E19 - Acculturating to Canada & Slovakia Travel Tips
Nolan talks to his friend and former colleague Eva Briatkova about her acculturation and immigration experiences in Canada. They discuss what it was like for her to find work as a nurse and paramedic, cultural comparisons in drug use and open-mindedness, why nurses love to party, the experiential marketing world, acculturation techniques, and more. You'll also get some tips about travelling in Slovakia.
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[Voices] Inescapably, inescapably.</v>
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[Nolan] Inescapably Foreign. Welcome to Without Borders. I'm your host,</v>
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Nolan Yuma. If this is your first time tuning into the show,
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know that this is the show for expats, nomads, immigrants, refugees,
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third culture kids, or anyone else that feels inescapably foreign.
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And remember, if you are an English language learner,
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you can access the transcript at withoutborders.fyi.
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I also provide a bunch of interesting articles and written stories there as
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well. Today I'm here with Eva Briatkova. Uh,
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she is from Slovakia and has been living in Vancouver,
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Canada for the past 12 years. Her background is in nursing,
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but she's now currently working as a paramedic and a first aid, uh,
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instructor we met in, uh, the experimental marketing world.
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We'll touch on that later. Uh, but Eva, how are you? How are you doing today?
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[Eva] Very
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Well. Nice to see you.</v>
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[Nolan] It's good to see you too. We haven't seen each other well.</v>
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We spoke a little bit yesterday, but we haven't seen each other in six year,
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or no, I think eight years. Yeah, that's great. Before that.
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[Eva] Yeah, it had been a while.</v>
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[Nolan] Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so where, where are you right now?</v>
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[Eva] I'm on Vancouver Island for a holiday for this, uh, winter season. Yeah.</v>
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Enjoying a quiet time from a hectic Vancouver.
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[Nolan] Yeah. Okay. So, uh, why has your life been so hectic lately?</v>
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[Eva] Um, I think Vancouver's become hectic. Um, when you get a little bit of snow,</v>
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everything is hectic in Vancouver, [laughter], so you have to disappear. [laughter]
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[Nolan] Yeah. Uh,</v>
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maybe some listeners might be surprised by that because often would you go
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traveling? And you mentioned that you're from Canada.
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People just picture snow right away. Sure. But that's not the case in Vancouver,
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right? Yeah. Um, so what brought you to Canada originally?
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[Eva] Um, [laughter] , my story is, um,</v>
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that I follow pretty much someone else’s dream, be honest to you.
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And now I live in my own dream. But, uh, yeah, I used to be in love with, uh,
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that time. My ex-husband, he was from Czech Republic, and, um,
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that was his dream. He used to do extreme sports,
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so it was always his dream to visit. And we visit first, and I love it. Um,
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I just didn't know how the immigration process gonna take and how long that's
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gonna take. Um, but yeah,
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I kind of follow a person and his dream and it becomes my,
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my life. So yeah, that's my story.
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[Nolan] Okay. Well let, let's uh, get into some of the details there.</v>
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What was the immigration process like for you?
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[Eva] Um, Canada wasn't the first country. So I previously,</v>
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prior to Canada, I went to Czech Republic, Austria, and then Ireland.
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And, uh, so when I came to Canada, I didn't expect, uh, as much,
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um, time to get through all the immigrations papers and the process actually,
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um, it was, it was hard to apply, um, to any type of,
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of, uh, working visa for me as a nurse,
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as our education doesn't transfer,
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so my credential didn't transfer that time. Um, and you know, using time, right?
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Like, so the more you're waiting for your credentials, the skills and uh,
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the knowledge, um, has a certain time of limit, you can use it for, let's say,
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evaluation or challenge the exams. So unfortunately,
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That takes quite while about about five years. Uh, so you have a temporary visa,
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but you need to have a permanent resident, if I'm not mistaken,
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and then the citizen to be working as a nurse, you know, or in,
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in any type of healthcare industry. So for me, uh, the goal was to get,
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getting back to my job as soon as possible to not lose my credentials. But, um,
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it didn't work that way. So that's why we met in an experiential marketing.
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[Nolan] Yeah. So, but so why didn't it work out that way?</v>
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So you said you have five years to challenge the exams?
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[Eva] Uh, no. Five years to get all my visa in a process. So it was a long, oh,</v>
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uh, it was a long time because they change, um,
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quite the rules quite often, right?
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So one year you can apply for a type of visa that certain type of
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work, uh, is illegible. But for nurses, I haven't had that luck.
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So again, my — simply put it, my, my, um,
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credentials didn't transfer to here. Right.
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So I would need to go back to school.
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[Nolan] I hear that a lot in, in Canada's case, like doctors, nurses,</v>
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even teachers. I know a teacher from England, uh, she had a master's degree,
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uh, 20 years of experience, came to British Columbia and then they said,
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no, you can't teach in the public schools here.
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And then there's a shortage of teachers. Yeah. It's just like,
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there's no logic to it whatsoever. It's ridiculous.
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[Eva] Yeah, it’s just like you have a shortage of nurses as well, right?
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Yeah, I’m not sure how with the teachers,
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but I would boldly say with nurses again, and not even doctors, like, um,
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you really have to practice your skill.
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Medicine is improving all the time
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and you have very limited time to just be, you know, on the track.
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[Nolan] So That's true. Yeah. </v>
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[Eva] That's a good, I was in the ICU, so that's very specific, um, field to have, uh,</v>
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your diploma and, and it's just,
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it's not really easy to just keep up with everything when you are practicing.
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[Nolan] Okay. Now what if we're comparing quality of life because, um,</v>
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I have to look at the numbers,
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but it was 20 something thousand a year that you can get paid as
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a paramedic, um, and as a nurse, uh, in Slovakia.
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But of course the living expenses are way lower than in Vancouver,
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Canada and in Canada in general. Um,
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and just looking at that wage for relating it to in Spain, um,
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which I think is probably a little bit more, more expensive than Slovakia,
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but you could get, you could get by,
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like you would have a decent life with that wage. Yeah. Um,
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and then I was looking at the wages in, in Canada,
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and they're kind of all over the place with paramedics,
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and I know you're part of a union, so we can't get into the specifics there.
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Um, but uh,
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I read that starting out you can end up getting paid less than minimum wage,
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$2 an hour, um,
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which is sounds horrific to me because I think paramedics should be
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celebrated in our society. It's one of the most important jobs. And then,
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but it doesn't look like it goes up quite a bit. Yeah, right.
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It looks like you can end up making a good, uh, wage with seniority.
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Um, but what would you say,
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cause I know you can't get into the specifics about the numbers,
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but just when we're talking about quality of life, um,
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do you feel like you can have a much higher quality of life in Vancouver,
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Canada as a paramedic?
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Or would you have a higher quality of life in Slovakia?
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[Eva] That's a very good question. Um,</v>
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and we can take it from many perspectives. So, um,
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I believe in, first of all, I believe in terms of the money,
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like once you enter healthcare industry,
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you doing that from, from your heart, from the help to others, right?
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It's just, it's not always about like you wanna become a rich person for sure.
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And I think that's speaking for most of people. But, um, yeah,
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quality of life in terms of what can I afford and, um,
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how much I can travel, what can I experience in one day, for example, or,
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um, then I would say in here for sure,
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in terms of, uh,
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education and a free education and a good healthcare,
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getting in surgery the same day,
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you seeing your GP having insurance, that will be Slovakia. Like,
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we still have the standard of, um,
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kind of a social system that builds, um, in, in,
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so it's a care for people in a, in a really different way than in Vancouver.
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You know, like if you have lots of benefits.
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[Nolan] Okay. So you, you find that there's a, a stronger social safety net?</v>
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Yes.
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[Eva] That's true. A hundred percent.</v>
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[Nolan] In the health sector.</v>
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[Eva] Yeah. Oh, in, in the health sector in, um, yeah. If you need, uh,</v>
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benefits for any kinds or if you elderly or if you handicap or anything that you
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need, or if you, if you're a good student but you don't have money to study,
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that's, that's definitely you can, you can achieve, um,
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much more back home. Yeah.
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And the healthcare is unbelievably uncomparable. It's just, we,
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we do have a preventable measures, so you have to have your GP,
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there is no way that you can just have GP at home. Um,
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you have to show up to annual screening and, uh, you pretty much have,
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we call it [inaudible]
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So basically the doctor would know when they see you in the ER that
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you're no
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you were born in this and this time and previous surgeries and yeah.
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Everything is documented. So, um,
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it's easy for access if you're in, for example, if you're in emergency.
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So it's very different.
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[Nolan] Yeah. Cuz that in Canada some things are documented, um,</v>
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but then some things aren't when it comes to vaccinations. Like, uh, I think,
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well,
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I think I actually did lose my travel vaccination booklet and that kind of
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screws me over in Canada because it's not in the system.
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[Eva] Yeah. It's, it's a, it's a different, yeah. Well,</v>
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one of my colleague called Antique, and I think that's a good word for it.
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It's like, uh, like it's something older. Even if the, the country's very new.
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It's, everything is a little bit slower that way. Like, yeah.
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[Nolan] So you feel, you feel in Canada it's slower?</v>
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[Eva] Yeah, I would, I would say, yeah. Yeah.</v>
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[Nolan] Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. That, that's interesting because, well,</v>
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I'm in Spain right now, right. Um, and I've lived in Belgium, uh,
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well lived in, lived in Vietnam and Chile as well, but actually long term,
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mostly just Belgium, Spain, and Canada. And out of those three countries,
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Belgian's Healthcare System is the best. Um,
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it is one of the best healthcare systems in the world.
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I just found the qual, of course,
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talking partially about personal experience and partially from statistics as
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well, but the quality of doctors I found better there. Um,
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for instance, once, uh, in Canada,
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I had a mole in my tear duct,
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and of course that could have been melanoma.
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And I went to one doctor in Canada and he said, yeah, that could be melanoma,
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[laughter] I said, oh, okay. Uh, so what do I do now? And he said, well,
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I'm actually retiring soon, so I'm gonna send you to another doctor [laughter]
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I was like, nice. Okay. Yeah.
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I guess you're not that passionate about your work anymore.
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Sends me to another doctor then, uh, the other doctor looks at my eye,
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says, yeah, could be melanoma. I was like, okay, what are you gonna do?
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He's like, I gotta take a picture and send it to another doctor.
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Takes a picture with his iPhone, [laughter] sends it to another doctor.
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Then I go to that other doctor, um, [laughter] And then they say,
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yeah, uh, it could be, it could be melanoma, it could be skill, skin cancer.
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Um, but we could take a biopsy,
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but if the biopsy doesn't go correctly, then the cancer can spread.
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So I don't really know. And then at that point,
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my mom got into it and she was like, okay, fuck this. Um,
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we're talking to a doctor in Belgium. Uh,
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luckily we were going to Belgium anyways,
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ended up getting into a hospital right away. Yeah. Um, they said,
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biopsy will, if you do the biopsy correctly, there's no chance of it spreading.
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Yeah. And he said, I'm a professional, I'll do it pro, I'll do it correctly.
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Yeah. So took the biopsy,
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ended up not being skin cancer and everything was fine. Um,
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but it was just like the whole process was faster. The,
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the quality was much higher. Yeah. Um,
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[Eva] I’m glad to hear. Yeah. That's, that's, uh, quite terrifying. Well, funny,</v>
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but not if few when your, the patient, right? Yeah.
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[Nolan] Yeah. Uh, unbelievable. Uh, but then here in Spain, um,</v>
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I definitely miss the healthcare system in Canada. Um,
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like here it's so many of the doctor offices close because you have,
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even in the healthcare system, you have, um, the Siesta culture and
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that's right.
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The culture of just taking paro and taking paro is taking EI
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and, um, taking, or no, not, not paro, sorry, uh, puente, which is,
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um, when you have a holiday and then you take another holiday between the two
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holiday days.
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[Eva] [laughter] </v>
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[Nolan] So there are times where it's really difficult to get to get into a doctor's</v>
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office. Yeah. So usually if something is wrong with me, I go to the emergency.
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Yeah. Which is something I don't want to do morally because I feel like
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emergency should only be for emergency for emergencies, [laughter] ,
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but it's just the only way I can get, get to see a doctor right away. Yeah. Uh,
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what, what do you think about that? Am I being morally [laughter] wrong there?
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[Eva] No, no, no. My sister used to live in Spain and uh,</v>
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she would say the same in terms of a post office as well. Like,
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she have to time which day and which particular hour.
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If she wanna send something somewhere, it's just, it's, I think they quite know.
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I, I don't know how much is in Italy is the same. But yeah, I heard,
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I heard Spain is definitely, uh, in Slovakia, we have no siesta.
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People actually are well known by working like, um, out, uh,
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around the clock. They're really hard workers, I would say. So. Um,
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and it's very nice to see, you know, that when I travel, um,
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and I immigrate wherever you call it, in different countries,
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the Slovaks usually have a pretty good reputation in terms of how they work.
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Uh, so, um, yeah, I think the laziness is not built in us for sure.
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Um, but uh, yeah, maybe we can start with siesta,
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I would love to actually that's a good idea to start with siesta with the
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ambulance. I would love to do siesta with the ambulance, that's for sure. [laughter] ,
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I think I will bring it up. [laughter] Yeah, that will be fun. That will be fun.
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[Nolan] Nice. Um, well, yeah, so Slovakia, I read about that too,</v>
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that Slovakians are hard workers and it's definitely part of the,
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part of the culture. Yeah. Um, actually when I was reading about, um,
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when I was looking up, uh, Slovakian person, or Slovak, sorry,
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personality traits, um, that popped up.
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And for some reason whenever you look up something about Slovak,
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it always pops up related to women. And it's like, um, could,
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I guess Slovak women have a reputation to be very beautiful [laughter]
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And then half of it's like the type of personality you need to be able to have a
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Slovak woman. And one of of it was like, work really hard. Be a hard worker.
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Yeah.
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[Eva] [laughter] Oh, that's, you know what, that's probably true. That's probably true.</v>
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Yeah. I would say.
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[Nolan] Now what do you feel about in Canada? Do you feel, or, okay,</v>
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let's talk about the West Coast in Vancouver. First though.
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Do you feel like the work culture there is fast, uh,
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compared to Slovak or, uh, Slovakia? Or is it, um, slower?
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Is it more laid back?
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[Eva] Um, definitely laid back more, I would say.</v>
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And this is coming depends if you go to experiential marketing or
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healthcare, uh,
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because I can see the nurses and paramedic working in working really hard in
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here as well as anywhere else. Uh, with experience marketing.
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I remember a couple times where we show up and team of 20, 2 of them show up.
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So I don't know if that's just a young generation, but, um, yeah,
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I think I have like mixed, uh, experience. Depends which field,
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but I think people are just people.
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So if you do have a quite standard and morals and then you grow up in the family
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who show you that and, and then you're probably a hard worker. Um, but yeah,
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it's definitely, there is no,
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this is the first time that I heard that if you really feel, for example,
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unwell, um, you really have to explain at home what's going on.
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And sometimes you have to see the proof.
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So you have to go to your doctor and you send it to your chief and you show that
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you broke finger or you have a flu. Uh,
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in here people will just tell you to stay home and get better,
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and please take as much long time as you need.
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So that's definitely different than I remember back from Europe. Um.
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[Nolan] But I, that depends on the job. Cause I, okay. </v>
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First let's quickly explain what experimental marketing is, um,
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because some listeners might not know.
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So we met doing experimental marketing. Um,
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we could,
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you could also call us brand ambassadors and in some cases promo models.
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Yeah. Um, [laughter] promotional models, right.
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And what we would do is set up different campaigns
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and we, it would always be an in-person live experience,
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and it could be something at a big event, um,
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where we would have us booth set up at, let's say a concert,
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or it could be something more experimental where we're really just walking
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around with a bag of goodies and getting people to sign up,
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getting people to have a good experience with a product. Um,
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but that's kind of what we did.
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And that could switch from week to week because we were contract workers.
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Uh, for instance, one week I might be, um, promoting organic,
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um, granola bars and the next week I might be promoting cigarettes.
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[Eva] [laughter] </v>
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[Nolan] [laughter] Right. Um, so yeah.</v>
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You, you think that in the work culture it was a little bit different with
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experimental marketing,
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but I remember when we worked with people from out east in Canada,
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they said how much slower and lazier we were in the
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west of Canada.
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[Eva] True, true. Yeah. It is also, it's such a,</v>
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it is such a wonderful experience when you are,
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when you doing experience marketing,
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don't you think like you meet so many people from different, uh,
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countries and most of them, I believe they wanna be actors or musicians,
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right? So quite talented bunch of people and um, yeah.
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I believe there was always kind of a sidekick for most of them.
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So I never really take that as a,
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as a reflection of how they would normally work and what's their work ethic.
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Because I always thought like, that's just a geek for them, right. So I believe,
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like I saw most of the experience marketing people when they were trying to do
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audition and they work over the clock overnight,
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try to memorize stuff and then just, you know,
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giving a chocolate or working on a car, uh, car model,
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they will just be a little bit more lazy, I would say, right.
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So it's just kind of a hard to, um,
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judge like how lazy or not lazy people are in that,
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in that particular field because it was more like fun for all of us, I believe,
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than actually a job.
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[Nolan] Yeah. Yeah. That's true. Yeah.</v>
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And now that I'm not in the industry anymore and you're not either,
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I think we can be honest about some of the things that happened. [laughter]
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[Eva] [laughter] </v>
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[Nolan] Um, but there there were campaigns where I worked my ass off because</v>
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as you said, you're with a good group of people.
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And sometimes they're really fun. Uh,
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sometimes you have a good management team and you just want to get the product
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out there because you think it's a cool product, you're in a good environment.
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Um, but there were other times because as you said, it was a side gig,
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it was just for money and you actually wanna focus on something else.
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We would cheat the system big time, [laughter] like you, um,
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I remember this was during, I'm not gonna say which campaign.
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[Eva] Obviously. Yeah. Um,
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but it was during the hurricane in the Philippines
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And we were getting paid nine hours a day or something like
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that, and we had to hand out so many, um, so much of this product,
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[laughter] And of course you have to get the pictures as proof, right.
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Cuz you also need to have the pictures for,
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for the marketing purposes afterwards. Yeah.
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On social media or just for internal marketing purposes.
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And [laughter], we would get all the pictures done within an hour,
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even though we're getting paid for eight or nine.
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And then we took all the granola, uh, so Okay. [laughter] Okay. Granola bars.
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I'm not gonna say the names was granola bars, um,
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I'm not gonna say the name of the company.
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Then we brought them to, um,
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I forget which charity it was,
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but they shipped all the granola bars to the Philippines. [Eva] Oh, that's beautiful.
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To help out there. Yeah.
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[Eva] That's nice.</v>
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[Nolan] Yeah. We we did a good thing. Yeah. But really, like, it was not what the,</v>
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the company would've wanted. Of course we would've,
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we would've gotten fired if Yeah. They found.
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[Eva] Out. Yeah. The granola bars was funny. Ones any chocolate and granola bars,</v>
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I feel like you remember that people know you by the face. Depends what,
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like some, did you work as a mascot ever?
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[Nolan] No, I didn't do any of the mascot ones.</v>
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[Eva] I did so many different, um, plays as a mascot and,</v>
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and I never knew what to do.
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I remember I was on the PNE as a bear getting a chocolate.
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I have no idea where the children's are because I couldn't see in front of me.
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I just randomly move. And I was, I always think that's very unsafe.
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But I always love when people remember you with the chocolate, when the,
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when the, the, I would say the,
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the promotion begin and then during the summer when they see you with the
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chocolate to offer you a chocolate, they're just a run away from you. Like,
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it's just, it was so much certain products, so much chocolate,
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so much granola bars. We went to shelters, we went to schools,
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we went to everywhere. And sometimes they just said no anymore [laughter] Like,
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it's just, yeah, I remember.
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So it is a alone and lot of trucks for chocolates for sure. And, and, uh, yeah,
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in beginning everyone wants it.
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So people ask if they can have more and a month or two was just kind of like,
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you are the person who have to beg them to get the chocolate.
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[Nolan] But just to bring this into the cultural aspect,</v>
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because of course this show is all about culture.
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Experimental marketing doesn't really exist outside of Canada
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and, uh, the United States. Why do you think that is?
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[Eva] No idea. Um, I haven't studied marketing, so that's a good questions. But, uh,</v>
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yeah, we, we don't, I never remembered that in Europe. Um,
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there are certain commercials,
376
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I don't know how it's how much they have for budget. Um, no idea. Really,
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No idea.
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[Nolan] So I asked someone about it, um, and they said it's because, uh,</v>
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North Americans are more likely to show customer loyalty to a specific
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brand. Um,
381
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but I don't know if that's true because I meet so many people here that,
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you know, once they're Apple users, they're Apple users
383
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or when it comes to cars, it's not another level here. Right?
384
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like the rivalry between BMW, Audi, and
385
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uh, Mercedes in Europe is just huge. Yeah.
386
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So that answer didn't make sense to me.
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So what do you think, because that, that's what I read,
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that's talking to marketing specialists, but just from your own opinion,
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what else do you think it could be?
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[Eva] Um, I, I would say this is a,</v>
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definitely a part of this, uh, uh, finances in budget for sure.
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I can see that the culture back home. And I've really just,
393
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this is just what I,
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what I think is that maybe if you give too many products for free,
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it will be very, uh, fast gone. Uh,
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remember the chocolate kind of example that I said, um,
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and it might be just going back to the communist side that people didn't have as
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much. So I'm not sure how they will go if,
399
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if you have lots of people just offering a free products everywhere. Um,
400
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maybe slowly you can expose and they get used to it. But, um,
401
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I don't think we knew that. So I think there will be a,
402
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maybe a line of people who will stay for chocolates, just like back in the,
403
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you know, eighties, I'm not sure.
404
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But also I think that no one's gonna sit in a car and do a test drive
405
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and sit with some stranger next to them and drag them around the cities in a
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stick. You know what I mean? Like, that's when I, um,
407
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when I think about back in the time when we used to do a test drive,
408
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I think that was the f the,
409
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that was the definitely freakiest time when you sit next to a stranger
410
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and you have to just believe that's,
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it's not a psychopath who's gonna just run through the wall. Like,
412
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can you imagine? Like, we were in the, in our twenties, so everything was fun,
413
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but now when I thought about it, like,
414
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I sit to so many people through so many cities, [laughter] , and they were like, oh,
415
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how fast it's gonna go. I'm like, Ooh,
416
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is this really what I'm doing for a living? Oh, it's like, oh, you know?
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[Nolan] Right. Like, remember when we were in Whistler and we just, we had the,</v>
418
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the new Jeeps and we just took people on an obstacle course. Yeah.
419
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So they could have killed us. Well, one guy, a few people almost did kill me.
420
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Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Like on that obstacle course, he, you're like, okay,
421
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you can't go over 60. And then they would just gun it.
422
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[Eva] Yeah. And then you have like, it was through the crank works.</v>
423
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So everywhere were like a free booze and there is no way to test an alcohol.
424
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For me, that's a huge component, right. It was like, oh,
425
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you have a sign this favor, you didn't consume any alcohol. Its like,
426
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who are you gonna believe? They're like, you know, 21,
427
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they have fun and crank works, so of course they have couple beers.
428
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[Nolan] Yeah and Crank Works.</v>
429
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[Eva] Everyone's partying. So it's, it was,</v>
430
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it was definitely something I would never do again. Um.
431
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[Nolan] But that's the strange thing about it too,</v>
432
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because usually in Canada I find that there are more rules
433
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than in Europe. Yeah. Right.
434
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You go to a ski resort in Canada and you just see how safe everything is set up.
435
00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:45.120
Yeah. Right. The chair lifts,
436
00:25:45.120 --> 00:25:49.960
you're boxed in and then you go to a European ski resort and like
437
00:25:50.290 --> 00:25:53.160
they're, they're fine, but it's
438
00:25:53.160 --> 00:25:57.880
They don't have the same safety standards or they're just not as obsessed with,
439
00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:00.800
uh, little rules and stuff. But then all of a sudden with the marketing world,
440
00:26:00.800 --> 00:26:04.360
it's completely different. It, it's strange. Yeah.
441
00:26:04.970 --> 00:26:08.640
Or like another thing I thought about, maybe it's because
442
00:26:10.580 --> 00:26:14.620
there, there are more rules that they have the experimental marketing,
443
00:26:14.620 --> 00:26:18.140
because experimental marketing, we were always in a gray zone
444
00:26:18.180 --> 00:26:22.420
with legal in legality. Right? Yeah. And for instance, like,
445
00:26:23.190 --> 00:26:27.180
uh, advertising cigarettes is illegal in Canada. Yeah.
446
00:26:27.360 --> 00:26:31.780
Not in Germany. Right? Yeah. There you can still find advertisements,
447
00:26:32.080 --> 00:26:34.540
but then in Canada there's just always loopholes.
448
00:26:34.540 --> 00:26:37.620
Like I remember when we were marketing, well not, not you,
449
00:26:37.620 --> 00:26:41.500
I don't think you were in this one, but when I was marketing, um,
450
00:26:42.350 --> 00:26:45.800
uh, e-cigarettes, there were little loopholes.
451
00:26:45.800 --> 00:26:50.480
Like we weren't allowed to say that e-cigarettes were healthier than normal
452
00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:52.560
cigarettes. That would be illegal.
453
00:26:53.100 --> 00:26:56.760
But we were allowed to go up to people and say, oh,
454
00:26:57.130 --> 00:27:01.080
we have an, a tobacco product that is less harmful Ooh.
455
00:27:01.080 --> 00:27:04.240
Than cigarettes less harmful
456
00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:07.880
could imply that you're talking about combustion,
457
00:27:08.100 --> 00:27:11.320
cuz you're not lighting anything on fire with the e-cigarette
458
00:27:11.320 --> 00:27:15.240
but of course in a customer's mind, they're not gonna make that association.
459
00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:18.160
Yeah. It's just so there's a legal loophole there.
460
00:27:18.530 --> 00:27:21.800
Or we would set a big event, um,
461
00:27:21.820 --> 00:27:26.560
and then at the end everyone would get a goodie bag with cigarettes inside,
462
00:27:26.560 --> 00:27:29.800
but it was a white goodie bag so you couldn't see it, right.
463
00:27:29.800 --> 00:27:33.040
So in the end saying like, oh, uh, it's not allowed,
464
00:27:33.040 --> 00:27:36.560
you're not allowed to advertise tobacco in Canada's just bullshit. Yeah.
465
00:27:36.560 --> 00:27:37.880
It's just, yeah.
466
00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:42.400
[Eva] See the, the drinking alcohol was quite fun when I came to Canada to,</v>
467
00:27:43.150 --> 00:27:44.880
people cannot drink publicly.
468
00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:47.840
And also there is just a limitation where you can get the alcohol,
469
00:27:47.840 --> 00:27:51.400
like liquor stores and stuff that's also not known in Europe, right?
470
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:54.040
like you can buy it anywhere you want in any hour you want.
471
00:27:54.700 --> 00:27:56.920
And the bars doesn't have any closing times,
472
00:27:56.920 --> 00:28:00.240
most of the time they're running till the morning. And um,
473
00:28:00.940 --> 00:28:04.480
you don't have to hide your alcohol when you're sitting in the park or you're
474
00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:06.680
going to a beach or you're going somewhere on the party.
475
00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:10.640
You don't have to have any plastic back. So it is quite rules and not rules.
476
00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:14.320
So it depends how you take it. For sure. Um, yeah
477
00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:16.940
[Nolan] Now, in my opinion,</v>
478
00:28:16.940 --> 00:28:21.540
that's always kind of influenced the drinking culture as well because in,
479
00:28:21.670 --> 00:28:24.780
um, I find in many European countries or,
480
00:28:25.410 --> 00:28:28.300
what's the quote that my dad would say for, in Belgium?
481
00:28:28.910 --> 00:28:33.300
In Belgium people get drunk because they like to drink
482
00:28:33.950 --> 00:28:37.900
in Canada, people drink because they like to get drunk.
483
00:28:38.630 --> 00:28:42.260
Uh, and then just relating that to the rules is like if you have,
484
00:28:43.160 --> 00:28:46.340
cuz prohibition actually wasn't that long ago. Right?
485
00:28:46.340 --> 00:28:48.220
And then you still have all these other rules. Yeah.
486
00:28:48.310 --> 00:28:50.940
It still has this feeling of something wrong. Right.
487
00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:54.180
So you gotta drink it quickly. Yeah. You gotta do it hidden, but that's not,
488
00:28:54.180 --> 00:28:57.500
you shouldn't drink like that. Drinking should be something that you do slowly.
489
00:28:57.500 --> 00:29:01.330
Yeah. Right. Enjoy, um, enjoy it.
490
00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:05.130
So do you think there is a diff big difference in drinking culture between
491
00:29:05.370 --> 00:29:06.450
Slovakia and Canada?
492
00:29:07.100 --> 00:29:11.130
[Eva] Um, not that I see that much. I think, um,</v>
493
00:29:12.120 --> 00:29:14.570
I think people are drinking everywhere and it's,
494
00:29:14.570 --> 00:29:17.210
it's hard when you are a nurse or the paramedic to,
495
00:29:17.220 --> 00:29:20.730
to trying to see the differences. Maybe if I,
496
00:29:23.130 --> 00:29:25.740
yeah, I think people are drinking everywhere. It's,
497
00:29:25.740 --> 00:29:29.820
it's just the way how they have a fun, for sure. And the hidden aspect,
498
00:29:29.820 --> 00:29:33.340
as you said, hiding aspect for sure. Um, yeah,
499
00:29:33.850 --> 00:29:38.840
I think the more drinking at home is with schnapps, like the hard liquor, uh,
500
00:29:38.840 --> 00:29:41.760
than a classical beer. Uh, maybe, um,
501
00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:45.640
Czech in Germany has more of the beer, but we always have a schnapps
502
00:29:45.640 --> 00:29:48.800
My dad makes schnapps since I was a child. And, uh,
503
00:29:48.800 --> 00:29:51.000
we also get exposure when we were children.
504
00:29:51.210 --> 00:29:56.160
So I remember like sipping small schnapps like very
505
00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:56.993
early age.
506
00:29:57.140 --> 00:30:00.960
And I guess you getting the point that they expose you to alcohol so you're not
507
00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:03.160
crazy when you come in your twenties, right.
508
00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:06.640
So you don't get in a bar and you don't drink to yourself to death.
509
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:07.640
So I think that's a,
510
00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:10.000
that's a huge difference because it's really hidden in here,
511
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:11.040
in front of the children.
512
00:30:11.660 --> 00:30:15.000
And I think it's good to know that if you come to puberty,
513
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.720
that you already know how to behave and how alcohol works and what can
514
00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:23.480
actually what could be the consequences if you abuse it. And um,
515
00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:27.760
I think it's, that's a little bit different in Europe for sure. And I, um,
516
00:30:28.220 --> 00:30:32.720
I'm a product of that, so I don't drink excessively because uh,
517
00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:35.920
maybe that's exposure was always there since I was small.
518
00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:37.720
And you see everyone drinking everywhere.
519
00:30:39.250 --> 00:30:42.360
[Nolan] Um, now let's talk about the nurses [laughter] Uh,</v>
520
00:30:43.390 --> 00:30:47.520
most nurses I know party pretty hard, [laughter] and I,
521
00:30:47.630 --> 00:30:51.520
I would even argue harder than the average person. Uh,
522
00:30:51.890 --> 00:30:52.720
is that a Canadian,
523
00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:57.640
because most nurses I know are from BC and so maybe it's a BC
524
00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:01.360
thing or do you think that's kind of like a, a culture of nurses?
525
00:31:01.570 --> 00:31:04.440
Do you do nurses on average? Just you.
526
00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:09.440
[Eva] Have to reset, right? You have to reset. I believe that, um, it's,</v>
527
00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:13.480
it's a part of that, uh, the just letting go. Uh,
528
00:31:13.480 --> 00:31:18.400
and maybe also we party together so we know ourself at work
529
00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:23.200
and so it's easy to get, uh, good conversation and dance when you're,
530
00:31:23.730 --> 00:31:26.720
um, when you're a nurse and go to the party together. Um,
531
00:31:26.750 --> 00:31:30.520
I experienced that in Ireland as well when I was working. And um,
532
00:31:30.630 --> 00:31:34.480
most of the fun I have was probably there. The most of my, uh,
533
00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:36.760
partying was in Ireland. And yeah,
534
00:31:36.790 --> 00:31:39.960
I was definitely see the whole department get to a bar and,
535
00:31:40.140 --> 00:31:44.080
and dance and laugh and share stories and drinks together.
536
00:31:44.410 --> 00:31:47.280
So you can call it party hard, but we always, uh,
537
00:31:47.310 --> 00:31:50.760
I think it's kind of a reset button for most of us for sure. Yeah.
538
00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:55.610
[Nolan] Yeah. [laughter], I like that. I like when, uh,</v>
539
00:31:55.640 --> 00:31:59.410
a healthcare professional says that partying is, is a reset button.
540
00:31:59.980 --> 00:32:04.090
[Eva] At least for me. I mean, like, it's not anymore. It's just once you get older,</v>
541
00:32:04.090 --> 00:32:08.530
I think it's really hard to, to get those morning, you know. But, um,
542
00:32:08.530 --> 00:32:10.530
I'm glad I have that experience. It is not,
543
00:32:10.560 --> 00:32:13.330
it's not something you should be ashamed. It's,
544
00:32:13.330 --> 00:32:17.570
it is hard if you continue [laughter] that I would say it's probably not well
545
00:32:17.570 --> 00:32:19.130
recommended. Um.
546
00:32:19.240 --> 00:32:20.010
[Nolan] Yeah, in your.</v>
547
00:32:20.010 --> 00:32:20.800
[Eva] Course, your forties and.</v>
548
00:32:20.800 --> 00:32:25.130
[Nolan] I think if we start talking about addictive personalities and of course that</v>
549
00:32:25.130 --> 00:32:26.450
goes down a different, uh.
550
00:32:26.590 --> 00:32:29.970
[Eva] But it's part of your youth too, right? Like it's part of Y]yeah.</v>
551
00:32:31.080 --> 00:32:32.770
[Nolan] Yeah. How, how old are you.</v>
552
00:32:32.770 --> 00:32:34.770
[Eva] Now? I will be 40 in April.</v>
553
00:32:36.360 --> 00:32:37.193
[Nolan] Oh, okay.</v>
554
00:32:37.420 --> 00:32:39.150
[Eva] It's gonna be a 20 years. Um,</v>
555
00:32:39.360 --> 00:32:44.200
that I left Slovakia pretty much. After the nursing school I went,
556
00:32:44.610 --> 00:32:49.600
um, to travel to different countries at work aboard and away.
557
00:32:49.790 --> 00:32:50.623
Yeah.
558
00:32:52.070 --> 00:32:54.780
[Nolan] So you've spent your, your thirties in Canada then?</v>
559
00:32:54.780 --> 00:32:56.220
[Eva] Uh, yes, that's right. Yeah.</v>
560
00:32:58.660 --> 00:33:00.720
[Nolan] And when is the last time you went back home?</v>
561
00:33:00.910 --> 00:33:04.800
[Eva] I visit usually every summer. Used to be winters,</v>
562
00:33:04.800 --> 00:33:09.480
but then I realize their short days and everyone is just at home cozy.
563
00:33:09.530 --> 00:33:14.280
So now I go pretty much every, every year. And I go for quiet, extended holiday.
564
00:33:14.350 --> 00:33:18.960
I usually go for like two months cuz my parents got a big garden and,
565
00:33:19.460 --> 00:33:22.440
and, uh, they're wonderful parents and I have lots of friends at home.
566
00:33:22.440 --> 00:33:24.920
I'm very lucky. The same in Czech Republic.
567
00:33:25.090 --> 00:33:29.540
So I usually enjoy really the summers in Europe. Yeah.
568
00:33:29.890 --> 00:33:30.900
Yeah. Okay.
569
00:33:32.360 --> 00:33:36.620
[Nolan] And now when you go back, right, because I know it's not,</v>
570
00:33:36.920 --> 00:33:40.220
not the best thing to ask about age sometimes. I don't know why I don't. .
571
00:33:40.390 --> 00:33:40.740
Um,
572
00:33:40.740 --> 00:33:45.700
but the reason I ask is because it has a big influence on how how much
573
00:33:45.980 --> 00:33:49.180
traveling affects your personality. [Eva] Oh yeah.
574
00:33:49.180 --> 00:33:52.340
like if you spent your youth in Canada,
575
00:33:52.450 --> 00:33:56.340
that makes a big difference in spending your, your hundred thirties in Canada.
576
00:33:56.340 --> 00:33:57.860
Right? Um,
577
00:33:58.040 --> 00:34:02.190
but now do you feel like
578
00:34:02.620 --> 00:34:05.150
more Canadian in some ways or.
579
00:34:05.380 --> 00:34:08.590
[Eva] A hundred percent. A hundred percent. I think.</v>
580
00:34:08.760 --> 00:34:12.030
[Nolan] So. How, what, in what ways are you Canadian now?</v>
581
00:34:12.200 --> 00:34:13.033
[Eva] Um,</v>
582
00:34:13.640 --> 00:34:18.630
it shaped my perspective for so in so many ways how I see the
583
00:34:18.630 --> 00:34:23.220
world, um, very open minded, um,
584
00:34:26.270 --> 00:34:27.060
not.
585
00:34:27.060 --> 00:34:30.570
[Nolan] Do you feel on average that Canadians are more open minded? Yeah.</v>
586
00:34:30.570 --> 00:34:35.290
[Eva] For sure. And, um, just with,</v>
587
00:34:35.290 --> 00:34:40.130
without as much judgment, you know, I always used to think that what I grew,
588
00:34:40.130 --> 00:34:43.690
what I grew up in, what I see or I, uh,
589
00:34:43.690 --> 00:34:48.690
learn that must be applicable for everyone. Like everyone has the same, um,
590
00:34:48.690 --> 00:34:53.170
type of life. And, um, in Canada I learned that you can have,
591
00:34:53.170 --> 00:34:56.930
especially with so many immigrants and different way of living,
592
00:34:56.930 --> 00:35:00.760
that everyone has different sense of family,
593
00:35:01.770 --> 00:35:04.120
um, work, uh,
594
00:35:04.120 --> 00:35:08.960
a lot in general if they do sports or if they just, um,
595
00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:12.440
travel or if they take care of their gardens. It's just,
596
00:35:12.670 --> 00:35:15.480
I don't even know how to frame that. But, um,
597
00:35:15.950 --> 00:35:20.560
I feel like I do live in the potential that I always see in myself here. Um,
598
00:35:21.540 --> 00:35:24.240
and every, any type of topic,
599
00:35:24.240 --> 00:35:28.160
any type of communication I wanna open up with any of my Canadian friends,
600
00:35:28.160 --> 00:35:32.760
I have no fear to open up any hard conversation. Uh,
601
00:35:32.760 --> 00:35:35.640
politics, race. Yeah. Uh, economics, uh,
602
00:35:35.640 --> 00:35:39.760
every anything that comes to even like in your mental health. Oh yeah. Oh,
603
00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:41.360
[Nolan] mental health. It's a big one too, right? [Eva] For sure.
604
00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:45.320
That's a huge difference between the Europe that I know. I'm,
605
00:35:45.320 --> 00:35:47.680
I'm not talking about the Europe as the whole continent, obviously,
606
00:35:47.680 --> 00:35:51.920
but the slovakian part of, uh, where we are just,
607
00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:56.880
just getting slowly there is a huge, is a huge gap and is a,
608
00:35:57.270 --> 00:36:02.000
that's definitely Canada is so much forward. Um, yeah.
609
00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:05.160
And I feel like it's nicely intertwined because, um,
610
00:36:05.190 --> 00:36:06.680
I have good sense of community,
611
00:36:06.730 --> 00:36:11.390
so I feel like my purpose is to connect people and I love
612
00:36:11.390 --> 00:36:14.950
connecting people and I love listening and, and asking stories.
613
00:36:14.950 --> 00:36:18.470
I'm very curious in, in, in just like, that's my nature.
614
00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:23.830
So I love really just getting people together in a conversation that
615
00:36:23.830 --> 00:36:25.510
you might find uncomfortable,
616
00:36:25.650 --> 00:36:29.830
but when you just give them time and you don't have the prejudgment you under
617
00:36:29.830 --> 00:36:33.550
you, you will see a different perspective from person, from India,
618
00:36:33.550 --> 00:36:38.150
person from America, person from China in the same environment. And healthcare,
619
00:36:38.240 --> 00:36:39.270
uh, the,
620
00:36:39.270 --> 00:36:43.350
the health industry is quite interesting because you always work with people
621
00:36:43.350 --> 00:36:48.110
with so many different countries and, uh, the topics are always there,
622
00:36:48.110 --> 00:36:48.630
right?
623
00:36:48.630 --> 00:36:53.550
You might come to a patient that has challenging backgrounds and now you ask
624
00:36:53.580 --> 00:36:57.990
your, your coworkers or your friends about the opinion and you see a different
625
00:36:58.090 --> 00:37:00.470
backgrounds coming with different opinions,
626
00:37:00.470 --> 00:37:03.300
but it's not the point to,
627
00:37:05.540 --> 00:37:10.090
um, agree, but just bringing different points to the conversation and the,
628
00:37:10.090 --> 00:37:12.090
and different look, if that makes sense.
629
00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:18.130
[Nolan] Yeah, it does. And from my experience, I, I agree,</v>
630
00:37:18.410 --> 00:37:21.890
especially when it comes to mental health. Now that I'm back here in Europe,
631
00:37:22.120 --> 00:37:26.930
I notice how it's still taboo, um, to talk about depression in ways.
632
00:37:26.930 --> 00:37:30.810
Like you still might have that attitude towards a man being like, suck it up.
633
00:37:30.810 --> 00:37:33.850
Oh, yeah. Um, or Oh, that girl's just being whiny. Yeah. Right. Like,
634
00:37:33.850 --> 00:37:37.490
you still have that here, which is horrible in my opinion. Um,
635
00:37:37.620 --> 00:37:39.970
or then just like, it's less politically correct.
636
00:37:39.970 --> 00:37:44.090
You still hear people call people who are moody bipolar, right.
637
00:37:44.300 --> 00:37:47.890
in North America. That would not fly anymore. Um,
638
00:37:49.110 --> 00:37:54.090
but when it comes and then open-mindedness towards recreational drugs.
639
00:37:54.090 --> 00:37:56.690
Oh yeah. I think that might be a West coast thing. Like we,
640
00:37:56.860 --> 00:38:00.210
we love recreational drugs on the west coast.
641
00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:01.130
[Eva] Slovakia.</v>
642
00:38:01.130 --> 00:38:04.530
[Nolan] Very difficult, but also just in an intelligent way, right. Like here,</v>
643
00:38:04.530 --> 00:38:07.690
people like them too, but they just associate it with partying. Yeah.
644
00:38:07.690 --> 00:38:11.250
Whereas in the West coast, like microdosing with magic mushrooms,
645
00:38:11.320 --> 00:38:14.650
LSD like you can have a conversation about that. Yeah.
646
00:38:14.650 --> 00:38:18.130
Here the second you wanna have a conversation about that. Um,
647
00:38:18.130 --> 00:38:21.890
unless that person is traveled to North America pretty much, it's just like,
648
00:38:21.890 --> 00:38:23.770
oh my God, no, you're a drug addict. It's like, no,
649
00:38:23.790 --> 00:38:26.170
I'm just talking about microdosing with magic mushrooms.
650
00:38:26.170 --> 00:38:29.210
[Eva] And you haven't been in Slovakia with this, so don't even try. Please. It's,</v>
651
00:38:29.210 --> 00:38:30.890
it's very hard. I would say you will,
652
00:38:30.890 --> 00:38:34.090
you have don't bring it up an interesting conversation in Czech Republic and in
653
00:38:34.090 --> 00:38:37.840
different places, but yeah, we're, we're not there yet at all. Like, it's just,
654
00:38:37.840 --> 00:38:38.240
it's hard.
655
00:38:38.240 --> 00:38:42.000
It's a hard opening conversation how beneficial those things can be for us.
656
00:38:42.260 --> 00:38:46.680
And I would say from, um, mental health, when I was nurse,
657
00:38:46.970 --> 00:38:51.920
um, I was in ICU in, um, Hema Oncology, like people who were die from,
658
00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:52.840
uh, blood cancer, right.
659
00:38:52.840 --> 00:38:57.200
And I give you an example that we went through lots of horrifying, um,
660
00:38:57.770 --> 00:39:02.680
uh, days where, um, you bring the stories at home, right? You, you suffer, you,
661
00:39:02.680 --> 00:39:06.680
you feel the pain. There were no any, um, mental health support.
662
00:39:06.690 --> 00:39:08.520
We do have counselors here.
663
00:39:08.520 --> 00:39:12.240
Like the ambulance is amazing to take care of your mental health for sure. Like,
664
00:39:12.240 --> 00:39:14.600
I never been that spoiled. Like every time you want,
665
00:39:14.600 --> 00:39:19.280
you just have your counselor and you go through this and they automatically
666
00:39:19.480 --> 00:39:23.400
actually contact you after each call. So it's, it's very,
667
00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:27.800
very different than what I remember from back home in terms of mental health
668
00:39:27.800 --> 00:39:28.080
[Nolan] mm-hmm.
669
00:39:28.080 --> 00:39:30.680
and how they take care of the healthcare workers particularly,
670
00:39:30.680 --> 00:39:33.510
you know, so that's a huge difference for sure. Yeah.
671
00:39:35.120 --> 00:39:39.140
[Nolan] Now, but so healthcare, yeah, you're right. Um,</v>
672
00:39:39.140 --> 00:39:43.700
but then I'm just thinking about open-mindedness when it comes to people from
673
00:39:43.700 --> 00:39:46.420
different cultures and everything. Um,
674
00:39:46.550 --> 00:39:50.820
because in Vancouver for sure, I had the same experience as you, right?
675
00:39:50.820 --> 00:39:52.500
You can find people from all over,
676
00:39:52.500 --> 00:39:56.780
people are willing to discuss different viewpoints. Um,
677
00:39:57.400 --> 00:40:02.300
but nowadays when I go back to Canada, I find that people are quite polarized.
678
00:40:02.600 --> 00:40:06.460
And sometimes when you bring up a different opinion, and I've,
679
00:40:06.460 --> 00:40:08.580
I brought this up on another episode as well,
680
00:40:08.880 --> 00:40:13.500
and it seems that people's identities are attached to
681
00:40:13.540 --> 00:40:14.980
their opinions, right?
682
00:40:14.980 --> 00:40:17.660
So when you don't agree with someone's opinion,
683
00:40:17.660 --> 00:40:20.980
it's like a personal affront on their identity.
684
00:40:21.110 --> 00:40:24.020
So then you can't actually have a conversation and,
685
00:40:24.020 --> 00:40:27.500
and you can't open your mind or grow. Um,
686
00:40:28.440 --> 00:40:30.740
and then here maybe it's to Spain,
687
00:40:30.740 --> 00:40:35.020
I've noticed it's so easy to have a conversation with someone who might have a
688
00:40:35.020 --> 00:40:36.980
different opinion when it comes to like,
689
00:40:36.980 --> 00:40:41.380
political type things or sociopolitical type things. Um,
690
00:40:41.510 --> 00:40:44.860
so there, I don't know, maybe people are open-minded here,
691
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:49.740
but maybe I'm more talking about Spain and the difference might be
692
00:40:50.870 --> 00:40:51.703
in Canada
693
00:40:51.810 --> 00:40:56.540
I also lived in a small town and I think that might make a difference.
694
00:40:56.540 --> 00:41:00.180
So in Slovakia, did you live in a small town or did, did you live.
695
00:41:00.180 --> 00:41:01.740
[Eva] In the city? Um, so grew up in a,</v>
696
00:41:01.830 --> 00:41:06.260
or have been born in a small town and live in a city that is about
697
00:41:06.260 --> 00:41:07.300
60,000 people,
698
00:41:07.300 --> 00:41:11.980
but very close to the village where my grandpa and grandma actually, um, live.
699
00:41:12.090 --> 00:41:16.940
Yeah. Very big family. My grandpa got 12 siblings, so quite a big family.
700
00:41:16.940 --> 00:41:21.940
They have animals and gardens. So, um, yeah, very community.
701
00:41:21.940 --> 00:41:26.660
It's in, in, to put it this way, for foreigner, like in Slovakia, I feel like,
702
00:41:26.660 --> 00:41:28.900
I feel like most of the time when you live there,
703
00:41:29.250 --> 00:41:33.020
people know people everywhere you go. Like, you know, your local postmen,
704
00:41:33.160 --> 00:41:36.320
you know your butcher, you know your doctor, you know your lawyer, you know,
705
00:41:36.520 --> 00:41:40.040
neighbors in, in the whole corridor is the, you pretty much know people.
706
00:41:40.040 --> 00:41:44.600
It's very hu this the community sense is way different than having in Canada.
707
00:41:44.860 --> 00:41:49.560
But um, yeah, I grew up in a, in a city, like a small city.
708
00:41:51.530 --> 00:41:54.100
[Nolan] A small city. But that maybe that's also why, right?</v>
709
00:41:54.100 --> 00:41:59.020
Because when you're comparing Vancouver to a small city in BC you might
710
00:41:59.020 --> 00:42:03.620
also say, wow, the people in the small town are not as open-minded to
711
00:42:03.660 --> 00:42:05.460
different cultures or not as open-minded.
712
00:42:05.460 --> 00:42:09.510
[Eva] To a certain city. I have experienced, so for almost three years,</v>
713
00:42:09.580 --> 00:42:14.310
I believe two and a half years I work as a paramedic on a small place called
714
00:42:14.310 --> 00:42:19.070
Seward on northern part of Vancouver Island with 800 people. Yeah.
715
00:42:19.240 --> 00:42:20.590
Amazing experience.
716
00:42:20.590 --> 00:42:24.350
I would never have this experience ever if I never worked with the BC
717
00:42:24.350 --> 00:42:27.390
ambulance. It was really, really interesting. And, um,
718
00:42:28.450 --> 00:42:32.390
you see people with different opinions, but I wouldn't say close-minded at all.
719
00:42:32.550 --> 00:42:36.070
And it's just, it was a very small town. Okay. Um,
720
00:42:36.570 --> 00:42:41.150
and a different culture and, um, but uh,
721
00:42:41.150 --> 00:42:45.190
not neither even close to close-minded. Very open-minded actually. Yeah.
722
00:42:45.190 --> 00:42:49.760
[Nolan] Yeah, definitely. But that's also the west coast,</v>
723
00:42:49.880 --> 00:42:53.520
right? Uh, I think when you go into the interior small town,
724
00:42:53.520 --> 00:42:58.040
it's like it could be a little bit different. Um, but you're right,
725
00:42:58.040 --> 00:43:01.360
you're right. The, the, I think the more I reflect on it, the,
726
00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:06.360
the more I realize how over minded people are in, um, in, uh, British Columbia.
727
00:43:06.360 --> 00:43:07.640
[Eva] You know how I do that. Yeah.</v>
728
00:43:07.640 --> 00:43:11.160
[Nolan] Sorry. But what would it be like in the capital of Slovakia? Um,</v>
729
00:43:11.160 --> 00:43:12.800
what would the capital, Bratislava.
730
00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:16.240
[Eva] Just like any capital, but, uh, can I just get back to,</v>
731
00:43:16.240 --> 00:43:20.240
so you know how I know if it's open-minded or close-minded that I brought
732
00:43:20.240 --> 00:43:25.240
certain foreigners at home and I see how my parents are curious and always just,
733
00:43:25.240 --> 00:43:27.040
you know, I'm, I'm a product of my parents.
734
00:43:27.040 --> 00:43:30.680
I've always been curious and I ask people if they have a different background.
735
00:43:30.680 --> 00:43:32.800
Where you from? What's the culture like? What do you eat?
736
00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:35.320
What is your Christmas look like? Um,
737
00:43:35.380 --> 00:43:38.920
but not everyone is the same at home. Like we do have,
738
00:43:38.920 --> 00:43:43.640
some people are really not interesting as much of a different culture and,
739
00:43:44.140 --> 00:43:48.480
and they ways to see the world is the slovakian way to see the world. But,
740
00:43:48.850 --> 00:43:53.840
um, when I was, for example, in Seward or Kamlopps or small places that, um,
741
00:43:55.140 --> 00:43:57.030
I have the same experience,
742
00:43:57.030 --> 00:44:00.270
people who never travel or leave that small town,
743
00:44:00.870 --> 00:44:02.710
Canadian people will ask me the same questions.
744
00:44:02.710 --> 00:44:04.990
So how do your parents look like? And what,
745
00:44:04.990 --> 00:44:08.550
what does the summer in Slovakia look like? They were interested and like get like,
746
00:44:08.870 --> 00:44:12.950
honestly interested in my life and knowing me and bringing me food and, uh,
747
00:44:13.060 --> 00:44:17.150
thanks me for the job and just invite me for their private,
748
00:44:17.150 --> 00:44:21.270
like family parties and celebration and gathering. So, uh,
749
00:44:21.270 --> 00:44:24.070
I went to really different places thanks to my work.
750
00:44:24.500 --> 00:44:29.470
I was really mesmerized by how people are welcoming and actually interested in
751
00:44:29.470 --> 00:44:30.303
you.
752
00:44:30.440 --> 00:44:34.310
[Nolan] Yeah. Okay. You're an ambassador for the BC.</v>
753
00:44:34.790 --> 00:44:38.870
[Eva] I can sell the BC I, I, I have been told this, uh,</v>
754
00:44:38.870 --> 00:44:42.950
for many people that they said, oh, you sold me BC every time I get you a look,
755
00:44:43.100 --> 00:44:47.510
I will show you the best on Vancouver and what can offer you. For sure.
756
00:44:47.520 --> 00:44:51.350
So hopefully, yeah, why not? You choose to be living here, so
757
00:44:51.390 --> 00:44:52.670
you want to, um,
758
00:44:52.670 --> 00:44:56.950
you wanna see the best and you wanna know the hidden treasures too. Yeah.
759
00:44:57.240 --> 00:44:58.670
So that's a good way.
760
00:44:58.710 --> 00:45:03.710
So now, now that we're tomo personality,</v>
761
00:45:03.710 --> 00:45:06.150
one thing I also wanna ask, uh, because,
762
00:45:07.140 --> 00:45:09.550
well probably not most of the listeners on this show,
763
00:45:09.550 --> 00:45:12.350
because I think most people here are quite interested in culture,
764
00:45:12.890 --> 00:45:17.630
but one problem I find, especially in Hollywood movies, um,
765
00:45:17.630 --> 00:45:20.750
and obviously that gets perpetuated into the culture as well,
766
00:45:21.160 --> 00:45:25.710
is that eastern Europeans get lumped together sometimes as
767
00:45:25.770 --> 00:45:30.030
one culture, right? Um, which is completely wrong.
768
00:45:30.120 --> 00:45:33.830
They're [laughter], right? There's so many different languages, different foods,
769
00:45:33.940 --> 00:45:37.230
even though there are relations of course. Um,
770
00:45:37.930 --> 00:45:40.830
but what do you find,
771
00:45:41.060 --> 00:45:45.550
I I how do you identify, um, as,
772
00:45:45.550 --> 00:45:47.670
as a Slovak someone from Slovakia?
773
00:45:47.670 --> 00:45:48.503
[Eva] Oh, you cha.</v>
774
00:45:48.580 --> 00:45:49.270
[Nolan] Like what.</v>
775
00:45:49.270 --> 00:45:53.230
[Eva] You challenge me Nolan, you really do. Um, cuz I always, um,</v>
776
00:45:54.060 --> 00:45:56.550
I hate the world hate, but I hate patriotism.
777
00:45:56.780 --> 00:46:00.670
I feel like the world shape you and the more you travel, you know yourself,
778
00:46:00.670 --> 00:46:04.990
but the more you immigrate and live somewhere for a su substantial amount of
779
00:46:04.990 --> 00:46:09.430
time, it change you. And then sometimes you kind of lost the ground,
780
00:46:09.430 --> 00:46:11.670
like in a, in a good way. Not in a bad way,
781
00:46:11.670 --> 00:46:16.470
not in a sentimental or cuz I feel the nostalgia can be
782
00:46:16.470 --> 00:46:21.030
something that can be good, but also can be quiet bad if you,
783
00:46:21.030 --> 00:46:23.510
if you use it in the wrong way. Um,
784
00:46:23.940 --> 00:46:27.750
I think I still have the sense for culture, the folk.
785
00:46:28.140 --> 00:46:31.910
I love our folk music and the architectures every time I go home,
786
00:46:32.620 --> 00:46:36.910
I appreciate way more the history and everything that is still there
787
00:46:37.420 --> 00:46:40.150
than any of my friends I would say. Like, I get, I get,
788
00:46:40.940 --> 00:46:44.270
I get mesmerized by things that if you live there,
789
00:46:44.270 --> 00:46:48.390
you just get used to it and I stop and I touch and I smell and I love those
790
00:46:48.390 --> 00:46:52.950
little things. When I, and again, brings the nostalgia from my childhood. Um,
791
00:46:53.140 --> 00:46:56.350
I love talk to elderly, always did, uh,
792
00:46:56.350 --> 00:46:59.830
because I think they still have the skills that we are for forgetting.
793
00:46:59.900 --> 00:47:04.550
Slovakia used to be a lot of like handcrafted stuff, working with wools,
794
00:47:04.550 --> 00:47:07.150
working with sheep and wood, and I think we look.
795
00:47:07.220 --> 00:47:10.990
[Nolan] Yeah, it has the highest number or highest concentration of wood. Yeah.</v>
796
00:47:10.990 --> 00:47:13.550
[Eva] That's right. We have the tallest one, actually the tallest in, uh,</v>
797
00:47:13.550 --> 00:47:16.830
in the Europe and oldest the tallest one. Yeah. There's the,
798
00:47:16.830 --> 00:47:20.350
the number of castles per capitalizing I think is the highest.
799
00:47:20.410 --> 00:47:24.150
The churches like the history is the highest really pictures. And,
800
00:47:24.150 --> 00:47:27.030
and for that small, uh, town, you can,
801
00:47:27.030 --> 00:47:29.030
people used to just travel and see all the,
802
00:47:29.080 --> 00:47:32.800
the castles that are having a stamp card. So you can see them all in like a,
803
00:47:32.800 --> 00:47:36.720
I don't know, three day strip. Um, what is funny that when you go,
804
00:47:36.720 --> 00:47:41.280
when you mostly go to castles in, for example, like Ireland or Scotland,
805
00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:47.180
you will see the structure, but very rarely you will see the full furnish, uh,
806
00:47:47.180 --> 00:47:51.500
castle Slovak still have the rooms with the, with the,
807
00:47:51.500 --> 00:47:55.860
the tables and the silverware and where they sleep. So it's just, it's really,
808
00:47:56.430 --> 00:48:00.820
uh, interesting history and it feels like nothing's moved. Um, because like,
809
00:48:00.850 --> 00:48:02.060
yeah, you feel like the,
810
00:48:02.060 --> 00:48:05.620
the king is just somewhere behind the door because it looks like it's somewhat
811
00:48:05.620 --> 00:48:07.700
lives there. Um,
812
00:48:07.890 --> 00:48:11.780
I believe the part of Slovakian that I still didn't have with me is the sense of
813
00:48:11.780 --> 00:48:15.660
community for sure. And I love, as a woman, I love cooking,
814
00:48:15.770 --> 00:48:18.300
I love doing small like little tiny projects.
815
00:48:18.300 --> 00:48:23.140
I love knitting and all these like, funny things. Um, yeah, carving,
816
00:48:23.630 --> 00:48:27.060
carving wood and yeah, just, just stuff that brings me pleasure.
817
00:48:27.060 --> 00:48:29.860
Just what I saw in my parents and my grandparents.
818
00:48:30.320 --> 00:48:32.860
And that time when I was young I was like, oh, that's so lame.
819
00:48:32.860 --> 00:48:36.660
I will never do that. I will go to America and I will never do anything like this.
820
00:48:36.760 --> 00:48:38.660
And uh, you, yeah,
821
00:48:38.660 --> 00:48:42.980
you reach your thirties and you kind of almost crave for those things and,
822
00:48:43.200 --> 00:48:47.420
and there reminds you kind of who you are in that sense and brings you pleasure.
823
00:48:49.250 --> 00:48:49.630
Um.
824
00:48:49.630 --> 00:48:53.320
[Nolan] So do you find,</v>
825
00:48:53.650 --> 00:48:56.760
it sounds like you're saying that in Slovakia it's a little bit more
826
00:48:56.940 --> 00:49:00.440
collectivistic, um, like a little bit more community oriented.
827
00:49:01.470 --> 00:49:04.330
[Eva] You are the teacher, you know, the English is my third language.</v>
828
00:49:04.330 --> 00:49:06.810
That's why I have a little broken. So my second is German,
829
00:49:06.940 --> 00:49:09.370
so that's why I never went to school for English.
830
00:49:09.370 --> 00:49:11.650
So if you ever wonder like how she can teach,
831
00:49:11.890 --> 00:49:13.330
actually like her English is quite broken.
832
00:49:13.560 --> 00:49:17.970
That's how I learned by listening to Irish people. That's quite fun.
833
00:49:18.970 --> 00:49:22.410
[Nolan] [laughter] Okay. Well your, your English is really good,</v>
834
00:49:22.410 --> 00:49:26.450
but I remember eight year or seven years ago we had a conversation about that
835
00:49:26.450 --> 00:49:27.490
once, um,
836
00:49:27.580 --> 00:49:32.570
we were talking about speaking different languages and you mentioned that you
837
00:49:32.570 --> 00:49:36.130
miss not being able to speak your mother tongue because you feel like you're
838
00:49:36.130 --> 00:49:39.290
funnier and more intelligent in your, [Eva] you remember that?
839
00:49:39.360 --> 00:49:41.770
I think you're intelligent in English. Oh yeah.
840
00:49:42.040 --> 00:49:43.170
[Eva] Yeah. I still think.</v>
841
00:49:43.170 --> 00:49:45.930
[Nolan] That, I forget which, which convention we were in, but it was,</v>
842
00:49:45.930 --> 00:49:47.970
it was for some convention and we went around.
843
00:49:48.080 --> 00:49:48.730
[Eva] I still think that,</v>
844
00:49:48.730 --> 00:49:52.690
I still do think that because there's certain impression in Slovakia language
845
00:49:52.690 --> 00:49:56.450
that you cannot translate directly. And it's actually weird if you translate.
846
00:49:56.450 --> 00:49:58.090
I try, but it's really weird.
847
00:49:59.160 --> 00:50:01.050
[Nolan] Okay. T tell me some somebody. Cause I,</v>
848
00:50:01.050 --> 00:50:03.130
I love idioms and I love getting into discussions.
849
00:50:03.130 --> 00:50:05.610
[Eva] About so many. I try, um, what, what are some of these? I try,</v>
850
00:50:05.610 --> 00:50:09.450
I dunno if that's a idiom, but there is certain type of sayings that we have.
851
00:50:09.700 --> 00:50:13.770
My sister live in Scotland and we try to translate us to her Scottish boyfriend.
852
00:50:13.770 --> 00:50:15.010
He enormously laugh.
853
00:50:15.010 --> 00:50:19.530
It's like the laugh on his family is like Veronica say some saying in Slovakia,
854
00:50:19.530 --> 00:50:21.850
like, it wouldn't make sense to you. It's just, uh,
855
00:50:21.850 --> 00:50:26.330
it's really traditions from back home that,
856
00:50:27.630 --> 00:50:29.920
yeah, it's, those are just sayings.
857
00:50:29.920 --> 00:50:33.320
Like I try to apply it that sometimes at work and people, I,
858
00:50:33.320 --> 00:50:35.520
I can see the look when people were, they're like,
859
00:50:35.550 --> 00:50:37.480
I don't know what she just said and why.
860
00:50:38.620 --> 00:50:42.600
[Nolan] Can, can you say one of them? Um, but, but in, in your language. Um.</v>
861
00:50:44.760 --> 00:50:48.090
[Eva] I have to just, oh yeah. So like, uh, so like, uh, don't worry,</v>
862
00:50:48.130 --> 00:50:49.930
pause a piece on the wall.
863
00:50:50.800 --> 00:50:54.780
Why would you like a frozen piece or piece on the wall? It makes like,
864
00:50:54.950 --> 00:50:59.260
it doesn't make sense to do the same job over and over. So.
865
00:51:00.020 --> 00:51:02.630
[Nolan] Okay. Well what does it sound like? Can you, can you say it in your own words?</v>
866
00:51:02.670 --> 00:51:04.030
[Eva] Cause I wanna just hear what it.</v>
867
00:51:05.840 --> 00:51:09.210
[Nolan] Okay, so throwing peas against the wall or.</v>
868
00:51:09.210 --> 00:51:09.750
[Eva] We.</v>
869
00:51:09.750 --> 00:51:10.650
[Nolan] And what does that.</v>
870
00:51:10.650 --> 00:51:13.610
[Eva] Mean? It's like you're trying to do the same job,</v>
871
00:51:15.500 --> 00:51:19.240
um, yeah, but you,
872
00:51:19.850 --> 00:51:24.080
it doesn't make sense anymore to do that because it doesn't give you any, um,
873
00:51:25.570 --> 00:51:29.980
kind of rewards, but you would, you wouldn't see any outcome. Like, it's like,
874
00:51:30.300 --> 00:51:32.740
it's like useless jobs doing over and over.
875
00:51:32.740 --> 00:51:37.460
Like something that it doesn't make sense, but you just keep doing that for
876
00:51:39.130 --> 00:51:43.730
Yeah. Or there or you going for a walk and we said,
877
00:51:44.380 --> 00:51:49.290
um, there is no, like, it was so empty, there was no foot in there. And my,
878
00:51:49.620 --> 00:51:51.450
my Toronto friend Caitlin,
879
00:51:51.450 --> 00:51:55.810
she always lashes like say some something in Slovak saying, I was like, um,
880
00:51:55.870 --> 00:51:58.810
how about we go for a hike and there's no food? I'm like, yeah,
881
00:51:58.810 --> 00:52:02.130
you remembered that one, right? And it's just like, again,
882
00:52:02.780 --> 00:52:07.570
in Slovak sounds that [inaudible] but it
883
00:52:07.570 --> 00:52:09.250
doesn't make sense if you translate that.
884
00:52:09.250 --> 00:52:14.010
It's just something will keep saying and it's just going and makes sense in that
885
00:52:14.250 --> 00:52:17.210
language. But also we do have a specific language.
886
00:52:17.730 --> 00:52:21.930
Remember as you asked me for my last name, the ova, we have, uh,
887
00:52:21.930 --> 00:52:26.290
certain types of things that maybe a teacher maybe,
888
00:52:26.290 --> 00:52:30.770
maybe a Slovak teacher will be able to a, uh, answer those question too. But,
889
00:52:30.780 --> 00:52:34.210
um, that will be, or we have all the fingers are the same.
890
00:52:34.210 --> 00:52:37.410
If you go to a doctor and you broke finger or toe,
891
00:52:37.410 --> 00:52:40.450
you just tell them fingers because we don't have fingers and toes.
892
00:52:42.540 --> 00:52:44.130
[Nolan] Uh, it's the same in Spanish, just dedos.</v>
893
00:52:44.130 --> 00:52:48.210
[Eva] You know, those things. Yeah. And the ova is quiet specific. So you,</v>
894
00:52:48.210 --> 00:52:51.970
you will always know, you will always know you speak to a female if you,
895
00:52:52.140 --> 00:52:54.610
if the last name ends with oba.
896
00:52:55.850 --> 00:52:56.620
[Nolan] Yeah. Yeah.</v>
897
00:52:56.620 --> 00:53:00.180
So you mentioned that earlier and I think that's interesting as well because,
898
00:53:00.630 --> 00:53:04.500
uh, it's, it's helpful, right? Like as you mentioned with doctors, right?
899
00:53:04.500 --> 00:53:06.780
Because there are situations where, uh, uh,
900
00:53:06.780 --> 00:53:09.140
especially a woman might want a female doctor.
901
00:53:09.870 --> 00:53:12.380
[Eva] Or what you expect. Yeah. It's just, it's just interesting. Yeah.</v>
902
00:53:12.380 --> 00:53:15.180
Those are different. Definitely a different languages. Sure.
903
00:53:15.400 --> 00:53:17.940
How easy was for you to learn Spanish? Yeah.
904
00:53:18.750 --> 00:53:21.100
[Nolan] Um, it's all right. Like, I'm still struggling. Like I,</v>
905
00:53:21.170 --> 00:53:25.240
I mean I can speak about anything with everyone. Um,
906
00:53:25.540 --> 00:53:28.640
but yeah, I definitely feel dumb sometimes, right?
907
00:53:28.640 --> 00:53:31.280
Cause you're just constantly looking for words.
908
00:53:31.280 --> 00:53:35.800
You're constantly looking for ways to express yourself in the best way. Um,
909
00:53:35.980 --> 00:53:39.720
but there are situations now where I'd rather speak in Spanish
910
00:53:39.720 --> 00:53:40.400
than in English, right?
911
00:53:40.400 --> 00:53:44.200
There are just some expressions that work better in Spanish.
912
00:53:44.260 --> 00:53:45.560
And um,
913
00:53:45.670 --> 00:53:50.240
also some things that are just funny in Spanish because it has cultural context
914
00:53:50.410 --> 00:53:54.160
to it and it's just not funny in English because it just doesn't have that same
915
00:53:54.520 --> 00:53:57.600
cultural context. Um, yeah. Uh,
916
00:53:57.600 --> 00:54:01.400
but I wouldn't say it's easy. It wasn't, it wasn't easy for me.
917
00:54:01.470 --> 00:54:05.040
It's definitely a struggle and I definitely still get frustrated.
918
00:54:05.430 --> 00:54:10.400
I throw childish tantrums sometimes when I, when it doesn't go my way.
919
00:54:10.690 --> 00:54:12.760
[Eva] that’s awesome. [Nolan] I enjoy it. But.
920
00:54:12.760 --> 00:54:15.600
[that's, I, that's very important. Do you use your hands a lot?</v>
921
00:54:15.830 --> 00:54:17.820
Because I used to use hands all the time.
922
00:54:18.150 --> 00:54:21.180
[Nolan] Uh, yeah. But I didn't even notice this. Um,</v>
923
00:54:21.180 --> 00:54:23.260
but my friend said it the other day. Uh,
924
00:54:23.260 --> 00:54:27.820
he came last month to visit and he said, I don't speak any Spanish Nolan,
925
00:54:27.820 --> 00:54:31.460
but I always know when you're talking about the past and using the past tense
926
00:54:31.460 --> 00:54:36.180
because you always go like this. Because sometimes I'm worried like,
927
00:54:36.180 --> 00:54:39.300
oh no, did I use the correct, uh, past tense.
928
00:54:39.310 --> 00:54:43.940
So just to make sure that they understand [laughter] , I do the hand gesture. Nice.
929
00:54:43.940 --> 00:54:47.940
Pointing backwards. Yeah. [laughter] Yeah.
930
00:54:49.190 --> 00:54:52.860
Um, okay, so this is a question I ask most, uh,
931
00:54:52.860 --> 00:54:54.460
multilingual people on the show.
932
00:54:55.310 --> 00:54:59.060
Do you feel like when you were learning English or when you were learning
933
00:54:59.060 --> 00:54:59.893
German,
934
00:55:00.090 --> 00:55:04.940
that you found a new part of your identity as you learned
935
00:55:05.180 --> 00:55:08.140
that language? Um, because I always say I was on the show,
936
00:55:08.140 --> 00:55:11.340
but polyglots mentioned that if you want to learn many languages,
937
00:55:11.340 --> 00:55:14.980
it's a good idea to find a different identity with that language.
938
00:55:15.100 --> 00:55:19.090
[Eva] Interesting. I'm just wondering like in what sense? You know what I'm asking?</v>
939
00:55:21.090 --> 00:55:24.950
[Nolan] Um, okay. Like, so for instance,</v>
940
00:55:25.800 --> 00:55:30.270
uh, well Flemish for me, I learned it when I was a child, right?
941
00:55:30.280 --> 00:55:33.830
So for me, that part of my identity when I speak Flemish,
942
00:55:33.940 --> 00:55:38.350
I feel very clean in a way. Um, cause I associate it with family.
943
00:55:39.240 --> 00:55:43.470
Um, I don't swear very often. English. I mean, [laughter] ,
944
00:55:43.700 --> 00:55:46.590
I grew up with it. I had my early twenties with English,
945
00:55:46.640 --> 00:55:49.470
so I swear a little bit more. Um,
946
00:55:49.470 --> 00:55:53.470
I'm comfortable talking about taboo subjects, uh,
947
00:55:53.530 --> 00:55:57.750
now in Spanish. Um, [laughter] I want to be a refranero
948
00:55:58.790 --> 00:56:03.150
which means someone that knows a lot of references and like uses a lot of idioms
949
00:56:03.150 --> 00:56:06.510
and stuff, and I'm trying to develop that part of myself, but it's difficult.
950
00:56:06.970 --> 00:56:11.590
And then more just naturally I find in Spanish, well,
951
00:56:11.600 --> 00:56:14.550
as I said, dumber, but that's obviously not a personality thing,
952
00:56:14.550 --> 00:56:17.430
that's just a lack of words. Um,
953
00:56:18.690 --> 00:56:21.670
but I do feel like I'm starting,
954
00:56:21.740 --> 00:56:26.600
people complain here more I find than in, in English. Yeah. Uh, it's,
955
00:56:26.600 --> 00:56:29.040
it's more common to complain and I find that I,
956
00:56:29.070 --> 00:56:30.880
I start to complain a bit more in Spanish.
957
00:56:30.880 --> 00:56:33.040
[Eva] We have that in [inaudible] quite a lot. Okay.</v>
958
00:56:33.040 --> 00:56:37.920
So I think I know what you're asking me now. I think I, um,
959
00:56:38.720 --> 00:56:42.280
struggle with mixing couple languages together. I honestly,
960
00:56:42.840 --> 00:56:46.680
honestly don't think that I'm fluent the way I used to be in Slovakian,
961
00:56:47.460 --> 00:56:52.110
but because it kind of intertwine with a Czech, my ex-husband was check and,
962
00:56:52.280 --> 00:56:56.350
uh, my current boyfriend is check. So I think, and a lot of Czech people,
963
00:56:56.360 --> 00:57:00.670
so that very, those languages are very similar. And if I speak too fast,
964
00:57:00.670 --> 00:57:05.350
I use some words, they're just comfortable or I get used to them. Um,
965
00:57:05.350 --> 00:57:08.390
so I've been quite criticized when I get back in Slovakia that I,
966
00:57:08.460 --> 00:57:12.270
I don't speak as, you know, I make lots of grammar mistakes and stuff like that.
967
00:57:12.270 --> 00:57:16.590
So sometimes I feel not as secure when I speak Slovakian not as,
968
00:57:16.590 --> 00:57:19.470
not as articulate, um, in English.
969
00:57:19.470 --> 00:57:23.710
I still have stutter if I speak to people who give me impression that they don't
970
00:57:23.710 --> 00:57:27.690
understand me and that sometimes happen. Um, uh,
971
00:57:27.830 --> 00:57:32.170
but I really enjoy that language. I really enjoy speaking English.
972
00:57:32.170 --> 00:57:35.850
I feel like I speak out of my heart and um,
973
00:57:36.540 --> 00:57:40.510
it is who I am by now. So I feel like, um,
974
00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:44.870
it give me that, I don't know, just,
975
00:57:44.870 --> 00:57:48.590
just using any words that I ever, ever want to. Um, I do,
976
00:57:48.620 --> 00:57:52.830
I do feel more freedom to express in, um,
977
00:57:54.280 --> 00:57:57.070
in um, the way I want it in, in English.
978
00:57:57.530 --> 00:58:00.520
But then if I speak in, uh,
979
00:58:00.520 --> 00:58:05.440
medical lingo or let's say my dad in a garden and
980
00:58:05.440 --> 00:58:06.160
we make jokes,
981
00:58:06.160 --> 00:58:11.160
that's still definitely slovakian where I just lose a tiny
982
00:58:11.160 --> 00:58:15.880
bit of, um, myself into the Slovakian humor. And uh,
983
00:58:15.910 --> 00:58:20.320
yeah, we still have like old Slovakian saying too, or not saying,
984
00:58:20.320 --> 00:58:22.600
but the language that my grandma used to speak.
985
00:58:22.900 --> 00:58:25.120
And this is very specific accent too.
986
00:58:25.130 --> 00:58:28.840
So that's what I do when I speak to my dad and my sister.
987
00:58:29.250 --> 00:58:32.840
We makes those jokes and we speak that accents together.
988
00:58:33.380 --> 00:58:37.560
And uh, yeah. And, and in that time I feel like I'm seven again. You know,
989
00:58:37.560 --> 00:58:42.020
like those, um, I guess language comes with a memory.
990
00:58:42.020 --> 00:58:45.620
And again, the nostalgia, I feel like every time I speak different language,
991
00:58:45.620 --> 00:58:50.620
I just feel like I'm that time in that place where I remember I
992
00:58:50.620 --> 00:58:53.810
learned that language. That's Yeah.
993
00:58:54.480 --> 00:58:59.060
[Nolan] Yeah. Yeah. No, that, that's a very good point. Um, yeah,</v>
994
00:58:59.060 --> 00:58:59.850
I would like some,
995
00:58:59.850 --> 00:59:04.500
I need to talk some to some more people that were raised speaking four languages
996
00:59:04.500 --> 00:59:08.260
or raised speaking five languages because like you, well I,
997
00:59:08.260 --> 00:59:12.620
I was raised speaking Flemish in English I guess pretty much at the same time.
998
00:59:12.990 --> 00:59:17.220
Um, but I still associate Flemish with my younger life a bit more.
999
00:59:17.990 --> 00:59:20.780
Um, and then now Spanish. So like you, it's,
1000
00:59:20.810 --> 00:59:23.600
I more associate it with different phases in my life,
1001
00:59:23.600 --> 00:59:27.080
but I wonder what it's like for people that grew up speaking.
1002
00:59:27.080 --> 00:59:29.080
[Eva] That would be very interest, four languages. That would be very interesting.</v>
1003
00:59:29.080 --> 00:59:31.720
I would know. I would love to know that as well. That's very interesting.
1004
00:59:33.470 --> 00:59:36.620
[Nolan] If you, if you meet someone like that, tell them to come on the show already.</v>
1005
00:59:36.620 --> 00:59:37.620
Listeners right now,
1006
00:59:37.620 --> 00:59:40.980
if you are one of those people who is raised with four languages, uh,
1007
00:59:41.220 --> 00:59:45.980
reach out to me at withoutborders.fyi or leave a comment in
1008
00:59:46.140 --> 00:59:49.420
whatever platform you're listening on right now and let me know and come on the
1009
00:59:49.420 --> 00:59:54.370
show for sure. [laughter] Oh, okay. Well Eva,
1010
00:59:54.370 --> 00:59:58.050
we're over an hour here. So just to finish this up, um,
1011
00:59:58.880 --> 01:00:02.970
I want to know just a little bit more what you want the listeners to know about
1012
01:00:03.040 --> 01:00:07.890
Slovakia because before I didn't know too much about the country.
1013
01:00:08.460 --> 01:00:12.210
Um, and then recently I, I found out, yeah, as we talked about the churches,
1014
01:00:12.440 --> 01:00:16.970
I found out that it has one of the highest number of springs and fresh water.
1015
01:00:17.820 --> 01:00:22.570
Um, then the capital, the capital, um,
1016
01:00:22.630 --> 01:00:25.290
Bratislava is the,
1017
01:00:25.780 --> 01:00:30.690
is the only city where it borders two independent countries.
1018
01:00:31.420 --> 01:00:36.170
Uh, cause true it borders, um, Austria and Hung Hungary, right?
1019
01:00:36.170 --> 01:00:39.970
Yeah. So that's, that's fascinating. So what are just a few other things you,
1020
01:00:39.970 --> 01:00:40.780
you want to listen.
1021
01:00:40.780 --> 01:00:45.570
[Eva] As you mentioned, I love to visit in a short period of time. You can visit, um,</v>
1022
01:00:45.570 --> 01:00:50.570
two different countries as well. It still has beautiful folk traditions,
1023
01:00:50.570 --> 01:00:55.130
like if you and a huge history and folk history and again the
1024
01:00:55.130 --> 01:00:59.370
castles and it's just picturesque. You don't need too much money to spend.
1025
01:00:59.390 --> 01:01:03.770
And you can in a quite a bit of short time travel
1026
01:01:03.860 --> 01:01:07.810
through a different villages that each of them looks very, uh,
1027
01:01:07.810 --> 01:01:11.920
different as well. Um, there a certain amount of farms too,
1028
01:01:11.920 --> 01:01:15.560
if you were into that too. We have lots of sports. If you are a paraglider,
1029
01:01:15.560 --> 01:01:19.040
if you are a slack liner, if you are kayaker or skier,
1030
01:01:19.040 --> 01:01:23.160
you will have lots of fun there. Um, and from my opinion,
1031
01:01:23.230 --> 01:01:24.960
I would say people are very kind.
1032
01:01:24.960 --> 01:01:29.800
There is no way you will suffer somewhere on the street or you will get lost or,
1033
01:01:29.970 --> 01:01:33.080
or, or some kind of a crime scenario.
1034
01:01:33.150 --> 01:01:36.520
I would say it's quite safe and people are really, really kind.
1035
01:01:36.520 --> 01:01:40.840
They will offer you food most of the time, um, if not like, place to sleep.
1036
01:01:41.220 --> 01:01:42.320
And uh, yeah,
1037
01:01:42.320 --> 01:01:46.200
they will definitely guide you if you want to see some hidden treasures.
1038
01:01:46.200 --> 01:01:49.840
They're not like hiding that. We don't have as much tourists that in Vancouver,
1039
01:01:49.840 --> 01:01:51.800
if you wanna see a hide hidden treasures,
1040
01:01:51.940 --> 01:01:56.000
you have to really dig deeper because there's so many tourists and at home you
1041
01:01:56.000 --> 01:02:00.560
really see a staff that you will be by yourself next to a waterfall or you know,
1042
01:02:00.560 --> 01:02:04.200
like the scenery you always want to have for your Instagram pictures you can
1043
01:02:04.480 --> 01:02:07.480
find there for sure. And, uh, yeah, yeah, I just,
1044
01:02:07.480 --> 01:02:10.280
I just feel like people are generally very lovely and very,
1045
01:02:10.630 --> 01:02:14.600
very nice to foreigners and some of them are like my parents. They're,
1046
01:02:14.600 --> 01:02:15.560
they're interesting in you.
1047
01:02:15.560 --> 01:02:19.080
They wanna know where you are from and what language do you speak, what you,
1048
01:02:19.120 --> 01:02:23.640
you eat. Yeah. So that will be a good reason to visit.
1049
01:02:23.640 --> 01:02:28.530
[Nolan] Perfect. Uh, then one more thing before people go. Uh, what about,</v>
1050
01:02:28.530 --> 01:02:32.770
is there anything special related to etiquette that people should know?
1051
01:02:32.770 --> 01:02:36.610
Because I read that you have to be invited before using someone’s first name.
1052
01:02:36.610 --> 01:02:41.370
[Eva] Oh, um, that comes to a German language as well. So I really,</v>
1053
01:02:41.500 --> 01:02:43.970
oh, this is terrible. Nolan for me because I'm not a teacher,
1054
01:02:43.970 --> 01:02:46.050
I don't wanna screw this up, but, um,
1055
01:02:46.700 --> 01:02:51.170
we do speak to elderly and people you don't know in a different ways.
1056
01:02:51.860 --> 01:02:54.930
Uh, but it wouldn't make sense if you speak English and if you speak English,
1057
01:02:54.930 --> 01:02:58.890
just use the last name and it will be safe. Uh, but yeah, like we,
1058
01:02:58.890 --> 01:03:03.650
we use a little bit different, uh, lingo when you know someone and, uh,
1059
01:03:03.650 --> 01:03:05.090
so if you just use the last name,
1060
01:03:05.090 --> 01:03:07.890
we'll be fine and they will correct you if they, if you,
1061
01:03:07.890 --> 01:03:09.970
if they feel uncomfortable, they will just say, yes,
1062
01:03:09.970 --> 01:03:14.610
please call me John or call me Eva. Right. So you wouldn't be that. It's not,
1063
01:03:14.860 --> 01:03:18.450
it is a etiquette for local people for sure. And you will,
1064
01:03:18.900 --> 01:03:21.090
if you start with that, you're not gonna get wrong.
1065
01:03:21.090 --> 01:03:25.970
But nobody from what I remember will get very offended if you
1066
01:03:25.970 --> 01:03:30.410
just say, hi Veronica. Like it wouldn't be, it wouldn't be that bad. No.
1067
01:03:30.840 --> 01:03:35.240
[Nolan] Okay. Okay. Good to know. And um,</v>
1068
01:03:35.240 --> 01:03:38.400
what about going inside? I heard like Canada,
1069
01:03:38.700 --> 01:03:42.120
and unlike the rest of Europe, you take
1070
01:03:42.120 --> 01:03:42.790
[Eva] off your shoes.</v>
1071
01:03:42.790 --> 01:03:44.560
[Nolan] When you go into someone's house, please.</v>
1072
01:03:44.560 --> 01:03:47.800
[Eva] Is that correct? Please? We always laugh on Beverly Hills. Uh, okay,</v>
1073
01:03:47.800 --> 01:03:48.680
what was that movie?
1074
01:03:49.040 --> 01:03:53.320
Remember back in the nineties that everyone was just even like going to the bed
1075
01:03:53.320 --> 01:03:56.560
with their shoes? I was like, what? How weird is this? Um, yeah,
1076
01:03:56.560 --> 01:03:57.440
so please [laughter]
1077
01:03:58.230 --> 01:04:01.840
[Nolan] Yeah, that's like it in most of Europe people like, I I,</v>
1078
01:04:02.100 --> 01:04:05.360
I'm the weirdo here in Spain. When people come over, I always say,
1079
01:04:05.360 --> 01:04:08.760
please take off your shoes. And now I provide slippers for everyone. Uh,
1080
01:04:08.760 --> 01:04:11.520
cause I think it's disgusting, but it's, it's how it most of Europe.
1081
01:04:11.520 --> 01:04:15.000
[Eva] Is something you of difference again, in Slovakia and my Canadian friends,</v>
1082
01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:16.720
Kevin always love, love at me.
1083
01:04:16.910 --> 01:04:17.520
[Nolan] Feel at home</v>
1084
01:04:17.520 --> 01:04:20.400
[Eva] Now he's my neighbor and I was like, what do you mean slippers?</v>
1085
01:04:20.400 --> 01:04:24.000
Because he came to my house and I was like, are called from a feet [laughter]
1086
01:04:24.000 --> 01:04:27.000
And he was like, why you a, like if I'm called on a feet,
1087
01:04:27.000 --> 01:04:29.800
I might be called on the hedge and I might need like a sweater.
1088
01:04:29.800 --> 01:04:32.080
Why are you asking me if I'm called from a feet?
1089
01:04:32.220 --> 01:04:35.240
And he's such a slovakian saying that if you cold on a feet,
1090
01:04:35.240 --> 01:04:36.920
we're gonna give you slippers. He was like, wait a minute,
1091
01:04:37.210 --> 01:04:40.240
do you have like each size slippers for each person?
1092
01:04:40.730 --> 01:04:43.520
So I remember I laughed so much about it. I was like, no,
1093
01:04:43.520 --> 01:04:48.440
you just get like in some general slippers for each of you and
1094
01:04:48.440 --> 01:04:50.680
you just, we just take care of your feet for sure. Yeah.
1095
01:04:50.680 --> 01:04:53.000
Like if you cold from a feet, you're gonna get sleeps.
1096
01:04:54.080 --> 01:04:56.040
[Nolan] [laughter] Awesome. Okay, good.</v>
1097
01:04:56.040 --> 01:04:59.080
Now I feel comfortable going there in the winter as well. [laughter]
1098
01:05:00.780 --> 01:05:04.200
All right, well Eva, thank you so much for coming on the show.
1099
01:05:04.310 --> 01:05:08.080
I really appreciate it. Um, for all the listeners right now,
1100
01:05:09.280 --> 01:05:12.360
remember if you want to join in on the conversation or add something,
1101
01:05:12.360 --> 01:05:15.520
please check out without borders.fyi.
1102
01:05:15.870 --> 01:05:19.680
I do rely on paid subscriptions to keep this going. Um,
1103
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and of course you can find me on YouTube or Instagram as well.
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[Eva] Thank you. Thank you for the beautiful work you're doing.</v>