I consider myself a bad conversationalist. It has nothing to do with any person, I just am scared of asking wrong or offensive questions and overstep my boundaries. That’s why when the idea of a podcast came to me, I dismissed it immediately. My introvert self actually cringed when thinking about it.
But.. here I am, co-hosting and producing a podcast with my friend (Kriztel) and my partner (Karen). The podcast is called Kuchenzeit Stories which means “cake time” in English or the equivalent of merienda in the Philippines. The name came from our fondness for eating and kwentuhan, which is essentially what the podcast is — a space for listening to stories of Filipinos in Germany (and eventually Europe!).
The idea came to me when I was reflecting on my journey from the Philippines to Germany. Germany is not always the first country that comes to people’s mind when they want to live abroad for whatever purpose. There’s always US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and other English speaking countries because Filipinos are taught basic English at school and there would be no need to learn a new language. For someone like me who also knew nobody in Germany, it could be a daunting and terrifying situation to face. Back in 2017, I really tried scouring the internet for any information about Filipinos moving, studying, and thriving in Germany but unfortunately founds the results quite disappointing.
Obviously, now there are a lot more resources out there in various platforms and I think that there are a lot more to share and contribute. Initially, all of this was supposed to be blog about my experiences. But when I shared this idea to Kriztel, we thought that Podcast seems like a good platform so it’s more interactive, casual, and fun. We wanted to hold a space for Filipinos to connect and feel a sense of home in this time of the pandemic and maybe inspire those who want to come and live here.
At first, the plan was to only record episodes on our iPhones. This showed how little we knew about podcasting in the beginning. LOL! Karen, my number one supporter and enabler, jumped in to help strategise and get us proper equipment. Within a week, deliveries of microphones started coming to the apartment. Within a month, we approached our guests, recorded 5 episodes, created an Instagram account, and we launched!!
It was a whirlwind one month. It was a lot of stress, apprehension, and anxiety. It was also so much excitement! We are very touched with the feedback from our listeners. <3 In the next few months, we are also starting a website and blog about the discussions and stories from the podcast.
Personally, recording the podcast and doing interviews have awakened my inner conversationalist and my empathic side. It was nerve-wracking at the beginning and it still is every time we record. I’m grateful for the support and feedback of our tiny team! I know that there’s still so much to learn and I’m looking forward to it.
If you haven’t listened to the podcast, please do so and let us know what else you want to know about living in Germany!! We have new episodes every 2 weeks on Wednesdays. The next one is out on 28 April 2021. Follow us on Instagram @kuchenzeitpod for more updates.