Welcome to show 252 of Absolutely Intercultural, the show about all things intercultural. My name’s Anne Fox and I’m coming to you from a locked down Denmark. But the Covid 19 pandemic is overshadowed somewhat by the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd. These protests have gone global and with American Independence Day coming up I wondered how Americans were feeling about the meaning of the fourth of July right now.
Do you remember Luis from Colombia who we met in Show 250? He was a wedding photographer in Colombia but could not continue in cold and rainy Denmark so he decided to start a coffee importing business and how easy was that?
In this show we are talking to Elisabeth Hansen from Arizona who is now living and working in Australia. Elisabeth answered our call for Americans wanting to talk about what the fourth of July means to them. So, if you have an intercultural story you want to share then just get in touch either here on our webpage or on our Facebook page.
absolutely entrepreneurial
We first met Luis Guillermo in Show 250 when he told us how his year-round wedding photography business just would not work when he came to Denmark from Colombia. He has now started a new business and I was interested to find out how easy or difficult it was to arrive in a new country not speaking the language, not being familiar with the market and still go ahead starting a new business. I started by asking Luis about what he decided to do when he realised that being a wedding photographer could not be a full time job in Denmark.
I met Luis through a European project that I am working in that helps foreigners set up a business. The project is called 9 Conversations as a way of emphasising that when you start a business in a new country you need to build your local network and understand the culture and this is exactly what Luis has done.
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I was forced to move the last part of the 9 Conversations programme with Luis and his colleagues online when the Covid 19 pandemic broke out and was surprised when people all over the world began to break the lockdown for the Black Lives Matter protests. Since this show is coming out just before the fourth of July I wondered how Americans would be feeling about their independence day this year. Elisabeth Hansen, an American who has lived in Germany and is now based in Australia answered my call. I started off by trying to find out what kind of celebration the fourth of July was in the USA.
So Happy fourth of July if you celebrate and thank you to Luis and Elisabeth for participating in the podcast. You can catch up on all our past shows on this website where you can comment, give suggestions for future shows or subscribe using the Apple podcasts button below, as well on our FaceBook page where we post interesting links several times a week .
The next show will be coming to you from Dr Laurent Borgmann in Germany on August 7th so until then stay tuned!
The host of this show is: Anne Fox
