Cross Cultured

Unai (a western European living in Singapore) and Zhao (from China living in Thailand) join Eric and Suneet to discuss the geopolitical, economic and cultural shifts between the East and the West. Bonus: Eric debuts the brand spanking new intro track to the podcast. 

“Linda” is a Filipina born and raised in Hong Kong. “Unai” is a Basque Spaniard born in Venezuela. Both have lived and worked all over the world and are now in Singapore building careers and raising kids. Eric and Suneet talk to them in-depth to explore what it means to be a “Third Culture Kid”, their multinational experiences, what led them here to Singapore, and their aspirations for the future. We also spend a chunk of time on the podcast both admiring and criticizing Parisians and France. Pardon our French.

We have a "spirited" chat with our friend and fellow pop culture "enthusiast", Carlos (from Mexico) about the meaning of mainstream, pop culture in our respective cultural backgrounds. "Spirited", because we literally were consuming several glasses of spirits before and during the recording. 

A (very) casual conversation with Kabeer Chaudhary, APAC Managing Director of M&C Saatchi Performance and friend of the show, discusses his experiences managing teams and clients across the APAC region. 

Eric and Suneet are back and are recapping the (awful) year that has gone by, and how it has changed cross-culturalism, and how it has affected them personally. 

Lars, a Danish teacher, and Hana, a Korean-American school counselor discuss how to manage kids in a multicultural setting, drawing from their experiences in one of Singapore’s leading international schools. Also, Lars gives Eric and Suneet a “schooling” on the Danish monarchy.

“Jenn” (Vietnamese-Canadian), “Sobs” (Singaporean-Indian) and James (Filipino...um...Filipino) talk about their cross cultural dating experiences, as Suneet and Eric tried NOT to steer the conversation into discussions about fetishes, dick picks and penis cages. Tried...but failed. To know more stick around towards the later part of the episode.

Shirlynn is Singaporean Chinese whose long-term partner is a Swiss-German Caucasian. Monica is Portuguese married to a German of mixed Indonesian-Chinese and German Caucasian ethnicity. Suneet (the Indian dude) is married to a Portuguese. We delve into their mixed-marriage lives, discuss the issues and non-issues they faced, and talk about the compromises they’ve made in their relationships, as we explore what it means to be in cross cultural marriages in Singapore. 

Eric (the Filipino dude) is mostly there to ask questions to satiate his curiosity, and to make random quips.

Suneet and Eric (willingly and unwillingly) saw a ton of Asian-themed content and discuss how these TV shows and movies reflect the Asian cultures they represent. On their watch list: Indian Matchmaking (a Netflix reality show), Crash Landing on You (a K-Drama), Buy Bust (a Filipino action-thriller), Ah Boys 2 Men (a Singaporean blockbuster comedy-drama), and, of course, Crazy Rich Asians. 

In this pilot episode, Suneet (Indian Guy) and Eric (Filipino Guy) talk about their personal backgrounds, highlight their most defining cross-cultural experiences, and dispel some stereotypes they have on each other's cultures - after drinking coffee and Red Bull on a Saturday morning.