Hiya! We're Simon and Martina, from the YouTube channel Eatyourkimchi, and we're opening our first coffee shop in Korea in less than 24 hours. AMA!

/Rolls down window

AAYYYYYY GURL CAN I BUY YOU A DRANK?

Greatest pickup line ever :D

In all seriousness, love you guys! I hope to visit Korea soon and visit your coffee shop. Please have good loose leaf tea.

We've got a few items on our tea list for people who don't like coffee. We hope you like it!

Can you say something about the dark side of the Korean music industry that you have witnessed/ are aware of?

Unethical working hours. Music video shoots shouldn't be 40 hours straight with shit food. Let people rest and eat properly.

First off, I love you guys. I've been a fan since your first apartment when you were both teaching full time :-)

Martina, what is your favorite kdrama from this year? I need something new to watch!

EDIT: I went to Korea last year and watched some live SK matches. This is my video of being on TV :-)

I think Heirs was a really profound drama that showed the finer nuances of relationships, and did a great job of depicting Korean/American relationships...nah I'm kidding that drama was horrendous!

Hey guys! Don't really know if I have any particular question, per say, just wanted to say that you guys LITERALLY turned my life around since I accidentally found you last year while looking for Korean Foodporn while I had an eating disorder (a long, sad, strange story). I feel like you guys have taught me so much ranging from how to stay positive to relationship stuff! You guys are such an inspiration and really awesome role models to me (which I don't really have in my life) and I can't thank you enough! Good luck in your awesome cafe adventures! I'm so happy for you guys! I'd go back to Korea again right now just to visit, ahahaha!

Ok, but for the AMA's sake, if you guys were able to eat unlimited quantities of ONE food without ANY consequences whatsoever, what would it be? Oh, and if you were forced to leave Korea tomorrow, the last place you'd go?

Once again, thanks and congrats! You guys're totally going to rock the hell out of this. : )

OMG! That's awesome. Thank you. You know, we talk about Korea and music a lot in our videos, but we constantly hope that the main thing we show in our videos is just how to be happy together, regardless of where we are in the world. I'm happy that we could help you out :D

As for your question, I'm gonna say Japanese Ramen. Holy hell. It's so amazingly delicious. The soft eggs, the falling apart meat, the globby broth? Oh man. It's soul crushingly good. I would say that I'd go for that Best Sushi in Japan video we did a while ago, but - even though that was the best meal I've ever had in my life - it's too much to eat everyday.

When you guys first hired Soozee and Leigh, what was your first impression of them and how is it different from now?

Also how do you guys feel your videos have changed within the past 3-4 years?

Leigh and Soo Zee are very different stories.

We first brought on Soo Zee to edit our playlists. She was doing it for a while, but then we saw that she was getting bored of it, which she admitted to. Video editing wasn't her greatest passion. We asked her instead, then, if she wanted to be our studio manager, because we were opening up our studio at the time. She took on the job and flourished and loves it. We're happy she found something she loves :D

Leigh, on the other hand, knew from the get go she wanted to edit videos. She sent us an awesome email telling us how she could help, and we needed it, because we were editing all of our videos on our own at that time. She's formally trained from a yuunaverrcity or something like that, and used a bunch of terms that were over our heads. We were impressed :D

As for our videos, we've been trying to improve the filming quality as much as we can. Audio, video, stabilizing shots, getting better lighting, and also trying to improve our workflow. We used to spend hours trying to figure out how to do stuff that didn't really have that big of an impact on the final video. We've gotten better at that now :D

That is so awesome! You guys really got lucky. They both have great personalities and both appear really comfortable in front of the camera especially in all your funny team videos.

And your efforts for filming quality are not in vain! I have definitely noticed it, especially when you guys go outside to face the elements of nature in your WANKs and FAPFAPs haha!

I actually met you guys at Kcon 3 years ago, and I was the LAST person in line to get a signature, so I only was able to get Martina's. One day I will meet you guys and get that signature. You heard me Simon :D

http://imgur.com/XqFvI9u

OMG! That was so long ago! Well, hopefully we'll see you here soon, yeah?

Hey! I've been a fan of yours for forever. So thanks for being amazing!

Do you think your video-making will be slowing down now that you're running a business? How much time are you going to actually be in the Cafe?

Thank you! I hope to visit it someday!

I don't think it's going to be slowing down. Video making is still a top priority for us. Even this week, with the craziness of opening up for Saturday, and spending so many hours in the shop, we still managed to post as many videos as we usually do (though they were primarily Coffee Shop themed). And we've got big plans for an awesome Eatyourkimchi Road Trip Week this summer as well :D

Hi Simon and Martina, Thank You both so much for this.

What's on the horizon for Eat Your Kimchi ? Does the local community embrace Eat Your Kimchi ? What are your favorite Korean Foods so far ?

Oh, and Simon has this grey knit cap, and my husband is dying to know where he got it from. He wants one so bad.

One request, more FAP FAP's please.

Thank you for taking part in this. We're quite nervous on Reddit :D

As for your question there's a bunch to answer, so I'll do what I can:

What's on the horizon: we're developing an app that should be coming out this year. We're going on another European tour. And, if all goes well with the coffee shop, we have ideas for ways we want to expand on that :D

What about an American tour? XD We want to see you tooooo

We've been in talks to do something epic for that. We wanted to do it this year, but the scope for the tour was bigger than expected, so we're hoping, maybe, we'll have it all sorted out for next Spring/Summer ;)

(South East) Asian tour! We're right here yet you go so far away. :(

Hey: if anyone wants to set that up, we'd love to partake in it!

Hi Simon and Martina!!!! First of all, I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS SO MUCH!!!! I started watching them before a trip to Korea to visit family, and I've been watching them ever since! I've been to the Hongdae mandu place, and hapjeong croquette!

I would like to know if you're planning on moving back to Canada once you guys get older, or if you will be staying in Korea. If you do move back, would you continue to make videos?

That's something we've thought about. What will we do when we're in our 40s, 50s? We've talked about moving back to Canada, buying some land, and building an eco-friendly house. We've actually got friends in Canada that are in construction and who want to all get together and build our own community (re: NOT a hippy commune). But, we're not sure yet. We're just talking about it. I know, though, that our videos will be very different by then, like how to grow tomatoes or something like that. I'm sure it'll be more entertaining than a time-lapse of tomatoes growing. I promise! I'm not really selling it well at the moment. Errr. Yes. Videos still. Fun videos!

What was your viewership like when you started YouTubbing? And how did your popularity rise? Did you put in a lot of effort to obtain more subscribers or did things just kind of fall into your lap?

A lot of interested and upcoming vloggers and YouTubbers would love to hear your advice on those just starting out.

When we started YouTubing, our viewership was just our parents. We did videos for them to show them what our lives were like here in Korea.

When we stopped teaching and got into YouTubing full-time, I think we were only getting 500k-1mil views a month or so? We're doing better than that now, fortunately :D

As for how our popularity rose, all I can say for that is "steadily." We didn't have any viral video that brought in thousands of subscribers (though we did the first Gangnam Style parody ever!). Every month our subscribers grow just the same as they did before.

We're not putting in an effort to gain more subscribers. We're just putting in effort to make the best videos we can make, and to have fun while doing so. If people watch our videos for that, then...hooray! But we did YouTube videos for two years without earning a penny, simply because we loved doing them, and I think that's the best advice we can give: don't get into YouTube because you want to be rich and famous. Do online videos because you're passionate about making online videos. Don't put the cart before the horse :D

Hi guys! First off, I would like to thank you guys for allowing me the tools to look more into the world of being an English teacher in a foreign country, as I am an English major currently. More importantly though, I was wondering about the condition of your problematic behavior and if you all were working on that? As you both know, you are one of the pieces that international fans utilize as a medium to South Korea. Needless to say, we recognize ill behavior, and in the past it has been brought up to you all, though not well received as I remember.

The behavior in question entails but is not limited to slut-shaming female idols; the unnecessary and offensive use of the word "ghetto" (which is a disgusting cultural norm that already needs to stop); the ethnocentric and sometimes racist nature of your reviews/videos; the use of the word "pedonoona"; and so on. Again, this is not "hating", rather a request of response because as fans of Korean music, we care about the mediums that potential and other fans will be going through. That being said, you are not bad people, but problematic behavior needs to be acknowledged and if at all possible (and it is), fixed. Even by you guys. Thanks! Good luck with your cafe!

For starters, thank you for asking this so politely and not telling us that we're terrible evil spawn of Hitler and should be spit upon. It's appreciated. Really :)

Anyhow, we read the complaints that people make, and we take them into consideration as much as possible. It's difficult wading through the hateful language that surrounds it, but we do our best to get to the core of what people are saying.

And so, we do our best to change the language we use. We haven't said ghetto since the complaints. Haven't said pedonoona since the complaints. We do our best to be considerate for people of different orientations. We understand how people can get offended, and try to avoid that in future videos. We still have a lot of work to go, but we're trying. I hope people notice a change. I hope :)

I'm not sure if I agree with every complaint, though, but we are engaging with the criticism to the best of our abilities.

How recognizable are you in Korea? As in level of fame. Can you generally walk around without getting noticed by Koreans (for being EYK, not just as foreigners)? Is there a noticeable difference in fame when you go to Itaewon? I'm just kinda curious how many actual Koreans fans you have or if it's mainly foreigners. Also along that line, how are you guys dealing with becoming so well known? You have fangirls/boys! Is that weird for you guys? It'd be weird for me lol.

Well, we meet people everyday. There isn't really a day that we don't meet people. Buuuut it's nothing like being a Korean idol. When we meet people, they're always really cool and polite, and they talk to us like we're long lost friends, and it's great! Our idol friends, though, get mobbed, and hounded for photos and signatures. Sign this for me! Sign this for my friend! Sign this for my aunt! Can you sign this for my cousin's neighbour? People don't treat idols kindly in public. People are always awesome with us, and we're really thankful for that.

On that note, though, I can't pick my nose in public anymore. Or pick a wedgie. Everytime we get a wedgie...just gotta walk it off. Last time I picked one I ran into someone with my hand halfway down my pants. Clammiest handshake ever!

But it's mostly foreigners, though not overwhelmingly so. Maybe 60/40?

How are the boys over at U-KISS doing? If you still keep in contact with them of course., haven't heard from them in awhile.

Side note: I just want to say thank you for all the videos you guys put up , and thank you to TTMIK for the best Korean language learning experience. You guys make learning about Korea so fun! :D

Hyunwoo: “Thank you so much for studying with us! I’ll be looking forward to meeting you in person here at the You Are Here cafe one day! Talk to me in Korean!”

EYK: Well, we spoke with Kevin and asked if he'd come to the opening tomorrow, but he's in Japan touring at the moment. We shed a collective tear. But, otherwise, they're keeping busy as always :D

Hey guys! You're my favorite couple. How do you keep your relationship so strong? Any tips? :D

Well, we're lucky that we married our best-friend. Having a strong friendship means that we LIKE each other, as well as loving each other. Some relationships just have one and not the other.

Also, we view marriage as a full-time job. It's not an achievement that you unlock and then forget about. It's not a status symbol. We got married because we want to live with each other and make each other happy. That's our full time job. Our careers and hobbies are part time. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but what I'm basically trying to say is that we know of couples that spend so much time focusing on their jobs and advancing their careers that they neglect their loved ones. They say that they're doing it for their loved ones, but I don't really see it. A relationship needs more than just money and houses. No?

Just wondering. .. how are you guys able to live in korea for long? I thought that korea was a little "non-foreigner" where you can't just apply for citizenship. I've heard of alien visa, but don't know much about it. I'm hoping to one day live in korea, or at least spend some time there :D

We had to apply for a business visa, which involved an investment of money into the country, setting up a business office, and a bunch of other paperwork. Every six months we have to go back to immigration and show them our documents and that we're legally earning money here. Immigration also stops by for random spot checks to make sure all of our documents are in order. We don't have permanent residence here. So, yeah, it's a bit tough. I sometimes envy people YouTubing from their own countries, and how they don't have to worry about earning the right to live there.

The route we took isn't really a popular route. We don't know many foreigners who set up a business here. It was a very challenging experience, but we've grown a lot from it, I think :D

@ttmik How is it being a new father? Your pics on instagram are the best.

I'm responding for Hyunwoo because his account only lets him answer once every ten minutes, for some reason. Ahem:

Hyunwoo: “It’s amazing! I am trying really hard to stop myself from spamming everybody with too many photos.”

So can I buy Soozee a drank?

You can ask her here tomorrow :D

What are each of your favourite beverages and food items on the YAH menu?

Any cool Korean drinks/snacks that I wouldn't see at a North American coffee shop?

I haven't been to that many North American coffee shops over the past half-decade or so, so I'm not sure. I don't remember seeing Powerballs in any of them, though, so I think that's it? But that's not really Korean. We've been fiddling around with a Sweet Potato dessert, which is a popular cake style/flavor in South Korea. Just gotta find the right way to make it :D

I absolutely love you guys :D My question is was it ever a option to have the coffee shop to be staffed with Coffee Princes?

Hahahaha. You know, when we were brainstorming the coffee shop ideas, we actually knew of a modelling agency that rents out its models as baristas. We looked into it, but realized they were a) not that great at making coffee and b) a bit too expensive :D

But, hey, if any Kpop idol wants out of the industry, we've got a job for you right here!

Hi Simon and Martina :) T-dot Represent! :3

Have you guys ever considered doing daily vlogs or anything of the sort? :)

Keep on doing what you guys do :) Love you guys :D

Toronto whuuuut!

Yeah, we thought about daily vlogs, but I'm not sure how interesting those would be. We spend far too many hours of the day clicking buttons on a computer, editing videos and writing blog posts. I think we'll do an update Day in the Life video, but I'm not sure if we'd do it regularly :D

What was the hardest part about opening a coffee shop?

Finding the right place, finding the right staff members, and everything else, I think :D

^what he said. Location hunting was sooooo difficult!

I love the whole EYK crew, you are all amazing (Meemersworth and Spudgy too). I think I am coming to Korea in about a year for a visit and I plan on stopping by your cafe; I can't wait!

What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend with your significant other in Korea?

We've really gotten into - don't judge us now - camping by the river. There are hundreds of tents out there, and it's silly and fun and so relaxing. Just sitting in a giant tent with our dog, throwing around a frisbee in a tiny slice of grass that isn't big enough for the two of us, ordering food delivery to "the tent with the white lady with pink hair and the blue dog," listening to the university kids in the tents beside us blare Hongdae dance music. It's fun :D

that sounds amazing! I would really like to try it sometime.

My friend taught English in Korea for a few years and told me one of the best experiences he had was hiking up one of the mountains next to Seoul with his wife, there was an awesome view of the city and a hotdog stand. That could be a fun WANKWANK :)

The last time we went up a mountain was this Spring. We went with a friend who was visiting. Alex. He does a lot of hiking back in the Yukon Territories of Canada. So, we took him on the mountain, and made it to the top, and right when we got there the heavens opened up and shat buckets of water on us. I took that as a sign to not go up again :D

I'm coming to Korea soon! Martina, where are your favourite places to buy clothes? love your style!

Here's a shocker: Martina actually gets some of her best outfits from HomePlus, which is a giant supermarket chain, like Walmart. We actually were stopped once in the street by a fashion magazine that took profile pics and then asked us, bit by bit, where we got our shoes, bags, outfits, and all. They were quite surprised when Martina mentioned Emart (another big supermarket chain). Hey: it's all about how you wear it!

Though i can't won't be visiting the Korea any time soon, will your cashiers/staff know english?

Pretty much all of them, yes :D

What do people in South Korea think on your "Jobs" (if you can call it that) as youtubers?

A lot of people are very confused. Immigration was a nightmare.

Them: So, what do you sell? Us: Nothing Them: So how do you make money? Us: People view ads on our site Them: So you sell products on ads? Us: No, we don't sell products. Just ad space. Them: But how does that make money? Us: Well, how do magazines make money through ads? Them: But they're magazines. You're not a magazine.

ad infinitum.

It took a very long time then, and it still does now. Now we just give vague answers and say we run an online business :D

Oh lord the questions:

1st: Any advice to recent college-grads? I realize that college was a while back for you guys. Would you advise travel for any and all types? (Regardless of concentration, career-path, marital status and so on)

2nd: How did you guys come up with the names for your pets? I might be able to guess at Dr Meemersworth but Spudgy :D I haven't the slightest idea of what to guess.

3rd: If you could have only one coffee drink forever. What would it be?

4th: Is there any chance we could get a look at what you guise will be offering at the coffee shop? I.E. : Might we get a picture or pdf or some file showing the menu? :D

5th: Any chance you'll be visiting the NYC area?

Much thanks and keep up the awesome!

1st: It's one of my strongest convictions that everyone should - if they can afford it - live in another country for a year. It's so much more valuable than any form of education you can get, IMO. You learn so much about the country you grew up in. You learn to appreciate what you've taken for granted. You begin to see the cracks in the system that you didn't notice before as well. You learn about yourself and your tastes, your strengths. You learn to function in a different system. You learn to communicate better. Hell: there's just so much benefit to it. Travel. You must. I can't urge it enough.

2: Spudgy was actually a cute name we had for each other before we got our dog. We have lots of silly names for each other. As for the Meems, we were discussing it for a while. We wanted something cute and serious at the same time.

3: Ahhhhh! Pass. I drink too much coffee to pick only one :D

4: We don't have a PDF, but I can say we'll be offering the powerballs we showed in our Morning Routine video :D

5: Yes! Hopefully next spring/summer :D

What's your projections for the next few years? Aside from the coffee shop :D I cannot wait till I can go to Korea, visit your coffee shop and maybe give Spudgy a belly rub <3

We're actually really interested in seeing what life would be like outside of Seoul. We've been in Seoul/the Seoul area for a long time now. What's Busan like? What's Daejeon like? What's the countryside like? It's something that we're deeply considering.

Well hello! I've been following you guys for a while to the point of being an annoying ghost. How are you two doing? P.s congrats on the coffee shop!

Annoying ghost? We're not annoyed :D As for how we're doing otherwise, whoa, we're quite nervous about opening a coffee shop. We keep on waking up at night with random ideas, many of which don't make sense, like "WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE WE DON'T HAVE SINKHOLES IN THE LAWN!" Otherwise, we're gonna be really relieved once tomorrow's done :D

Simon and Martina, this isn't related to your coffee shop, but have you read any good books lately? Any you'd like to recommend?

P.s. You so nasty. Please^replytome

We've barely had time for traditional books, but we've been reading lots of comics! I just finished the Avengers vs X-Men line. I LOVED IT!

Hey Simon and Martina! I wanted to ask you about your career. When did you guys realize you could make YouTube a career? I admire how you guys could make something unique into a career. ^{-^}

It wasn't until two years of doing YouTube that we were offered Partnership. It wasn't available in Korea back then, so we just did it for fun. Once YouTube offered us partnership, though, we thought that it might be possible for us to make something out of it.

I quit teaching for the year to work on developing our videos more, while Martina still worked. We thought we'd give it a shot for a year. If by the end of it, we weren't making enough money from YouTube, we'd go to teach somewhere else. Our first month...we made five bucks. Not a good sign. But things got better for us, to the point that, by the end of the year, Martina could comfortably quit her job :D

You guys are probably getting tired of this, but I'm big fan and it's great that you guys are here on Reddit! I love what you guys are doing with your cafe so far and I hope you guys the best!

Just one question. Which Game of Thrones character is the most badass?

DOTHRAKI MAN WARRIOR: Khal Drogo. I find him rather inspiring :D

It feels like you're both becoming more business savvy as you spend more time in Korea. Is that because you feel that YouTube won't last forever/have a back up or you just wanted something new to tackle? Does Korea have that kind of entrepreneurial spirit to you?

Also, you spoke a while ago about maybe doing Eat Your Sushi. Did anything ever happen with that? Is it still on the books or is it too much to content with right now? Only both of you mention your like for Japan often.

Huge fan. Been watching for a few years now.

Hmm. Well, there are two different observations in here, but they're not correlated, I think.

1) I don't feel that we'll be doing YouTube forever. I don't feel like we should be doing YouTube in the first place. Meaning: I'm amazed that anyone watches us. It doesn't make sense to me. It won't last forever because it can't. People should, one day, stop and think "srsly wtf was I watching them for?"

2) But that's not why we're doing other things. We're doing other things and being more "business savvy" because we're interested and curious. We've always wanted to have our own coffee shop. We're fascinated by design and want to make cool products. We really have lots of ideas for apps. We've got so many things swirling in our minds and just not enough time to do them all. This coffee shop is the first step for other things we want to expand into. More to come soon. Eat Your Sushi is one of them, hopefully!

What is the best/worst part of being full time youtubers specifically in Korea?
Wish I could be there for the opening. When I make it back to Korea in the future, I will definitely have to check it out. You guys were super helpful for me when I lived there last year. :)

I think the best and the worst part is that there aren't many other people that do YouTube full-time here. We were recently in California, and lots of people are ultra mega YouTube stars, and they have a network with each other, and they understand each other and the difficulties you run into. Bad upload speeds. Comment trolls. Export fails. These are things you can have in conversations with people more in Cali than you can in Korea, where the network is a lot smaller.

At the same time, it kinda feels like uncharted territory here in Korea, and we're able to do things here that are more difficult to do in California. Like shooting permits. Some of our friends say they need to get official papers to shoot something outdoors. Here in Korea, we're just bumbling, confused tourists, so we're allowed to do more filming here :D

Hi! I happened to be at a cafe near You Are Here, and just saw your EYK mobile drive by! I wanna say hi, since I'm just down the block, but will leave that for tomorrow!!

My question is... What is your favorite cafe in the Hongdae area besides You Are Here?

-Lyndsey

Yay! We'll see you tomorrow! Today is still a busy day for us :D

As for other cafes, right beside our studio is Zombie Coffee. We love the people there. It's run by another married couple (we like married people!) and they make great coffee. Check em out!

Enjoy your channels (both EYK and TTMIK) and both crews, how do you guys stay motivated and creative?

From Hyunwoo:

“As language teachers, we know how hard learning a new language can be sometimes, so we always spend a lot of time thinking about what our students would find useful : )”

From us, we're just really honoured to be able to do this as a career. It doesn't make sense to us how this is all working out. We're just a couple of dorks who make videos for fun. So we figure we're going to keep on having as much fun as possible, doing what we were normally doing to begin with. I'm not sure how good of an answer that is, really.

As for how we stay creative, we've actually got bagillions of ideas we want to make videos about. We just don't have enough time and hands to do them all, so we do as many as we possibly can in the hours that we're awake :D

I remember your videos when you guys were teaching! I think Simon did a English tutorial on the Battleship game, right?

Being in Korea for so long, what's one habit or custom that you would like North Americans to adopt? And vice versa, what habit or custom would you like for Korea to adopt?

Great question! Hmm:

I'd like it if North American dining wasn't so individualistic. Everyone gets their own plate and eats their own food. In Korea, there's a big pot/bowl/plate that's put in the middle of everyone, and we all dig in. No worries about double dipping or anything like that. Just eating together, without any germophobia, which is something I think North America (or Canada, at least) suffers from a bit too much of.

As for what I'd like Korea to adopt: BETTER DRIVING! Jeeeeeesus. Now that we're driving the Eatyourkimchi Mobile around, I swear, so many people hop into my lane without signalling or checking their blind spots, so many people running red lights. It's really uncomfortable. But I've learned how to park like a pro because the spots are so tight here. I'll feel no sympathy for people who can't park in giant North American football-field size parking spots :D

Heyooo! Fellow Canadian and former Windsorite here!!

Love watching your videos, you two have inspired me to go teach in Korea. Your videos have prepped me quite a bit. (esp. with the hand job soap)

Question: What was your fondest and most horrible memory from Windsor and Korea?

Thanks and love the entire team lots!! :3

edit: left out the word team

WINDSORRR!!!! OMG. We lived there for a year. On Wyandotte. I think it was 1342 or something like that. Ah man. That place was so...special.

My fondest memory: breaking the Supermarket's food system. I forget what the major chain was called that's close to Windsor University. Was it Metro? I don't know. But I remember they had an "It's Fresh or It's Free" policy, so that if you found anything in the store that's rotten, like an apple, you'd get a free fresh apple instead. Great idea. We exploited the hell out of it.

We were pretty damn poor at the time. Wracked with student debts. No jobs. First year of marriage. We spent the entire year on our credit cards. It was tough. So when we found this policy, we thought it'd be put to great use in the cheese section. Aged White Cheddar. Those badboys go mouldy so fast! Every few days or so we'd walk right up to the cheese section, find a brick of cheese with mould on it, find another without it, and bring both up to the cash. We'd invoke the holy rights of It's Fresh or It's Free, and get the free cheesus. We did this for the year. Probably got well over $1000 worth of cheesus. By the end of the year, they got rid of the policy. When we went back to Toronto, it was gone there as well. I like to think that we had a hand in that :D

안녕하세요! I too taught in Korea for a while and your blog helps fill the void left when I returned to the US, lol. Anyway...

I'm pretty into kpop and I'm constantly wondering how much of their (the idols) onscreen personalities are real or if it's all an elaborate lie to make the idols seem funny and lovable to make money. I know that's at least part of it, but how much? Are they like jekyll and Hyde on/off screen? Or do they genuinely seem like cool people? Or are they all just so overworked and tired that you can't glean any personalty from them at all?

PS. You guys appear to be a genuinely happy married couple that actually both like and love each other. Always gives me hope for future love when I watch you lol. Thanks for being cool people!

I don't think "elaborate lie" is a good way of putting it. Everyone that we'e met is highly energetic and fun. We actually like Amber more off camera than on. I haven't seen her have as much fun in her videos, where f(x) is always serious/sexy :D

But idols are also exceptionally overworked. I'd never work for a Kpop company if I was offered the chance. I value sleeping and eating too much. But some people are made for that kind of life. Some people are more than excited to go on stage and perform. I like being in my little studio bubble, with the Eatyourkimchi Crew, making fart jokes and corny videos together :D

Could you tell us a bit more about Amber? I'm a huge fangirl

She actually came tonight to our soft opening. She's lovely. She's very creative and very passionate, and cares about making music more than anything. She probably talks about her love of music more than anyone else we know.

Hi Simon and Martina!! I am a huge fan of yours and I hope that one day I can save up enough money to go to south korea and visit your cafe!

I have a couple questions for you. What shirt sizes do you guys wear so I can send shirts to you in the future because I work at hot topic and see stuff and think "OMG MARTINA NEEDS THIS." or I buy sweet chili doritos and I think "OMG SIMON NEEDS TO EAT THIS."

The next question I have is when the hell are you going to track down Lee Min Ho and get an interview with him?!?!

Hahaha. Lee Min Ho: no idea how we're gonna get through to him. Maybe if he makes a Kpop band?

Hey guise! Thanks for hanging out with us for a bit. We've got some more coffee shop stuff we have to do now before our opening tomorrow morning. We'll get back to answering some more questions later tonight, hopefully!

You guys still keeping touch with Eric Nam? Maybe he could do a special suprise at the cafe... Heh heh~ /nudges shoulder c;

Yeah! We still talk to him. Had pizza and beers with him recently. He's been very busy, though, and is traveling a lot more lately.