Jack Pendragon: Eat Your Kimchi Interview

Picture rudely borrowed from Pintarest.
Look at the lovely, precious darlings!

Eat Your Kimchi is formed by Simon and Martina, a married couple from Canada who decided to move to Korea and start a life there. As they were leaving relatives, family and friends behind on the other side of the close, they decided to start making videos about their life in the new country to show them what it was like, putting the videos up on the social media Youtube. Now, several years later, their channel has grown very popular, and become a big part of their life. They're working hard, doing what they love, and at the same time entertaining people and teaching them about a new culture.

I personally was introduced to their videos and their channel in the middle of 2012, by my ex girlfriend. I was immediately stuck, just like she was, and back then I didn't have the confidence to make videos and such. I had put down my own Youtube channel because of how people bullied me. But I liked watching their videos. I liked it a lot. And they encouraged me a lot, just by doing what they loved. It made me want to get into it again. So eventually, I did. And I'm still having fun doing what I love, and a lot of it is thanks to them.

Meeting them very quickly at Närcon 2014 was an extremely amazing experience, and I'm feeling so lucky for that chance. I'm also feeling very lucky about this chance that I got, when Simon agreed to be a part of this interview!

These inspiring people have done a lot for me, and I think just watching their videos can make you feel better at times when you feel dull. If you haven't seen them, you should definitely take a look at their youtube channel!

Youtube.com/eatyourkimchi

This is my interview with Simon, where I got to ask some really important questions about what they do!

What was your first thoughts about the video making, when you first started to make your videos?

We actually viewed it as a necessity. We didn’t have FaceTime back then, so we couldn’t show our families what Korea was like. We shot videos for them so they can see what our lives are like in Korea. If we could have FaceTimed, we would have, and Eatyourkimchi would never have existed. Thank you, South Korea, for blocking Apple products for so long!

Did you ever think video making could become a job?

It wasn’t until our third year of vlogging that we saw the chance of it happening. We were doing it for the first two years just for fun, without making a penny out of it, because, well, it’s fun! But once YouTube let us into the partner program (which is how you see ads at the bottom of videos), we thought that it might be possible for us to make a living off of it. But we had no plans up to then for this to be a job.

What are your inspirations?

I really have no idea how to answer this. The world around us is inspiring. There are so many things around us that are fun, and we want to share them with people. I think it’s travel that inspires us. We were so used to the things we saw around us in Canada that none of it seemed special. It’s the contrast of living in a new place that opens your eyes to a world of new things, and also opens your eyes to appreciate things you didn’t appreciate before. I never knew how delicious Canadian air smelled. I never knew how safe driving in Canada was. But I also never knew how dead the nightlife is in Canada compared to Korea. I never knew how great restaurant services are in Korea. Just going to another place and experiencing different things, all the while remembering where you’re from, makes you think about things differently than someone who has never left their homes.

What do you do/think of when you have a really rough day?

Days are rough for us when we’re so busy that we can’t finish all of the things we want to finish. We have our European tour happening soon, and on top of that we have something we’re going to unveil next week, and on top of that we have another project for the end of September, and on top of that we’re working on something for the beginning of December, and at the same time we’re trying to make new designs and create new recipes. So, days are really rough for us when we can’t get all of our things done on time, and we just run out of energy. But then we think to ourselves how freaking amazing it is that we can do this as a living. What complaints can we have? "Boo-hoo! I’m so busy having fun making videos!” We always think of ourselves as blessed to be able to pursue what we’re passionate about, so no matter how tired we are, no matter how sore our bodies get, we always go to sleep thinking about how blessed we are to be able to be creative for a living.

What is EYK for you?

This is something I’ve been trying to figure out for a while. Eatyourkimchi isn’t a kpop channel. It’s not a food channel. It’s not a travel channel. It’s not a play-with-toys channel. It’s not even a Korea channel. It’s so many things at once. At its heart it’s really just a vlog of our experiences, but most of our experiences are wanderlusty, I think. Basically, we’re just trying to share our passion to travel, to motivate people to have the courage to change their lives if they’re dissatisfied with them, to view things from a different perspective. To never settle. To never feel trapped. To enjoy their lives, and to appreciate what they might have overlooked.

What is your worst experience with the whole EYK-work so far?

Angry internet comments are the worst. They're hard for us to process. We can read a hundred loving comments of people having fun with our videos, of people laughing at our cheesy jokes, and they all make us feel warm inside, but if we read one bad one it’s all we think about. I’m not sure why. It doesn’t make sense to think about them, but I just don’t think that humans have sociologically evolved to handle communicating with so many people at once, so we can’t keep things in perspective. We do our best at the times when people call us the vilest scum of Hitler’s butt-sauce to not let it affect us, but - damn - internet anger can be so loud sometimes.

What is your best experience with the whole EYK-work so far?

Meeting people in person when we tour is so unbelievable rewarding. We’ve met people who have told us how we helped them get out of terrible relationships. We’ve met people who had really tough times at school. We met people who almost harmed themselves irreparably. And when they tell us how we help them through it - oh shit - I get emotional even thinking about it now. We’re honoured beyond belief that we can meet people, that they like our videos, and that they sometimes say that we help them out. I’ve always felt that if you expect nothing from the world you won’t be disappointed; in this light we’ve been so blessed to meet so many kind people that have been overwhelmingly kind to us.

What is your best advice for someone who wants to start a Youtube channel and upload videos?

Don’t make videos because you want to be famous. Don’t make videos because you want to be rich. There are tons of other ways to be famous or rich. Why go the YouTube route, then? Why go the Kpop route, or the Hollywood route, or the modelling route? Sing because you want to sing. Dance because you want to dance. Make videos because you want to make videos. Ask yourself if you’d be making videos if no one watched them, and if the answer is no, then don’t make videos. The act of creation has to be the reward in itself, rather than a means to an end. We made lots of videos before anyone cared to watch them, and we’ve made tons of videos that no one has ever seen (no, not pornoz) because it’s enjoyable. I’d recommend you feel the same way before you start creating content.

Thank you for letting me interview you Simon!

The words he told me after the interview is to be a secret, but it was probably a few of the best encouraging words I've ever heard, and it made my little shota kokoro go doki doki as glitter tears streamed down my cheeks. I'm so happy to have been given this opportunity, and I hope you will go and check out their magical work.

See you guys in my next blog post and video!