Huh?
Shut up, I'm listening to Zdenek's English Podcast.
You're listening to Zdenek's English Podcast...
... a podcast for English learners at B1, B2 and C1 levels.
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen listeners of Zdenek's English podcast.
Welcome to another episode.
I have got about 10 minutes to spare because I'm waiting for my pizza.
That's right I've ordered a pizza because I'm lazy.
I don't want to cook for myself today and so right now I have nothing to do basically
I'm walking in front of a Tesco.
That's where there is a kebab place, a kebab house.
It's called K&K.
It's a Tesco in Podiebrady and they have a nice kebab stall here just outside the Tesco
and they make wonderful pizza there.
Really really good quality pizza.
So I've just paid for my pizza and now I'm waiting for it to be finished.
And when it is obviously I'm gonna eat it because that's what you do with a pizza.
But anyway you're probably wondering Zdenek why on earth did you start this episode like
this?
Well that's because I want to record an introduction to this one.
So this introduction might be slightly longer than my usual introductions and that's because
I've got a few things to say.
You know there's so many things I could talk to you about regarding my summer as you know
I came back from Vietnam to spend my summer in the Czech Republic.
I actually kind of prolonged this summer.
It's no longer summer I would say.
It's almost the end of October and I'm still here.
But it's getting colder.
Winter is coming.
You know which TV series I'm referring to don't you?
Yes that's right The Game of Thrones.
Winter is coming it's true and I'm getting colder.
I also keep getting sick so I think it's about time I went back to Vietnam.
I've already booked my plane tickets so it's gonna happen soon and I will be out of here
and back to Asia back to Vietnam.
But there's so much I could tell you about regarding my summer.
And one of the highlights was Irena visiting me here in the Czech Republic which happened
about four months ago.
And we also recorded a podcast together.
It's a bit random because we recorded it in the morning and it was very unprepared.
You know I like to do these improvised interviews.
You guys know me.
If you have been a long-term listener you know how I do things here.
And so I decided to call it random bollocks because it's kind of random.
So we talk about birds, language learning and some other stuff.
I think it's pretty interesting.
So I think you might like this episode.
And as you know Irena is from Poland and coincidentally four days ago I went to Poland.
That's right.
Why?
Why did I go to Poland?
And why Wroclaw again?
You may remember a while back I recorded an episode with another listener from Poland
who at the time was also doing her podcast.
What was her name?
Nina.
Nina was her name.
Right?
Nina if you're listening then hi.
Yes I was back in Wroclaw.
And you know it because I actually sent you a message from the bus.
But anyway I went back to Wroclaw this time not to visit Nina but because I had been invited
by a listener of Zdenek's English podcast to see the Ukraine-Czechia game, a football
game which was taking place in Wroclaw.
Why was it taking place in Wroclaw?
Well because Ukraine is at war as you know and that's why this country cannot play its
games on its home soil which is a shame really because everybody wants to play home games
in their own country right?
But it is what it is.
So this game it's a Nations League game if you understand football.
There's a competition called Nations League and Ukraine played this home match against
the Czech Republic in Wroclaw which is not too far as you know from my country.
It's actually in the south of Poland kind of.
So you know of course I accepted this listener's offer.
His name is Kirill.
He's from Ukraine originally but he's got Polish roots as well and he's been living
in Poland for almost eight years.
And as he tells me himself he feels more Polish than Ukrainian.
You know he has a Polish citizenship so you can imagine it's one of those people with
a split identity I would say or something like that right?
Anyway I was expecting Kirill to support the Ukrainian team because he is from Ukraine
right but for the reasons I've just told you he actually did not.
He actually supported my team.
We went to the Czech Ultras sector together to watch the game live and he wasn't supporting
Ukraine.
He didn't have a Ukrainian flag none of that.
And I was wondering why I was wondering why.
And Kirill basically told me that first of all he doesn't feel that Ukrainian.
He feels more Polish but also he told me something that kind of made me look at things from different
perspective.
He said that he thinks that the Ukrainian supporters those that were waving flag in
the stadium those Ukrainian fans that went into the Wroclaw stadium he thinks that they
are hypocrites basically.
Now I know this may sound like a strong opinion but basically then he gave me his arguments
and it really made sense to me.
Basically what he's saying is that they should not be there waving the flag and shouting
military and political slogans because that's what they were doing there.
They were shouting military and political slogans during the game.
Basically what he's saying is that these fans are hypocrites because the soldiers now are
lying in the ground and fighting for Ukraine and they are laughing at all these patriots
so-called patriots who are in Poland and they may have even escaped their country.
And he says Kirill that it happens a lot because the borders are closed.
The situation in Ukraine is really difficult and no man unless he has three children or
is disabled cannot or is not allowed to leave Ukraine.
So apparently if you have three children or are disabled you can leave Ukraine.
Otherwise you have to stay there and I suppose you have some of you some of them of course
have to fight.
I don't know how they recruit the soldiers but I guess you know when you're in war it's
just really tough right.
The state has to take measures like that.
So basically what Kirill says is that a lot of those fans in the stadium they were really
men like most of them were men healthy men often young men in their 20s in their 30s
and they were shouting political slogans but they are the people who avoided fighting right
for their own country.
They avoided defending their own country from Putin basically.
And he also said that they escaped from the country through rivers and mountains and many
of them even died in the icy water of the Titsa river.
And also Kirill says that the country's population has halved and there are not enough men to
complete the brigades.
So basically he could not support Ukraine even if he is kind of Ukrainian he could not
right.
And he thinks that all these fans are really hypocrites.
I guess the women who escaped with children I guess they are fine but the men they shouldn't
be like singing these military songs because what do the soldiers think of them right now
those that are fighting and dying for their country right.
It kind of makes sense right doesn't it.
Anyway I wanted to tell you this because it really kind of opened my eyes and it gave me
a new angle.
Actually you know my opinions on this war.
One hundred percent Putin is the aggressor.
His country is the one that attacked a democratic country Ukraine an independent country.
Ukraine wasn't part of Russia and it just made absolutely no sense even the explanation
that Putin gave that he was going after fascists.
It's just fascism I think Putin should read history because fascism is something else
in my opinion right.
Anyway this war has been really horrible a lot of people have died in it and for me you
know of course I come from the Western world and for me it's pretty clear who the perpetrator
who the aggressor of this conflict is and I will one hundred percent be behind Ukrainians.
But nevertheless it's nice to hear from someone from actually from Ukraine giving me this
unique perspective on this this conflict right through through the lens of football.
So yeah one more thing if you guys want we actually recorded an episode of the Footgrish
podcast which is my other podcast in case you didn't know I have another podcast the
Footgrish podcast which is a podcast for English learners about football.
You can get it wherever you get your podcast Apple podcast Spotify you know it's all over
the place.
Sometimes I do some episodes on the teachers then a YouTube channel so please subscribe
and the latest episode is with Kyrillov it is about this game the Czech Republic Ukraine
game I talk more about football there not like here and yeah I think it's an interesting
episode and yeah it was nice to meet Kyrillov listener of Zdenek's English podcast you know
someone who has been who has heard apparently as he says himself so many episodes and thank
you Kyrillov I know you are listening to this thank you for the tickets it was really kind
of you and I honestly I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this experience it was wonderful it
was amazing you know I love football and being invited to watch a game outside my own country
it was a great a great experience thank you so much.
Okay and one last thing you guys know that I left Podbean and now this podcast is on
RSS.com like that's my hosting platform right now if you want to support me well you have
several options number one you can go to my hero hero page of the Footgrish podcast which
is the other podcast but this there's no extra content you don't get anything extra there
for now you just support me there right you send me like couple of couple of duro's every
month that's it you know so if you want to do that go to herohero.cz and google the Footgrish
podcast you will find my face there so you will know it's me I'm the person behind both
these podcasts the next English podcast and the Footgrish podcast is the same person is
Denek okay so if you want to support me you can do it there alternatively if you wish
to do so you can become an achievers chamber member if you want to learn more about this
go to teachersdenek.com and also if you think it's too expensive which I don't think it
is for the value you get there but if you think it's too expensive and you want to try
it first send me an email and I'll give you a nice discount for for the first month a
big one I can give you a big discount okay because I honestly don't want to sell you
something that you might not later use or you might not feel comfortable even trying
so I can do that just tell me you are a listener of this podcast and we can make it work my
email is teachersdenek at gmail.com well that's all I know this introduction was quite long
I apologize for that but there were a few things that I had to get off my chest like
I said there is more there's more to talk about I could talk about how I took my driving
license course the motorbike course I could talk about the the problems with teeth I had
which is a story in itself and there's some other stuff but I think I'll do that later
in another episode so thank you very much for listening to this introduction and now
sit back and enjoy listening to this wonderful episode that I recorded with Irena this episode
of denek's english podcast is sponsored by a brand new podcast the footglitch podcast
an english learning podcast about football by the same podcaster that records this podcast
available on spotify apple podcasts and wherever you listen to your podcasts good morning listeners
welcome to another episode of the next english podcast I say good morning but I don't know
if it's morning where you are it could be afternoon it could be evening it could be
night who knows but it is good morning for me that's why I'm saying good morning I hope
you are okay with that this time I am joined by Irena hi Irena hi Sinek how are you I'm
okay thanks do you guys remember Irena she has been on this podcast before quite a few
times actually how many times have you been here Irena I think I would say three or actually
four because he also did an episode like a q&a as well so like three episodes talking
about three different topics and a q&a kind of thing or an idiom lesson yeah right idiom
lesson yeah there was that was an idiom lesson seriously wow yeah okay yeah I know we talked
about birds because you are a bird person yeah but we also like discussed some idioms
bird related idioms yeah that doesn't surprise me that really that really sounds like Mia
that would be Mia that's the kind of stuff I do here on the podcast and generally just
generally just silly stuff right birds so are you still are you still into birds are you
still as always yeah that hasn't changed and I I don't think it well okay all right so
never say never but it's very unlikely I would say so you're an amateur ornithologist or
something I don't even know if I can call myself in that way but I'm just interested
in birds like I'm curious basically you're bird curious yeah I'm bird curious pretty
much I love birds I don't know I find them fascinating so each year I go to a bird ringing
camp I'm not a bird ringer you actually need to pass like exams and you need to become
professional to be able to do it so we just assist like in taking birds out of a net and
stuff like that and just measuring you know recording scientific data and so on so that's
the stuff we help with yeah kind of a helper yeah pretty much yeah like a volunteer yeah
I'm a volunteer I mean like you don't get paid for it but accommodation and food is
for free so okay okay so that's something you do in Poland because let us remind everyone
you're Polish so is that something you do in Poland or in Poland but I would love to
try it abroad as well because I've seen like there are you know similar kinds of camps
organized a little bit I wouldn't say everywhere but a little bit all over not all over but
I know somewhere in Europe in Slovakia for example there's one I see so that's a neighboring
country and I remember one time you told me that you were planning to go to Mongolia yeah
but I think then in the end you went to South Africa something like that Mongolia didn't
work out because at the time you know in with covid restrictions first they closed the borders
and then the flight prices went up like really significantly of the planes you mean yeah
the birds okay not the birds they fly as well so I'm just I want to make sure I know I want
to make sure we are on the same wavelength here yeah but they don't offer you know services
to random passengers you look you look after them so they should you know they're the big
ones you would need one of the big ones like pretty sturdy birds what's the biggest bird
is it the swan or is there a bigger bird than a swan well ostriches don't fly so unfortunately
oh yeah some people ride them right some people can ride ostriches yeah is that just in fairy
tales I'm not sure I've seen some people ride ostriches but it could be just like in animated
TV shows something for kids you know but I would need like a pair of sturdy birds to
carry me I would say yeah yeah I understand okay so that's birds then of course we should
remind everyone that you are a language nerd and I'm a what I'm a language nerd as well
language nerd you are a polyglot you speak how many languages well polish is my native
language so polish obviously you don't count that yeah well it's you know I don't language
I guess it's not my merit you know you know basically everyone can speak something right
everyone has one language so that means something I had to consciously learn that that would
count for me you know like for example English and you went to you went to Canada you lived
in Canada for eight years right nine years nine years I'm sorry nine years nine years
in total so that obviously helped with your English we can hear that and then I know you're
also interested in like southern southern languages in Europe yeah I specialize I'm
a French major actually like I graduated in French and Hispanic okay so tell us something
in French hello qu'est ce que tu veux que je te dise bonjour bonjour ça va ça va bien
that's where we leave it yeah we will leave it there je suis contente de te voir et de
te parler j'aime la France moi aussi au revoir okay that's where we will leave it then we
can move to Spain then yeah Spain you speak Spanish yeah I speak Spanish I did Hispanic
studies at the university so let's talk in Spanish for a bit bueno no sé de qué cosa
podemos hablar pero me gusta hablar español tengo algunos amigos muy buenos amigos que
conocí en Francia no tengo no tengo dinero tengo hombre no tengo mucho dinero tengo hombre
soy estudiante de la escuela idiomas de idiomas vamos a la playa el ritmo de la noche
okay that's it okay that's it okay that's it okay that sounds Japanese to me isn't that
right yeah yeah right so that was Spanish then adios adios amigos and then well you
also speak Italian Italian yeah my boyfriend is Italian so yeah we should mention him we
talk Italian on a daily basis okay tell me something in Italian then buongiorno buongiorno
you have to say it like that how are you doing today come come stai tutto bene tutto bene
isn't it how you should say it to do better I'm overdoing I'm overdoing it right just
one single N so it's not ben but I like saying Ben but the E is kind of marked like Ben
Ben pero pero in Spanish is but a perro is a dog right it's a dog yeah and then in Spanish
for example el burro it's a donkey but in Italian il burro it's butter is what butter
what's butter butter butter yeah cool you don't like butter we learned today yeah you
can't stand it you think it's disgusting
I don't like butter I don't like butter I don't like butter
yeah that's why I shouldn't hear the word tequila in that at all I said the same sentence
I hope listeners don't mind the randomness the randomness of this episode I mean there's
a lot to discuss but also like this is the way I record this episode so I hope I have
so many ideas I had a plan yeah whenever I talk to you either new things pop up like
right now I want to really ask you about which pizza is your favorite and if you if you eat
a pizza have I as well no I don't and I know it's like kind of it's popular blasphemy sacrilege
you name it yeah when you when you put like pineapple on on a pizza would your boyfriend
put a pineapple never ever obviously would he not do it because he's Italian or would
he not do it because it doesn't like it well both I would say yes I feel like whenever
I talk to Italians there's this really proud people and I don't mean it in a bad way I'm
just saying it's like a fact they are quite proud proud of their food and I think mostly
they wouldn't do it because they they are Italian and they are so proud of it it's like
messing up their cuisine kind of well it's a matter of you know being proud of their
culinary traditions and I think in case of Domenico it's like a matter of his individual
taste like he seriously just can't stand it that's that's fair but listen speaking of
Domenico we have to say something yeah so what do we have to say I have to say something
about about your boyfriend basically so about a month ago I started a new podcast yeah if
you haven't heard it yet listeners I've got a new English learning podcast well wait a
minute it's quite specific so it's about football actually not American football it's the football
that we play in Europe okay what they call soccer in America I guess in Canada as well
Canada as well yeah they say soccer always yeah which I hate that word but anyway and
um it's been going well and at some point you notice that I'm publishing these episodes
I think right and you suggested to me that I could have your boyfriend on the podcast
to talk about the Italian team that's because I have interviewed quite a few people of different
nationalities and in fact I needed someone from Italy so that it was a match made in
heaven so thank you for that because Domenico it was a fantastic guest and everyone all
of you listening to this can check that episode out of course I don't know the name of it
but if you write into Google the Footglitch podcast Italy yeah those words then you should
be able to find it easily yeah so did you listen to that episode yeah of course I have
yeah you have listened to the episode even even though even though you're not exactly
interested in football I'm not into football actually I don't mind playing like casually
with friends football but I don't necessarily enjoy watching it do you do you enjoy watching
birds more than football I would say so yeah okay well I'm sorry you can't be on the podcast
keep keep keep sending your boyfriend Domenico of course I will I don't have any you know
I don't have any knowledge about football so I wouldn't be a good guest you know to
talk about it okay well that's that's that's fair that's fair but thanks for thanks for
Domenico he did really well his English is brilliant guys by the way like if you're Italian
listening to this and sometimes I've noticed that some of you Italians are not very proud
of your Italian accent at least that's what you tell me then listen to Domenico his Italian
accent is not very Italian how did he get to that level studying okay well I didn't
expect that I thought you would say something like listening to podcasts and yeah then taking
his own initiative like listening because also he's very critical about the you know
educational system in Italy and learning it says you know openly that that's good languages
teaching languages in Italy sucks basically to be honest it sucks in most places in the
world in Poland as well yeah it sucks in the Czech Republic too I'm sorry guys but it sucks
in Vietnam as well every place I've been to it sucks okay so if you know if you if you're
a good language speaker there is a very you know high like big possibility that you must
have used you know some additional methods or some additional resources and yeah you
must have tried like many many different things in order to master the language I just want
to say at this point yeah that we are not just two random people ranting here about
the school systems in the world we are actually English teachers both of us aren't we yes
we are with actually extensive experience so we know what we are talking about listeners
and we are also English learners so we have been through this ourselves we have seen it
from both sides haven't we exactly so we know what we are talking about so just you know
you can actually take our word for it for once yeah even though I know nothing about
birds that and Irina knows nothing about football that's fine but we actually know something
about English yeah about learning the English language learning okay I actually you know
more about learning different various various languages but when it comes to learning English
I suppose you know you can count on me too okay so Irina let's explain the context here
so I think listeners can actually hear it that we are in one room or we are we and this
is not recorded online which is something I often do so how did we appear in one place
like that you organized a meetup in Prague for Czech learners like the listeners of your
Czech podcast which is called the Stenkov Czecki podcast my third podcast yeah we are
getting confused here so let's let's just clarify it once and for all and I'm just a
Czech language fan basically right but let's let's please we need to we need to make it
clear again this what you are listening to right now listeners is Zdenek's English podcast
yeah I'm Zdenek I'm your host okay Irina is the guest the podcast that Irina's I wanted
to say husband but no boyfriend appeared on is my brand new podcast called the Footglitch
podcast which is in English as well but believe it or not but there is a there is a third
podcast as well but I don't really talk about it much on this podcast I may have mentioned
it here and there but there's there's absolutely no reason to do it because most of you probably
wouldn't even be interested in it and that's because it's it's a podcast for learners of
Czech and that's why you come in because you you are a learner of Czech as well yes I am
you didn't mention Czech because we were going through all the languages you can speak
oh we didn't finish it we didn't finish it yeah so hang on finish as well no I don't
speak Finnish well you said you didn't finish it so I thought like there's Finnish as well
I can count it in Finnish okay do it I don't trust you do it one two three four five six
seven seven eight nine ten ten you know what it sounds like like you're singing a song
or something it sounds like it's like a nursery rhyme it's a very melodic language you know
it's a very musical language so it's like really nice to hear you know okay unlike Czech
that going with your learning no I'm actually a big fan of Czech you're a big fan of Czech
yeah I've always been so that's why you came all the way from Poznan which is the the city
you come from well you are the reason as well because and the reason you came to see me
yeah to record this podcast I mean I enjoy I enjoy you know being in your company so
it's like I have two good reasons one of the few people so so you came all the way from
Poznan where is Poznan in Poland it's like midway between Warsaw and Berlin so it's
more you know kind of central west I would say central west between like it's exactly
in the middle between the north and the south but more towards the west I have no idea where
it is now you're here and it's like two hours two or three hours from the German border
basically okay so it's not completely in the south it's not completely in the north so
how many hours did it take you to come to Prague which is the seven hours I had the
bus at 10 p.m. and it actually was late so eventually I we left like at 11 p.m. after
11 p.m. you slept you slept you I slept on the journey was it was a night journey yeah
slept on the bus and I arrived in Prague like after 6 a.m. you arrived in Prague after 6
a.m. at 6 at half past 6 I mean it doesn't need to be precise okay and then and so what
did you do in Prague because our meetup which was yesterday it was actually in the evening
so you had like I don't know 12 hours to spare well I had I had breakfast I went to no butter
no butter no butter definitely no butter I went to you know the staromiesto for a little
bit yeah like for birds part of the city did you say for birds no no no I said staromiesto
I think he is that kind of description yeah yeah yeah staromiesto is old town square or
something like something like that yeah yeah and then I went to the botanical garden which
I hadn't visited before it was like botanical garden I thought I thought someone like you
would go to a zoo instead to see the birds why didn't you go to no I don't like you
know I came to see the plants as well I don't enjoy seeing birds in a cage basically so
that's why so you were hoping you would find some in the botanical garden yeah and I like
plants I mean I'm not extremely interested like I'm not you know you don't you don't
like a plant nerd you don't grow weed and stuff like that no yeah no I don't actually
good to know and I visited the botanical garden I did some drawings as well like some sketches
basically drawings yeah yeah okay because that's something we didn't mention yet did
we yeah I met actually two Dutch people who were drawing so I kind of joined them in a
cafe as well so did you know exactly where you were going like how did you find that
place how did you find those people the people I came and I just came across them completely
you know by chance by accident but I mean the place yeah because we have talked about
drawing Irina and drawing as well on one of the previous episodes so that's something
we should mention as well and so you drew as well something so what did you draw I assume
birds no because they don't like to pose you know they don't like to pose but I have seen
some birds on your website what's your website tell us tell us your website before then you
finish your sentence tell us your website so oh my goodness it has skills right heart
and skills so you can google it's like heart as in it's the human organ which kind of keeps
you alive basically yeah usually and it's like a pun hard and skills because it's hard
normally is hard earned skills exactly is hard that's what it was meant to be actually
yeah I just wanted to make like this kind of emphasis that you know I could say I put
a lot of hard work into you know in improving my skills but that was not the point I mean
it wasn't hard in the sense that I just enjoyed doing it I mean I put a lot of effort I could
say maybe not hard work but like a lot of effort your heart and soul but yeah I especially
put in my heart and soul exactly which one more heart and soul or soul I can tell both
equally yeah I would say so okay so so basically you are you're a drawing person as well yes
you make sketches I make sketches I paint I draw yeah I make sketches sketches like
quick sketches or so no birds this time because they don't like to pose yeah so they don't
like to pose when I when I paint birds first of all it takes quite a bit of time because
it's a complex and complicated subject as well and I just use like you know internet
photos internet pictures so no use it as your template royalty free yeah royalty free excellent
so we can pick a bay for example but when you make your sketches are they also royalty
free or do you sell them no I said well I I would say they are available available exactly
but if they are available you know what's gonna happen like I have GPT will I haven't
I haven't managed to sell a lot of them a few of them yeah so I can say I make a living
like by you know painting and drawings it's more like a side hustle for you it's something
that takes a lot of my time and it's something that I treat very seriously so I kind of you
don't want to call it that I see yeah I don't like to call it a hobby basically because
it's much more than a hobby yeah I understand it's more me like me I wins pretty much like
when someone says a hobby we need to tread carefully listeners you need to tread carefully
we are on thin ice okay so but what I wanted to say is that these days since you put some
stuff out on the internet it's it's going to be soon available on chat GPT mid-journey
you know how they create those AI images so it's gonna be they will use your image as
well to create a random image on chat GPT you know so are you okay with that well I
can't help it I guess in a way but I mean it's just like so much more satisfying doing
it you know on your own I think okay well fair enough so we are talking about how you
spend the day before we had the meetup so is there anything else worth mentioning I
mean I talked to some to some people you know I talked to my my boyfriend on messenger to
a friend like things like that yeah usual okay you don't have to go you don't have
to tell us you went to the toilet and you had dinner you don't need to hear that but
that's fine that's fine yeah okay and then the meetup itself came yeah we had it in a
pub I can't remember the name anymore would like to do it or something it's nearly having
not ready and the point is so we can't unfortunately we can't promote the pub because we don't
remember the name the point is we went there and there were a few other people learners
of Czech exactly so no Czech people I was the only Czech person there yes you were and
yeah we just spoke a couple of Russians yeah one American yeah me but Russians like good
Russians Russians that don't promote war I just I didn't even want to say this but since
you pointed out good Russians against the war otherwise I wouldn't even want to talk
to them I don't know about you but I can't do that so I don't and I mean I'm definitely
against the the war if someone says like they are for it I don't know like if I see there's
a room for a disc I discussion I mean I can't do that I can I can I can talk to them if
I see there's no point like you know what you know I would just show them a middle middle
finger I'm sorry I've just come to that point yeah that anyone who's gonna justify Putin
or anything the Russians do these days in Ukraine fuck you I'm sorry on this podcast
is gonna get cancelled now but sorry but that's the way I feel now okay but if the Russians
who are condemning it that's a completely different story for me exactly so that's that's the
kind of people you met yesterday yeah so that's that's that and there was one guy from the
United States of America as well Charlie is his name and and that's it it's quite quite
a small group actually yeah because I think we were six people yeah but I think you know
what I organized it last minute maybe that's why I feel like if I had given everyone more
notice more people might have come to the meetup but anyway probably for the best you
know too many people it's been like three weeks before I think the previous we had some
previous meetups in the past and the numbers were similar I think so it's fine so that's
what we did and then because you didn't have a place to stay exactly you came to put your
buddy as well right now we are actually in putting brother in my house yeah we are recording
this podcast yeah exactly okay and I don't know what else to say really I've run out
of things to say what what's what else is on agenda it's quick we can describe the weather
here you want if you want to do that it's not very nice is it it's a bit it's a bit
dodgy I would say yeah there's some sun shining through the clouds basically I could say yeah
that doesn't sound very very optimistic yeah it's a some sunshine not much oh it's like
actually it's it's really wet though like because it rained last night it's pretty humid
it's super wet so we want you're saying yeah okay I would say wet because you wanted to
play some table tennis exactly well I kind of talked you out of it okay because it's
really wet outside we would have to play on the grass and it's slippery as well so we
might even get injured yeah yeah I don't want us to end up in hospital as well and yeah
so probably not that hmm so that's what I think that's probably why we are recording
this podcast as well it's like a B plan is the contingency plan we had yeah it's kind
of spontaneous as well okay so what else is there then and what are your plans you want
to talk about your plans one thing that's kind of interests me is that now you have
a Italian boyfriend I know he lives with you in Poznan yeah and but sometimes you go to
Italy as well you live in Italy for a bit so for a couple of months for example for
a month like the length of stay differs and it's we know we want to go to Italy for winter
but sometimes kind of kind of comes up spontaneously I see you know because you both work from
home that's why we work from home so for me in Italy I mean I'm not you know registered
anywhere in Italy I don't have my own let's say activity in Italy so I just work like
for for myself and for Polish language schools and European Union it's so simple yeah it's
just so simple to go to go as well so it's if you are a European Union member at Poland
is of course then you can go anywhere except the UK unfortunately yeah I mean for me it
hasn't affected me that much because I haven't been to the UK a lot I mean I went I just
went once over 10 years ago so that was it it has affected me a lot yeah I imagine and
that's probably the reason I went to Vietnam as well to be fair because I was thinking
of going back there I even had a place I could continue teaching at and they wanted me there
I know but you know I just realized it would be too much too much red tape too much bureaucracy
like to get the visa you know getting the visa and I just thought like thought to myself
is that even worth it shouldn't I try something different and then in the end I did so yeah
I guess goodbye England because you're making it more difficult for us now to go there and
it means you don't want us there that's the way I see it well at least half over you know
50% of the country yeah but they are they are regretting it now yeah they don't want
they don't want to have mixed feelings and they don't want to talk about brexit at all
they don't want to hear about it they just you know they those that those that didn't
vote for it they they're obviously now saying I told you so I told you so those that did
vote for it they are most of them still haven't admitted making a mistake and but they still
don't want to talk about it of course because they say it's done it's done right let's
be reversible let's move on and those that do feel regret they also don't want to talk
about it because they feel the guilt so you know it's a it's a mess Irina it's a mess
I bet it's much better in Poland the political situation and all that well you know there
was a time where depending on who you ask actually I'm asking you but I would I would
have said it's a huge mess because we had like a like Brexit right way no a right-wing
government basically that's nothing unusual these days and it's nothing unusual maybe
but look at the Netherlands look at Austria but it doesn't make me extremely happy and
right now it's it has changed for fortunately I think the changes are not you know coming
or not progressing maybe as fast as people would like to see them but at least you know
I feel a right-wing government exactly so it says for me it's a sigh of relief really
you as a francophile right you were probably following the elections in France because
Macron he called he called unexpected elections and some sort of a weird plan I don't understand
what exactly he was trying to do but he almost almost backfired yeah and well I I'm actually
not following it as much because strangely enough I'm just I'm just not I haven't been
following a lot of political news I guess in general but basically there was a there
was a big chance that the the right-wing party Le Pen well which was run by Le Pen yeah a
very famous racist racist politician she basically she basically she she has a lot of following
now but in the end she did not win she finished third which nobody expected the polls were
giving her very good chances of winning yeah and she was pretty confident yeah so it was
a surprise for everyone right so and it seems like there's a basically a stalemate kind
of because no and nobody has like a clear majority yes no I think they're gonna screw
her screw her over yeah I think she's gonna lose because everyone else will make a coalition
that's what I heard the latest news well anyway I don't know why we are talking about politics
but I thought we might as well mention it yeah well because you mentioned you know the
fact of being a francophile yeah of me being a francophile yeah you are a francophile yeah
how do you say so francophile how do you say that you like Italy italo file italy file
italian file sounds like a google document some italian file an italian file yeah anyway
doesn't matter listeners doesn't matter yeah this is the this is an english learning podcast
but to be honest you won't get all the answers in the world here right well it's not meant
to be like a grammar lesson for example definitely so you get a you know good dose of listening
and vocabulary and so on and some that's good listening practice mainly I would say I would
say basically two mates talking to each other actually a lot of nonsense as well but I bet
it's quite realistic it's natural it's authentic exactly you know that's what's in that's what
you what you get well you know when you listen to the next english podcast and when you meet
people in general I mean it's random yeah it's authentic it's spontaneous yeah but but it's
not a textbook that's right but often when people do a podcast it's scripted or there's
a plan and I don't like those plans so much so I prefer this yeah I think for me as for
me like I would make notes in like some you know kind of like bullet bullet points exactly
yeah just to you know in case if I get I don't know stressed or something and I forget what
I wanted to talk about but I'm not but I definitely wouldn't follow it like word for word yeah
I don't make any bullet points because I'm not so militant I just know I can get kind
of stressed sometimes and then like my mind goes blank that's the only reason okay well
I think your mind didn't go blank during this recording so thank you for that if you did
enjoy this episode not you Irina but the listeners okay but now let me talk to them and I will
be listening to it so okay thank you so much so I guess you're a listener as well then
now it's confusing you're both the guest and the listener exactly and probably your boyfriend
will listen as well oh my god so listen what I wanted to say is and that that applies to
you too now because you just decided to place yourself into that group yeah if you did enjoy
this and you want to help me as in Zdenek why don't you write a review on apple podcasts
give me five stars if you don't if you don't want to write anything let chat gpt or ai
write it for you and you can even put some bullet points there if you want you can write
it in bullet points sure thing and you could say it's the best podcast since I wanted to
say slice since sliced bread but you could say since butter as well yeah so I wouldn't
even mention butter I know you wouldn't I just wanted to you know go back to that it's
just a weird joke I'm weird so guys these reviews really help you know because at this
point there is no monetization of this podcast and you might have probably you may have probably
noticed that unfortunately this podcast I don't want to say it's fading away but it's
like I had to what's the what's the expression to use here it's kind of in the background
now what's what's the there's a verb for that I had to like put it on the side sidetrack
you know you know what I mean it's not it's not the number one thing for me now you know
because it's not monetized so I'm more focused on the football it's not my priority yeah
so it's still there yeah I will still publish episodes of the next English podcast but
the the the regularity of the episodes you know it's not what it used to be yeah so that's
why like we can help each other out here listeners okay you you scratch my back I'll scratch
yours okay you write reviews about my podcast and I will publish more episodes for you sounds
like a good plan yeah sounds like a fair plan right yeah okay thanks Irina you can do it
you can use bullet points anyway I think that's enough thank you everyone for listening and
have a good day evening night I don't I still don't know what whatever day it is where you
are so I have no clue thank you everybody take care and until next time until next time
have a good one cheers bye we have used like 10 different ways to say goodbye now good
see ya can you say see if you cannot see them actually it's a podcast well that's a good
question and why the hell haven't I finished recording this yet it's another good question
bye bye bye thanks a lot for listening for more information visit my new website teachersdenek.com
where you can find out about my speaking group for high level English learners called the
achievers chamber and download my free course unlocking your English potential eight secrets
to fluency that's teachersdenek.com