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PODCAST

Pole-ish

Peter MacLeod / John Nett

Two expats. Two cities. Two perspectives.Peter, a Brit living in Warsaw, and John, an American based in Kraków, dive into the hilarious, always confusing and often eye-opening reality of building a new life in a foreign country. From navigating Polish bureaucracy, learning a new language, dating, renting, and understanding cultural differences, to deeper conversations about immigration, integration, politics and money... no topic is off-limits. Using humour (humor!), honesty and

society & culture language learning

All Episodes

01:07:20

Man Up, Pole-ish

Pole-ish ·

2026/10/05

This week on Pole-ish, Peter and John are joined by British expat Mark Cameron, who tells us why he fell in love with Gdańsk, what keeps him in Poland, and why he believes making friends is easy enough but making real connections can be much harder.After experiencing depression himself, Mark set up Man Up Polska, a peer-to-peer support group for English-speaking men in Poland. We talk openly about loneliness, masculinity, working from home, moving countries and the importance of simply having

en

01:09:48

Pole-ish Foodies

Pole-ish ·

2026/09/28

Polish food is having a moment - and who better to talk about it than Karolina Klesta, founder of Polish Foodies?Karolina joins Peter and John to talk about her journey from travelling the world to returning to Poland, and how a love of Polish food turned into a global online community and a collection of 10 cookbooks.We get stuck into the big questions: why Polish food is still misunderstood abroad, whether traditional Polish cuisine really is all about meat, the secrets of a proper bigos, the joys

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01:14:49

Lee Learns Pole-ish

Pole-ish ·

2026/09/21

Meet Lee Taylor, an Englishman who moved to Poland, couldn't speak the language nor understand what's going on, and initially followed his Polish wife around like a “little lost dog”?Today, Lee is the man behind ‘Lee Learns Polish’, the channel that documents his experiences, misunderstandings and attempts to master Polish and is now a hugely popular social-media brand.Lee tells us how a seemingly spontaneous decision to move to Poland came about, how arriving in a new country left him feeling that

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01:12:33

Saxidental Expat

Pole-ish ·

2026/09/14

What happens when an American musician working on a cruise ship falls in love with a Polish woman and finds himself unexpectedly moving to a country he knew almost nothing about? Our guest, Tony Lombardo, says he crash-landed in Poland, and his story is quite the ride.Tony joins us to talk about making a life in Poland, learning Polish the hard way, the joys and frustrations of Polish bureaucracy (obvs), cultural misunderstandings, making friends as an adult, and why resilience matters when you're

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01:15:07

From Sicily to Silesia

Pole-ish ·

2026/08/22

It's our silver anniversary! Episode 25 of Pole-ish takes us on the first stop of our grand tour of Poland - Katowice.Our guest is Sicilian-born Marco Cillepi, who arrived in Katowice 15 years ago expecting little more than a job and a change of scenery. Instead, he built a career, a family and the Katowice Internationals Foundation .What began as a casual Saturday kickabout involving players from a handful of countries eventually became the Katowice Internationals World Cup, now featuring 28

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00:56:26

Proszę! Proszę!

Pole-ish ·

2026/08/03

When Nigerian content creator Raphael Obi (DarkMagikCA) joined us for Episode 17, we barely scratched the surface. So we invited him back. This time, Raphael shares the stories that didn't make it into the first episode - from the challenges of finding work and learning Polish to surviving scams, online trolls and the rollercoaster of going viral.We also talk about why Warsaw can actually make learning Polish harder, how joining local communities might be the secret to finally becoming fluent, and

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01:04:54

Planet Pole-ish

Pole-ish ·

2026/07/20

This week we're joined by Ged Nichols, founder of Planet Kraków, one of the fastest-growing online communities dedicated to helping visitors discover the very best of Poland's former royal capital.Originally from Sunderland via Los Angeles, Ged tells us how a pandemic lockdown, a leap of faith, and a move to Kraków led him to create a platform that's now inspiring thousands of tourists and expats to look beyond the obvious attractions.We chat about hidden gems in Kraków, why Nowa Huta deserves far

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01:17:26

Pan Kiełbasa

Pole-ish ·

2026/07/11

It's a Kraków Special on Pole-ish as we welcome David McGirr - Scottish photographer, founder of Kraków Expats Directory, creator of Kraków TV, and one of the city's official Ambassadors of Multiculturalism.David explains what first drew him to Kraków, why he chose to stay, and how he's helped thousands of newcomers discover the city. We talk hidden gems, favourite neighbourhoods, expat life, learning Polish, British tourists, Kraków's thriving food scene, the city's unique blend of history and

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01:00:17

Flying Solo

Pole-ish ·

2026/06/22

No guest this week - just Peter and John, armed with microphones, questionable opinions and 21 increasingly random questions.In this special guest-free edition of Pole-ish, the hosts turn the spotlight on themselves. They tackle everything from beaches vs. mountains, Warsaw vs. Kraków, and Żabka vs. Biedronka, before John reveals his own answers to the Five Big Questions usually reserved for guests.Along the way, John discovers a new scuba diving community in Kraków, Peter stumbles across the

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01:08:10

Mission Accompl-ish

Pole-ish ·

2026/06/15

Football, history, bureaucracy, seafood, bicycles and a lot of affection for Poland - it can only be Pole-ish!In this episode, Peter and John welcome Mike Giammattei, an American former Army Reservist who came to Poland on deployment, met the woman who would become his wife, and ended up building a life in Gniezno, Poland's historic first capital.Along the way, Mike shares his experiences of bristling at Polish bureaucracy, working in logistics and his frankly bizarre love of Ipswich Town - not

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01:07:13

Two Weddings and a PESEL

Pole-ish ·

2026/06/08

In Episode 19 of Pole-ish, we ask what makes someone leave Britain behind to build a new life in Poland.Communications consultant Tom Lane swapped the drizzle of West Midlands for the sunlit uplands of Poznań after falling in love during the Covid years. He shares the story of moving to Poland, navigating the post-Brexit maze of paperwork, getting married across two countries, and launching his own communications business in a foreign language and culture. Along the way, the conversation explores

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01:08:15

Pole-ish Position

Pole-ish ·

2026/06/01

For Episode 18 of Pole-ish, we’re joined by internationally minded Polish career coach, recruitment expert and intercultural communication specialist Lucy Bolin.After living in six countries across Europe and North America - including the US, UK, Germany, Spain and France - Lucy shares what two decades abroad taught her about identity, ambition, language, belonging and the emotional reality of expat life.We explore reverse culture shock, why some people never truly feel “at home”, how moving abroad

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00:54:58

Rosół Cures Everything

Pole-ish ·

2026/05/25

In Episode 17 of Pole-ish podcast, Peter and John are joined by Nigerian-born content creator Raphael Obi, whose hilarious and sharply observed videos about life in Poland have built a huge online following.Raphael talks about why he moved from Nigeria to Warsaw, the culture shocks of arriving in Poland, learning the Polish language (or attempting to), and what it’s like being a Black foreigner in one of Europe’s most homogenous countries.The conversation dives into identity, belonging, bureaucracy,

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00:54:09

Barszcz to the Future

Pole-ish ·

2026/05/18

We boldly go where no podcast has gone before... well, at least no podcast which also features ptasie mleczko, pétanque and the coconut song.Our special guest is Dr Tomasz Zajkowski - President of the Polish Astrobiology Society, and researcher at AGH University’s new Faculty of Space Technologies in Kraków. Tomasz talks to us about the search for extraterrestrial life, whether we might all secretly be Martians, the challenges of science in Poland and the US, and why understanding alien life can

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01:00:07

Borders, Beavers & Benny Hill

Pole-ish ·

2026/05/11

In Episode 15 of Pole-ish, Peter and John kick off with Benny Hill’s grammatically and politically incorrect legacy, Warsaw’s striking new Museum of Modern Art, and a wild-animal challenge featuring bison, boar and beavers (naturally).Then they’re joined by British journalist and author Jo Harper for one of their most honest and revealing conversations yet.Jo reflects on arriving in Poland in the 1990s, building a life here through marriage, journalism and fatherhood, and the personal upheavals that

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00:55:09

T*ts – Slow Down!

Pole-ish ·

2026/05/04

This week on Pole-ish, Peter and John welcome Oleg Tyshchenko, a Ukrainian developer behind Polish Heritage: Quiz Explorer - an app designed to help people discover Poland through quizzes, recipes, history and culture.Along the way, we get into Polish vs Ukrainian borscht, the truth about pierogi ruskie, why philosophy still matters in tech, and how Polish heritage can survive across borders and generations.Plus: ChatGPT takes our Five Big Questions, John talks Kraków Marathon dinosaurs, and Peter

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00:42:03

No Means Yes

Pole-ish ·

2026/04/27

This week on Pole-ish, we prove once again that you don’t need a wild night out for things to descend into mild chaos. Fresh(-ish) from a wholesome Kraków meetup, we recap an evening that featured cherry liqueur, questionable coordination, zapiekanka incidents, and - because it’s Poland in April - a surprise midnight snowfall. Rock and roll.There’s also a global reality check as we discover our listeners are popping up everywhere from Vietnam to Oman (still not France… awkward), plus a deep dive

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00:39:31

Two Mates, Three Beers, No Plan…

Pole-ish ·

2026/04/20

Our two Pole-ish buddies finally record an episode in the same room. In this very special (and somewhat disorganised) episode, Peter & John record together in Kraków with no script, no plan, but absolutely no shortage of beer.They swap stories of Poland past and present (including propeller planes into a snowy Balice), debate why Kraków might just be the perfect-sized city, and attempt to separate fact from fiction - with mixed success - on everything from wolves to bar & café density.Along

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00:26:59

Frankenstein's Monster

Pole-ish ·

2026/04/13

Something very different this week with Peter and John taking a well-earned(!) break. What happens to all the bits that don’t make the cut? They come back to life. Think of it as the Pole-ish podcast’s very own monster – slightly unhinged, oddly charming, and impossible to categorise.This week, we bring you a selection of offcuts, bonus content and bloopers that haven’t previously been aired in previous episodes.Listen out for:· John makes a mess of Three in 10 – twice!· David Kennedy

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00:31:23

My Pole-ish Podcast – Part II

Pole-ish ·

2026/04/09

In this special bonus Thursday episode of Pole-ish, we bring you the second part of our interview with Raf Uzar – yes, that’s him off the wonderful My English Podcast.Today, Raf takes us on a journey across Poland, and down into Slovakia, eating and drinking along the way, as well as going way waaaay back as he regales us with tales from his early days as a young man in Łódz and his extraordinary interface there with the local police. Derby County fans in particular sit back and enjoy, as you’re in

en

30 results

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