Ep.208 What Happened in August?

What's The Juice?

The hosts catch up after a whirlwind summer of international travel and work commitments across Europe and North America. They recount recen

Key takeaways

• Yoni attended a significant high school teammate's wedding in Montreal, marking his first major reunion in nearly two decades.
• A major flight delay occurred in Montreal due to an airport worker being injured by ground equipment, causing a temporary airport shutdown.

Main topics

• Summer travel recap
• Montreal wedding reunion

Notable quotes

I didn't want to do the Pinterest 2026 wedding look.

Conclusion

A nostalgic and humorous recap that highlights the joys and logistical

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:11) I just want to start off by saying that, first of all, welcome to the WTJ podcast. I know it's been a little while. Speaker 2 (0:17) I feel like we haven't actually intro the podcast on the podcast in what feels like months. It Speaker 1 (0:23) does feel like months. Speaker 2 (0:24) So if you forgot at all what this podcast is. Speaker 1 (0:27) Or if this is your first time tuning in. Speaker 2 (0:30) Randomly. Speaker 1 (0:31) You just happen to scroll by WTJ. Speaker 2 (0:34) Just stick around. If you don't know what WTJ means, it's What's the Juice podcast. Speaker 1 (0:39) Okay, my name is Yoni Okoto. I Speaker 2 (0:41) am Alia Zaitsev. Speaker 1 (0:43) And today we are in Alia's favorite place in the world. Speaker 2 (0:47) And we are recording from a place that we have never recorded before. That is Speaker 1 (0:51) the first time actually. Yeah. I didn't think about that. And Speaker 2 (0:54) this is, as Yoni said, truly my favorite place that exists on these earth. Speaker 1 (1:00) On these earth. Why don't you give us some background? Speaker 2 (1:02) We are coming live to you from Romania. Speaker 2 (1:09) specifically Provita. Speaker 1 (1:10) Provita. Speaker 2 (1:11) Which not even people in Romania know where that is. Speaker 1 (1:14) And I didn't know that at first. Speaker 2 (1:15) Yeah, it's not a place that if you tell people this place, they would know it if they're Romanian. I Speaker 1 (1:21) haven't met a lot of Romanians in New York, but anytime I did, anytime I did meet any Romanians, I would say. oh, I've been to Romania a few times. My wife is from Romania. And then they'll be like, oh yeah, from where? And then I would say, Provica. Well, Speaker 2 (1:34) I'm not from here. Like I was born in, I'm from Bucharest. Speaker 1 (1:38) Okay, from Bucharest. Speaker 2 (1:39) Yeah. But Speaker 1 (1:40) I would say Provica because it sounds, it's more fun to say that. And then even they would be like, where? Speaker 2 (1:46) Yeah. So Speaker 1 (1:47) then I would be like, Provica, because I know this is how you say it. Speaker 2 (1:50) Yeah. Speaker 1 (1:51) But the fact that they didn't know where that was, I was like, damn, am I saying that wrong? Speaker 2 (1:54) Your pronunciation is actually really good. Okay, but you Speaker 1 (1:57) ended up telling me that even, because this is like the country of countries. Speaker 2 (2:00) Yeah, yeah. This is like the countryside. Like you only know about it if you live here or you know somebody who lives here, but it's not a place that people go to for any reason. Speaker 1 (2:09) Or even people know. Yeah, Speaker 2 (2:10) yeah. Speaker 1 (2:10) So she had no idea where that was. Speaker 2 (2:12) Exactly. But it is the countryside about an hour and a half away from Bucharest. And we came straight here from the airport last night. We got... here at 1 30 a.m it Speaker 1 (2:27) was close to 2 yeah Speaker 2 (2:28) almost 2 a.m we went to sleep at 3 a.m um it's been kind of a wild week we've been traveling a bit we had some like work stuff to do we want to kind of catch you guys up on what we've been up to because it's a proper end of summer sort of i don't know this we do we do a trip like this to see our family in europe At the end of the summer every year. Does it feel like the end Speaker 1 (2:55) of the summer? At Speaker 2 (2:55) the end of August, beginning of September, we always do this. Speaker 1 (2:58) Yeah. Speaker 2 (2:59) And it does feel like the end of summer. It Speaker 1 (3:01) feels like we're ready to close out, but we want to close out with a bang. Speaker 2 (3:05) We always close it out with this trip, you know, and it's very fun. Speaker 1 (3:11) Yeah. If Speaker 2 (3:12) you hear anybody in the background, my grandma's around here. My grandpa's around here. Hey, Speaker 1 (3:16) grandpa. Speaker 2 (3:17) And sometimes they might be saying some things. Speaker 1 (3:21) Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:21) But let's start with our time in New York. Like there isn't really much to say about it. We were in New York for most of August and we were just kind of working, living. Our Speaker 1 (3:33) last trip was Greece. We came back. We're not talking about Greece again. That's it. Speaker 2 (3:37) Yeah. We're done with that. We put that to bed. Speaker 1 (3:39) We were in New York, but I mean, I think when after the Greece trip, all we did mainly, mostly was catching up on actual work and stuff that we. Made in Greece. Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:51) Like all of the videos, all of the content, all of the photos, all of the stuff that we made in Greece, we then ended up just working on all of that. And then also working on things that we have going on while we're on this trip and after. So, cause when it comes to these jobs, they kind of, you would like plan ahead quite a bit. So a lot of work, nothing super. different or exciting in New York. But at the same time, our time in New York was really nice. I felt like I got to spend time with friends. I got time to see like everybody. Went Speaker 1 (4:28) to a few birthday parties. Speaker 2 (4:29) Yeah. And it was also nice because it cooled off a little bit. So it wasn't as hot as it had been. Like the peak of summer was kind of behind us. I'm very happy about that. Speaker 1 (4:39) A Speaker 2 (4:40) bit more tolerable to be outside. Still super humid. And then... You went to a wedding. Speaker 1 (4:46) Yes, I went to a wedding. And it's kind of weird because that was, I would say, my first, maybe not my second real adult wedding. Yeah. I'm not, I don't know why for some reason, maybe just like my friends around me are not getting married because I haven't been invited to many weddings. Speaker 2 (5:03) Or they just didn't have a wedding. Speaker 1 (5:04) Yeah. So like Speaker 2 (5:06) a wedding, a proper wedding where they have like a venue and they like send people invitations and they have like bridesmaids and all that. It's like we had a friend, like we had some friends that got married, but it was like kind of like they like eloped in Italy. And it was like a very, just the two of them and like two more people. Like it was very chill. And then we had like a lot of your guy friends. I feel like they got married. Speaker 2 (5:29) But... Speaker 1 (5:30) No. A lot of them are not married. Oh, wait. Well, you're talking about like... Okay, so my European friends, American friends, two different friend groups, but basically... Your friends in Speaker 2 (5:38) Seattle. Speaker 1 (5:39) Yes. No big weddings. Yeah, Speaker 2 (5:43) that's what I'm saying. No big weddings. Speaker 1 (5:44) Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't know. Anyways, this was the Montreal wedding. Was the Speaker 2 (5:49) second wedding you've been on. Been to as an adult. Speaker 1 (5:51) Right. I Speaker 2 (5:52) just want to preface by saying I didn't go to this wedding just because there was a lot of stuff going on with work. Speaker 1 (5:57) You were invited. I Speaker 2 (5:58) was invited. Yes. There was a lot Speaker 1 (6:01) of Speaker 2 (6:01) stuff going on with work. And also, it seemed to me that this was kind of like a reunion as well, which you'll tell us about. So I just felt like, you know. I think sometimes it's okay. I get it like when you're in a relationship and you're married and like one person gets invited to something, obviously their spouse gets invited to that as well. And yeah, like it's nice for them to go. But I do think in certain occasions, like it's okay for the spouse to not go to like an event or a wedding or something like that, even if they're invited because obviously it's out of courtesy. But is it really like the scene set up for the spouse to be there or is it going to be kind of like... Not random, but would your experience be better if you're just on your own and you don't have to worry about making sure that I'm good, making sure that I'm having time, good time, making sure that I have like people to talk to or like I'm, you know, Speaker 1 (6:53) mingling Speaker 2 (6:54) when this isn't like, I don't know anybody, this is not my crowd. And you get what I'm saying? Speaker 1 (7:00) Yeah. So to answer that question, yes and no. Okay. But mostly no. Like my experience would be better if I went by myself. Speaker 2 (7:10) Oh. Yeah. Oh, I feel like the way you were answering. Speaker 1 (7:12) Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. So the experience, me being there by myself without you. Was Speaker 2 (7:16) a Speaker 1 (7:16) better version. It was a better version because I'm just picturing if you came with me. Yeah. Okay. So I just, quick backstory. These are my friends that I went to high school with in Atlanta. Right. I went to high school in Atlanta and one of my teammates got married. And we kept in touch over social media throughout the years. But this is like a long time ago, right? So I was very happy to be invited. And yeah, so I went. It was in Montreal. We live in New York now. So it was the quickest flight I ever took in my life. Speaker 2 (7:46) It Speaker 1 (7:46) literally felt like up and down. And the plane was Speaker 2 (7:49) small too. Speaker 1 (7:50) Plane was small. I didn't love the plane. Speaker 2 (7:53) Yeah, I don't love small planes. The Speaker 1 (7:54) small plane, I feel like a little wind and we're out. Speaker 2 (7:57) Yeah. Speaker 1 (7:58) You know what I mean? Yeah, quick flight, checked into the hotel. Everything was great. It was amazing to see them. So it was definitely a reunion. So I got there a couple of days before the wedding because we wanted to give ourselves like a little time to catch up. What did you do after high school? So basically you Speaker 2 (8:12) hadn't seen these guys in like... Speaker 1 (8:15) Like 18 years or some shit. Like, you know, last time I saw them was... When you were all like, what, Speaker 2 (8:20) 16, 17? Yeah, Speaker 1 (8:22) yeah. Something like that, right? That's Speaker 2 (8:24) crazy. Speaker 1 (8:24) So that was my first time seeing them since. So it was amazing. And he also invited a few other teammates that I knew. Speaker 2 (8:29) Yeah. So Speaker 1 (8:30) not only did I get to see him again and his brother that I'm also cool with. Yeah. I got to see a couple other teammates and we were roommates. So not only teammates, like you go home, I go home, you live your life, I live mine. We were always together. Speaker 2 (8:44) Yeah. If Speaker 1 (8:44) anybody's seen the movie Coach Carter. That was pretty much my experience in high school. Yeah. At least for my sophomore year. Yeah. So anyways, it was great to see them. So then I get to the wedding. Before I even got to the wedding, I didn't have anything to wear. Speaker 2 (8:59) So Speaker 1 (8:59) a couple of weeks before, I was trying to order something online and I went a few places in New York. I tried some things on, didn't fit. Speaker 2 (9:06) Yoni was very adamant about wearing like a suit. Speaker 1 (9:09) I wanted that. You know why? Because I know now the cool way to go to weddings is like you almost put a fit on versus like a... I mean, a suit Speaker 2 (9:16) is a fit. I Speaker 1 (9:17) know, but it's like, it's straightforward. Speaker 2 (9:19) Yeah, versus like... A Speaker 1 (9:20) fit is like you get the linen oversized top with the baggy... Like, I didn't want to do the Pinterest 2026 wedding look. Speaker 2 (9:29) Oh, yeah. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to Speaker 1 (9:31) show up classic with, you know, I didn't have a tie. I had a, what do you call it? A bow tie. Speaker 2 (9:37) Boy, I got a bow tie, babe. It was nice, you know? It Speaker 1 (9:40) was so cute. Speaker 2 (9:40) The cutest thing was Yoni, like... he got eventually like all these things that he had purchased trying to like get the you know see what he's gonna end up wearing i was so Speaker 1 (9:51) excited it felt like the first day of school and Speaker 2 (9:53) he was just like okay i'm gonna put on like because you also got multiple sizes of things to just see which size is better Speaker 1 (10:01) yeah yeah so i so Speaker 2 (10:02) he was uh He was really like putting together the different combinations of like, should I do this shirt? Should I do that shirt? Should I tuck it in? Does this one look better? Is the bigger one better? Should you see the belts? Let Speaker 1 (10:14) me tell you why I went through all that to be that. Because I haven't been to a lot of weddings, as I said before. But then also, this is my first time seeing these guys after a long time. Speaker 2 (10:24) Yeah. Speaker 1 (10:25) Everybody's career kind of, you know, we all do different things. Yeah. Speaker 2 (10:28) And you're adults now. And Speaker 1 (10:30) we're adults now. And I am the only one who, well, they all have like kids. Not all, but some have kids, some don't, right? And that part didn't have anything to do with what I'm saying. But I, there was some, I don't want to say there was pressure for me to. show up as like my best self, but I wanted to like, I wanted to look good. Speaker 2 (10:51) Yeah, I get it. Like Speaker 1 (10:52) if