 Happy Valentine's Day! Today we're going to be doing a new video that is a little bit different because we have Jan here. Welcome Jan! We're going to be doing a Q&A with him. So thank you so much for sending your questions and let's get to it! Okay, so just so you know a little bit more about Jan, he is my husband and we got married last year. It was a very small wedding because of COVID. It was only 10 people including us but I think he was very special, right? He was very special, of course. So we got many questions now that we're recording so I'm going to read them now. So it says, one is do you miss Mexican food? It's so hard sometimes in Germany to find food restaurants and Jan wants to answer these questions. Yeah, it seems like the person who asked maybe where those in Germany lives here are. And maybe I think he's Mexican. Yeah, I understand. We both love Mexican food and it's actually maybe not that hard to find it here in Berlin, maybe other parts of Germany a little bit harder. But since we live here for some years now we have some stores in the neighborhood where we can buy pretty much most of the things we need and also through the corona pandemic we learn to make a lot of stuff like tortillas from the scratch and all these kinds of sauces and so we cook Mexican food every day sometimes even more often than that and it's great. Yeah, we find many chiles for example, guajillo, poblano, we find chile de árbol. So yeah and also we know a very amazing chef here. She's Mexican and her name is Yvette. I'm gonna also put her Instagram account here if you're in Berlin. I would really recommend that you follow her. She's amazing and she always makes the best panda muerto and rosca de reyes. So yeah, we're very lucky that we found her I think. We love Mexican food. Yes. Okay, so the next question is how do you meet? And this is a very popular question many of you asked this. So what I was thinking is maybe you could start the story and then if Yan misses something I can just jump in. So yeah, you can start. Yeah, well I'm sure I'm gonna miss something. It was so many days. Beautiful memories. Yeah. And so where did we meet? We met in Czech Republic. I was studying there and I was also a summer school program coordinator for a summer school that Lucia came over to study at. You were studying history and European studies. Yes. That was back in 2014 and well we started to hang out more and kind of like each other as we go on these excursions that were part of the program to other cities in Europe like in Budapest, Vienna and Prague. It was really nice actually. And Prague is actually where we started dating I think. We were in this park. You can tell us about it. Yeah, the park was, it's like a hill that overlooks the old town in Prague, right? Like the castle, the castle I think. Yeah, it was in Prague Castle in the old town. Yeah, and it's super beautiful. And I remember that for some reason it was only us because some of the students that were with us left to other places and then it was just us in the park. When this happened it was 11 days before I was gonna return to Canada. So I thought that maybe nothing was gonna happen because I mean I really liked him and I think there was some chemistry there. But I was like okay there is no way that, I mean I'm going back, right? But then I said that I was cold because I had forgotten my coat because I always forget it. And he hugged me and yeah, so I think then I was like okay maybe something's gonna happen. But it was 11 days before I left. So as Jan said we were, I know I think you didn't see it, you didn't see it but we were actually going on secret dates after this because he was a staff and I was a student so it was partially not allowed. Like it was kind of like a rule in between the lines I guess or something. Yeah, like after hours when I was with students or you were in your class then we would meet. And then yeah, so that's how everything started and then after the 11 days we decided that we wanted to try to see if we could make it work. And that's how when I went back to Canada we had long distance and then we started to try to work out how we would make it work because we were in two different continents, right? But yeah the rest is history now we're in Berlin and it worked out. So follow your heart. Well that's the moral of the story, right? Like I think that whenever you have a gut feeling or you feel that there is some connection there with someone or with something that gives you happiness I think you should just go for it, right? Okay, next one. Are you planning to stay in Germany forever? No, that's a very good question too. That has been a question for us for a long time and we don't really know the answer. No. That's the answer but I think that's a question of our relationship where we're gonna live. Yeah we have both our families are in different places we have also lived from between Mexico, Chicago, probably Canada, other places in Europe so we will see. If you know let us know in the comments below. At least for the next years maybe we'll stay here. Well we have a bunch of plans that we like so we cannot move all the time. We can put them in a big cargo ship container and go with maybe four meter monstera. Yeah but yeah the answer is that we don't know it forever but we like it here at least for now so yeah at least for now we'll stay here and then we'll see what happens. So does he speak Spanish and do you speak German? Do you speak Spanish yet? Yes, I speak Spanish a little bit more. And we speak Spanish sometimes together. And also with Lucia's family when we go there to Canada for Christmas or when we talk to your more distant family in Mexico. In Spanish, solo en español. Yeah actually I'm just trying to study some more Spanish right now. But I think her Spanish is really good. Yeah and how are you German? I'm a bit German but I have to learn more. Yeah so I studied some German last year every day and I think I've gotten better but it's still new to me so I can speak like I can speak basic things that I can use to survive here in Berlin. Of course here in Berlin many people speak English but yeah I think we can speak German. We even had a we have a new game Wingspan which is amazing and it's all in German and we understand everything I mean he speaks German but yeah but I also understand which is really great. Yeah it's a nice game we like to play board games it's about boards so maybe it'll be one about playing it's a similar one. Yeah that would be amazing. Maybe we need to make it. Yes okay yeah maybe that would be a good idea. Okay so did you ever have long distance? Yes. Twice. Yes oh yeah twice that's true you know we met and then we were together for 11 days and then I had to go back to Canada because we met in Czech Republic and yeah we had long distance for six months I think. Yeah six months. And yeah you know it was it was difficult but it was also really nice right? Yeah we used to have this google drive and we used to put like the dates like our whenever we're gonna have a Skype call and then what we would do so either a board game or watch a movie or watch the office because we used to watch the office a lot and it was really nice because it was kind of like exciting to see what we're gonna do that date or when we're gonna meet. Yeah and then the visits were really exciting too. I mean that was not the first time but the second time when we were long distance for like nine months a couple years ago then that also is just like exciting to be looking forward to the next visit but of course guys go for it but it can be really tough too sometimes. Yeah it can be tough. I think the biggest thing for long distance is that you want you want to know when it's gonna end so you don't want to be in a long distance well I don't know but at least for us it helped to know that at some point we were gonna see each other again and we were gonna live somewhere together right? I think that was very helpful for us so yeah but yeah I think if you're in a long distance relationship it grows for you and yeah I guess it can be fun sometimes but yeah of course it's difficult. If it doesn't work out get it planned. I know. Okay so did your family approve you moving to Germany? Latina problems? Hashtag Latina problems? Yeah that was a little bit difficult. I mean my family was very respectful I think but when I was because the first time that I moved out from the house was actually when I went to Czech Republic because Jan was also in Czech Republic at the time and my dad was very okay with it like of course he was like he was sad but my mom was I think for my mom it was a little bit more difficult the Latina mother. I think they didn't also know me and you were yeah you were just moving somewhere else outside of a country where you came only with your family. Outside of the continent. Yeah so uh but the second time when you moved to Germany I think it was easier because uh because he was already in Canada by then yeah we came enough for a year together yeah that was better yeah yeah but in the beginning it was difficult of course because they didn't know him and it was just hard of course they wanted us to be closer to the family but that's why we're trying we're trying to make a living where we can actually go visit them more often and we can be close and we talk to them a lot so because I don't know about you guys whoever is Latino but we have a WhatsApp group and we call almost every day with them so yeah and the family is here. The family just multiplies them so now we can really enjoy all our family and friends. Yeah okay the next one is another one that is a very good one and it's where did we get married and how was the wedding planning and then in brackets two weddings yeah that's a new story right yeah but it's a fun story yeah we we were planning to get married in 2021 actually but you guys all know the pandemic came and yeah we sort of went with the flow for some time but then we were thinking you know we won't be able to get married in Czech Republic next year actually it's this year yeah well we were gonna go we're gonna get married in Czech Republic but we were inviting people from Canada, Mexico, Germany so after the pandemic is like we thought okay this is not gonna happen and I was also really excited to get married so we figured out in the summer that we will get married somewhere we reached some places and then we figure out that the easiest and the best will be to get married last September in 2020 in in Canada we decided like months and a half before the wedding so it was just eight people or nine people with your knees for the for that and like a hundred guests online which which we don't regret and was really nice and we it was really really nice yeah we got married outside had just a little picnic table and got married under the trees and with the efficient wearing a face mask so it was also a little bit symbolic but it was a very small wedding yeah I mean we because we live in Germany and we decided to move to to have the wedding in Canada so we would have some family there and we had to do the two-week quarantine so we were just like staying in a basement like for quarantine but it was nice because in those two weeks because it was so fast we could plan a little bit more yeah it was also good for just working and planning the wedding yeah we couldn't go out but that was really good because even for small wedding uh yeah two weeks or three or four weeks that we had isn't that much time so but um it was great and I think now after it's just uh it's just a great feeling yeah yeah it's a nice feeling actually and it was small wedding but it was really it was really special and yeah so it was not like the Mexican or like Czech wedding that well Mexican weddings are really big Czech weddings are a little smaller but I think this one was even smaller than Czech wedding oh yeah but I think it was nice like uh people that we loved were there uh virtually so we could share that moment and also some like my family was there which was really nice and yeah it was really special yeah to anyone who wants to do it or is deciding I'd recommend yeah the technology these days is far enough to to make it worse and be really happy with everyone about it yeah uh does your husband have a favorite plant that's always a hard question we have some but um recently I found out I really like like different kind of succulent they grow like these thick thick leaves uh like what's the what's it called fluffy with like yeah sort of like a white fur um and also like the oxalis triambulares wow but we don't have that one anymore we don't have that one anymore and we actually we in the previous apartment we were we uh we our landlords had it there so we were taking care of it and it was really nice so um and also like the monstera and and many other places wow you know many plants okay so let's see so does he love plants as much as you that's a tricky question uh um probably not going I really like them but um it's hard to compare to somebody who takes care of the plants all the time and really likes them so I think I'm a little behind but it's really nice but he likes them yeah I really like plants okay so do either of you both have a favorite pieces of tree do you have one uh for me I would say well this is a pretty common tree but I really really really really like the maple tree because it reminds me of home which is Canada and we had many maple trees when we got married and it was actually the fall so they actually changed color so that's really nice but yeah so I think that was I would say that would be one of my favorites but of course I don't know I mean I like that one yeah I just thought since it's really uh it's winter now and I thought of like a different spruce and pine trees when it's in the mountains full of snow or even these small mountain pines she's more of an outdoor guy don't know what they're called so um yeah those are really interesting trees okay so the next question is do you all speak other languages if so can we hear a small little conversation so as you can see we have accents in English so this is our second language and yeah we speak other languages so my first language is Spanish and my first language is Czech yeah some Czech Republic and then we speak English between each other but he speaks German I'm learning German now because we live in Germany and I'm a bit in German yeah and I speak Spanish with you and with your family and we speak Spanish together sometimes and in fact I already speak Spanish what I just said is that he practices Spanish every day I think yeah and Lucia practices German when she came when she studies Spanish we put like different stickers not on the plants but in German to learn yeah so around the house we have stickers with German vocabulary for the for example the table or the plant and then we have different colors so blue green and pink because they're the sweet gender so blue is masculine pink is feminine and then green is neutral and that kind of like reminds us of what are the articles for each one of them so I think that's a good practice in the house but yeah okay so the next question is related to video production in the channel and it says first what equipment and programs do you use for your video production and how much production time do you spend per video on average also do you guys talk sing to your plants was their favorite music okay so these are very good questions for the videos as you may know I actually use my phone and also I wrote a wi-fi microphone so it's very homemade videos but at the same time I think yeah some production is there I guess but it's actually a funny story because Jan also works here because of COVID he's working from home so sometimes we have to kind of like see how I'm on a record and how he's gonna have his meetings or vice versa so that can be a little yeah yeah I think that would be one of the things that we have in our household and yeah per video on average maybe I spent a day or two so I record a video and then maybe another day to edit because that's what takes the longest I guess but I like it I mean sometimes it can be tiring as he knows but but yeah I like it I guess it can be a little work and just like life there's ups and downs but yeah and let's see do you guys talk or sing to your plants not really I don't think I don't do I sing for myself sometimes or something but not to the plant not to the planes I guess they listen yeah maybe maybe they feel the vibrations but but I think because this is what's their favorite music I don't know but I know that I actually do play music when I water the plants so it's like a nice mood in the house and I hope that they like it I love to do it sometimes we play Italian songs sometimes we play just music that we like like more alternative but I think that it makes it more special because you really get into the mood and it's really nice and if you guys play music when you water your plants or do anything with your plants let me know down in the comments because yeah you'd be nice to know how and when did your love start for plants how do you decide on what plants to buy so uh well my love for plants I don't know you can also say when your love for plants started but I get I mean I think we always like like the plants or we had some plants in the house but not more than most other friends or people we know until until like two years ago yeah yes so it was yeah it was like that actually we didn't have so many plants in the house I actually didn't know so much about plants before I even started this channel but it was just a new journey for me and I wanted to just learn as a beginner and share with you guys and I think the journey with plants actually started at the same time that the channel started and it's just so nice to now see all of these plants and all of this community like the whole community how it is growing so that has been really nice I think so yeah I think throughout this the last two years that's when we started learning more and more about plants and now it's just a very a very big part of our lives I think I mean of my life and then in consequence also we answer and the next question is how do you decide on what plants to buy that's a very good question I guess it depends on your space and the kind of care that you want to give them or where you are in your journey but I would recommend that you watch a playlist that I'm actually working on this month and I'm I'm just uploading many videos on that how to select a plan how to bring a plant home and what to do when you bring a plant home so if you want to check it out I'm going to put the playlist right here or here and yeah just let me know what you think okay so the next question is I'd like to know how you met and how you both ended up in Germany he's very cute well both of you thank you so well we we answered the question of how we met but yeah so Jan is from Czech Republic from Europe and I am from North America specifically I'm originally from Mexico and then we moved to Canada so I'm Mexican Canadian and my family is there so when we met it was kind of like all over the place we lived in Czech Republic then we lived in Canada and it was like like that and at some point we ended up in Canada because I was doing a program in university and the program was actually on European studies because I studied history and that's actually how we met and one of the things that I had to do in the program is to do an internship in somewhere in Europe so we decided that maybe Berlin was the best place in terms of what I was studying and also in terms of how it worked for our relationship so we could be a little bit longer in Berlin and kind of like not move so much around and I think in the end we ended up we ended up liking it right like kind of we never thought about living here the year or two after we met but now we're here for some time and uh and it's been really nice and to see how our internship then I found a job and we started like the city and the rest is history things came together and yeah the rest is history I will see what comes here yeah but we really like here it's a very international city so we we meet many people from all around the world and many couples that are like us so it's really nice to just share that with other people here as well if you're from Germany just comment below and say hello to the sides okay so have you two arguable plans yes we did and we still do we argue a lot but I love him so it's okay but yeah I mean I think we argue because I think one of the biggest things is because of last year because of corona we both work from home and it's not only about the youtube channel but also Jan has his meetings and he also has to work and sometimes the plans as well uh take some time or space so when I have to water them for example we have a space here but it's right in between his office and the kitchen so that can be a problem sometimes so we're working out these little perks every day uh but I guess yeah everyone is kind of like working on this because we basically many of us are working from home so I guess yeah he's about figuring it out but yeah but I think the plans are still the positive they're they're really nice and when we fight we try to not to put the plans in the way it's just between us um yeah yeah otherwise Lucia knows much more about plans than me so I usually follow um and yeah I help out with some care or something yeah yeah but sometimes I also learn about Jan because he knows some stuff that I don't know so okay so the next one is by Christy that boo and she asked a very good question that was how do you ensure your plans are fine when you go away on vacation especially for sensitive plans like alasias if you don't have anyone else taking care of them well you're away which is a very good question because I think we've had this problem because as I was as we said our families are in another country we live in Germany but my family's in Canada his family's in Czech Republic so we try to visit them as much as possible I mean not this year but yeah before so yeah so we have to also take care of the plans when we're away and I think the first thing would be our friends I mean I know that she says that when we don't have but that would be one of the things that we do we ask friends to come or the neighbors to water them and we always well we try to make a video or give instructions to them so it's easier for them because some plants may not need so much water especially the calatheas they need a lot of water or stuff like that so that would be one thing but of course as you said the calatheas or some prayer plants need more water and more humidity so if that's the case then we try to use the watering stakes right that's one yeah it's one thing or just ask the friends to come over more often yeah but I think as we get more and more plants maybe at some point we're gonna maybe try to hire someone when we go away because sometimes we go away for a long period of time and if it's like if it's a lot if it's many plants it can be a lot for a friend to do so yeah we may have to hire there's a bit of a learning curve for the friend and maybe it's a little bit intimidating to take care of a lot of plants so but yeah I would say maybe the watering stakes is a good idea if you're going out maybe for a week or something like this this is very good because it's actually just automatic watering which is great if you're going out for if you're going on vacation for longer than a week I would recommend that you maybe ask someone or something like this or maybe bring the plants that we have done too for example the calasillas or plants that are more sensitive or more demanding we bring the plants to our friend's house so they don't have to come here and they can just take care of them in their houses which I think that was also helpful another question from Christy is do you have a connection to Toronto Canada and yes well I am originally from Mexico but my family and I moved to Canada when I was 15 so a long a long time ago I mean not so long but we moved there and this is our home now uh actually Toronto specifically my whole family is there and yeah it's like a second home to us I guess right yeah it's one of the homes uh important we go we go often there when we can we try to go because we want to visit the family and yeah so I'm Mexican Canadian Jan is dating no sorry Jan is married to a Canadian so yeah especially Toronto I would say yeah so any people who are from Toronto comment below we would love to hear from you so another question from expat gardener how do you like Germany I'm a third generation American Mexican blood I moved to Norway with my hobby 10 years ago I love how you name your plants and your accent is a breath of fresh air thank you so yeah so nice to hear from another Mexican hello um I think how do we find Germany how do we find Germany we uh we like Germany I mean we we live in Berlin and Germany is a big country too so we're yet to discover every every end of it I think I know Germany a little yeah he knows it better than me I live just across the border when I grew up in Czech Republic but we like it and we especially like Berlin it's a very it's very international very through the artists through the through the dark history through the complicated history very dynamic city compared to some other maybe more traditional cities in Europe and so the kind of people that come here we we like that yeah we have a very nice community here too so it's nice and yeah I think but yeah I would love to explore more of Germany like we've we've been to other cities but I think you have explored more I guess but uh but yeah I think we really like it and I would love to learn more German like last year I was learning German and this year because of COVID the classes were stopped but maybe I'm gonna continue online because yeah I also like the language so yeah but yeah I put it really nicely so yeah I would agree with what he said it's a very vibrant city at least Berlin and I think Germany in general is a very interesting country and super beautiful so yeah we really like it as well as Norway yes as well as Norway so hello to Norway spend some time and yeah he really likes it too okay uh Marta Medium asked where is that said said he's caring so uh he's talking she's talking about this one here uh yeah um well that was a big one first of all that was a very big one and our friend who had to leave Berlin and moved back to the United States actually made a video with Rebecca yes yes I can put the link somewhere here so you can see it and um she's amazing she wanted somebody to take care of her plants and uh we got uh from her some of them and this plant was really big we brought it on the subway yeah it was a little bit of a challenge and then uh well actually recently we decided to split it into several plants because it was uh really big and needed more space so we took opportunity to make it a little younger I can also put the link for that because we reported that plant but actually it was really interesting because I didn't know so much about this one like we have another said plant here which is growing new leaves but this one was really really big and uh it started flowering and I didn't know that I was really excited when I saw the flowers but then I learned that when I said said plant in a pot flowers that means that they're stressed like they're trying to reproduce so when I learned that I'm like okay so then we have to divide it so it has more space and now we have three uh this plant is now three plants and one of them is actually growing a new leaf so I'm very excited about that and yeah so that's the story of that plant uh we have another question from a friend here in Berlin and he says why did your hair get so long Jan so why well you can take a guess um been home for a long time hairdressers have been closed and uh I don't know how to cut the hair just uh yeah it's it's okay I mean we don't go out much so and I don't get to be in the shots that often only now so so I cut my own hair actually um yeah so when the barber stores open again and here in Germany in the spring hopefully then I'll go around and get a haircut yeah pretty enthusiastic about that by then I guess I'll just grow it longer so now you do okay guys so thank you so much for sending your questions I can't tell you for us it was really special to have this video made and uh it was really fun so thank you if you uh like that if you would like that Jan is in the videos make sure to comment below and uh he'll be part of some videos in the future and as always I will see you in the next one okay bye