7 episodes
Letzcast Letzcast
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- Society & Culture
This is Letzcast – a podcast about Luxembourg. The plan is for each season to focus on a different theme relating to the Grand Duchy. For the first season, we will focus on the lives of the 275,000 or so foreign nationals who have made Luxembourg their home. Luxembourg is quite unique in that nearly half (46,7% according to official government data from 2016) of the population is made up of non-nationals. To put this into perspective, foreign nationals only make up 8.9% of the UK population, and the figure for Sweden is 16%.
This naturally leads you to wonder – who are these people, and what brought them here? A somewhat cynical explanation may be that Luxembourg is rich, and wealth attracts people. But is it really that simple? This question is at the core of what Letzcast sets out to investigate in season 1. By interviewing foreign nationals – and it should be noted that I am one myself – I seek to understand the individuals behind the numbers.
By extension, Letzcast will also delve into the broader question of what Luxembourg is. I realise this is a somewhat esoteric question, almost philosophical in nature – but a country is more than a set of borders, systems, and laws. A country is its people, and a culture. All of this will be explored through the stories and experiences of people who decided to make Luxembourg their home, one story at a time.
I look forward to taking you along on this journey, and hope you will enjoy it.
All the best,
Martin
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Episode 6 - Dot Bekker
This episode was produced by Jess Bauldry. In it, Jess interviews Dot Bekker, a Zimbabwean entrepreneur who made a career out of mentoring, business coaching and website development.
Many of may know her as the former president of the women’s networking organisation The Network. She lived in the Grand Duchy for four and a half years before deciding to embark on a major life journey to return home to Africa. You can find out more about Dot and her long trip home by visiting goinghometoafrica.com. -
Episode 5 - A Trio of Expats
This episode is a bit different to what you’ve heard from us in the past, as it features not one but three interviewees in one single episode.
The reason for having three people in one episode is that I wanted to round off the first “season,” which by the way is a concept we will be moving away from, by getting multiple perspectives on what Luxembourg means to expats, what brought them here, and how they find life in the Grand Duchy. In short, what their experience of moving here and settling in has been like. -
Episode 4 - Fredrika from Ouni
In this episode we talk to Fredrika, who works at 'Ouni' - Luxembourg's first packaging-free supermarket. She tells us about Ouni, how to reduce our waste, and much more.
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Episode 3 - John-Paul Gomez (wurst.lu)
This episode features John-Paul Gomez, of wurst.lu fame, better known as JP. Originally from the US, JP has lived in Luxembourg for over a decade. He has become somewhat famous through his satirical news blog, wurst.lu, through which he shares is rather sardonic views of life in the Duchy.
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Mike McQuaide (An American in Luxembourg)
This episode features Mike McQuaide, better known as "An American in Luxembourg." Mike has lived in Luxembourg for about five years, and in that time has managed to secure an audience of over 15,000 followers for his popular facebook page, An American in Luxembourg, where he writes, sings, and shares photos and videos of his adventures around the Duchy.
We talk about moving to Luxembourg, learning the language, the popularity of his page, his new book, and much more. -
Steven Weinberg
This first full-length episode of Letzcast features teacher and photographer Steven Weinberg, who while born in the Netherlands has lived in Luxembourg for over 30 years. We talk about his many adventures with "the little one" (his car), how he became a teacher, the virtues of learning Luxembourgish, and much more. Remember to subscribe to Letzcast on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite podcast app.