The Culture Guy

Suni grew up in Lima, Peru. Allen met her in the Czech Republic, where she was studying abroad. In this episode she takes us home with her.

We start with what she missed most while she was away: ceviche in the spring and summer, Andean food in the fall, and pachamanca, a meal cooked underground with hot stones. Her grandfather’s story about it leads into the Pachamama and the respect for the Earth that runs back to the Incas. From there we cover Peru’s three regions, the coast, the Sierra and the Amazon, and why protecting the Amazon matters.

Suni also describes everyday life in her neighborhood: the honking, the junk-buying trucks, the garbage truck that plays music, and the neighbors’ loud weekend parties. She talks about her grandmother, who raised her, and the family expectation that you care for your elders. She explains the pollada, a chicken fundraiser where the community comes together to help a family in need. She also walks us through El Señor de los Milagros, the purple-robed October procession, and the legend behind turrón.

We finish with her favorite places, including the Nazca lines, and her idea of a perfect day: the family’s August celebration in her grandfather’s village of Guarachiri. She also shares what outsiders get wrong about Peru, why Lima isn’t the whole country, and her book and movie picks, from Mario Vargas Llosa and Ricardo Palma to José María Arguedas.

A special extended episode. Allen sits down with his friend Henry, who grew up in Cartagena on Colombia’s Caribbean coast and now lives in New Hampshire, for a longer, unhurried conversation about what life in Colombia is really like. Henry explains why Colombia isn’t one culture but many, shaped by mountains, climate and region, and why even Colombians can fail to place each other’s accents. He remembers a childhood of cafe con leche for breakfast, sancocho for lunch, fried plantains and patacón, a school in a wealthy neighborhood where he never quite fit in, and the class divide he felt as a kid.

He takes Allen through the sounds of home: music that gets played all day, from vallenato and cumbia to champeta, plus the street vendors who come to your door. You’ll also hear how Colombians greet and introduce people. Henry says you let your friend say their own name, and everyone says hello to the whole room. He covers usted versus tú, the slang greetings cuéntamelo and wepa, and the town of Palenque. Henry explains why people on the coast tell strangers their problems, how a favor passes down a chain of friends and cousins, why you don’t show up to a party with a dish, and why neighbors will tell you to go home and change your clothes. He also talks about family that stretches well beyond the nuclear household, why nobody leaves home at 17, and why he’ll choose time with a friend over a to-do list.

Henry recommends the telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea (the original behind Ugly Betty), explains why Spanish has verbs like “se me cayó” (“it fell from me”) and what that says about time and blame, and shares where he’d send a visitor in Colombia. He closes with what he wants people to know: most Colombians are simply hoping for a real opportunity.

Allen sits down with Nina, a Moldovan from the capital, Chișinău, to learn what life in this quiet corner of Europe is really like. Nina grew up on the edge of the city, in a house with a big yard full of fruit and walnut trees, and she shares her childhood memories. Friends had to shout over the fence to call her out to play, and she spent weekends doing chores. She also describes how Moldovan kids go caroling for money, with two Christmases and two New Years to carol on. After years abroad in Ukraine and the Czech Republic, she moved back home in 2024.

She walks Allen through plăcintă (savory and sweet pies), the liver cake she missed most while living abroad, and why a night out in Moldova almost always means eating first and then walking in a park. You’ll hear everyday greetings (salut, bună ziua) and the local hai davai. Nina explains why Moldovans speak a dialect with friends and standard Romanian in public, and why she’s on the side that says Moldovan is a dialect of Romanian. She also recommends the cave monasteries of Orheiul Vechi and Țipova, the poem Luceafărul and the novel Adam și Eva. She talks about Moldovans’ directness, their love of languages and education, the feuds between neighbors, and what it’s like to have so many people abroad. She closes with a reminder that the grey, gloomy picture of Moldova online isn’t the whole story: the country is bright, green and safe.

Allen sits down with Diva Fristika Lordya, an international relations graduate from Jakarta whom he met at a kintsugi workshop in Japan, to hear what Indonesia is like from the inside. Diva is Javanese on her mother’s side and Madurese on her father’s. She talks about missing Indonesian food while living in Kyoto, and about the years she spent in a small central Javanese town with her grandparents. There she learned Javanese, a language with several levels of honorifics, depending on whom you’re speaking to.

She compares city and countryside life, from neighbors sharing food after every celebration to the mass exodus from Jakarta at Eid. She also walks Allen through a traditional Javanese wedding, from the engagement party and the blessing bath (siraman) to the vows, the uninvited guests who come for the free food, and the family pressure to host a big celebration. You’ll also hear a few everyday greetings (selamat pagi, siang, malam), the Javanese phrases bibit, bebet, bobot (how a family sizes up a potential spouse) and alon-alon asal kelakon (“slowly but surely”), and what Diva is proudest of as an Indonesian. She closes with her hopes and worries for the country’s future, and the resilience she sees in its people.

Allen sits down with Suneel Munir, a Christian engineer from Lahore, to hear what everyday life there is like.

Suneel takes us through the old city of Lahore, its monuments, and a street where neighbors of different faiths share food at Eid and Christmas and play cricket in the lanes. He explains mehman nawazi, the hospitality that says a guest must eat, and sabr, the patient endurance he learned as the only Christian in his school class. He also gives Allen a 10-day itinerary from Lahore to Islamabad, the north, and Karachi.

You’ll also hear a few everyday phrases (Salaam-Alaikum, inshallah, shukriya), what Pakistan feels like through the five senses, why Qawwali music “connects with the soul,” and Suneel’s answer to the biggest misconception about his country.

Allen sits down with his friend Elisa, who grew up in central Mexico, to talk about what makes her country feel like home. She explains why Día de Muertos is so central to Mexican identity, and how families gather and cook together to remember loved ones. They also cover everyday greetings, the way each Mexican state feels like its own small country, and the tortillas and tortillerías that are part of every meal.

The conversation then moves to how trust is built in Mexico. Family shows up for every milestone, advice is freely given, and laughter is loud and shared. Elisa also reflects on time, independence, and balancing home life, work, and friendships. She ends with an invitation to come see Mexico for yourself, where you’ll be received and loved.

Allen sits down with his friend Ismael, who lives in Buenos Aires, to talk about daily life and culture in Argentina. Ismael shares photos from home, including an asado, Iguazú Falls, the Basilica of Luján and his family’s garden.

Along the way they cover:

• Growing up in Misiones, on the border with Paraguay and Brazil
• Mate: what it is and how it’s shared in a circle
• Homeschooling with Khan Academy, Duolingo and BYU Pathway
• Who you call first when something big happens, and what makes someone trustworthy
• What feels rushed in a country with weekly price changes
• Late dinners, merienda and how people spend their days
• Disagreeing out loud, and formal versus informal “you” (usted)
• Bending rules, and how much who you know matters
• What Ismael loves most about Argentina

A warm look at Argentine culture from someone who lives it.

Marichka grew up in Ukraine and now works with students from around the world. In this episode she walks Allen through the everyday culture that shapes how Ukrainians live, work and relate to each other.

They talk about:

• why a Ukrainian full name has three parts, and what the patronymic says about family
• how formal and informal address works, from school hierarchy to how you speak to a teacher or a police officer
• why Ukrainians can seem unexpressive to outsiders, and why they tend to say exactly what they mean
• traditions that bring families together: pysanky eggs, the embroidered vyshyvanka shirt, a day for visiting graves, the family potato harvest, and caroling at Christmas
• how religion and Easter traditions are lived, and the social pressure around them
• how close family ties shape big decisions, and what “family” means beyond the immediate household
• a love of football

If you’re preparing to live or serve in Ukraine, or you just want to understand how Ukrainians see the world, this is a window into the culture behind the headlines.