WEBVTT 00:00:03.650 --> 00:00:06.049 Welcome back to the All Things Croatia podcast, 00:00:06.150 --> 00:00:09.769 everybody. We've got Tatsu here and you may know 00:00:09.769 --> 00:00:12.669 him better as Crow Samurai. You've probably been 00:00:12.669 --> 00:00:16.670 seeing his videos on Instagram. Are you on YouTube 00:00:16.670 --> 00:00:21.410 too? No, not yet. TikTok or just Insta? Just 00:00:21.410 --> 00:00:23.870 Instagram. Just Instagram. Well, if you're on 00:00:23.870 --> 00:00:25.609 Instagram, you've been seeing his videos, I'm 00:00:25.609 --> 00:00:28.149 sure. If you follow anything related to Croatia 00:00:28.149 --> 00:00:31.890 and he's singing, it's like day one of, what 00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:34.859 is it, 500? of singing Croatian songs. First 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:37.719 of all, welcome to the podcast, I guess. Thank 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.880 you very much. Thank you, Stanko. Yeah, of course, 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:42.799 man. And it's been a while, actually, since I 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:46.520 did an episode. So this will be a fun one. And 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:48.799 I want to, of course, ask how you sort of got 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:53.240 into anything really Croatian. But what day, 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:54.920 before we get into that, what day are you on 00:00:54.920 --> 00:01:01.619 right now of the challenge? I'm on day 20. day 00:01:01.619 --> 00:01:03.659 20 will be my next video i just posted my day 00:01:03.659 --> 00:01:08.319 19 one uh -huh wow yeah i'll be um i can't i 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:09.799 can't really just hear what i'll be doing for 00:01:09.799 --> 00:01:12.280 day 20 but uh it'll be uh it'll be another big 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:15.819 classic song all right what song did you do for 00:01:15.819 --> 00:01:24.719 19 and i'll let you 19 19 i did nice my dad went 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:27.180 and uh dad and sister drove to phoenix i'm in 00:01:27.180 --> 00:01:29.939 los angeles i'm here in la they drove to phoenix 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:32.500 because jelko was playing just in this little 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:36.159 like cafe thing in phoenix and did a concert 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.599 and so they drove out like six hours to go see 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:40.400 him and they said it was pretty cool oh really 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:44.480 good show yeah yeah he's got some good songs 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:49.200 for sure Obviously, you love Croatian music. 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:51.280 You're a big fan of Croatia. If you're watching 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:53.060 this video, you see he's got the jersey, he's 00:01:53.060 --> 00:01:57.079 got the beanie, he's got everything. First of 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:01.340 all, are you Croatian? I get asked that question 00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:04.060 a lot. I've got zero Croatian blood, full Japanese. 00:02:06.140 --> 00:02:10.960 How it started was I used to do tennis with my 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:13.879 best friend called Tommy Petica. He introduced 00:02:13.879 --> 00:02:16.580 me to a few Croatian friends. And I think it 00:02:16.580 --> 00:02:18.979 was the World Cup 2018. That was the first time 00:02:18.979 --> 00:02:21.659 when I saw all the Croatia jerseys and the flags 00:02:21.659 --> 00:02:26.919 in the middle of Zagreb. And that's when I was 00:02:26.919 --> 00:02:28.800 like, you know, who are these people and what's 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:30.539 this country? Because I've never seen a country 00:02:30.539 --> 00:02:32.560 that was so happy to represent themselves in 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:35.319 their jerseys. And they all obviously looked 00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:37.759 very proud to be Croatian. And that was a sight 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:40.300 to never see before. And then after the World 00:02:40.300 --> 00:02:43.419 Cup, I was just meeting all the different Croatian 00:02:43.419 --> 00:02:45.259 people and going to the Croatian parties and 00:02:45.259 --> 00:02:47.379 then getting introduced to the Croatian culture 00:02:47.379 --> 00:02:49.479 and then just fell in love with it straight away. 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:52.240 Yeah, that's awesome. So you're playing tennis 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:56.199 with your Croatian buddies. Yes. And so you've 00:02:56.199 --> 00:02:58.979 been friends with them for a long time and always 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:00.520 knew they were Croatian. And then when you watched 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:02.699 the World Cup, you kind of put it together and 00:03:02.699 --> 00:03:04.939 got more into it or you met them and said, oh. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.400 I met them first and then started getting into 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:10.460 the Croatian culture and the country bit by bit. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:14.759 And so are they born in Croatia and moved to 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:16.819 Australia? Or are they like first gen? Yeah, 00:03:16.819 --> 00:03:19.620 they're all born here. Born there in Australia. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:21.759 And so I'm assuming they're pretty, you know, 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:24.599 big fans of Croatia, always talking about it. 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:28.639 Definitely. Definitely, yeah. In Australia, you 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:31.180 don't see too many countries and cultures that 00:03:31.180 --> 00:03:33.819 are sort of proud to represent. themselves especially 00:03:33.819 --> 00:03:37.039 in sydney so uh it's literally a small minority 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:39.580 and then seeing like such a small community like 00:03:39.580 --> 00:03:42.120 croatians and then being so proud to be you know 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:45.139 croatians um there was just nothing better to 00:03:45.139 --> 00:03:47.680 say than that and yeah that eventually just leached 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:50.300 onto me i guess uh -huh yeah it is we love to 00:03:50.300 --> 00:03:51.939 talk about how it's a small country especially 00:03:51.939 --> 00:03:53.819 when we do well you know in the world cup and 00:03:53.819 --> 00:03:55.860 stuff four million it's definitely yeah absolutely 00:03:55.860 --> 00:03:59.169 right now yeah and we're definitely proud of 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:01.069 you know being such a small country but still 00:04:01.069 --> 00:04:03.610 being able to produce you know athletes and you 00:04:03.610 --> 00:04:06.169 know thinkers and great people uh interesting 00:04:06.169 --> 00:04:08.229 tennis we we got some good tennis players too 00:04:08.229 --> 00:04:10.689 i mean chile just did good absolutely yeah chile 00:04:10.689 --> 00:04:13.189 chip i saw that you guys did chile recently so 00:04:13.189 --> 00:04:16.709 yeah yeah i had him on the podcast uh it was 00:04:16.709 --> 00:04:18.430 maybe like six months ago he's a really nice 00:04:18.430 --> 00:04:21.149 guy really good guy seems really down to earth 00:04:21.149 --> 00:04:24.069 um i want i just went i came back from croatia 00:04:24.069 --> 00:04:26.620 a few days ago and i wanted to you know go and 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:29.319 play tennis with him over there but i didn't 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:31.139 actually reach out because i didn't want to i 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:33.819 don't know who knows if he's even if he was over 00:04:33.819 --> 00:04:35.740 there he's training or playing in another tournament 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:38.699 somewhere right now but yeah he promised me at 00:04:38.699 --> 00:04:41.319 some point we'd play maybe back in my my grandparents 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:45.949 village oh really oh that's great yeah yeah wow 00:04:45.949 --> 00:04:48.930 so were you learning were you asking your friends 00:04:48.930 --> 00:04:51.610 to like teach you croatian or like teach you 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:53.370 about the culture and stuff or were you sort 00:04:53.370 --> 00:04:55.790 of yeah like i still i still remember in the 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:58.029 beginning um trying to learn the uh trying to 00:04:58.029 --> 00:05:00.050 learn the language and just bit by bit and i 00:05:00.050 --> 00:05:02.629 remember um i remember trying to learn the learn 00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:06.170 the word phala and in the beginning i asked my 00:05:06.170 --> 00:05:09.699 friend how was uh spelt and he goes hb A -L -A. 00:05:10.139 --> 00:05:13.339 So I pronounced it as Hvala. And then he kept 00:05:13.339 --> 00:05:16.259 telling me, no, it's not Hvala, it's Fala. I 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:18.579 couldn't get that F pronunciation. In the beginning, 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:20.680 I was so confused. And then, yeah, bit by bit, 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.560 it was just the pronunciations, you know, confusing 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:25.759 the hell out of me. But yeah, after I got over 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:28.160 that hump, then it was just learning about the 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:31.540 culture and like the Kola dancing and the Rakia, 00:05:31.579 --> 00:05:35.500 obviously. And yeah, bit by bit. Well, so are 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:37.959 you like... hanging out in the croatian community 00:05:37.959 --> 00:05:39.939 over there's a big you're in sydney right that's 00:05:39.939 --> 00:05:42.120 a big croatian community over there yeah yeah 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:44.899 very big gift so i've been with these guys probably 00:05:44.899 --> 00:05:49.500 for about um probably seven eight years now are 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:51.860 you going to like any do they have like a you 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:54.220 know croatian picnic or something over there 00:05:54.220 --> 00:05:57.360 that you ever go to or like the i know i'm sure 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.230 they've got croatian churches Yeah, they do the 00:06:00.230 --> 00:06:02.550 Croatian family gatherings. I've been to those 00:06:02.550 --> 00:06:05.470 and I've been to Croatian weddings and I've been 00:06:05.470 --> 00:06:07.829 to the Croatian soccer tourney in Australia as 00:06:07.829 --> 00:06:10.529 well. So I've been all around the Croatian people 00:06:10.529 --> 00:06:12.209 and the Croatian culture over the last couple 00:06:12.209 --> 00:06:14.949 of years. And to say the least, I think I'm blessed 00:06:14.949 --> 00:06:18.370 to be around these kind of people. Yeah, yeah. 00:06:18.430 --> 00:06:19.949 Well, that's awesome. I mean, I want to ask about 00:06:19.949 --> 00:06:22.740 learning Croatian because I'm also... I started 00:06:22.740 --> 00:06:25.879 learning maybe like four -ish years ago. I actually 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:28.860 moved out to Zagreb so I could learn it. I did 00:06:28.860 --> 00:06:31.480 a program out there. But it's tough as a native 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:33.439 English speaker, as someone who only speaks English, 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:35.579 it's a really tough language to learn. And I 00:06:35.579 --> 00:06:37.540 read somewhere that you're also, or I saw in 00:06:37.540 --> 00:06:39.060 the interview you did, that you're also fluent 00:06:39.060 --> 00:06:41.899 in Japanese, right? Yep. And so I wonder, like 00:06:41.899 --> 00:06:44.779 comparing and contrast, well, I was going to 00:06:44.779 --> 00:06:46.620 ask you to compare and contrast, but were you 00:06:46.620 --> 00:06:48.819 like, was Japanese your first language or like, 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:50.720 did you learn that as a young kid? kid or did 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:52.620 you have to actually like study that to learn 00:06:52.620 --> 00:06:56.240 that oh yeah japanese was my first language um 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.240 and then eventually it was it was english not 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:00.740 long not too long after that and japanese even 00:07:00.740 --> 00:07:03.980 for me as a native i still had to yeah study 00:07:03.980 --> 00:07:06.000 outside of school go to saturday school and practice 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.339 japanese every single week just to learn the 00:07:08.339 --> 00:07:11.819 language um but yeah with croatian i'm eventually 00:07:11.819 --> 00:07:13.839 i like to become fluent but you know just the 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:15.839 grammar difficulties i'm yeah finding a lot of 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:18.860 struggle so yeah just finding that yeah finding 00:07:18.860 --> 00:07:20.819 the right mentor to actually be able to speak 00:07:20.819 --> 00:07:23.160 the language and you know understand what i'm 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:25.300 actually saying not just learning the language 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:28.279 and using it in my head i'd actually like to 00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:29.980 use the language and speak to other people in 00:07:29.980 --> 00:07:32.990 croatian so yeah yeah that's the best part you 00:07:32.990 --> 00:07:34.930 know once of learning a language is being able 00:07:34.930 --> 00:07:36.949 to communicate with other people like that but 00:07:36.949 --> 00:07:39.430 yeah it's hard for me i'm sure japanese they 00:07:39.430 --> 00:07:41.430 say is hard for english speakers to learn as 00:07:41.430 --> 00:07:44.189 well but like for me here we learn spanish you 00:07:44.189 --> 00:07:46.589 know in school and like compared to spanish croatian 00:07:46.589 --> 00:07:49.910 is super hard spanish is really easy but i want 00:07:49.910 --> 00:07:52.209 i mean for you i wonder is it like tricky i mean 00:07:52.209 --> 00:07:54.730 all the slavic languages it's they're tough because 00:07:54.730 --> 00:07:57.399 you don't think like in the same way in english 00:07:57.399 --> 00:07:59.019 you know and then you have to change the end 00:07:59.019 --> 00:08:01.100 of a word in croatian even though in english 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:02.860 you would say in the beginning you know what 00:08:02.860 --> 00:08:07.920 i mean yeah maybe i guess in that sense you can 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.680 say the croatian it is a bit hard but for me 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:13.420 personally i find like the pronunciations and 00:08:13.420 --> 00:08:16.160 the accents it's a lot easier for me to learn 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:18.180 and understand compared to spanish for some reason 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.339 that's fair yeah definitely the the grammar point 00:08:22.339 --> 00:08:24.379 it is it is very difficult to get my head around 00:08:24.379 --> 00:08:26.680 as i think spanish and english it's very similar 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:28.540 you can just put the words as it is and form 00:08:28.540 --> 00:08:30.519 a sentence but yeah croatia like you mentioned 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:32.220 you have to sort of change the words around etc 00:08:32.220 --> 00:08:35.100 and japanese it's very similar in that sense 00:08:35.100 --> 00:08:36.980 as well which is why i found some similarities 00:08:36.980 --> 00:08:42.659 and yeah even a pronunciation it's uh yeah fairly 00:08:42.659 --> 00:08:46.200 similar fairly similar to japanese And how did 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:48.440 you start learning Croatian? Are you just asking 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:50.080 from your friends and they're teaching you? Or 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:51.460 were you doing something online? I started from 00:08:51.460 --> 00:08:54.320 the friends and then started listening to the 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:56.460 music and then just translating word by word. 00:08:56.679 --> 00:09:00.299 And then, yeah, just learning word by word from 00:09:00.299 --> 00:09:02.139 all these friends, just everyone coming up to 00:09:02.139 --> 00:09:05.399 me and teaching me new Croatian words. Are people 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:07.139 excited, you know, when they see you or they 00:09:07.139 --> 00:09:09.820 see how excited you are? These Croatian people, 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:11.980 they're so passionate. Like they say, you know, 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.159 they see like a Mala Kinezi, like speaking, you 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:16.419 know, Croatian and they just all get so passionate. 00:09:16.419 --> 00:09:18.360 They're coming up to me and teaching me Croatian 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:20.679 music and, you know, teaching me new Croatian 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:22.480 words or teaching me about Croatian history. 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:26.620 Yeah. Yeah. It's so awesome to see someone who's, 00:09:26.700 --> 00:09:29.240 you know, not a part of your culture being a 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:31.899 part of your culture, you know, someone that 00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:34.450 you're not used to seeing. That's awesome. Now, 00:09:34.470 --> 00:09:36.009 you mentioned the music and, you know, obviously 00:09:36.009 --> 00:09:39.610 you've got the Instagram. It's called Crow Samurai, 00:09:39.690 --> 00:09:41.889 right? At Crow Samurai. Crow Samurai, yeah. Give 00:09:41.889 --> 00:09:45.769 a shout out there. And so tell us about how you 00:09:45.769 --> 00:09:47.990 came up with that, what it is and sort of how 00:09:47.990 --> 00:09:52.009 you even thought to do that. So a couple of years 00:09:52.009 --> 00:09:54.250 ago, I actually had another Instagram account 00:09:54.250 --> 00:09:56.809 called Mr. Hrvatska. And that was a very similar 00:09:56.809 --> 00:09:58.610 account where I was just singing for fun and, 00:09:58.669 --> 00:10:01.929 you know, posting for fun as well. But that account, 00:10:02.009 --> 00:10:05.690 I never really took it seriously. And then maybe 00:10:05.690 --> 00:10:07.450 sometime this year, I just got to a point where 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:10.029 I said, look, I want to try and maybe do it again, 00:10:10.129 --> 00:10:12.429 Mr. Hrvatska, as I had a couple of people asking 00:10:12.429 --> 00:10:14.110 me on that account saying to bring the account 00:10:14.110 --> 00:10:16.690 back and maybe start singing Croatian songs again. 00:10:16.730 --> 00:10:20.190 So I thought maybe this year I'll just, you know, 00:10:20.210 --> 00:10:23.529 give it my all, see how it goes. and then yeah 00:10:23.529 --> 00:10:26.049 from the first video surprisingly it hit uh you 00:10:26.049 --> 00:10:29.090 know 700 000 views which was uh very unexpected 00:10:29.090 --> 00:10:32.389 so yeah i just ended up continuing yeah it was 00:10:32.389 --> 00:10:35.629 really crazy on the first video too yeah you 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:38.190 have to continue after that you know i mean i 00:10:38.190 --> 00:10:40.210 have to continue yeah i mean if the first video 00:10:40.210 --> 00:10:42.210 like i was i was honestly expecting like you 00:10:42.210 --> 00:10:44.350 know 5 000 views and if it got 5 000 i was just 00:10:44.350 --> 00:10:46.669 happy to take it easy and you know maybe day 00:10:46.669 --> 00:10:49.870 two whenever i feel like it but yeah started 00:10:49.870 --> 00:10:52.289 getting to like you know 250 000 and you know 00:10:52.289 --> 00:10:54.470 got to like 300 000 i was like oh this is getting 00:10:54.470 --> 00:10:56.429 a bit too crazy and then i had all these yeah 00:10:56.429 --> 00:10:59.350 people started reaching out to me and um it just 00:10:59.350 --> 00:11:01.129 got too crazy and then i think the second video 00:11:01.129 --> 00:11:05.190 got like over 500 000 views as well so it's just 00:11:05.190 --> 00:11:08.090 been unreal that's awesome yeah and you're about 00:11:08.090 --> 00:11:11.590 to be on day 20 video 20 of that so looking forward 00:11:11.590 --> 00:11:13.629 to see what that's going to be i'm sure you've 00:11:13.629 --> 00:11:15.450 been getting a lot of requests people requesting 00:11:15.450 --> 00:11:18.139 their favorite song for you to sing Definitely, 00:11:18.259 --> 00:11:21.980 yeah. It was just my way to show my passion for 00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:24.779 Croatian music, like something in a way to give 00:11:24.779 --> 00:11:26.600 back to the Croatian community and maybe show 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:28.840 the world of what the Croatian music is like 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:32.220 because I feel like if a non -Croatian person 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:35.840 can find all this joy and passion in Croatian 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:37.340 music, I feel like the rest of the world can 00:11:37.340 --> 00:11:41.200 somehow get influenced as well. hopefully i can 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:43.340 spread the croatian music and the positivity 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:45.379 of the croatian music to the rest of the world 00:11:45.379 --> 00:11:47.500 and hopefully get other people leeched on as 00:11:47.500 --> 00:11:49.799 well onto croatian music because honestly i think 00:11:49.799 --> 00:11:52.139 there's nothing better than listening to croatian 00:11:52.139 --> 00:11:54.960 music oh man yeah that's an awesome goal i i 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:57.440 respect that and that's i mean i'd love to help 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:00.379 as much as i can in that i love croatian music 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:02.940 as well what what are some of your favorite songs 00:12:02.940 --> 00:12:16.450 to listen to uh um there's there's too many and 00:12:16.450 --> 00:12:17.970 then you know you've got like the guru share 00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:21.169 nowadays and um all the fast ones so yeah you're 00:12:21.169 --> 00:12:24.250 listening to it just doesn't stop oh yeah i listen 00:12:24.250 --> 00:12:27.549 to everything they only know that one uh what's 00:12:27.549 --> 00:12:32.720 the conobar conobar conobar conobar man that's 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:34.840 that's hilarious i did not expect you to say 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:36.779 you're saying you know talking about oliver and 00:12:36.779 --> 00:12:40.179 you know all these dalmatian i listen to everything 00:12:40.179 --> 00:12:44.039 yeah like all um all artists like severina colonia 00:12:44.039 --> 00:12:47.279 you know everything marty bulich oliver thompson 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:52.419 yeah of course and then yeah that's awesome man 00:12:52.419 --> 00:12:54.980 i was just in um or no no i was just saying this 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:57.730 was maybe like two years ago, and I was in Zagreb. 00:12:58.129 --> 00:13:00.289 And they had like their Zagreb beer festival 00:13:00.289 --> 00:13:01.909 in the summer that they have every year, which 00:13:01.909 --> 00:13:03.429 is really cool. And that's one thing I like about 00:13:03.429 --> 00:13:05.710 Zagreb is they're always like having an event 00:13:05.710 --> 00:13:07.570 outside that people go to, you know, and they 00:13:07.570 --> 00:13:10.169 just hang out, drink or whatever. And they had, 00:13:10.169 --> 00:13:12.929 I think it was an ACDC tribute band that was 00:13:12.929 --> 00:13:15.149 going to play and a couple of like Croatian bands. 00:13:15.450 --> 00:13:18.529 And so I went for that. But before them, Grše 00:13:18.529 --> 00:13:21.490 was playing. And they wouldn't even let us into 00:13:21.490 --> 00:13:23.990 the park because it was filled with all these 00:13:23.990 --> 00:13:27.450 mostly like high school uh students because they 00:13:27.450 --> 00:13:29.250 love going to stay over there and so they wouldn't 00:13:29.250 --> 00:13:30.809 they were like at capacity and they wouldn't 00:13:30.809 --> 00:13:32.830 even let us in until they finished and then you 00:13:32.830 --> 00:13:34.809 know going to say finished and all these all 00:13:34.809 --> 00:13:36.649 these guys just walk out and they don't even 00:13:36.649 --> 00:13:38.450 want to stay for the other one so they've got 00:13:38.450 --> 00:13:43.649 some you know a lot of fans out there yeah i 00:13:43.649 --> 00:13:45.909 think that yeah music scenes are definitely changing 00:13:45.909 --> 00:13:50.409 over there yeah yeah becoming like a little more 00:13:50.409 --> 00:13:52.730 you know dance and edm focused which is good 00:13:53.769 --> 00:13:56.009 that's true yeah i mean myself i'm like a big 00:13:56.009 --> 00:13:58.250 rock and roll guy and i think that's one of the 00:13:58.250 --> 00:14:00.610 reasons as well why i like a lot of croatian 00:14:00.610 --> 00:14:03.269 music because it is like a lot of like 80s you 00:14:03.269 --> 00:14:07.299 know sounding 70s yeah yeah which i like and 00:14:07.299 --> 00:14:09.740 i love that everyone is singing i mean you go 00:14:09.740 --> 00:14:11.700 anywhere in croatia i'm sure you're seeing it 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:13.299 in the croatian community over there you know 00:14:13.299 --> 00:14:15.159 you put on the song and everyone's singing you 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:17.980 know at a concert everyone knows that's the best 00:14:17.980 --> 00:14:19.960 yeah you go to like a party and then you know 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:22.159 certain songs come on and everyone just gets 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:25.419 off their seats and they start singing it's crazy 00:14:25.419 --> 00:14:28.779 like you don't see you know anything else like 00:14:28.779 --> 00:14:30.740 it especially you know for me coming from a japanese 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:34.590 country and culture we don't really get together 00:14:34.590 --> 00:14:37.190 and all like you know sing together in a song 00:14:37.190 --> 00:14:39.710 but croatians like no matter what the song is 00:14:39.710 --> 00:14:41.889 like no matter what's in the hand like even if 00:14:41.889 --> 00:14:43.610 you've got a lucky or cigarette in the hand they'll 00:14:43.610 --> 00:14:45.750 they'll go out there to the middle of the grass 00:14:45.750 --> 00:14:49.250 and they'll start singing that's true man yeah 00:14:49.250 --> 00:14:51.610 that's awesome well so you haven't been yet to 00:14:51.610 --> 00:14:54.629 croatia right i know never yeah maybe sometime 00:14:54.629 --> 00:14:56.590 this year or next year i'd hopefully like to 00:14:56.590 --> 00:14:58.870 go there i travel for about two weeks just see 00:14:58.870 --> 00:15:00.750 the country and then yeah hopefully do like a 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:04.360 croatia tour maybe how long is the flight for 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:07.919 you eventually uh for me it's about i think just 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:12.620 under 25 hours i believe geez it's pretty far 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:15.259 that's crazy that's crazy that there's so many 00:15:15.259 --> 00:15:18.500 australian you know croatian immigrants there 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:21.600 in australia and they you know fly out geez 25 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.500 hours it's nuts i think there's about i think 00:15:24.500 --> 00:15:28.230 400 000 in australia i believe That's crazy. 00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:30.169 That's a lot. How many, what's the population 00:15:30.169 --> 00:15:35.350 of Australia? It's 23 million, I think. 23. Oh 00:15:35.350 --> 00:15:38.070 yeah. It's a pretty big sizable population then 00:15:38.070 --> 00:15:40.450 of Croatian people for sure. Yeah. They're crazy 00:15:40.450 --> 00:15:42.210 out there. That's from just from what I've seen 00:15:42.210 --> 00:15:45.090 on, you know, videos and stuff there, even here 00:15:45.090 --> 00:15:48.169 in the U S you know, we're not as, uh, I don't 00:15:48.169 --> 00:15:49.870 know. There's not as many of us, I feel like 00:15:49.870 --> 00:15:53.840 in the same. area as there is in australia at 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:56.360 least in la i know there's some you know chicago 00:15:56.360 --> 00:15:59.879 pittsburgh cleveland they got big you know centered 00:15:59.879 --> 00:16:02.500 populations of croatians there but in la it's 00:16:02.500 --> 00:16:04.679 kind of everyone's just kind of spread out a 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:08.539 little bit more you know uh -huh but we've got 00:16:08.539 --> 00:16:11.500 our croatian clubs in la as well yeah we've got 00:16:11.500 --> 00:16:15.179 uh we've got like two sort of separate areas 00:16:15.179 --> 00:16:17.659 one area called san pedro and that's kind of 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:19.919 all the dalmatiansi move there because it's right 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:21.600 by the coast it's funny how they kind of stayed 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:24.240 the same way in croatia as you know over here 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:27.000 and then more inland and like the downtown we 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.019 have our other croatian church and that's where 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:32.559 most of the herzogovci live and go to so yeah 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:34.919 it's kind of funny how they still kind of stayed 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:37.940 geographically but yeah we've got a we've got 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:39.960 a pretty decent population down here but just 00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:42.870 la is so big you know that everyone is so spread 00:16:42.870 --> 00:16:44.929 out just as far as like where they live and stuff 00:16:44.929 --> 00:16:49.090 yeah but sydney i imagine is it kind of the same 00:16:49.090 --> 00:16:51.129 for you guys or do you feel like a lot of people 00:16:51.129 --> 00:16:53.549 are sort of like concentrated in a small area 00:16:53.549 --> 00:16:57.370 or what um yeah over here i think a lot of a 00:16:57.370 --> 00:16:59.789 lot of people are more concentrated on the smaller 00:16:59.789 --> 00:17:03.309 areas and a bit more inland compared to living 00:17:03.309 --> 00:17:05.470 by the water as yeah living by the water it's 00:17:05.470 --> 00:17:08.009 fairly expensive in sydney so it's very very 00:17:08.009 --> 00:17:11.890 ridiculous Yeah, I can imagine. You mentioned 00:17:11.890 --> 00:17:16.029 tennis. Are you following any other Croatian 00:17:16.029 --> 00:17:17.930 sports? I'm sure soccer. You mentioned 2018, 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:21.549 the World Cup. Yeah, soccer and a bit of the 00:17:21.549 --> 00:17:25.269 basketball as well. Yeah, well, here in LA, we've 00:17:25.269 --> 00:17:29.089 got Ivica Zubac on the Clippers. Man, he had 00:17:29.089 --> 00:17:31.410 a great season, best season he's had so far. 00:17:31.730 --> 00:17:34.589 He had a really good season. I think Bojanovic 00:17:34.589 --> 00:17:38.380 just retired also. I saw that, yeah. Man, he 00:17:38.380 --> 00:17:41.400 was such a good player for so long for us. He 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:44.440 was a great three -point shooter. Yeah. I really 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:46.799 hope some of the young guys are going to have 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:49.619 to step it up. And there's some good young guys. 00:17:49.779 --> 00:17:51.960 There's Carlo Matkovic. I don't know if you've 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:55.660 heard of him. He's on New Orleans. I believe 00:17:55.660 --> 00:17:58.119 it was his rookie year this past year. And he 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:00.400 started balling out as they started giving him 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:03.990 more minutes midway through the season. So I 00:18:03.990 --> 00:18:05.430 think we've got a bright future because, I mean, 00:18:05.450 --> 00:18:08.349 back in the 90s, they were such a great team, 00:18:08.470 --> 00:18:10.849 you know, Croatia and so many good Croatian basketball 00:18:10.849 --> 00:18:13.509 players. And then lately, like last, I don't 00:18:13.509 --> 00:18:16.349 even know how many years, but in recent years, 00:18:16.589 --> 00:18:18.710 their national team, it's kind of, you know, 00:18:18.710 --> 00:18:21.029 they haven't had as much success, even though 00:18:21.029 --> 00:18:23.029 they're still producing some really good players, 00:18:23.150 --> 00:18:25.410 you know. So I'm hoping the national team can 00:18:25.410 --> 00:18:27.309 start to pick it up soon and some of the young 00:18:27.309 --> 00:18:33.710 guys, you know, start to produce. we'll manage 00:18:33.710 --> 00:18:37.470 to find a way i'm sure yeah i'm sure you guys 00:18:37.470 --> 00:18:42.829 always find a way so what uh i'm sure i mean 00:18:42.829 --> 00:18:44.309 you mentioned you've been to a bunch of family 00:18:44.309 --> 00:18:46.809 you know parties and croatian you know gatherings 00:18:46.809 --> 00:18:48.589 and stuff what kind of food are you enjoying 00:18:48.589 --> 00:18:52.650 over there croatian food croatian food i'd have 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:58.619 to say really interesting oh yeah i love it Of 00:18:58.619 --> 00:19:00.339 course, yeah, yeah. I was expecting you to say 00:19:00.339 --> 00:19:06.640 Javapi for sure. Yeah, Sarma, that's a good winter 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:08.880 dish. I feel like they don't have it too much 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:12.099 when it's hot out. They won't have that when 00:19:12.099 --> 00:19:14.720 it's hot, but then they'll still have soup for 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:18.119 dinner when it's hot. That's the thing that I 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:20.460 don't, as an American, I'm born and raised in 00:19:20.460 --> 00:19:22.579 the U .S., that's still something I can't really. 00:19:23.099 --> 00:19:25.660 get used to just when my baba has you know a 00:19:25.660 --> 00:19:28.420 hot soup and it's july you know which is summer 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:31.720 for us over here 100 degrees out and 35 celsius 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:34.220 or whatever and then it's soup a hot soup for 00:19:34.220 --> 00:19:38.359 dinner i'm like what oh man it was interesting 00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:40.819 because um you know as a as a japanese when i 00:19:40.819 --> 00:19:42.980 heard there was a there's a croatian meal with 00:19:42.980 --> 00:19:45.200 rice in it i was like you know i have to try 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.339 it so i tried start of mine and uh i can't explain 00:19:48.339 --> 00:19:50.579 the flavor it was just this explosiveness of 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:54.599 like flavor in my mouth it's just something i've 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:56.380 never experienced before and uh you know the 00:19:56.380 --> 00:19:58.519 fact that rice was in there oh i just fell in 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:01.220 love with it straight away that's it yeah i didn't 00:20:01.220 --> 00:20:03.279 put that together about rice that yeah i'm sure 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:04.980 it's a different flavor than you know japanese 00:20:04.980 --> 00:20:08.799 rice dishes for sure yeah what about like other 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:11.359 what about like seafood dishes i don't know if 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:14.619 you've had any like um black risotto or anything 00:20:14.619 --> 00:20:19.079 seafood dishes no not yet That'd be interesting 00:20:19.079 --> 00:20:21.019 to compare because I know, you know, Japan has 00:20:21.019 --> 00:20:23.900 a lot of good seafood. Have you been over there 00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:26.980 to Japan? Japan? Yes, I've been there about 10 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:29.480 times. So yeah, looking looking to do something 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:31.940 different. For one sense why I want to go to 00:20:31.940 --> 00:20:34.799 Croatia. Yeah, every every year, every two years, 00:20:34.819 --> 00:20:36.759 I'll go to Japan for a holiday. And you know, 00:20:36.779 --> 00:20:38.740 during the summer holidays, I've got all my Croatian 00:20:38.740 --> 00:20:41.259 people going to Croatia. But during the winter 00:20:41.259 --> 00:20:43.680 period, that's when I would go to Japan. So okay, 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:47.990 that makes sense. Yeah, man. Next year. You've 00:20:47.990 --> 00:20:49.789 got to make it out there next year. I'm sure 00:20:49.789 --> 00:20:51.990 you're going to get recognized on the street. 00:20:52.789 --> 00:20:55.569 I'm going to make my goal. Yeah, that'd be awesome. 00:20:55.630 --> 00:20:59.230 I'd love to go to the World Cup, hopefully. Yeah, 00:20:59.329 --> 00:21:01.369 that'll be cool. They're going to have some here 00:21:01.369 --> 00:21:04.250 in LA, so I'll be able, hopefully Croatia. You 00:21:04.250 --> 00:21:08.329 must be looking forward to it. Yeah, we've got 00:21:08.329 --> 00:21:10.509 the Olympics and the World Cup coming here to 00:21:10.509 --> 00:21:13.670 LA. I'm hoping for a lot of Croatian, you know, 00:21:13.670 --> 00:21:15.509 events and stuff, but for the world cup, they 00:21:15.509 --> 00:21:17.009 don't know yet, you know, in what city they're 00:21:17.009 --> 00:21:20.049 going to be playing, but hopefully, you know, 00:21:20.069 --> 00:21:22.049 they will come to LA so I can see them. But yeah, 00:21:22.109 --> 00:21:24.029 I mean, the Croatian soccer team, they're looking 00:21:24.029 --> 00:21:25.910 really good. There was a period there that it 00:21:25.910 --> 00:21:27.890 looked like they were slowing down, but now the 00:21:27.890 --> 00:21:31.990 young guys are stepping up. Yeah. Not so young 00:21:31.990 --> 00:21:35.529 guys been killing it lately. Yeah. They've got, 00:21:35.549 --> 00:21:38.150 they've got some, I'm really excited for, for 00:21:38.150 --> 00:21:39.829 what's to come from them. And I know everyone, 00:21:39.869 --> 00:21:42.470 you know, with Modric sort of, nearing retirement 00:21:42.470 --> 00:21:44.849 and the other guys getting old kind of seemed 00:21:44.849 --> 00:21:47.750 like the golden years were going to end but you 00:21:47.750 --> 00:21:49.230 know i think we're still in a really good spot 00:21:49.230 --> 00:21:52.029 right now yeah i think it's great because well 00:21:52.029 --> 00:21:54.390 i mean now that modulich is uh departing i think 00:21:54.390 --> 00:21:56.089 you know other players should definitely step 00:21:56.089 --> 00:21:59.710 it up now in honor of him and obviously croatia 00:21:59.710 --> 00:22:01.589 you can never count them down so we'll see what 00:22:01.589 --> 00:22:05.500 they can do in the walk Absolutely. Yeah. Well, 00:22:05.579 --> 00:22:07.059 we're coming down here to the end of the podcast. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:09.920 I, you know, I want to thank you for coming on 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:11.779 here. You know, you plugged your Instagram at 00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:14.119 Crow Samurai. Everyone check that out if you 00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:17.420 haven't yet. Anything else, you know, that you 00:22:17.420 --> 00:22:21.099 sort of want to say or, you know, talk about? 00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:27.299 No, like for me personally, like what made you 00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:30.609 start the podcast as well? That's a good question. 00:22:31.029 --> 00:22:34.849 I believe you probably have only the few podcast 00:22:34.849 --> 00:22:37.950 channels in America, I believe. Yeah, there's 00:22:37.950 --> 00:22:41.230 not too many. There's one in New York that there's 00:22:41.230 --> 00:22:43.809 a couple around the world. There's a couple that 00:22:43.809 --> 00:22:46.329 do it in Croatian, too, or like the radio programs, 00:22:46.509 --> 00:22:48.490 you know, that one that you were on a part of. 00:22:48.509 --> 00:22:53.690 What was that one called? Okay, that's over there 00:22:53.690 --> 00:22:57.430 in Sydney, right? okay yeah and then yeah there's 00:22:57.430 --> 00:23:01.490 a couple i think pods room pods room tv but yeah 00:23:01.490 --> 00:23:05.490 they're based in australia as well okay good 00:23:05.490 --> 00:23:08.950 yeah there's when i started this was like four 00:23:08.950 --> 00:23:11.509 ish four or five four and a half four years ago 00:23:11.509 --> 00:23:14.009 maybe and then yeah there was like wasn't much 00:23:14.009 --> 00:23:16.430 out there or at least stuff that i could find 00:23:16.430 --> 00:23:18.089 i'm sure there was some local you know like radio 00:23:18.089 --> 00:23:20.549 stations but just nothing that would pop up you 00:23:20.549 --> 00:23:22.829 know online for me that was like easily clickable 00:23:22.829 --> 00:23:25.750 and stuff and you know in english because i didn't 00:23:25.750 --> 00:23:29.329 know any croatian back then um and then i moved 00:23:29.329 --> 00:23:31.490 out to croatia you know i was doing this language 00:23:31.490 --> 00:23:34.049 program to learn it and i was working with a 00:23:34.049 --> 00:23:36.930 magazine called croatia week and they put a lot 00:23:36.930 --> 00:23:39.250 of good stuff all this in english but it's news 00:23:39.250 --> 00:23:42.710 about croatia and um i was working with the guy 00:23:42.710 --> 00:23:46.210 paul great guy and you know helped write some 00:23:46.210 --> 00:23:48.130 articles and stuff and you know got to a point 00:23:48.130 --> 00:23:50.849 where i was like what else you know can i can 00:23:50.849 --> 00:23:54.200 i do to like be more involved in Croatian culture 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:56.980 and, you know, kind of spread and share what 00:23:56.980 --> 00:23:59.380 I'm doing over here, you know, to people back 00:23:59.380 --> 00:24:02.000 home or other people in the diaspora who don't 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.700 speak Croatian. And so that's kind of when I 00:24:04.700 --> 00:24:07.839 got the idea for the podcast and I started it. 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:10.119 I got some cool interviews sort of right off 00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:13.940 the bat who were some of the early ones. I had 00:24:13.940 --> 00:24:17.480 like Dino Raja, who's, you know, great basketball, 00:24:17.799 --> 00:24:20.839 Andrew Bogut. also which a lot of people yeah 00:24:20.839 --> 00:24:22.299 i remember you yeah so you did that yeah but 00:24:22.299 --> 00:24:24.460 good yeah yeah yeah oh yeah he's australian too 00:24:24.460 --> 00:24:26.740 i'm sure australian yeah australian player yeah 00:24:26.740 --> 00:24:29.599 he's like a really cool guy and i felt like a 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:31.160 lot of people didn't even know you know that 00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:34.420 he was croatian because i mean he's born in australia 00:24:34.420 --> 00:24:37.140 but you know he's also very proud croatian roots 00:24:37.140 --> 00:24:39.660 his parents from there he's been back there i 00:24:39.660 --> 00:24:41.920 think he was telling me he was did he have a 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:43.880 house or he was planning on buying a house somewhere 00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:46.579 up by the coast so yeah so i wanted to just interview 00:24:47.230 --> 00:24:49.710 both people who are you know in living in croatia 00:24:49.710 --> 00:24:51.809 and everyone knows or people that maybe they 00:24:51.809 --> 00:24:53.750 don't know you know have croatian roots and are 00:24:53.750 --> 00:24:56.150 doing pretty cool things around the world and 00:24:56.150 --> 00:24:58.609 that's sort of how i i got that idea and started 00:24:58.609 --> 00:25:01.670 that and i mean yeah you also you also did i 00:25:01.670 --> 00:25:06.210 think caitlyn clark no so that you're talking 00:25:06.210 --> 00:25:09.569 about the instagram uh video yeah yeah yeah no 00:25:09.569 --> 00:25:14.119 that one was on um Travis Kelsey and Jason Kelsey's 00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:16.660 podcast the two you know football player American 00:25:16.660 --> 00:25:20.339 football players and I someone messaged me like 00:25:20.339 --> 00:25:22.420 the day that that came out saying hey like Caitlin 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:24.920 Clark was just talking about uh Croatia like 00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:27.059 you got to check this out and so I found so she 00:25:27.059 --> 00:25:29.619 was on their podcast and I found that and I clipped 00:25:29.619 --> 00:25:32.259 it and I posted it and then I tagged her in it 00:25:32.259 --> 00:25:34.980 and I said you know comment you know let's try 00:25:34.980 --> 00:25:36.700 and get her on the all things croatia podcast 00:25:36.700 --> 00:25:39.380 or whatever because uh it was actually the kelsey 00:25:39.380 --> 00:25:41.839 brothers in that one talked about how they were 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:46.420 uh croatian that they found out that like great 00:25:46.420 --> 00:25:48.559 grandparents or something so i was trying to 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:50.880 get them on by releasing that clip but you know 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:52.640 it's hard it's hard to reach out on instagram 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:54.920 to these famous people who get you know thousands 00:25:54.920 --> 00:25:58.000 of messages and but yeah that was a cool and 00:25:58.000 --> 00:25:59.980 that one blew up you know because kate mclark 00:25:59.980 --> 00:26:01.859 and especially at that point she was like huge 00:26:01.859 --> 00:26:04.319 and still is and so yeah everyone to see that 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:07.319 was like whoa that's awesome so what she's called 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:11.380 croatian roots as well she no she does not but 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:14.460 she was saying that her college team her senior 00:26:14.460 --> 00:26:17.400 year went and played like a tournament in croatia 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:19.440 and italy and a couple other countries and there 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.660 she said that croatia was her favorite place 00:26:21.660 --> 00:26:24.599 that they got to see as part of that and she 00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:26.349 was you know, saying nothing but good things 00:26:26.349 --> 00:26:28.569 about the food there and the people. And so, 00:26:28.589 --> 00:26:30.930 yeah, people really love to see, you know, that 00:26:30.930 --> 00:26:33.130 Croatia was in the spotlight with this famous 00:26:33.130 --> 00:26:36.609 person who has no idea, you know, about Croatia 00:26:36.609 --> 00:26:38.589 or anything and then goes there and just falls 00:26:38.589 --> 00:26:41.329 in love with it. Yeah. You know, it's funny because 00:26:41.329 --> 00:26:43.049 I think I saw your recent interview in America 00:26:43.049 --> 00:26:46.650 where you interviewed people in America asking 00:26:46.650 --> 00:26:48.829 them if they know Croatia. And a lot of people 00:26:48.829 --> 00:26:51.750 didn't know, you know, what Croatia was. Yeah. 00:26:52.109 --> 00:26:55.130 From America, especially to... go there and actually 00:26:55.130 --> 00:26:57.250 love the country that must be a good feeling 00:26:57.250 --> 00:26:59.529 for you guys definitely yeah yeah and i know 00:26:59.529 --> 00:27:02.190 that's the the stereotype about americans but 00:27:02.190 --> 00:27:03.849 it really if i mean from doing those interviews 00:27:03.849 --> 00:27:06.789 it's true i mean i did i brought out a huge map 00:27:06.789 --> 00:27:08.549 i don't know if you saw that video and i asked 00:27:08.549 --> 00:27:10.930 people to like point as a point on this map or 00:27:10.930 --> 00:27:13.450 draw with a little sharpie where's croatia and 00:27:13.450 --> 00:27:15.190 they're looking at it and a lot of people just 00:27:15.190 --> 00:27:17.789 have no idea most people would put it somewhere 00:27:17.789 --> 00:27:20.069 around europe some people were thinking asian 00:27:20.069 --> 00:27:23.710 you know croatia asia one girl just put it like 00:27:23.710 --> 00:27:27.349 in south africa and she's like maybe right here 00:27:27.349 --> 00:27:30.190 it's like not pretty far away from there but 00:27:30.190 --> 00:27:32.990 you know it's just crazy that some people like 00:27:32.990 --> 00:27:35.769 that probably never even have heard of croatia 00:27:35.769 --> 00:27:38.910 yeah like if you just said the word croatia to 00:27:38.910 --> 00:27:40.609 them they wouldn't automatically think like oh 00:27:40.609 --> 00:27:43.230 a country like they would just say what maybe 00:27:43.230 --> 00:27:47.460 that's it's like a country or something Our geography 00:27:47.460 --> 00:27:52.859 knowledge over here is not the best. Even some 00:27:52.859 --> 00:27:56.180 people back home in Japan, I've asked a few people 00:27:56.180 --> 00:27:59.119 if they know where Croatia is or if they know 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:01.660 what Croatia is. A lot of people said they didn't 00:28:01.660 --> 00:28:05.200 know. For me, if I can somehow get myself into 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:07.480 the Japanese market as well and promote Croatia 00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:09.539 to the Japanese market, that would be a good 00:28:09.539 --> 00:28:11.279 goal to have as well. That would be awesome. 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:15.390 I know we played them. what was this last world 00:28:15.390 --> 00:28:19.990 cup yeah that was cool and now i remember there 00:28:19.990 --> 00:28:22.210 was a big story that at the end even after the 00:28:22.210 --> 00:28:24.130 loss like all the japanese fans were cleaning 00:28:24.130 --> 00:28:26.690 up and they picked up all their trash and like 00:28:26.690 --> 00:28:28.710 that was that was cool to see that you know how 00:28:28.710 --> 00:28:31.450 just polite and respectful you know cleaning 00:28:31.450 --> 00:28:33.809 up which is something you take for granted i 00:28:33.809 --> 00:28:36.029 guess because i think that that happened on my 00:28:36.029 --> 00:28:38.009 birthday or that happened on the day after my 00:28:38.009 --> 00:28:39.809 birthday so all the croatians here were like 00:28:39.809 --> 00:28:41.589 to me oh you know this is the best birthday gift 00:28:41.589 --> 00:28:44.079 you're gonna get It was like, yeah, Croatia versus 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:45.920 Japan in the, you know, first round of the world 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:51.420 cup. So yeah. Oh man, that's awesome. Well, that's 00:28:51.420 --> 00:28:53.720 all the time we have for today. This has been 00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:55.220 a super fun episode. It's been awesome getting 00:28:55.220 --> 00:28:57.299 to know you. I'm excited to see, you know, what's, 00:28:57.299 --> 00:28:59.119 what's going to become of the account in the 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:01.700 probably short term next couple of weeks. I'm 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:03.319 sure it's going to just keep going. You're at 00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:06.000 20 something thousand followers right now. It's 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.279 cool to see how people around the world are reacting 00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:10.740 to you and they're excited. And I'm going to 00:29:10.740 --> 00:29:13.299 give you a last question. which i give to everyone 00:29:13.299 --> 00:29:15.980 but it's you know what's your what's your favorite 00:29:15.980 --> 00:29:19.359 thing about croatia or croatian people or you 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:22.980 know anything croatian related oh that was good 00:29:22.980 --> 00:29:25.019 i thought you were gonna ask me if i like a dinner 00:29:25.019 --> 00:29:28.599 more split i have a feeling that uh i already 00:29:28.599 --> 00:29:33.660 know the answer um well what i like about croatian 00:29:33.660 --> 00:29:38.319 croatians um it's probably the Well, first of 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:41.720 all, with the Croatians is how they welcomed 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:45.440 me with open arms for an outsider like me. They 00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:50.180 welcomed me with open arms. And after that, it's 00:29:50.180 --> 00:29:53.180 probably just the family first culture. No matter 00:29:53.180 --> 00:29:56.740 what it is, being around these people, they influenced 00:29:56.740 --> 00:30:00.380 me to become a family first person. Now, this 00:30:00.380 --> 00:30:03.279 might be weird to say, but in the Japanese culture, 00:30:03.420 --> 00:30:05.859 we tend to look at work first and then family 00:30:05.859 --> 00:30:08.500 comes second. But with the Croatian culture, 00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:10.579 it was no matter what it is, what the situation 00:30:10.579 --> 00:30:13.059 is, it's always family first and then everything 00:30:13.059 --> 00:30:16.559 else comes second. So for these people, when 00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:18.339 I was always around them and they were always 00:30:18.339 --> 00:30:19.839 talking about their family, they were always 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:21.700 talking about introducing their brothers or cousins 00:30:21.700 --> 00:30:24.859 to me, that influenced me a lot into becoming 00:30:24.859 --> 00:30:28.079 a family first person. So that was probably the 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:31.720 biggest, yeah, biggest like inspiring thing for 00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:35.019 me. the Croatian it's just the family first culture 00:30:35.019 --> 00:30:36.700 and probably the singing culture as well how 00:30:36.700 --> 00:30:39.500 everyone gets together in parties in Festa everyone 00:30:39.500 --> 00:30:42.039 gets together and just sings that was probably 00:30:42.039 --> 00:30:44.960 my favorite part awesome a great answer yeah 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:46.480 I would say those are probably my favorite things 00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:48.700 too about you know Croatian culture and yeah 00:30:48.700 --> 00:30:50.279 I was just telling someone I think yesterday 00:30:50.279 --> 00:30:53.940 about like how when you ask like here in the 00:30:53.940 --> 00:30:55.380 U .S. you'll ask someone if you meet someone 00:30:55.380 --> 00:30:57.319 for the first time like probably the first one 00:30:57.319 --> 00:30:58.799 of the first questions is like what do you do 00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:00.779 and then you know they start talking about your 00:31:00.779 --> 00:31:03.660 job but like croatians i feel like that doesn't 00:31:03.660 --> 00:31:05.660 come up right away and when you ask about someone 00:31:05.660 --> 00:31:09.000 it's not just here's what i do for work 100 yeah 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:12.900 yeah yeah definitely um i said on the radio last 00:31:12.900 --> 00:31:15.839 time but you know i said my my best friend tommy 00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:17.559 when he introduced me to the first couple of 00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:19.640 people it was um i remember the names clearly 00:31:19.640 --> 00:31:24.109 was auntie another auntie mark marco And then 00:31:24.109 --> 00:31:25.829 that was the first four or five people maybe. 00:31:25.930 --> 00:31:27.930 And then after that, I met a couple of maybe 00:31:27.930 --> 00:31:30.690 10 more aunties, 10 more Yossips, 10 more Marcos, 00:31:30.869 --> 00:31:34.450 10 more Lucas. And then they all come to me and 00:31:34.450 --> 00:31:35.930 they want to introduce their cousins to me. And 00:31:35.930 --> 00:31:37.750 then their cousins and brother's name is also 00:31:37.750 --> 00:31:41.950 auntie, Luca or Yossip or Marcos. I had a big 00:31:41.950 --> 00:31:43.450 trouble in the beginning trying to learn these 00:31:43.450 --> 00:31:45.789 names. It was so difficult. Oh, man, I still 00:31:45.789 --> 00:31:48.049 have that. I've got so much family that you say 00:31:48.049 --> 00:31:50.150 the first name and it could be, you know. five 00:31:50.150 --> 00:31:54.349 different people on both sides. Yeah. Croatians 00:31:54.349 --> 00:31:55.809 are not very, you know, they're like, well, me, 00:31:55.890 --> 00:31:57.930 my family, me, my mom, me, my dad, you know, 00:31:57.950 --> 00:32:00.130 me, my brother, me, my cousin. And, uh, it was 00:32:00.130 --> 00:32:02.329 just so welcoming and, uh, you know, warm warming 00:32:02.329 --> 00:32:04.769 as well. So that was just something I've never 00:32:04.769 --> 00:32:07.289 experienced before in my life. So hence why I 00:32:07.289 --> 00:32:10.410 think it leached onto me quite early. I love 00:32:10.410 --> 00:32:12.069 that. That's a great answer. Well, that's a gross 00:32:12.069 --> 00:32:14.849 samurai. Thank you so much for coming out here. 00:32:14.990 --> 00:32:16.990 All things Croatia podcast. It's been a great 00:32:16.990 --> 00:32:20.170 episode to, you know, have you on and, see what 00:32:20.170 --> 00:32:23.109 you know about Croatian culture and see how excited 00:32:23.109 --> 00:32:24.849 you are to share that, you know, with everyone 00:32:24.849 --> 00:32:27.670 else. So, you know, on behalf of everyone, I 00:32:27.670 --> 00:32:29.549 want to say thank you. And it's really cool what 00:32:29.549 --> 00:32:32.519 you're doing. Oh, thank you. Thank you from myself 00:32:32.519 --> 00:32:34.180 as well, Stanko. It's actually a full circle 00:32:34.180 --> 00:32:36.500 moment. I think I actually asked you three years 00:32:36.500 --> 00:32:38.819 ago on my Mr. Hrubatsky account if I can come 00:32:38.819 --> 00:32:40.579 on your podcast maybe in a couple of years once 00:32:40.579 --> 00:32:42.619 I have a few more followers. No way, really? 00:32:43.299 --> 00:32:45.539 Yeah, yeah. If you have a look on the messages, 00:32:45.700 --> 00:32:48.079 I actually sent you a message a couple of years 00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:50.579 ago when I had my Mr. Hrubatsky account in. I 00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:52.799 think back then you were still climbing as well 00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:55.660 and I was able to finally come on your podcast. 00:32:56.570 --> 00:32:58.150 Wow. I'm going to have to scroll up and look 00:32:58.150 --> 00:33:00.309 at that. Yeah, that's awesome. Full circle. Full 00:33:00.309 --> 00:33:03.490 circle moment. Awesome. Well, thank you for coming 00:33:03.490 --> 00:33:08.349 on the All Things Croatia podcast. Have a good 00:33:08.349 --> 00:33:08.490 one.