The KrakCast

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.