller. Absolutely, absolutely wrong.
28:17
In in Romania they made so they made the dacha was was a copy of
28:22
Renault 12 and then they made so there are two models still there
28:28
was a car which was a copy of a Citroen which is called old Sit
28:33
is so stupid because they copied the patterns from Citroen and
28:36
they were making it in old in an area of Romania which is called
28:40
old and it was called old sit like the Citroen from old.
28:44
Oh, wow, oh wow. Oh, it's it was bad.
28:50
And there's one more car, and you're probably not old enough
28:54
to know this, but anyone above 4050 maybe would understand.
28:59
There's a car called Trabant. And it is, Yeah.
29:03
And now if you have one, you're. You're the man because you kept
29:07
one. This is 1 car where you mix the
29:10
oil and gas together in order for it to go.
29:13
And I think it was like 12 horsepowers, pretty much
29:16
equivalent to a lawnmower when you cut grass.
29:18
I think you your engines a little bit better than that.
29:21
Exactly, exactly. That's better.
29:24
I don't know if you know. There was another one in Romania
29:26
which is called Lestoon. Do you know it?
29:28
Oh, we never, we never saw that one.
29:30
Yeah. So it's, it was smaller than
29:33
Trabant and it was almost entirely made out of cardboard.
29:38
So there was a bit of a structure to hold it.
29:42
And the cover was the cardboard that I still remember.
29:45
I were visiting some relatives in the city and they took us to
29:49
the to the train station to go back home and they had the
29:55
rolling seats in front, you know, like the sliding seat, not
29:58
the rolling ones. And they got stuck because they
30:01
were as good as they were and I had to go over them and the
30:06
place was so small. I was a big boy always and I
30:09
managed to crack the cardboard on top of the car.
30:12
Oh God, oh God. But what's it's, it's
30:16
unbelievable what we had to deal with.
30:18
And, and part of it is think about it in in Poland, it's
30:21
snowed so much. Maybe not anymore.
30:23
But before I do remember the winters would where you got like
30:26
30 centimeters, 40 centimeters of snow and you have a Trabant.
30:30
I'm like, how is that possible? Like how do you drive with that?
30:34
Oh man, the the the one of the nicest stories that I have.
30:38
A friend of mine had the Dutch, I think it was the new model, it
30:42
was the 1310 and the heat. So that shell was always cold
30:47
inside. Like you said, bad, bad winters
30:50
like -20 extremely cold and there was no heating inside.
30:55
He took out the the centerpiece of his car.
30:57
So the the one that you have where you had the the the CD
31:00
player of the radio, notice the cassette player of the radio or
31:03
whatever had and he put an extra heater at 220 volts heater with
31:07
an inventor. Oh my God.
31:10
But he forgot the fact that there was there were some pipes
31:14
there was also taking the hot air to the window so that it
31:17
doesn't get frozen. So the heater was hitting the
31:21
car in the car was extremely hot, but you had to keep a
31:24
newspaper so that the the flow of hot air is hitting the
31:28
newspaper and going back. Now that's smart.
31:34
That's smart. That guy, that guy's an
31:35
engineer. That was engineering.
31:37
That was. That was engineering at its
31:39
best. It was.
31:40
It was. Crazy.
31:42
I don't want to say I missed those days, but looking back at
31:44
it, it's like you realize how bad you had it, you just didn't
31:47
know it. The question is, were we missing
31:53
it? Oh, I can't answer that because
31:57
there are days where I'm like, you know, that childhood was
31:59
awesome and, and you have to work for everything.
32:04
So, you know, if you lived in a village like I did in order to
32:08
get to the town or the city, you know, it was an event.
32:11
The one thing that the buses did run well, but everyone jumped on
32:16
the bus and to get there and, and, and I do remember taking
32:21
aside like hours just for a little shopping experience.
32:28
The how do you think that that that, that your life is
32:35
different? I want to ask you in a different
32:38
way because I think it's much complicated.
32:40
If I ask you like this, what, what do you do for a living at
32:43
the moment in US? I work for ATV station, you can
32:47
kind of tell all the lights and off to the side.
32:50
I have a hobby, podcasting. I have my own show about
32:53
gambling. Don't do it.
32:55
Don't. Don't gamble, people, don't
32:56
gamble. Gamble with your life.
32:58
That's about it. But not not with money on
33:00
sports, but just to quickly go over that in high school, I was
33:06
the first guy with a video camera walking around.
33:08
This is late 80s, so I was still filming on tape.
33:11
And then in college I I decided to go towards media and
33:15
communication. And that was over 25 years ago.
33:19
So I'm one of those people that started early and stuck to it.
33:23
There were a lot of bumps in the road but I wanted to do this and
33:27
I still am doing this. Do you think you have you would
33:30
have had the same chance when you if you were in Poland?
33:35
I don't think I'll be doing the same thing.
33:38
Remember in, in Poland, especially in, in communism and,
33:41
and a little bit even after you're kind of set in your way,
33:46
what I mean, the government kind of picked what you were doing
33:49
based on a couple exams that you took.
33:52
So like the engineers were always going to be engineers and
33:57
doctors and lawyers because of how high they scored and you
34:01
were kind of like placed in this little box.
34:04
So I'll be honest, I'm, I'm not, I'm not that smart.
34:08
I'm not an engineer. I'm not doctor or an attorney.
34:11
I would never, never make it to that realm that high.
34:17
To be honest with you. I'll probably be working
34:18
construction in Poland and or driving driving a bus.
34:24
I love, I love. I love your honesty.
34:26
I love your being direct. Oh no, I got 46 years, so I can
34:32
look back and just be honest with myself.
34:34
Absolutely. The the of course, what common
34:38
is never did. They didn't support creativity
34:40
and working in ATV and television a huge part of its
34:44
creativity. And like you said, you were, you
34:46
were clustered based on some exams.
34:48
And if you're not good in the exams, then you then you stayed
34:51
in those clusters. And I don't know if it was the
34:54
same in Poland, but in Romania, there was another clustering and
34:57
it was based on the area where you were coming from, because
35:00
there was an area in which, I don't know, the coal industry
35:03
was bigger, there was an area in which the sand industry was
35:06
bigger and so on. So somehow you're clustered
35:08
based on the results and based on the area Internet and you
35:13
knew exactly what you will do. And you, you would have like a
35:16
defined destiny. You know that you worked in the
35:18
same place like your father. And for my father was the same,
35:21
he worked in the same place as my grandpa.
35:23
So nothing would have changed. Right, exactly.
35:26
And then it still exists in Europe.
35:28
I know why. I was talking to someone in
35:30
England who lived in the United States and but was born in
35:34
England and lived there quite a bit.
35:36
And I asked him, what's the biggest difference?
35:38
Because, you know, we're not talking about communism,
35:40
capitalism. We're talking about two Western
35:42
countries and cultures. And he said there's still that
35:46
feeling. And it probably trickles down
35:48
from the royal family that if you're born royal, you're always
35:50
going to be a royal. And if your dad is a doctor,
35:54
most likely you're going to end up a doctor.
35:56
And there's a pecking order and no one steps outside.
35:59
No one says, wait a minute, my, my dad picked up trash for a
36:04
living. He was a garbage man.
36:05
But I'm going to be a a doctor because I'm going to do better
36:09
In the United States. That is what they sell you.
36:11
That's what you're sold. Like you could do anything.
36:13
And to be honest with you, I know, I don't know if I can
36:16
swear, but United States, United States can get a lot of shit
36:21
about how they're dealing with things and, and how they are as
36:24
a society. But one thing they do have is
36:26
give you an opportunity to succeed.
36:29
And I never seen it anywhere else where, you know, a, a
36:32
garbage man will tell his son, hey, you could be the next
36:35
president. And it's it's true.
36:37
Like you can really do it. I think the, the, the, the
36:40
chances that you have the is this it?
36:42
But it's like you said, you can be, you can, it can go amazing,
36:47
amazing or it can go really bad. So it you can go both ways.
36:50
There is no social net that can save you like in Europe.
36:53
Low floor and high ceiling and there's a lot of stuff in
36:56
between. And some people don't like that
36:59
they'd rather have this, you know, this area where they can
37:02
work within the confines of, of a, of higher floor, less
37:06
ceiling. So, you know, and it's the whole
37:08
mentality of telling a billionaire how come you didn't
37:12
stop at millions, you know, because I couldn't, I, I wanted
37:16
to strive to do better. But there's a lot of people that
37:19
will say, you know, you got a couple $1,000,000.
37:22
How about you stop right now? You have enough.
37:25
There's none of that mentality in United States.
37:27
If if you made 10 million next year, try for 100.
37:33
This is one side of the of the of the coin, but the other side
37:36
of the coin which I think it's, it's developing quite bad in
37:39
Europe. And you can see most probably
37:41
you're following the news as well and you see that there's a
37:44
lot of extreme right winning or getting more and more words in
37:50
Europe because they are promising again, this extreme
37:53
social net that the communist gave.
37:55
We will come, we'll take care of you.
37:56
We'll give you houses with €30,000.
37:59
I don't know. We will reopen the coal mines,
38:02
even though everyone knows that they are economically a
38:05
disaster. But these promises that they are
38:08
making, they're just coming and selling this dream of we will
38:12
take care of you. You just have to vote for us and
38:14
we'll take care of you. Right.
38:16
They said a lot of things for a vote.
38:18
They will promise you a lot of things for the vote.
38:20
In Poland, for example, is have more kids, every kid you get an
38:23
extra check or an extra amount on the check.
38:27
And they sell the concept in a sense in a right way, because
38:32
what they're selling with the kids, for example, is because
38:34
there's a low fertility rate in Poland, there's not as many kids
38:38
being born. So they're saying, well, you,
38:39
you got to do your job, you know, get in that bedroom and
38:42
we'll get you money. And, and a lot of people, a lot
38:46
of couples are looking at it. Wait, we're going to have more
38:49
kids and then we're going to get a check from the government.
38:51
So I see how that could be appealing.
38:54
But what they're really selling is the vote.
38:56
Like, give us the vote. Absolutely, absolutely.
39:00
That's that's exactly. And unfortunately it's it's gave
39:04
the vote is sold cheap, at least at least in Europe.
39:09
I don't know. It's it's everywhere, it's
39:10
everywhere. It's cheap.
39:11
The the. Vote is so cheap and you didn't
39:14
realize that you're not selling your vote from today on to this
39:17
year. You are selling the future of
39:18
your kids. Yes, that's what it comes down
39:20
to. Correct?
39:21
That is correct. Exactly, to come back to the fun
39:24
part ruffle, because this is when we go to politics, it's
39:27
always, it's always bad. In these days when you would
39:31
have a camera, what would you like to film?
39:34
What would what would you like to have seen directly after the
39:37
communists felt in Poland? People's reaction to all the new
39:44
stuff, all the new things that came to the country.
39:47
I wanted to see just the awe and surprise that they would have if
39:53
they saw when they saw all the new products coming in, the big
39:58
changes. But.
39:59
But for Poland, it it happened quite, quite often because.
40:04
Every five years, it seems like there was a little bit of a push
40:08
towards something else. So I'll give you an example.
40:10
Last 10 years, European Union has funneled quite a bit of
40:14
funds and money into Poland, especially before Brexit.
40:18
And what they did is, I don't know if they told him how to
40:22
spend it, but what Poland is, they spend it on highways,
40:26
roads, and they have one of the best Rd. systems.
40:29
Now if you go there, Oh my God, it is, you can get from one
40:32
major city to another really quick.
40:34
Before it was like 6 hours, now it's 2.
40:37
But for, for that transition, I missed out that transition in
40:42
899091. I, I wanted to see faces and
40:47
reactions to, to that big change.
40:49
I I missed out on that. There was, there was indeed a
40:53
huge change. Have you ever thought when you
40:56
when you were a grown up to go back?
40:59
Oh, yeah, I, I just came back. I was there in August and.
41:05
I refuse the question to move back.
41:07
Well, I was about to say it's not a bad place to retire.
41:11
It is not a bad place to retire. It is one of the safest
41:14
countries. And not to toot my own horn, but
41:17
when I went to Poland, it's and even my wife, it was her first
41:20
time, she said it's quiet and safe.
41:24
And those two things when you're older, whoa, you're selling me
41:28
on a great concept, quiet and safe.
41:31
So I to retire. And now with global warming,
41:35
it's never as cold as it was. So I, I don't know.
41:38
I have thought about it. I have thought about it.
41:41
And they have a good health care system.
41:44
They have a good one, not great, but with Europe, with every
41:48
country, there is a trade off somewhere.
41:50
So if something's positive, you're going to look at
41:54
something else. Well, but it's lacking in XY and
41:56
Z. It might be great in healthcare,
41:58
but something that, you know, unemployment is high.
42:01
So there's always a trade off. There is no perfect country.
42:04
And I'm one of my best friends who travels quite often to
42:07
Europe. I asked him where would you live
42:09
if you had unlimited funds? And he said Switzerland and,
42:13
and, and he says I can't and, and he's quite wealthy and he
42:17
says I can't because I can't afford a $13 sliced pizza.
42:21
And it's beautiful and it's clean and it's safe, but man, it
42:25
comes out of cost. Absolutely, the most expensive
42:28
Christmas market I've been to in my life was in Zurich.
42:31
Still so I can imagine. Still remember the trip, you
42:35
know, the the interesting thing is what you said, everything is
42:37
coming with the trade off. So I'm discussing quite often
42:40
about Romania with my working colleagues and they said OK, how
42:42
it is. And I keep saying it the same.
42:44
Like, I'm sorry, if you're living in your bubble and if you
42:49
afford to pay a private school for your kid and you afford to
42:52
pay private health systems and so on, it's amazing.
42:57
As soon as you need the government institutions, you
43:01
need the police, the judge, mental system, the, I don't
43:05
know, City Hall, when you need the finance department, then you
43:08
start to have a problem. Yes, yes.
43:11
So for example, probably Romania as well.
43:14
Communism still has like a hold on certain institutions and
43:20
aspects. And everyone will tell you, man,
43:22
the paperwork and that interactions with government
43:27
officials, it's like talking to someone from 20 years ago.
43:31
So So yeah, that's going to take another generation to to move
43:36
and progress. Right now, it's still a little
43:38
behind one of my closest friends.
43:41
He wanted to open up a banking account in Poland and he lives
43:44
here, but he's also Polish and he wanted to open up a bank
43:47
account. And he said, Oh my God, you
43:49
know, it was just horrible experience.
43:51
It's almost like they didn't know how to do it.
43:53
In the United States, it's you bring 2 forms of ID and within
43:57
30 minutes you have an account and you can check on your cell
44:00
phone. So then I asked him, I'm like,
44:02
hey, you spent half of your life in the United States, half in
44:05
Poland. How come you don't move back to
44:07
Poland? And, and he said it's because of
44:09
that. It's stuff like that that would
44:11
drive me nuts. Exactly, exactly.
44:13
The like the simple things. Yeah, yeah.
44:17
The, the, the, the interesting fact is always like, you know,
44:21
it's, it's for me Romania, it's an it's an interesting example
44:24
always. So because there are things
44:26
which are going much, much better than than in Germany.
44:29
So I'm always talking about the Internet speed of Romania, which
44:32
is insane. Like you get 1 gigs per second
44:36
at home and you pay like maybe €8.00 a month or something,
44:39
which is extremely cheap. But on the other side, it's so
44:42
complicated to get something on on your phone, like to get, I
44:46
don't know, a tax statement or something like this.
44:49
It's almost impossible. Yep, Yep, Yep.
44:52
That sounds about right. That's that's actually Eastern
44:54
Europe in general Exactly. You just described it.
44:57
But I have to say Poland had the biggest economic growth after
45:02
the communist felt. And I think in Poland there was
45:04
the big wish of development or the biggest wish of development
45:08
from the politics side in comparison with all the European
45:11
countries. So wherever you look at the
45:13
moment in Europe and you see Poland, Poland is far ahead in
45:16
comparison with the other. Yeah, I I agree.
45:21
I I went there in August and I saw it first hand.
45:25
One thing that surprised my wife was we went to Krakow, you know,
45:29
which is I think the second or third biggest city and I would
45:32
say about 20 to maybe quarter of the population was Muslim.
45:38
And you could tell because what they were wearing.
45:41
And I talked to a couple of taxi drivers and, and they, and
45:46
actually they were all Ukrainian, the taxi drivers and,
45:50
and they said there's direct flights from Qatar and Dubai.
45:54
And I thought, well, out of all the places, why would they pick
45:57
Poland? And, you know, even though
45:59
there's a direct fly and he says, whoa, it's like 45°C right
46:05
now in Dubai. And it's, you know, 18 and 20
46:09
and sunny and, and, and it's perfect.
46:12
Obviously they're going to come and plus they had money.
46:14
So they come in with like 12 luggage bags and buy a bunch of
46:19
stuff and then leave. And then Polish people actually
46:21
enjoy that because, you know, it goes back to the economy.
46:25
But one of the biggest things is the Poland did is you know they
46:31
and it was sure luck. It was pure luck when the
46:34
European and opened up a lot of the young people went to UK,
46:38
Ireland, Scotland to to work. I mean, you know, there's what
46:45
the, the currency is right here. You got your dollar, you got
46:48
your euro. And then, then, then the pound
46:50
was like, whoa, if you have, if you're making pounds, but living
46:53
on Zwote, I mean, you're, you're all set.
46:56
You're all set. So what happened was once Brexit
46:59
happens, a, a lot of these individuals came back.
47:02
So they knew the culture and language.
47:04
So now when you go back to Poland, you already know English
47:07
and that helps you with a lot of job opportunities, whether it's
47:10
tech, hospitality, medicine. So I don't know if it was luck.
47:15
I think it was a little bit more of luck.
47:19
Poland has a huge demographic of people that that can adapt well
47:24
because of their language. I think the IT does not only
47:28
luck, you know, I'm, I'm telling you from the, let's say from the
47:31
first hand experience from here. I think the most or the, the
47:34
biggest reason why the guy I work in a company that it's in,
47:39
I will just try to make a bit of a story behind it.
47:41
Because I work in a company that we have a lot of a lot of
47:47
subsidiaries in different countries in Europe.
47:49
And I get in contact with a lot of people, like a lot of
47:51
immigrants everywhere. And I go because we get people
47:54
working from everywhere. And the, the, the feedback that
47:59
I got from the guys working from Poland, working in different,
48:02
like you said, Northern Ireland, Ireland, UK was that the economy
48:06
in Poland went up. The salaries in Poland are
48:10
almost the same salaries that I make here.
48:12
Even though I make here pound, If I take the, the, the rent,
48:15
the monthly rent and so on, It's, I don't have much more
48:19
than I would have in Poland. And that's why they decided to
48:21
go back was not only Brexit, the the cost, but also the fact that
48:25
the economy, the Polish economy went up.
48:28
Yeah, Yeah. That's that's about right.
48:30
Yeah, you're dead on there. Absolutely.
48:34
The the, it's interesting for me that there was AI think Poland
48:41
is the only country in Europe and this is also important to
48:43
mention is the only country in Europe that has the back
48:45
migration, had the back migration in the last year.
48:47
Yeah, yeah. Yep, Yep, you are correct.
48:49
Because most of the most of the of the countries in Europe are
48:55
depopulated. Is the same with Romania, is the
48:58
same with everyone that went into a Schengen space, because
49:00
people got things, but people from Poland got got back to
49:02
Poland. What were the craziest questions
49:07
that you got from the kids in the US about Poland or not the
49:11
kids? Not only the kids, also the the
49:13
grown-ups. The grown-ups, you know, it's
49:17
the misconception is, is Poland part part of Russia or Soviet
49:21
Union at the time? You know, do you, you know, they
49:26
ask questions where, where you thought or are they asking me if
49:29
I still live in the 1800s? You know, like do you have
49:34
running water or stuff like that?
49:37
Also a lot of it was this is early 90s, like where is Poland?
49:42
So a lot of that came up. When someone would ask you now
49:47
if you describe yourself as an American or, or a or a Polish
49:51
guy, what, how would you answer? Both.
49:53
You can have two heartbeats. I like that.
49:57
I'm I'm, I'm Polish and heart. But then I, I recently went back
50:03
and in August and yeah, woof, there's, there's a learning
50:08
curve and a quick, quick example.
50:12
So I spoke Polish to everyone that I could.
50:16
I spoke Polish to pretty much everyone.
50:18
And towards the end, I got caught.
50:20
So I was taking a taxi and I had a backpack in, in the back, in
50:25
the back of the taxi and I was getting out.
50:28
My wife and my daughter, we were getting out.
50:30
And I told the gentleman, Hey, don't forget my bag.
50:36
And I said it and, and the word is torba.
50:39
Torba is bag in Polish. And he, he looked at me.
50:42
He's like, you're not from around here, are you?
50:44
It's like why? He's like, that's a backpack.
50:47
And those are two separate words, backpack and bag, 2
50:51
separate words in Polish. And so he grabbed and he laughed
50:55
and he's like, you're not from around here.
50:56
I'm like, no, no, he's like, I moved 35 years ago, so he got
51:00
me. I had the, I had someone in the,
51:03
I have 222 statements actually that I, I still have in my head
51:08
from one of, from drawback previous guests, guests I think
51:11
Priyanka who said that if you are an expert, you'd belong
51:14
everywhere and nowhere actually. True, I agree.
51:17
And then then Paul said in the previous episode that he's a he
51:23
feels like he's a permanent stranger.
51:27
Yeah, that's about right. That's about right.
51:30
If I, if, if I go back to Poland and I try to recreate or start,
51:34
I'm sorry, start my life all over again in Poland, it will
51:37
take a long time. It would take a long time.
51:40
The language, the culture. I have a soft tongue now because
51:43
I speak English fluently. So when I speak Polish, it's
51:47
almost like a kindergartener or a first grader speaking based on
51:53
how soft my, my dialect is. And also I, I, I don't remember
51:57
all the words and phrases and, and sentence structures.
52:00
I make a lot of mistakes, but I, I can get by.
52:03
And let's just say I can get by. You said you could imagine
52:09
Poland to be the place of retirement.
52:12
That means if I ask you where is home now, you'll say US.
52:16
Yeah, it's, it's AUS 1 great thing about United States.
52:21
Within 12 hours, I can be on a beach or skiing all with my
52:27
driver's license. 1 little, 1 little paper or plastic
52:30
identification. I can get away from a snowstorm
52:34
that's coming my way to go to Miami and sit on the beach if
52:38
it's too hot, go to the mountains to snowboard or
52:41
something. And and the amount of parks like
52:44
natural beauty, there's nothing like it.
52:47
This country, United States, has the best national parks.
52:52
I'm a I'm AUS fanboy for sure. I am I did.
52:57
I did 2024, no 2023 I don't remember.
53:02
It doesn't matter. I think 24 was I did a road trip
53:05
on the East Coast with my wife and I have to say the we went
53:09
withdraw from New York to Miami and back with my wife and my
53:13
kid. I have a 76 year old.
53:15
Back then we had a lot of stops. It was about 3 weeks, but man,
53:20
the views, the beauty of the country and you know what
53:24
surprised me the most? The kindness of the people as
53:27
you go South. Yeah, it's called Southern
53:30
hospitality. I lived in the South for for two
53:32
years. It's a little bit different
53:36
coming from like New York to down South.
53:38
You look back and like, well, why are you so nice to me?
53:42
Do you want something from me? That's your reaction.
53:45
So that's another reason the United States because it's so
53:48
big, you get you get diversity as far as personalities are
53:51
concerned. And New York, even the two major
53:55
cities I'm, I'm close to New York and Boston, totally
53:57
different. They're they're four or five
54:01
hours apart, but man, they are so different.
54:04
Boston. Boston, as far as I know, is
54:05
more European, right? Yes, yes, it's one of the oldest
54:08
cities. So if anyone is visiting United
54:12
States but wants to experience old European culture, I know
54:16
that's relative. We're talking about hundreds of
54:18
years, not thousands. Boston, Charles, Charleston,
54:21
Philadelphia, Savannah, those are the the big ones and and
54:25
Washington, DC is kind of nice. I wanted to ask you, but you
54:33
also you already made the argument, but I want to ask you
54:35
if someone would like to move to US as an expert, what?
54:39
Why would you say yes and why would you say no?
54:43
Well, like I said, the the diversity of the landscape and
54:46
the people for a yes, for no, that connection you have with
54:55
close friends and family. I thought, and I still think
54:59
that in Poland and Europe, it's a little bit more is tighter
55:04
like your, your family is a lot. I know Italians make fun of that
55:08
or make a statement like, you know, family mafia and all that.
55:11
They're you're fit. Once you're family, you're
55:13
always a family and whatever I would say in Europe, it's it's a
55:17
little bit more prevalent. So sometimes it's weird saying
55:22
that there's hospitality in the United States, but you also get
55:24
the cold shoulder sometimes, and I can't explain it until you
55:28
experience it. This cold show, the cold shower
55:33
that you are mentioning, this is a really important topic because
55:35
this is something that nobody's talking that much about.
55:38
Right. If you'd go, if you'd be able to
55:43
go back in time and you would, you would have the choice to
55:46
stay in Poland, would you stay? No, no, I experienced too much.
55:52
You know, I did another podcast that someone asked me the same
55:55
question, same, No, no, same question and my answer and my
55:59
answer is going to be the same. I learned so much.
56:01
I failed, I succeeded, I failed again.
56:04
And I wouldn't trade that because I create an identity.
56:09
I was able to create an identity here in the United States.
56:12
And man, even my mom, she sometimes looks at me and she
56:16
said, man, what would you become if we never left Poland?
56:21
And I couldn't answer that, but she never says it.
56:24
But I think she's proud of who I became now.
56:27
Absolutely. That's why she's asking the
56:29
question for sure. That's the that's the reason.
56:32
What's 1 Polish thing that you'll carry for you for the
56:36
rest of your life? It can be habit, it can be
56:40
thing, it can be word. Just a culture understanding
56:47
that, you know, having. So there's one word that pops up
56:51
and, and I try to explain it to my wife.
56:53
It's it's Kultura, which is culture.
56:56
If you do it word for word verbatim, it's but it's so much
56:59
more. It's so much more.
57:01
And I remember I have a friend who's Muslim and, and he said, I
57:05
can spend the next two years explaining to you what being
57:08
Muslim is, but you still won't understand it.
57:10
You have to live it. So same thing with Cultura.
57:13
It's, it's, it's the small things like, you know, I know
57:16
this is going to sound weird, but like taking off your shoes
57:18
when you walk into the house. It's, it's, it's like I, I tell
57:24
my Asian friends the same thing and they look at me and like,
57:26
yeah, we do that. Isn't that normal?
57:28
I'm like, no, you'll be surprised.
57:29
That is not normal. It's, it's Asians do that and
57:32
some European countries do that. And so, so small things like
57:36
that or big family dinners that are not just holiday dinners,
57:42
but they're like a typical Sunday.
57:43
You get together and and you have a dinner and you talk.
57:47
I missed that because one thing about communism is, is it
57:52
brought people together. You have a yeah, you had
57:55
nothing, but you did have each other.
57:56
Exactly. And, and especially the food.
57:59
That's why they say the best cuisine in the world is from
58:03
oppressive countries. Like, you know, Chinese is good
58:06
because they're oppressed. I mean, hello, no one, this is
58:10
not a knock against countries, but no one says I'm I'm going to
58:14
have some of the best fin Finnish food ever from Finland
58:18
because they were never oppressed.
58:21
Poland was oppressed. So we kind of had to be creative
58:24
about with what we had. So I kind of missed that the
58:28
the, the amount of perseverance he had.
58:34
You know, we have the same word, cultura.
58:36
It's actually said the same in Romanian.
58:40
I don't know if you have seen there.
58:41
There's a famous bit. I think Denzel Washington is
58:44
saying it because he's asked once why he needed a black
58:48
director for one of his movies. Oh, yes, yeah, I remember that.
58:51
And Spielberg versus exactly. Yeah, I remember that.
58:55
And, and I have to say his explanation is something that
58:59
you can teach in schools. So he explained it so nice.
59:02
It's not, yeah. It's not colour, it's culture.
59:05
It's not. It's it's culture, yeah.
59:08
It's it's culture, but like you said, it's, it's not the world
59:11
itself. It's more than the world itself.
59:13
Yeah, yeah. I agree, ruffled an amazing
59:17
human being. I'm so happy that I got to, I
59:20
got to, I got to meet you and you know, somehow I'm sharing
59:24
this love for you, for the US, even though I, I didn't grow up
59:27
there, I'm still, I'm still living from the movies, from the
59:31
creatures, from the movies and with a visit every once in a
59:35
while, which makes me extremely happy.
59:38
Before we wrap it up, where can people find you?
59:43
Oh, probably nowhere. I mean I have a podcast, it's
59:46
called Tight spreads NFL on YouTube and every week I I give
59:53
gambling addicts degenerates 5 games that they can bet money on
59:58
every weekend. So I don't, I don't.
1:00:01
I'm not a proponent of gambling, but it's it's something I do
1:00:04
because I enjoy the production side of it because it's a one
1:00:08
man show. So I have a camera, a
1:00:10
teleprompter, lights, and I take the SD card, little SD card and
1:00:14
I edit it in two hours. And before you know it, it's on
1:00:17
YouTube and Instagram. So I would say if you're
1:00:21
American and into American football, maybe you find it
1:00:24
appealing. It's tight spreads NFL and
1:00:27
that's where they can find me. But to be honest with you this
1:00:29
this means a lot to me because it seems like we are from a
1:00:33
similar cultural culture and we should we were able to share
1:00:37
stories and and hopefully people find this entertaining and
1:00:40
informative. The most important question of
1:00:43
the evening American football or soccer.
1:00:48
It's close. It's close.
1:00:51
OK, so football, the real football, is still football.
1:00:54
Like when the world happens, the only difference is the United
1:00:59
States doesn't shut down to watch a game.
1:01:02
You know, in in Poland and Romania when they're playing.
1:01:05
Like, you know, there's nothing going else else is going on.
1:01:10
And all the shops are closing up except for the liquor stores
1:01:12
where you can quickly go buy some vutkai and and peevo and
1:01:17
yeah, it's on. There's nothing like it.
1:01:19
There's nothing like it. It's next year is going to be
1:01:22
the World Cup in the US. Yeah, but it's.
1:01:24
But it's still, it'll be interesting.
1:01:26
But at the same time, the country doesn't shut down
1:01:28
because of the games, because it goes back to what what I said,
1:01:33
Americans don't understand the passion.
1:01:36
Like, you know, anytime I have some friends who are Brazilians,
1:01:39
they understand. They, they understand Germans
1:01:43
understand. It's, it's, it's like embedded
1:01:45
in your DNA. Did did soccer saw an increase
1:01:49
of popularity because of Messi? No, I think soccer started, it
1:01:56
gained popularity in 94 when there was that World Cup.
1:02:00
So then parents took their kids and said, all right, you try a
1:02:06
different sport. And then one thing that non
1:02:09
American viewers will probably not understand, but in American
1:02:12
football there was a big pushback about five years ago
1:02:15
because some of the players were dying.
1:02:17
Really. Yeah, CTE.
1:02:19
So parents were transitioning their kids into nonviolent
1:02:24
sports like soccer, and it's very popular.
1:02:27
But there's popular and then there's passion.
1:02:29
Huge difference. Exactly, exactly, 100% with you,
1:02:35
Rafael. Thanks a lot for your time.
1:02:37
I love the discussion. I love sharing.
1:02:39
I hope realizing I I love realizing that even though from
1:02:43
the same from two different countries and now so far away
1:02:46
from each other, we experience basically the same thing.
1:02:48
We experience the same, the same things that we missed.
1:02:52
Let me put it like this. And somehow I feel close to
1:02:56
everyone that went through the same.
1:02:58
I have to say it. Well, I'm glad I helped you out,
1:03:01
but thank you for having me on the show.
1:03:02
Thank you. Thank you so much for being
1:03:04
here. Thank you for your time.