Lindsay Patterson talks about their reasons for moving to Spain back in 2017. Coming from the US, healthcare and child care was on their list, but also they left for abit of experimentation.
Our podcast is built around the idea of experimentation — in science, and in business. When we started a podcast for kids, we had the hypothesis that families were eager for high-quality, screen-free entertainment. It turns out we were right. Kids Listen’s survey of parents who listen to podcasts with their kids found that 70% found kids’ podcasts because they were seeking screen-free alternatives. And when kids start listening, they’re hooked. 80% of parents said their kids listen to favorite episodes more than once — with 20% listening ten or more times.
Now that we know kids are listening, and the numbers are there to prove it, it’s time to find out how to make our podcast sustainable. Our hypothesis is that Spain is an inspiring and safe place to take that risk. Sure, our sample size is 1, but it’s a start. Maybe you’ll add to it?
Coming to PEI was in the beginning also abit of experimentation for us. Something new, yet familiar, with what we thought was the comfort of knowing that we would be looked after when sick or during some other calamity. In a place without much in the way of “social gathering with a purpose,” The StartUp Zone provided a soft landing and a cheap place to work.
It’s amazing how the effects of not being able to travel, the rising cost of living, and the lack of confidence in a social safety net has on your desire to take risks, or to experiment. I’m sure that I am not alone in feeling apprehensive about the future, here on the Island, or in Canada in general (economic uncertainty has many follow-on effects).
A couple weeks hiking in Northern Thailand, or a week eating my way from the north to south of Taiwan would be an antidote to some of the malaise, but Taiwan is closed and Thailand requires a 2 week quarantine.
So we enjoy small treats on the Island and hope to not need to see a doctor. I enjoy coffee with my daughter at The Shed, and get to listen to sounds of the Vietnamese and Chinese language. I eat once a week at one of the many Japanese restaurants around town, where you can hear … Japanese. And we recently went to a lobster supper, which I define as local food, where we incidentally got to listen to a Chinese visitor embarrass himself with how disappointed he was with his daughters meal. My daughter goes out for Korean and works at a Taiwanese bubble tea shop where the owners fly in from Taiwan to tell her to work faster. Working in Downtown Charlottetown is in many ways similar to Hsinchu.
These sounds and tastes make living here even more enjoyable.