Luxventures

Sam Steen of Ara City Radio does 33-hour radio marathon in a crowdfunding effort for the imperiled station. How did he get into radio, why Ara needs support and what's so special about Luxembourg?

Joanne Zhou is a Chinese journalist who lives in Luxembourg. She talked to Luxventures on differences between media in China and Luxembourg, coronavirus pandemic and making sense of life in a new country on a different continent.

You might think it weird to talk about curling just as Summer is about to, well, break out. And you would be right, of course. But then again, a lot of things in Luxembourg were weird in the past two or three months, so why stop now?

For many people the past two months of lock-down have only exacerbated that familiar feeling of being trapped (or cocooned, depending on your point of view) inside the expat bubble, with minimum interaction with the local population and the internet as the only lifeline to the civilisation as they know it. Mike Isenor is not one of those people.

Two-time Luxembourg curling champion is, like most Canadians, a thoroughly nice person, whose life took an unexpected turn on a European holiday many years ago, and landed him in this neck of the woods.

We talked about the epidemic and the general state of Luxembourg’s health system, big city vibe of a not-so-big European town, traffic and commute (obviously) as well as general tips on what to do and how to survive first contact with the country.

Oh, and curling. We talked about curling.  

Thank you for tuning in – or downloading, as it were – and if you can, please leave a review and rate this podcast, wherever you get your podcasts from.

Don’t forget to like our Facebook page and feel free to ping me on Twitter with any comments and suggestions you might have.

Luxventures will be back next month.

Tama Moiser is a New Zealander who years ago landed on Europe’s shores and eventually made a decision to move to Luxembourg. While to some that may seem strange, peculiar or downright silly, it made perfect sense to her. And it turned out to be – to turn a popular phrase – a call that aged well.

Lisa McLean, Ara City Radio station manager says that Luxembourg during the coronavirus lockdown reminds her of how things were when she arrived here more than twenty years ago.

One thing that you can be sure about lunchtime in Luxembourg is, that you will never be alone.

The other thing about lunchtime in Luxembourg is, that you’ll probably hear more than three languages spoken simultaneously at any given time. Which is precisely what happened the other day in this cosy little Greek restaurant in the centre of the capital.

In

this podcast I trick unsuspecting expats into sharing their experience with

Lëtzebuerg. What to expect, how to adapt, when to give up and where to hold on.

At the very least, we try to provide some emotional comfort. Sometimes, however,

it is good to see things from the other perspective and I talk to locals as

well. This is one of those times.

Despite

the plethora of tongues spoken, or precisely because of it, language is –  to put it mildly – a sensitive issue in

Luxembourg. Debates can get heated quickly and before you know it nuance is

lost in the noise.

Which is precisely what happened to Jacques Werner and three other young Luxembourgish professionals when they launched a petition to include English as an auxiliary or support language in certain administrative processes. Not that anyone cared about the wording. For some people, the combination of words “English”, “administrative” and “language” was enough to send them through the roof.

If the whole thing got a bit loud towards the end it is only because a meal in Luxembourg is a social occasion. As it should be.

Thank you for tuning in – or downloading, as it were – and if

you can, please leave a review and rate this podcast, wherever you get your

podcasts from.

Don’t forget to like our Facebook page and feel free to ping me on Twitter with

any comments and suggestions you might have.

Luxventures

will be back next month.

They say that everything is bigger in Texas. If so, just how big does Luxembourg look from the Lone Star State?

By local standards, Joseba Echave is a relatively new arrival. A Spaniard who came to the Grand Duchy not from Spain but from the land of cowboys, Davy Crockett and, well, nice weather.

So,

how’s the transition going?

My

name is Aljaž Pengov Bitenc and this is Luxventures, your podcasting guide to

navigating life in the Grand Duchy.

In

this podcast I trick unsuspecting expats into sharing their experience with

Lëtzebuerg. What to expect, how to adapt, when to give up and where to hold on.

At the very least, we try to provide some emotional comfort.

If you can, please leave a review and rate this podcast on

iTunes and Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts from. Don’t forget

to like our Facebook page and feel free to ping me on Twitter with

any comments and suggestions you might have.

Luxventures will be back next month.

(Texas photo credits: Avi Werde on Unsplash)

Some people become expats by choice. Others, by necessity.

Some, however, are expats by profession. Most of these are called diplomats and

Luxembourg is full of them.

Austrian ambassador Gregor Schusterschitz was, until recently, a staple in Luxembourgish diplomatic and media circles. His musings on Twitter were especially witty. Then Brexit happened and Ambassador Schusterschitz was appointed as head of the Austrian delegation in the Brexit working group. Needless to say, things got really busy really quick.

As fate would have it, the ambassador left Luxembourg before

Luxventures got around to asking for an interview. But we caught up with him in

Brussels, in his new posting as deputy head of Austrian permanent

representation to the EU.

But it was for the best. From a little distance, both chronological and physical, we talked about how Luxembourgers view foreigners, how they see themselves and which part of the country you should definitely visit, even if it is somewhat off the beaten track.  

If you can, please leave a review and rate this

podcast on iTunes and Apple Podcasts or whatever your preferred podcast clients

and directories are. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page and feel free to ping me on Twitter with any comments and suggestions you might have.

Luxventures will be back next month.

You’ll be forgiven for thinking that people mostly

just keep coming to Luxembourg. Sometimes, people also leave Luxembourg. But

very rarely do people leave Luxembourg to live on a boat.

As cosmopolitan as Luxembourg has become, it is no

substitute for actually seeing the world with your own eyes. And I literally

mean »seeing the world«, as my guest in this episode has seen a good part of

it, mostly in places that are deep, blue and pretty much devoid of other

humans.

Marjan Golobič is a mild-mannered Slovenian who is just about to finish his stint working for the European Commission and who loves playing badminton. But once he gets onboard his sailboat, Marjan is a full-blooded captain who is used to giving orders.

So what’s a man like him doing in a land-locked

country like this?

If you can, please leave a review and rate this

podcast on iTunes and Apple Podcasts or whatever your preferred podcast clients

and directories are. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page and feel free to ping me on Twitter with any comments and suggestions you might have.

Luxventures will be back next month.

Outside of doing some serious drugs, few things can feel so other-worldly as dealing with the real estate market in Luxembourg. And since no one wants a bad trip, one way or the other, we’ve got your back.

No matter whether you’re renting or buying in Luxembourg, the feeling that you’re banging your head against a brick wall  – four brick walls, to be exact – is nothing to be ashamed of. If it is any consolation, you are definitely not alone.

Helping us getting to terms with the real estate market in the Grand Duchy in this episode of Luxventures is Matti Heikkila, a Canadian, who years ago built and launched Houser, a professional Luxembourg real-estate valuation tool.

Matti has since moved on, but was kind enough to share his insights and a few tips for surviving the unreal estate market in Luxembourg.

Thanks for tuning in, or downloading, as it were, I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Luxventures.

If you can, please leave a review and rate this podcast on iTunes and Apple Podcasts or whatever your preferred podcast clients and directories are. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page and feel free to ping me on Twitter with any comments and suggestions you might have.

Luxventures will be taking a short break at the seaside as you’ve no doubt noticed, and we’ll be back in autumn.