Luxventures 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.