The KrakCast

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.