onefjef

I return to the United States for the first time since moving away and quickly remember what America does—and doesn’t—feel like. Jonathan continues hitchhiking toward Canada, collecting stories that range from deeply moving to completely bizarre: strangers who pray for him, unexpected generosity, Native ceremonies, truck stops, and conversations that reveal just how differently people experience t...

I end up in a World Cup celebration unlike anything I've ever experienced, get spectacularly lost wandering Mexico City after my phone dies, and share audio dispatches from a 20-year-old German hitchhiking across the US with almost no money. Plus: the Mexican national anthem is secretly a death threat, every guy Jonathan meets in Texas has done time, a thunderclap broke a seismograph, and a little...

I'm in my last week of six-hour Spanish days, packing up the apartment I can't wait to leave, and negotiating my deposit back over WhatsApp with a landlord who's taking my early exit personally. Also: the Fungi Festival, psychedelic cumbia, nooks & crannies, and weed honey. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://...

I got sick, got antibiotics from a tip-jar doctor, and came back to life right as the World Cup kicked off here in Mexico City. The city went dead quiet, then erupted. I Watched Mexico win from a cantina with free tequila and a torrential downpour. Oh, and I'm moving. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreo...

Celebrating one year of the podcast from Mexico City, where strangers wish you a good meal and toilets overflow without warning. Illness, isolation, ten M&M's in a bag, the kindness of a movie theater employee, and why I couldn't sell hair loss products for a living. Thank you so much to everyone who has listened to this podcast over the past year. I truly appreciate you, and your ears. You ca...

The inevitable loneliness of starting a new life. Also I got strapped into a bungee harness with four women and zero Spanish comprehension, learned that The Simpsons is apparently funnier in Spanish, named my kefir Bicho, and rode through the insane streets of CDMX at night with a friend for the first time. Also I have thoughts about masculine and feminine nouns and they are not entirely diplomati...

SEASON TWO PREMIERE! Chris Casey is back. I find out he actually was an expat — Abu Dhabi, year and a half, government-financed apartment, walked around like he owned the place. We talk about when I learned Arabic at a mosque in South Korea, the call to prayer being piped through an entire city from one voice, me hanging out with Chris' parents in Mexico City without him, his girlfriend's menstrua...

This is the final episode of season one of onefjef : a compilation of clips, conversations, connection, confessions, and moments that somehow led me from Columbus, Ohio to Mexico City. I still can’t believe I made 49 of these. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Instagram: @onefjefpod Faceb...

An earthquake alarm went off, Mexico City is slowly disappearing into the earth, and I'm still impressed I haven't fallen on the sidewalk yet. Episode 48 — the penultimate episode of onefjef season one — short, a little chaotic, what you'd expect, hopefully what you'll like. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www...

It’s a new era. The podcast has a focus now — expat life in Mexico City — and there’s a new contest to go with it. I talk about CDMX’s no-driving-test license system, why Beetle taxis used to rule the city, the many ways Spanish says “I love you” (and the one way English does), and a tortilla situation I probably should’ve kept to myself. Ponte el cinturón, mis amigos. Please show some support for...

Filmmaker Jon Sherman has been my friend for years and I finally got him in front of a microphone before I left Ohio. We talk about growing up in Manhattan, making movies nobody would buy, Harvey Weinstein passing on his film, directing a hundred people when you have no idea what you're doing, teaching at Kenyon for 17 years, and the tattoo that may not say what he thinks it says. You can, and sho...

I probably shouldn't release this episode but I'm clearly doing it anyway. I talk about Mexican milk cartons, eating raw white bread, and the NEW CONTEST! Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Instagram: @onefjefpod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onefjefpod TikTok: @onefjefpodcast YouTube...

Bernardo Pacheco grew up in a low neighborhood on the south side of Mexico City, the youngest of three, black sheep by temperament. We talked about the stories we keep telling ourselves about our upbringings, the difference between a word like mande and what it actually carries, how the Catholic Church is not Christianity, the two kinds of gringos, why most ideologies are a distraction from the in...

My friend Tim Waters came over two weeks before I moved to Mexico City, we sat in my living room with the lav mics I got for Christmas, and this is what happened. We get into growing up super religious and what happens when that falls apart, Duolingo streak psychology, unintentional black guitars, and how music—like discovering Green Day as a kid—can completely reroute your life. We also played so...

About a month in, I'm starting to admit that this is actually my life. Also: my sister and nephew visited, we went to a cooking class, watched a mariachi band play an inappropriate song, argued about whether Spanish 6 is a real class, and I had a breakthrough in my second Spanish lesson. There's also a story about two Ukrainian sailors, a Bob Dylan cassette, and a shirt I still own but have never...

My friend Nathan Fitch went from making skate videos to documenting Micronesian soldiers fighting in U.S. wars—and somehow that’s just part of the story. We talk about how he ended up in the Peace Corps, what he saw filming in Afghanistan, and how Island Soldier keeps finding new life years later. Along the way, we get into creativity, survival, and what it actually means to “make it” as a filmmak...

Two weeks into Mexico City and I'm getting by — mostly. A woman at the market walked me across the entire building to find a spatula I didn't need, I took my first all-Spanish yoga class and spent most of it thinking about bolster hygiene, I upgraded the shower head, I still haven't taken my garbage out, I had one real wave of expat loneliness, and I ended up at a Walmart Express surrounded by Ame...

I’ve lived in Mexico City for a couple weeks now, and I’m in that weird in-between place where some things feel easy and others still make no sense at all. But the weather is perfect, the garbage truck rings a bell. and there's a guy on a bike with a whistle who will sharpen your knives. And I'm going to stop reading the news, because knowledge isn't power and none of it makes sense anyway. Please...

Jack Hopkins (aka Jack Hoppy) is a bartender, filmmaker, and musician from Columbus, Ohio. We talk about growing up small and non-athletic in the suburbs, learning about life from movies, getting love-bombed by a Christian youth group, successfully avoiding sex for most of high school, a mushroom trip that spiraled into months of nihilism and two suicide attempts, and the offhand comment from a st...

Two months from buying a plane ticket to moving into an apartment in Roma Sur. This episode is the arrival — the last frantic packing at my mom's house, the delayed flight out of Cleveland, the Uber from the airport wondering what my apartment would be like, and then the first three days of actually living here. It ends on night three, at a gathering with expats and locals, when Mexico City finall...

My time in Columbus finally comes to an end, and this is what it sounds like. I threw away a living thing. I hid poker chips around my old house. I sold a mattress for $26. And the podcast finally got it's first voicemail. Episode 40 will come from Mexico City, which is about two-thirds of the way down. Now I need to pack. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra conte...

This is what it sounds like to dismantle a life. Packing tape. Gravel alleys. A crazy landlord stomping next-door. A going-away party with live music and rocks as door prizes. I’m leaving Columbus in two days, and I'm not exactly sure what I'm taking with me. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/one...

Selling garbage cans, packing chaos, Yannick Bertrand, and reflections on leaving a place that suddenly starts telling you how much you matter. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Instagram: @onefjefpod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onefjefpod X: @onefjef TikTok: @onefjefpodcast YouTub...

I welcome back the "Old Backup Plan," Chris Casey, for a wide-ranging, unedited February 2026 update. We cover everything from malfunctioning electric toothbrushes and the flakiness of Facebook Marketplace to the joy of Bad Bunny, the meaning of our "stuff," and the collapse of global systems. You can (and should) follow Chris' Substack here: Thank You For Existing Please show some support for the...

While I’m busy preparing to move, Feffrey kindly stepped in to host. His therapist did not approve. Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef Instagram: @onefjefpod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onefjefpod TikTok: @onefjefpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onefjef Email: onefjefpod@gm...