The Bla Bla Bunker

EP41 From Trainspotting to Afghanistan - Alexander Bongartz

Alexander Bongartz has dedicated his life to the military, he is a Royal Commando, a Green Beret.  

He was one of the first ones in when the war started in Afghanistan and he has spent the past 20 years fighting wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.  

 

He explained to me the training, is it like in the movies with the floors scrubbed with a toothbrush?  The fears, what goes through your mind when the enemy is outside your camp throwing in grenades to try and kill you? How do you get back to some sort of normal after this? 

 

And why on earth do you do this?  In his case it was a simple matter of 3 meals and a roof over his head, something he could not always have as a kid in Scotland and Wales.  

 

And so much more...

 

https://www.facebook.com/Blablabunker

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https://www.youtube.com/theblablabunker

 

EP40 The Russian Wedding Singer - Uliana Elina

Uliana Elina was born in the Soviet Union, she is a true Jackie Of All Trades, she has been a customs officer in Russia, published a metal album, is a mom, former beauty queen, salesperson, translator, teacher, actress and a wedding singer.

 

Uliana visited my podcast, told me how life was under communism, how her parents kept the surface clean while beneath it all there was violent physical and mental abuse.  She wanted to be in music but didn't get any support and being a musician wasn't a "real" job anyway...so the parents won and she graduated with a degree as a customs officer!

 

There was corruption during communism but it didn't stop there, she told me how the customs officers were openly corrupt, how the system in Russia is broken, why we in the West see Russia as an enemy and how she feels the Russian people do not know what they want so they believe in the leader blindly.  

 

She wanted to leave so she eventually after a long struggle got a visa to move to Prague, during that time she made her first album with a metal band in Russia.

 

We talked about her band, Aurora Party Band, that she started with her boyfriend in Prague.  How other musicians see bands like her as the bottom of the barrel, how her band went from local band to a European event band and how it is to have to know a million songs and sing them for drunk guests at weddings! 

 

And much more

 

https://www.instagram.com/aurorapartyband/

https://www.facebook.com/aurorapartyband

https://soundcloud.com/uliana-elina

https://www.instagram.com/elina_uliana_official/

https://www.instagram.com/uli_elina/

 

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https://www.instagram.com/theblablabunker/

https://www.youtube.com/theblablabunker

EP39 Life after military, Israel vs Palestine now and in the future - Yoav Haruvizep

This is my second part of talking with Yoav Haruvizepa.

In this episode we talk about his time in the military, which is mandatory for all Israeli citizens and the traditions that they follow after finishing that duty.  Yoav tried life in Texas but eventually went back home to Israel, found love but they both wanted to leave as they felt that the country was not on the right path.

 

We discussed the conflict that Israel has with the Palestinians and Hamas, the roles of the Kibbutz in the settlements of new territories. How it is to live in fear, what he thinks about this conflict and if religion is preventing any more peaceful way forward.  

 

How will this end? How will history judge this?  Has there ever been a peaceful creation of nations without victims?  What would Yoav do and feel if he was in the shoes of the Palestinians....

 

Check also part 1 (EP38) where we discuss the Holocaust, Yoav's childhood in the Kibbutz and the creation of Israel.

 

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EP38 The Holocaust, establishing Israel and life in the Kibbutz - Yoav Haruvizepa part 1

Yoav Haruvizepa is from Israel, he lives and works in Prague.  He visited my podcast and explained the different roots of jewish people. The Ashkenazi as he is and the Sephardi jew that have their origins in northern Africa.

He explained me the impact of the holocaust on lives of jewish people, how the nation has processed it to a point that they tell jokes about it. How the holocaust and previous persecutions of jewish people keeps a certain narrative alive that is used to justify the needs to have their own country .

 

These persecutions led to the establishment of Israel but that was not the only possible choice, there were ideas to create a land of the Jews in Uganda! 

 

We discussed the Kibbutz which is a type of settlement which is unique to Israel. A collective community, traditionally agrarian.  Yoav lived in one of those and even though the idea behind the Kibbutz is kind of "hippie-ish" he was a victim of bullying.

 

This is part 1 of my talk with Yoav.

 

In part 2, that comes out in two days we discuss his military service and what he did after that finished, why he wanted to leave Israel and how he sees Israel now.  And of course we discussed Israel's relations to its neighbours and the ongoing conflict with Palestine.

 

Will that situation ever be resolved? What causes it?  

 

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https://www.instagram.com/theblablabunker/

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBlaBlaBunker

EP37 The Twinless Twin - Eva Sochorová

Vanishing twin syndrome refers to a condition that can take place during early or later pregnancy. When more than one embryo appears to be developing in the uterus, it might be that the person is carrying twins. Later though, one of the embryos or fetuses may no longer be detected. The baby that doesn’t develop fully is called the vanishing twin and that can have a big impact on the surviving twinless twin....

Eva Sochorová is one of these twinless twins and it has had a big impact on her whole life.

Eva is a lawyer who studied in Czech Republic and England and worked in European law and legislation for seven years. However she didn't get the satisfaction she thought she would get and embarked on a journey to discover what truly was bothering her and found what was causing her trauma.  Her path has never been easy as she was also a victim of sexual abuse which had a big impact on her life.  

She told me her story, everything about the Vanishing Twin Syndrome, how she discovered she was a twinless twin, trauma and how the body deals with trauma.  And of course how people get on a healing path.  

Eva now helps other people with their trauma through her therapy programs.  

https://www.jsemtuprotebe.cz/
https://www.facebook.com/jsemtuprotebe.cz
https://www.instagram.com/jsemtuprotebe.cz/

EP36 Carpets, Weight Loss and Free Diving - Lars Jyde Nielsen

Lars Jyde Nielsen is a certified Free Diving instructor, a father of seven children and has a long international career in management.

He was born in Denmark and his dream was to go into the military to be a diver but health issues prevented him from doing that.  So very randomly he started a career for a carpet retail chain that took him to Poland, Czech Republic and other locations. That career gave him a very different perspective on life in Scandinavia vs life in Central and Eastern Europe.

 

He told me his story, his weight loss journey(s), how his fathers attitude made him seek comfort in protocols and systematic approach that he then found out is essential in Free Diving which he now teaches to people in Prague in the Czech republic

 

Lars has a very interesting approach to life and he shared his views with me

 

more about Lars

https://www.loveliving.cz/

https://www.instagram.com/loveliving.cz/

 

The Bunker

https://www.facebook.com/bunkerprague

https://www.instagram.com/thebunkerprague/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM63nbcoT1v4M-C0p8REySA

 

 

EP35 Dancing to the Olympics and beyond - Lenka Vagnerova

Lenka Vagnerová is an independent choreographer, dance teacher and dancer on the contemporary Czech and International dance scene. In 2012 she founded her dance group Lenka Vagnerová & Company which has since its inception won numerous awards both locally and internationally.  

Lenka visited my show and told me about her childhood under communist rule in Bratislava (Slovakia), how she started gymnastics and dancing at the age of 4, how she considered becoming a mathematician, how it is to run her own independent dance company, to teach and dance herself and all this while being a full time mom to two young children.  

 

Lenka is the first Olympian to visit my podcast, she danced at the London Olympics! 

 

 

https://www.lenka-vagnerova.cz/enhome

https://www.facebook.com/lenkavagnerovacompany

https://www.instagram.com/lenkavagnerovacompany/

https://www.youtube.com/user/lenkavagner

 

https://www.instagram.com/thebunkerprague/

https://www.facebook.com/bunkerprague

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM63nbcoT1v4M-C0p8REySA

 

EP34 Self-love, Sex and Feminism - Gabriella Ditt

Gabriela Dittrichova is the author of the upcoming book The (R)evolution of Love, a co-founder of the feminist magazine Vagina-Nomics and an operations manager at Femme Palette which helps women advance in their careers and professional development with a mentoring program.

 

She visited my Bunker and told me about her journey, how she as a very well behaved and successful teenager, decided that life was a bit too easy for her in her hometown of Brno in the Czech Republic, and went to England.  She had limited english skills which would later put her in some funny circumstances.  

 

She struggled but kept going and did a lot of self discovery on love, sex and feminism in which she blogged about in a very open way (check her page).  Later she founded Vagina- Nomics which is a feminist platform de-stigmatising pleasure through art and design. 

 

Gabi is about to release her book The (R)evolution of Love which is an interactive guide that invites you to take one or two steps back and reflect on your relationships.

 

She told me why she does this, how life would have been if she wouldn't have moved to England, status of feminism in the Czech Republic vs England and a lot more....

 

https://www.gabrielleditt.com/

 

https://www.facebook.com/bunkerprague

https://www.instagram.com/thebunkerprague/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM63nbcoT1v4M-C0p8REySA

EP33 Inside the online gambling world - Emiliano Sanchez

The FBI helicopter was hovering over their building, then Emiliano knew something was off.....

 

Emiliano Sanchez was born and raised in Costa Rica where Pura Vida is the mantra that the Costa Ricans live by.

Today he is an recognised international expert in online gambling who has worked and consulted over 30 different Casinos, poker brands and sports betting companies. He currently has a base in Prague in the Czech Republic.

 

Emiliano told me about how Costa Rica is, how his teenage years were, being in bands, studying nuclear physics(!), being involved in student politics and how he eventually got into the gambling business.

 

The online gambling industry is booming and Covid has only helped the growth but there are also a lot of changes happening with regulation and such in order to clean up the industry.  Emiliano told me about how it all got started, how online poker blew up, we talked about money laundry, brick and mortar casinos, offshore gambling, sharks and whales in the Casino world and what happens when someone cheats.....

 

https://esanchez.eu/

https://www.instagram.com/satyrx/

 

The Bunker: How the hell did we end up here?

https://www.facebook.com/bunkerprague

https://www.instagram.com/thebunkerprague/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM63nbcoT1v4M-C0p8REySA

EP32 The Guitar Hero - Geoff Tyson

Geoff Tyson has lived his life in the music industry since he was 15 years old.  Growing up in Berkeley California which was a hotspot for new rock and metal music in the early 80's. There he witnessed the rise of bands such as Metallica, Megadeth and Testament to name a few.  

From the age of 13 he was a private student of the legendary guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani and Joe later said that two guitarists had "graduated" from him, Geoff and Steve Vai (Whitesnake, David Lee Roth).

 

At 15 Geoff joined a band called T-Ride that was expected to be the next big thing, their album took over 5 years to make and they got played on MTV, toured around and all was heading for a glorious path of an up and coming band.

 

But then Nirvana happened and overnight the demand for T-Ride's music and Geoff's amazing guitar skills dropped faster than a brick in a swimming pool.  And as if that was not bad enough then he lost everything except his guitar in a fire in San Francisco.

 

Despite these setbacks Geoff has made a great career, living from what he loves, as he has toured with bands such as Filter, Nazareth, Queens of the Stone age and Duran Duran!

 

He told me his story, how the music industry has changed and a lot....lot more.

 

Geoff now lives in Prague, Czech Republic where the Geoff Tyson Band has hit the top of the radio charts, and has been playing festivals all over Europe.

 

A small sample of Geoff's music can be heard on my episode but check out more about him and his albums on these links here.

 

https://geofftyson.bandcamp.com/

https://www.geofftyson.com/

https://www.youtube.com/GeoffTyson

https://www.facebook.com/TheGeoffTysonBand

https://www.instagram.com/geofftyson/

 

The Bunker: How the hell did we end up here?

 

https://www.instagram.com/thebunkerprague/

https://www.facebook.com/bunkerprague

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM63nbcoT1v4M-C0p8REySA