#1 | The Pilot

After a 9-month hiatus, MinionTalks is finally back and like a phoenix from the ashes, we rise again. Thank you all for your patience! Season 2's first episode is just a quick little review of what I've been up to over the past nine months. I will start doing weekly episodes again every Saturday at 15:00 UK / 09:00 CT / 07:00 PT I'm still in the process of figuring out which times would maximise listener-ship. Thank you for being a part of this mad journey and stay tuned for more episodes every Saturday!

It's great to be back and getting the podcast up and running again after a month and a half of exam revision and the rest! Join me as I speak with a fellow student, Andrea, who without hesitation accepted an invitation to be on the podcast to talk about civil unrest in her home country of Colombia. Since the 28th of April, the Colombian people have been protesting all over the country. At first, it was because of a tax bill aimed at destabilising the already poverty-stricken nation. Although figures vary depending on which source you consult, somewhere between 30 and 40% of Colombia's population lives below the poverty line - a shocking figure and one that needs immediate addressing. The tax proposal, now withdrawn, would've seen an unfair tax increase on basic items like coffee and sugar; a move considered 'necessary' by the Colombian government as a means to combat the economic loss the country faced due to COVID-19. Even though the tax proposal has been formally withdrawn, people are still out on the street protesting, police brutality being one of the main reasons. Over 300 Colombians have been killed during the protests because of the police's use of force and the Colombian people are now seeking reform and the support of the rest of the world against their violent government.  

 In today's episode, Radu Malaxa joins me on the show for a second time - this time to discuss topics revolving around politics and racism in modern dialogue. We discuss issues revolving around white privilege, systemic racism, slavery around the world, the problems gipsy people face in Romania and a range of other topics. Disclaimer: This episode does contain minimal profanity and we touch upon subjects that may be uncomfortable to some members of the audience.

Arekeleo is from Fiji and moved to the UK a little over five years ago with his wife. He works as an electrical/mechanical engineer. Join us as we discuss what it's like for Fijians to be living in the UK. We touch upon a range of topics like why comedy shouldn't be policed, different TV shows we might've missed, the influence of the US on the everyday lives of the rest of the world and what we think about animating pictures of relatives who are no longer with us. Uncle Dane, if you're listening, sorry for spoiling you. Hahaha. Disclaimer: This episode contains profanity.

Join me as I talk to my good friend Radu who comes from Romania. In this episode, we both discuss what it was like for him to move to the UK and how London was never his first option as a city for tertiary education. We go into detail about his hobbies which include woodworking among other things. We also reminisce over some of the craziest parties we've been to in our younger adult lives and take a trip down memory lane to the day we first met back in Nutford House just off Edgware Road in London about four years ago. 

I think it's important for everyone to know that taking the COVID-19 jab is vital.  I'm aware that many fellow Fijians living back at home are concerned as to whether or not they should be taking it, especially if the country has been COVID-free for over 300 days. What happens when the government decides to re-open Fiji to the world though? Fiji relies on the contact it has with the outside world and won't be able to stand a lockdown for much longer, given the size of her economy. Are we going to rely on faith and home remedies to cure a foreign disease that had the potential of killing nearly 20,000 Fijians if it wasn't contained? In this episode, I will try my best to inform you why I think taking the jab would be the best thing for the country and the rest of the world. Tune in and listen to why I think you should join the 359 million other people around the world who have taken a dose of the vaccine. It's time to get Fiji back up and running. Note: One figure I forgot to mention is that 359 million people have been given a dose of the vaccine, but only 82.7 million have been fully vaccinated according to data. 

In this episode, I have a discussion with my good friend Kristyna and we talk about how joining a gym in Birmingham helped to keep her in the city, how lockdown has affected her and we look back into the fun times we had and the day we met. Kristyna and I have known each other for nearly seven years now and we met in Czechia while we were both at university. We also discuss her new business, Sweet Skin, how she came up with the idea alongside her sister, Petra, and what makes the Sweet Skin brand stand out among the already hundreds of brands that have similar concepts. I do apologise for the choppy audio from my end - I am trying to figure out why my microphone isn't recording audio properly and will be sure to correct this when the next episode airs. Correction in the podcast - I mention in this episode that lockdown in the UK ends on May 26th 2021 which is incorrect. According to the government's lockdown roadmap, if everything goes to plan, all lockdown laws will be lifted in the UK by June 21st 2021.

In this episode, I talk with a friend of mine named Syd who goes by the handle 'Ace' on our mutual discord servers. We've never actually met in real life but have managed to maintain quite the friendship despite that. Syd and I dive into what it means to be non-binary, how they came out to friends and family, how certain cultural and historical aspects of Japan aren't well-known or spoken about in the Western world and how we met through a gaming server on the Discord app. 

Here's the very first guest episode with my best friend Jane. Listen to us discuss the current political climate in Belarus, her experiences with COVID lockdowns, catching up about uni and reminiscing about drinking games and parties together. Pre-warning: political themes and a story about sexual assault are brought up in this podcast. 

Thank you for tuning in to this very new project! This episode will briefly discuss the purpose of this podcast and what I'll be doing over the coming weeks. Follow me on Instagram or DM me if you'd like to be featured @RealMinionTalks .