Strangely at Home: Chris Georgiev Speaks on Finding Community and Creativity in a Completely Different Part of the World

0:04 Welcome to the Holly Hughes podcast, where where creative people come together to have creative conversations. Today I have a very good friend from around the world, Chris Girgov, here with me to discuss all things digital content creation and travel to Korea because everyone knows I'm obsessed with Korea and he's part of the reason why. So welcome, Chris. Thank you for having me, it's my pleasure. I'm so glad you're here. So just everyone knows is a 13 hour time difference for us. So he is really doing me a huge favor and I appreciate that for working me into your very, very busy schedule.

0:46 So I want to introduce everyone to you. So this is how I found you. If everyone is not following him on Instagram, I think you have YouTube now and TikTok, but mostly for me, Instagram and we'll have all those links. When I was obsessed with Koreas as a my in my own little world here in the Carolinas, I was following him and they had a tour and I literally approached my husband. I was like, do I go on a tour on a solo trip with this random man from Korea or what do I do? And he's like, well, literally you're psychic. What do you think? I'm like, I'm going for the random man that I don't know at all. And by the way, you do AI.

1:27 So I was like, is he real or is he AI like? So when I first met you in the lobby at the L7 in in Myongdong, I took a picture of us together early in the morning and you were like, what's up? I was like, I'm just proving to my family that you exist so. Oh my God. You have a following. Like what's that feel like to have a following? And it's you and your personality and your warmness that draws people to feel safe to travel all across the world to visit a country that you're also not originally from. Tell us like how all that started. I mean, it's really long story, but I guess we have time. Yeah, kidding.

2:12 Yeah. It started nine years ago actually. I've been asked so many times how long have been to Korea and I I don't know how this time actually passed. It feels like I moved here last year, like 2 years ago. But anyway, it was very random. Like one day I was sitting in my office and in the morning with coffee, like, you know, checking my emails and there's so much spam. You just delete, delete, delete, delete. And there's like huge e-mail, really long 1. And I'm like in Bulgaria. And you're tired of the nights of night shifts. I don't know what I was tired of. I don't remember. But anyway, I was about to delete it. And then I just wrote, I just read the first first sentence saying, Hey, I'm Slavina, I'm a student, a Bulgarian student in the university in Korea, and I have some proposal for you. I'm like, OK, let me read.

3:08 Was too long to read everything, but to make it sure. Basically, she was looking for a Bulgarian companies to introduce to Korean companies, kind of like a technology exchange with one of the top universities here in Korea. At that time, I was kind of like active on the startup scene in Bulgaria. Beside having my startup, I was organizing startup events, start up meet ups. I'm like, oh wow, Korea. Why not? I've you know what the everything that I know about Korea is Samsung and I guess maybe there's some innovation there because of Samsung. So this is how it started. I can go back to the story because it's pretty interesting. It actually it made me come to Korea, but this was like an e-mail that I almost deleted, and this e-mail actually brought me to Korea. Don't you think that's like divine timing, right? Like I would have never gone to Korea without you, right? I would have gone alone.

4:05 So like if you think of all the magic moments that might have like brought you to that thing because first of all, you're creative. We you are very much the extrovert. You can include and talk to anybody, but of course that still takes energy at work. So like to put all those, I can't imagine the thought be like, oh, I have this random e-mail. Yeah, sure, why not? I mean, I do things like that, but most people think I'm crazy, so, you know, whatever. Actually, it gets crazier because OK, I agreed to work with with this girl. Like we had like a couple of, you know, we were using Skype back then. Like, Can you believe it? Years ago doesn't exist anymore. I feel like we're old now. But anyway, like we're having this like Skype conversations and she's like, oh, we, you know, I want more companies to be introduced to the Korean counterparts. And maybe as a token of gratitude, I can bring it to a conference in Korea.

4:59 And I was not actually so interested in Korea. It was like 9 years ago, like K drama, K pop was nothing for me. And I mean, I knew about Korea. Korea was like, you know, somewhere there. I knew about the Korean War. Like in Bulgaria, we study a lot of geography and history. So we, I was aware of what Korea is, but I've never been attached to it, never wanted to travel there, you know, So I was like, OK, whatever. So Vina, I'll just do it because I want to help my, my friends like status, maybe they can get some business out of it. And I remember one day I was actually in Berlin, like working in a coffee shop and she's calling me and, you know, I pick up another Skype call and she's like, I have bad news. They just cancelled the program.

5:49 They found a better partner and like, I'm not happy about it. I thought we're doing pretty good job. Who is the better partner? I'm just curious. I'm not going to fight about it, whatever. And she's like, oh, they wanted to go to Israel. I'm like, I mean, I understand like innovation, technology exchange. There's so much happening on the startup scene in Israel. So she, she felt so sorry about it that because I think she really wanted to contribute somehow to my, the time that I invested in this and I forgot about it. But like 3 months later, she calls me. It's like, oh, I found a great opportunity for you. You need to come to Korea, apply for this program. And actually was like a program sponsored by the Korean government called K Startup Brand Challenge where they bring foreign startups to do business in Korea. And you know, I was not excited.

6:43 Like for me, I didn't help her to come participate in a startup program in Korea. So I totally forgot. But she kept calling me like every other week. It's like, did you apply? Did you apply? It's amazing opportunity for you. I'm like, girl, I know you want to bring me to Korea, but I'm, I was kind of resisting, you know, that was like, now looking back, I was like, wow, I, I should have done it earlier than later. Anyway, one day before the deadline of the program, the application period, she calls me. It's like, Chris, if you don't apply, I would just apply for you. I know your e-mail. I'm just going to fill in the form. I'm like, don't, I'll do it. And you know, like sometimes when you are not fully sure that this is something that you need to do you, you I, I wanted to do it because she really want it, but I didn't put all my, you know, like all my efforts and all I just like, it was like the fastest startup application for a program that I've ever done. It was just seamless, like 20 minutes. I was like just writing the basics about my company and I submitted and I forgot about it.

7:52 And then three months later, they don't move too fast here in Korea. Like everybody thinks that everything is so Polly, Polly, but sometimes it's Polly, Polly, Polly, but at the last minute. So they just you know, I got an e-mail that I almost deleted saying, Oh, you've been accepted for the interview for K Startup Grand Challenge and took me a minute to case set of grand challenge. What is this? Did I apply for it? I totally forgot. This was three months later, right? And I called my Co founders and told them and they're like, oh, it's a good opportunity. We don't know if we're going to go to Korea. But anyway, like it's a good exercise. You know, when you do a startup, you pitch, you need to perfect your pitch. The more people you talk about your startup, the better it is. So we took this opportunity to practice and like couple of maybe it was like 10 days later they said, oh, there's a second screening and like 2 days later they said, oh, you're accepted to the program.

8:49 And the surprise here was I was like around August 10 and the e-mail said oh, by August 15 you need to move to Korea for 90 days. And I'm like, I'm not going to Korea. So I send my Co founder. Maybe I want to know what the startup was like, What was that company like? Because I know you do a lot of IT. Yeah, it's my original company that I'm still working on. We back then and now we're doing like image recognition technology. Now we are through AI machine learning now it's very hard and everybody's doing it. But 910 years ago when we we started, it was kind of like cutting edge, like a difficult task because the technology was not there.

9:33 But we are on to something. Bulgaria is famous with like pretty good developers, like people who who write code. So yeah, this is my startup that we started and actually, yeah, we decided to go for it. So you send someone else, you fool. But you send someone else. They were there for 90 days. So what made you finally come? And do you still talk to that person who brought you over? Yeah, we're good friends. She actually lives in Bulgaria. She's not in Korea anymore, but I'm here. So I feel a little bit bad because she was so immersed into the Korean culture. And anyway, I sent my Co founder and because I mean, I really wanted to do it, but I did have like a planned holiday. It was in August and I had like a trip planned and I'm like my Co founder.

10:22 You go, it's an opportunity for us. Let's take it. Let's not skip it. But I had my plan for the summer. So he he came and a week into the program, he calls me and I feel like he's not happy about it. I'm like, OK, kill me. So it's the first time they organize this kind of like program. And you, I don't know if you've experienced Korea in August, but it's extremely hot. It's like, it's like sauna, so. It is, it is why? Why are there like even their taxis are super hot? I mean, when I've got into cat taxis, like, oh, it's 75. It's like I'm dying. I'm dying. Yeah, it's so hot.

11:05 And I mean, Korea is pretty amazing, but like sometimes, as I said, they tend to do things last minute. So this program, they were doing it, organizing it for first time and they forgot to pay for AC in the they put them in the a dormitory, university dormitory in sew on actually outside of Seoul. And they forgot two things to pay for the AC bill. So they're like and he had to share like a room with another. August in Korea. Yeah. Can you believe it? And do you? Can you guess what was the second thing that they forgot to cover? Food. No food was OK, even though I have a story about the football was Internet.

11:46 Can you believe it? They didn't have Internet in the room. They had to go to the common area to do work. So he's like, I don't know what you get me into, Chris. I'm going to do my best, but we need to switch and meet, meet the program. That was like a demo day and that was the agreement. He's like, I'm going to do the demo day. And if they and there was like another evaluation and where they can approve and you can stay longer, he's like, this is the deal. I'll do my best. I'll do like, you know, I'll pitch, I'll do my best. But if we go through this phase, we switch, you come, I'm like, OK. And I'm like, OK, I mean, I applied. It's my deal.

12:29 I need to take responsibility, you know, and he did pitch. They approved us. And here I am in Korea in the middle of September and everything is amazing. And like, Georgie, what's wrong with you? This country is like so good. Of course, like they had like a pocket money for us. They're giving us money to stay in Korea. So I rented really nice place, like a really amazing place in the middle of Gangnam and. Oh, you landed in the fancy part of town, too. And you were in the fancy part, Yeah. Yeah, that is so. Yeah, I like Suwal. I've been there. I like it there. I, I love, I love the adventure of it.

13:11 I think the first time I moved across the country, I went to university. I went to College in Washington, DC, and when when I graduated, I got my first credit card, it was before it was back in the dark ages, right? It's just like in 1991. And when I graduated, I got my first credit card. And with it, it came a $99 plane ticket to anywhere in the contiguous United States. So the US is big. So the furthest place I knew was California. I had a family friend that I grew up with living there. And I called and I was like, can I come visit? And he said sure. And I came and visited and I was like, oh, California is not what I thought it was. It was just is amazing to me.

13:53 I mean, the traffic's insane, but it was amazing to me. And then I went back a month later and then I came back and I left my roommate four months of rent and I left. I just called up a place that I thought someone who wasn't very, I don't know, not bright as bulb, right? You know what I'm saying? Like I was like, well, if they got an internship, I can get an internship. And I called the same company with Chanticleer Films. They won Academy Awards. I was like, do you are you still taking interns? And they're like, can you start Monday? It was Thursday. I said yes. And my family's like, you just can't move across the country. I'm like, I I literally crashed on the floor of my friend's apartment and then I moved in with four guys and me into an apartment.

14:36 It was disgusting, but, but I just did it. I had a borrowed car and a borrowed map because there was no map like on your phone back in the day. I had no idea where the hell I was, but I did it. And then I was there for 18 years and you know, like sometimes you just got to like, go for it. I was like, you just can't do it. I was like, I am 22. Like, what do you mean I can't do it? Of course I can. I have like nothing holding me back. I always say that about Korea. If I was young now like and I didn't have a family that I actually love, right, I would I would find every way to be there for as many months or a season or whatever as I possibly could just because everything about it is it just stimulates all my senses and I am terrible at speaking Korean. I admit that I have a really difficult time learning it. I keep trying but I feel strangely at home there and I have no business feeling at home. There.

15:33 I understand. I mean, this is my second home. Obviously. It's. I never thought I'm going to spend that long ever. No idea. And like, as I told you, my story is so untypical because most of the people they are in Korea because, you know, young people, because they studied in the university, but a lot of people because of K drama capo. But I was none of none of above, none of that. Yeah, so. Yeah, you got to just like dip in before all of that. I mean, my career obsession started because of COVID. I was like, yeah, I was stuck. And a Korean movie came up on Netflix and. I was like, oh, I don't. Know anything? Is it the crash crash landing on you? No, I don't. Don't do anyone.

16:14 I'm telling you, I don't even like that one. OK. It's too, it's I'm, I think my, all of my fiction of the things I write are like a little bit of magical realism, so and I love historical fiction. So for me, I went that way. OK. It was like my first one was actually 100 days, my Prince. So I had DO from EXO and then so for me, in my very bored brain, I was like, I have never learned anything about Asia. I don't know anything that's not it wasn't in any of my curriculums, even though I had a minor in history. It was very European history like when I studied. So for me, I was like, well, what's he wearing and what's a got and what's a hat and what is that and what do the beads mean and what is this time in history and what was happening?

16:59 Oh, and here it like. So for me, it was just fascinating. And the language was so utterly different. But some of the letters are the same as Hebrew letters where they have different sounds. So I don't know. It just like fired all of my senses. And when I arrived, my mother explained it really well when I was telling her why I love Korea so much. She's like, it's colorful because you have modern art and art and installations and open air libraries and music that is free and people don't ruin it. It's not getting destroyed. And because there are rules to society still there, right? That, that there's a culture of you don't do that. It's it would be not good if you behave like a jerk, like especially for a visitor for me or an Ajima, right. So I think for me, like when I go there, I, I think that like, I'm like.

17:54 With that curly hair, you're not there. And your hair is curly. I need to put the perm. No. And not curly, not there yet, No. Now I know, now I know. I also make my family crazy because when I come back, I all the whole time they're like, what are you doing? I was like, sorry I can't. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you change. I yeah, I was like, last last summer, I was in Bulgaria and I'm in the mall like buying like a couple of T-shirts and I'm at the cashier and the paying for my T-shirts and I give her my credit card with two hands and bow. And she's like, do you want receipt? And I'm like, nae, nae, nae. And the name Bulgarian means no. And like, it's so awkward, you know, like I just realized what I did.

18:35 And she looked at me like, who is this crazy dude? What is he doing? I'm still doing it. I'm still doing it. I didn't even live there that long. Way. I think the word I used to drive my family crazy with way. Like I was like, I just like some of my favorites. Like one of the first words I got right and I was like, way. Now it's like, Nah. So Anya, Anya. No, Yeah. It's like, I I don't know. It's I don't know. Whatever. I like it. I'm go. I'll end up going back. I just don't know where back. OK, but back to you. So. OK, so now you're in the startup and you've come to Korea and when do you know it's going to be home for a while? Like when do you make the choice to launch all of these things that you do because you are multi, you have multiple platforms and multiple businesses you're always doing and then you babysit like grown women.

19:25 I don't. And people, I don't know how you do all that. I don't have exact date but I kind of remember a moment when I thought, oh wow, this feels like home. It was after my second summer in Korea, like second year in Korea, and I was coming back actually to Korea and the plane was landing at Incheon Airport. And I start crying because I felt like so excited to be back, you know, And it was so strange. Even now I'm like kind of like emotional when I speak about it because it was a such a surprise for me because I never thought like I'm going to call some modern. You know, like, we Bulgarians are very proud of our history and like, we're small countries.

20:10 So I'm raised to like, always, like keep, keep our identity. Like we have like, interesting language. We've given the silly Rick to the world. So yeah, I mean, we're not the Greeks, we're not the Latin, but it's a whole alphabet, right? So we have like, something to boast about. But then moment I start crying, like sewing. And I was so happy to be back to Korea and I, it was very new feeling, you know, so next thing I did, I just went through the security and I went to there's like on the arrivals, there's like a couple of Korean restaurants. I was craving some like soup, you know, Korean soup called soup chige.

20:54 So like, wow, I just landed and I just went for chige and rice and I cried about being in this country, what's happening. So this is when you kind of reckon reconcile you your thoughts with like the idea of like, oh, this might be a home for you. So yeah, this is the first time I felt like this. And then I decided that then I'm going to allow myself to feel home here, right? And, and this is where the curiosity about the place starts to grow, you know, because when you feel like something's going to be play, something's going to play a significant part in your life that you're going to spend some time more time here, then you need to know more about it. So I was I become so curious about everything, about the food, the culture, the history, the language. So hard.

21:49 Yeah. You're making me hungry. I've been craving Job Jay for days. I just want those damn noodles and I can't cook it like I've learned to cook a do it. No. Not as good. Not as good. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you can. You can do it. I don't want to, I just rather go there and eat it. Like I told my family, if Korea was 10 hours or less away from us and not like a 26 hour trip for me, like including getting to the airport and everything, I would be there every year. There's just so much. There's always something. There's just always something. But the food is really good. I cook a lot of cream. I mean, I went to the market and I got the right flour and I make my own kimchi and green onion pancakes. Like I, I'm like, I'm all about it. My family at first is like, did you break out the kimchi? Because I'll stink out the house? Of course, obviously.

22:37 And I was like, yeah, but kimchi with eggs over, you know, rice bottle. I'm just like, see, I'm my mouth is watering. It's morning for me. So I'm thinking breakfast food. But that is one of the, if you haven't explored Korean food, I highly recommend. It's, it's delicious and it's a huge plate of food. Yeah. There's no eating small there. There's no eating small. No way. Yeah, but also there's a huge variety of food. So yeah, if you don't enjoy Korean food that much, there's always something that you can experiment with. By the time I left this time, because I was there for three weeks, I really wanted a burrito, but I didn't know where to go for Mexican food. Burrito. Yeah, there's plenty of places. Yeah.

23:18 Taco Bell. We get Taco Bell here. No, I've never You don't eat that. You have to be like stoned and drunk at 3:00 AM to eat Taco Bell. Yeah, and then like I've like talked to some of my American friends. I said it's pretty good actually. Compared to what is it, what it is. Oh, right. You know when you travel, you don't go to McDonald's, so. Never. I don't even need that. Here. Don't even eat that here. I my body doesn't like why would I do that? I don't understand. I don't understand people who travel. I can understand getting homesick or like craving a thing but I would not do that at all. Especially because so many places are so the food by you is so fresh.

24:00 Korean people do, actually, when they travel, They travel with their kimchi and with their ramen, to be honest, they do. They bring their food everywhere. And like the the Kim, like the yeah. I know they have those vacuum sealed things for their kimchi so it doesn't and they have their own fridge for it. No I'm I'm down for that. Although some kimchi, not all kimchi is the same. Some of it is way too salty or anchovy for me. Right. Like I'm pretty picky. Like I finally found one that I liked here. You you haven't been long enough in Korea then, like every Kim. Obviously, obviously I need to come back. This is you'll find a way. You'll find a way. Be like you need to apply for this grant and then you could be.

24:43 Here maybe I will send you an e-mail with the opportunity for you to move with family. So OK, I want to go into like, so you're there, you decide it's home. And then now how do you start developing? Like, how do you move into content creation? When did that start for you? For especially for content creation, it all started during COVID. Like so many things change during this time. And I was lucky enough actually to be in Korea during COVID because like I was witnessing what's happening in Europe. Most of my friends were in Europe at that time and none of this was happening here. Like if you remember, Korea was the first country after China that was affected by the, the, but the virus. But luckily enough, they had like a protocol and they were pretty ready to for such an pandemic. So people didn't panic.

25:40 People just follow the rules. Like everybody was wearing the mask. No, no comments if it's safe or not. This everybody put the mask on and this created so much opportunities because while Europe and America was under lockdown, we didn't have a single day of lockdown because everybody was just putting their masks and we were having a COVID cases, but people were not dying. One, because nobody was spreading it. Second, because they have a pretty rigid system how to track cases and the hospitals already with isolation rooms and with treatment and with all available and necessary apparatus, whatever they needed.

26:26 And yeah, people were just following the rules. And it was not, it was not messy. So during COVID, I could actually go out and travel when everybody else was locked, locked in. And then I figured out like whatever I post on social media, people like, oh, what escaping how, how did you go there? Are you even allowed? So the first you know, 1st 10 minutes, 15 minutes of my life, I need to explain and excuse myself why I am allowed and how legal it is because people thought I'm like evaluating like breaking the rules. You're being naughty. Yeah, but it was, it was totally fine. And then after that, like everybody said, wow, show us more.

27:11 So I stopped creating content during this time and it was some kind of like first a way to distract myself from this troublesome time. You know, you don't, you don't want to think about it all the time. You need to find something to substitute it. Business was not doing very well as everybody like we had like an online business during COVID, my company lost two of his of our biggest clients was pretty tough financially. So I had to, you know, kind of like find a way to cope with it. So I'm going to just like go to a random place, like go to a temple, Buddhist temple, like far, far, far away from, so five hours away and you know, so they can go meditate and it's Korea.

27:57 We have like 5G everywhere. Even on the top of the mountain there's 5G. So like it's 4A4 PM. My team in Bulgaria is up. It's 10:10 AM in the morning. We have a company called and I'm sitting in the fucking temple, Buddhist temple, you know, like is. The one in Busan on the top of the mountain or a different? One a different 1 was like a couple of temples. But yeah, I remember like I was like doing quotes from like the kept tea house, tea House of a temple, you know, and like, yeah, it was amazing. So this is how my content creation started and it was part of this, you know, COVID kind of like stagnation around the world, but also the time difference with my startup team help because they're like 8 hours later, like my mornings were available.

28:47 So I'm like, I'm not going to work like from 8:00 in the morning till 12 midnight. So I would have like my mornings for me. And that meant, OK, let's go out, let's let's, you know, move, let's do something. And this is how I start creating content. I love that you have a way of like being very welcoming. Great, you are right. You start hello, beautiful people like that's that's I can't say your name without like trying to do your I'm like, hello, beautiful people. This is Chris. Let's welcome to this place. You do draw people in. Is that just an innate talent of yours or does that like something you worked on and got better at? I think it's because I genuinely enjoy what I'm doing, like exploring Korea, as I mentioned, it feels like my home and I'm like a small kid.

29:37 Every time I go somewhere, I'm so impressed because I haven't been born here, right? There's so many things that are new to me. And when you have a second home, you have this opportunity to experience new things and to actually really enjoy life. You know? So like, for me was like, Oh my God, this is so amazing. And you got excited. Like nothing excites me that much in Bulgaria because I've lived through it. I've seen it. I mean, even, you know, here, like, you know, this, you know, right, when you come to Korea and everything is so different and everything is so amazing for a first Comer. And you're like, Oh my God, wow, this makes sense. Or this and that. So yeah, this was part of the reason that maybe my genuine excitement makes people excited as well.

30:25 I don't think I'm, I'm exaggerating because I'm really when whenever I go somewhere and I want to show it to other people, it's because I'm really impressed with, impressed with the place. Yeah. Yeah, that definitely comes through and it makes it inviting and I think it makes it for foreigners knowing. I don't even think I cared that you were a foreign. I'm trying to think. I think it was just that you were every place I was curious about and I wouldn't be alone, but we'll get into the tour stuff after. You also have a good eye, right? Like I think it takes an eye and talent to be a content creator, honestly. So do you start like think, do you have a plan when you go somewhere? And now that you've been doing it for years, are you invited places?

31:10 They're like, Chris, we want you. We want you to do this for us. Like how does it work? I mean, when I started, I didn't have a plan, I just knew that I want to explore. But I had this idea that since I'm being places that I might never see again because I was not sure how long I'm going to be in Korea. So that was the first thing I might never see it. So let's document, right? It's kind of like you're a tourist, but not tourist, but you you're here, but you're not here. And so it's unclear how long. So I'm like, OK, I want to keep these memories. And with the, the, you know, the power phones these days, you don't have to, you know, unlimited photos and videos.

31:52 And second thing, at some point I was like, OK, maybe I might turn at some point, like content creation as a hobby. And since I'm here, let's take as much videos and photos as as I can. Even though back then I didn't have any idea how I'm going to use it, what I'm going to do with it. I was just, OK. It's a good way to, you know, accumulate memories and keep it. If I use it, good. If I don't, fine. You know, So I start documenting my life in Korea from very early time. And that's the reason I have so much content. And sometimes, like, people think I'm, like, exploring all the time. But actually, sometimes I post content that's three, 4-5 years old and, like, I don't have to tell people when I recorded my foot. No, no.

32:40 It's like sometimes I'm like, hey, they, that's me. That's from like my first trip. I know that. Yeah, yeah. Recycle. I use it, of course. Yeah. So this is how it's happened. And for the I good I I think it's part of the culture here, You know, Korean people in general, they're so good with the photography and aesthetics. So you kind of learn you have to adopt. It just cannot be mediocre. You need to rise to the level because it's like a whole choreography when you take a selfie or how you take the food and the settings. So you need to blend in and this is part of the blend. You need to learn how to use your camera. Otherwise, people are going to be like these foreigners.

33:22 And you have to wear black. Those are, like, the two things. Yeah. Like wear black. Oh, come on. Almost everyone there is like. No, I mean, I wear black because I'm fat. So I, you know, black makes me sleep. If I hate black, if I'm slimmer, I'm going to be all white, but I'm not. So that's that's the color of, not the color. We know your secret. It's a necessity, necessity. You're not fat. You're great. You're crazy, but you're not bad, OK? So is that when you like in Korea, when they see you, they they're like, oh, Chris, you gained weight. Let's go hiking. Yeah. So I'm. I've heard that about the culture. I've heard that which is I think.

34:04 It's in a good way because they care. But like for the foreign, for my foreign, mine is like, thank you, I'm good too. It's like, and by the way, Korean hikes, everyone should know, first of all, Korea is a mountain range. You're never on a flat surface. So when they say hike, it's quite steep. It's not. They're not easy. It's like, it's like coming home. I'm like on a hill like it's like this. I will see one day, every night when I come home. I remember the when we were in Busad and we were like just walking around and it was an older woman.

34:46 I would put her in her 80s, lived up the mountain. I just watched her go and she didn't slow. It was like walking to the mailbox for her. I was like. That no, no, they're like very fit here. I mean, I don't hike too often, but when you go in the mountain, they're like all properly dressed like a Mountaineers and they're brisk. They they just like, you know, they just run up the hill. It's amazing. It's insane. It's insane, everyone. Should know if you do go to Korea that you have to have good shoes and there will be a million steps literally up and then down and then up and then down. Even like just using the public transport, the metro, it's 100 steps a day. You know, I start like recording how much I woke at some point because you know, like everybody wants to be feet and when they tell you you're fat, you need to take care, right.

35:37 One day I just record. I just like like paid attention to how much I woke and I was a regular office day. Like I just this day I just wake up, went to the office, worked in the office, get lunch there and came back home 10,000 step. Yeah. Just commuting to work. It's just crazy because like the city is so big, so you don't actually realize how much you have to walk. And even like, you know, just going to the metro, but in the metro you walk a lot because it's mammoth huge. Like metro station. Sometimes you have to transfer from one line to another and you have to walk a lot. It's good. Yeah.

36:18 I lose weight every time I go. Yeah, I, yeah, totally. Like I, I just because of The Walking is everyone or this is part of what makes my family so annoyed at me when I come back. I was like, you know, by this time in the day, I've already made 5000 steps in Korea by this time of the day. I've, you know, you're like, oh, it's a 20 minute walk. What's a 20 minute walk? I don't want to get to the metro. I'll just like, walk 20 minutes. Although I have to say, like the last trip it rained a lot and I got sick. So that was very annoying to me. But I think I would come back in the fall. Like for me, it's like I'd rather be a little cooler, like and and walking around then sweating because I'm a sweater too. So it's just like, Oh, it's humid. Oh, that was a lot so but still.

36:59 So do you have a favorite spot like that you like to go just for you that you haven't taken people to or haven't really like do you keep a secret thing just for you or not? You're pretty open. No, I actually don't have like a secret spot that I go just for myself. I like to share the places that I discover. I don't, I'm not like a gatekeeper, you know, like I have like a ton of places that if I feel like how to say if I need to think about something, I I prefer to go not to the same place, but to a new place. So this is a thing for me, like, like going back to a place doesn't bring count the same joy. Yeah.

37:44 Like, like a safe place or anything. For me, it's like if I need to think about something, if I'm, I have difficult time, I just need to discover a new place. So it's that that's probably the discoverer in me. Not like, oh, this is my safe hidden place. No, I just need to conquer a new place. That's how I discovered works for me. And I love that. So how did you take your sense of adventure and then, like, open it to like, leading people through this country and like sharing what you love? Like, how did that magic moment happen? You got a random e-mail from someone saying hey, come do this with me. I actually got a random DM in Instagram like couple of years ago.

38:25 Jay, the guy that Yeah, he. DM D. You he DM me, we never knew each other. And he's like, hey, Chris, I'm following you and I, I see that you explore Korea. Like, I wouldn't like to talk to you as a foreigner. And and at that moment, I was following him because, like, he was like 2 million or whatever on TikTok teaching Korean online during COVID and like hanging out with his super cute, sexy best friend Jacob, and like, Oh yeah, the candy, you know, So yeah, like, like and like. In the gym pictures, the gym pictures too. And like, when I saw this message, I was almost junk because like, wow, I felt like a celebrity texted me, you know, and the celebrity wanted to have a meeting with me.

39:10 So yeah, I got like, not an e-mail, but like a modern, modern e-mail GM. So this is he snuck. Into your DMS like I I'm gonna keep that image in my mind. I love that yeah. So what made you say yes to that? Because you know, so again, transparency I've done, I've gone on 2 tours with you, right? And I'm waiting for you guys to do Japan. I don't know if you'll be part of that too. But for me it was a Safeway to be a solo traveler and go see everything I wanted to pretty much. And and you both changed my life because now I have friends all over the world and I love those women. I love them. It's a good experience. You made it possible. Yeah, I mean, we didn't have any experience organizing like trips and as you mentioned in the beginning, like 2 random guys. There's so much scam actually online. Like people advertise stuff and like we were like when we start talking and when people start booking. I remember one time me and Jay sitting together and like, man, do you recognize what's happening? These are like random people sending us money to a private bank account at the beginning, right? The first time was like his own bank account. How do the people trust me and you like we can just literally and isn't like not not like $20,020.00. It's like thousands of dollars for the for a trip that's going to happen like in six months.

40:35 Like I this really hit me because I will never do something like that. If somebody's organizing something like that and I had to transfer that much money, I need to have at least 10 guarantees. Well, but do you know what I did? I'll tell you what I did. I love doing research, so I tried to research and everything about Jay, who I'm actually interviewing soon too, but Jay was in Korean, so I would look him up and he was like an Airbnb host and he had all these things and I was trying to I didn't have Papa go then right. So I was trying to find a way to translate like, is this real? Is this real?

41:16 And I was like, and you were AI guy. I was like, is he real? Is he AI? And back in the day, you guys are not you are much more organized now, but back in the day it was like, yes, send me your money and I won't talk to you for six months. I was like, I don't what, what am I? I bought this plane ticket that is like, Oh my God, what am I doing? I'm what am I doing? Like I think the panic like hit me like and my family's like, I mean, of course, but then you were real and for you I found AI and then I was like driving and then literally you did I think 3 trips before the one I was on or that's all I could find. And I found someone from the first trip who was American who's and I I went into her DMS. I was like, I am a random stranger. I know this, but are they real?

42:02 Is literally what I wrote. And she's like, Oh my God, they're real and they're everything that you see and it's awesome and it's not fake, but I get why you think it's fake, but I promise you it's not fake. I was like, are you a real person or are you one of their AIS? Like I'm. So the box that we created. The bot. I'm trying to confuse the bot but she gave me a really good answer. I don't remember her name, but she was very kind and generous. And, and that is it's it really. I don't recommend people like pick random men over the Internet and show up. Don't do that. That's obviously stupid. But it was one of the best choices I ever made because not you, right? Like you, your passion is shared with everyone. And yeah, as you as you notice, we don't treat people as like you're not awarded for us.

42:47 So we try to be real and like show your career that we love because we love this country like Jay in his Korean way and me and my foreign way. I love this country. But yeah, we, I think we walk the extra mile to make sure that everyone is comfortable and we're friendly enough with almost everyone. I I can say with everyone, it's not a yeah, it's not easy because we're not, we haven't stated for that. We we haven't done it like it's not our profession, but because comes out of heart, it's a passion of ours. So I think it's a. Lot of work if it's not your main job. Honestly like it is a lot of work.

43:29 The tours are typically 8 days total I think, right? Is that who your tours are now? So which is a good amount of time? I think anyone traveling to Korea, you should be there for a minimum of two weeks, just like a minimum to kind of settle. In to do right and then if you come for less, you're gonna come back or regret that you didn't plan much. Yeah. I was crying. I was, I was OK. This is so true because you only know the me that's like, not responsible for everything, right? You meet me. I don't have to figure out where we're gonna eat or what I'm gonna do. I'm usually just a little cranky in the morning, a little withdrawn and then I'm just like so happy to be around everything and for really most of the time. But for me, when, when Mike got sick this time and we were going, we were on the ferry to Jeju and I had AI had a crash. I like I had no energy.

44:19 I just felt so bad and I didn't want to be the downer around everyone cuz like, why would I do that? I was like, I'll just go hide. I'll take a nap and hopefully I'll just feel better when I wake up. And I laid down and I was like, I'm missing the tour. Like I'm like, I was crying because I was like, this means I only have 5 more days in Korea. This means that I have to say goodbye to these people. This means I won't, I won't be around everything. Like I just, I just lost it. And I was like, and I think when I woke up, I had a blanket on me. I actually did pass out. I was so grateful. But I was like, just like all the tears down my face and had like pulled on my cheek. I was like, well, then I got mad at myself. I'm like, you're going to think about leaving. No, you need to be in the moment. You need to be right now, right here, because I planned this for a year and a half and you know what I mean?

45:04 Like I was like I left and I was like, when am I coming back? Yeah, and it's not cheap like Korea is. I mean, it's not a cheap place. So you spend to travel here. You do. It's worth it though. It is. It is totally, absolutely. I mean, I live here, what can I say? So are you going to be there? How much are you staying there? Are you always going to have like the expat life? I don't know, like this is this is something like, OK, I have like, you know, moment for confession. So when I was in Bulgaria and you know, Bulgaria is like a small country, people go abroad to look for like better life, you know, like make more money or like, I don't know, get married, whatever. And they come like 3-4 years later and they speak with this broken Bulgarian with American or like, I don't know, Italian accent and like, come on, give me a break. You know, like you forgot Bulgarian and yeah. And like, let me try how good your English isn't. Your English is not good enough either, you know? So I'm like, no, I hate these people, you know? And last year I'm home and I'm talking to my mom and like, what's happening?

46:19 Where is your Bulgarian? So, you know, you start forgetting words and words don't come that easy. And then I realized they're not faking it. It's actually a thing, you know? But then I felt because I was not really planted in the beginning, I came for my business, right and was like 6 months, one year, six months and then COVID and I kind of like, and I haven't been forced to stay. It's my choice to stay. I enjoy it, but I didn't have like this solid plan. Oh, I want to my spend my 40s in Korea and I need to plan for it and like organize everything. So it's everything is nice, you know, So I didn't have the luxury and the time to actually learn the language. And you mentioned it's a fucking hard language. You need to spend time and like most of the people, the foreigners that live in Korea and speak the language, they came to study in the university and there's one year dedicated into studying language and nothing else. Like they go to the class 6 hours a day, 7, seven days a week.

47:19 Like for one year they immersed into it, you know, and then you barely start speaking or like you, I mean, if you're good enough, maybe you start speaking and then take couple four or five years to get into a good level. And then like you're never going to be perfect with Korean. But anyway, I kind of like felt like so bad that I live in the country and I live in Korea and I still don't speak the language. So last year I made a concert decision. Whatever happens in my life, I cannot move out of Korea before I learn the language because I don't want to be one of those people that go back to their home or whatever they move on and they live 10 years or 15 years or 20 years somewhere and they don't speak the language.

48:05 So this is my, my next goal. Let's say, like, I really need to invest time and to, you know, put a little bit more effort to actually master the language because I want good for myself. Like, say, oh, you love this country, but you didn't speak the language. And there is always a good excuse, like, I've been busy, I'm doing work. I've been it's hard. It's hard language. Like not everybody Korean people like to speak in English with us to practice their English. So yeah, you have the opportunities, but you don't have it actually when you're in Seoul, everybody's busy. They just like don't have the patience to listen to your broken Korean.

48:46 So yeah, I think your. Korean is like my experience. You're much better. You're much better than when I first met you. Yeah, even when. You're speaking. I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying. It's it, It's a very slow progress. And I think with age we kind of lose this ability to remember and to learn fast. I think it this is what it is. I mean, my gosh, yeah, I'm from. Me, I studied so hard. I studied so hard. I think I under when I'm in a country, I've always been able to learn to say please, thank you and order foods because I hate holding people up, right? But it's when I was taking my class, I realized I could not learn as fast as everybody else.

49:32 No. And I was in a beginner one class and it annoyed me because someone who had lived in Korea for four years was in this beginner one class. I was like, I'm like, now you're just making me feel stupid. Exactly the worst when they speak and like you cannot even remember one word. I was like Anya Molayo. I mean like the words I need to know. I'm like Molayo, by the way, is I don't know, but I, I think people see that I try what as a tourist or a traveler there I understood enough to like be able to like get a receipt bag or no bag, which of course I now forget, but I really was trying because I wanted to be able to speak. But I learned this very strange thing about myself.

50:13 One I figured out I was learned I was dyslexic because I, the problems I was having. I was talking with my daughter and she's like, that's dyslexia. I was like, who knew? And then I fit the bill and then #2 the more Korean I would learn, I take dance classes every week, the harder it was to pick up dance moves. So it's like whatever part of that brain, for me, it's the same as like, well, clearly I still want to dance. I'm in Korea a lot, so I will have to like cram to get better again. I think as a tourist, there's actually quite a lot of English. I think Papago is pretty good at showing it like helping you get places. And I think if you are respectful and figure out like what is expected of you at a base level, you can get along just fine.

50:59 But I think I remember when I first met you, you're like, my Korean, is it good? But this time when I saw you, I was like, oh, your Annunciation is is very sexy too. There's something about a Korean accent, it just makes everyone's voice like dip a little and you're just like. Yeah. I mean, I'm trying. I understand way more these days, but there's always a different way of saying the same thing in Korea becomes at different times. And like the language is actually very rich. It has a long, long history. So that makes it difficult to, to understand and to even to speak. Like I remember taking some like, you know, speaking class with a teacher with and she's like making me pronounce some of the the sounds and whatever I hear, I say, she's like, no. And we've been doing this like for 30 minutes and she never said yes.

51:52 And for me, I hear, I say whatever I hear. I'm 100% sure that this is what I've heard. And I just repeat. And she's like, no, it's a different. I wanted to. I think it's like, oh. They don't say Oh, right, they're like no, wrong. Oh, I'm like, oh, I can't, I don't I can't move my mouth any other way. So like, and I want to do better. How about like they know what I'm trying to say at this point. I'm such a beginner. If they can kind of piece if I'm not being offensive, right, But like like, oh the. One problem with with like with Korea is like emerging culture, right? Like it's becoming so popular these days, but Koreans themselves haven't been exposed to this attention. So in a way they are not, they're not used to other people like other nation, other people from different countries speak their language.

52:46 You know, like you say, I know I say, oh, like you say hey, whatever. Like comes up, need a oh wow, you speak Korean? No, I just learned 2 words, you know? But like with English, because everybody speaks English, like my English is not perfect, but everybody has developed like kind of like understanding and tolerance towards the mistakes and the pronunciation rather than I see in Korea there is no tolerance towards any, any flavor, you know. Yeah, they can have a little bit of tolerance for people from Busan who have like a little bit of like here and there. But if a foreigner speaks like I have a friend of mine, she's doing PhD here.

53:26 When we go to a coffee shop and she orders in Korean, they speak to her in English. And I'm like, she's writing up, you know, publications in academic Korean. She can order coffee properly, you know, and I don't blame them. Like, I'm like, I'm not here to complain about it. I'm just saying that it takes time for their ears to actually kind of like adjust to the fact that like somebody with a different pronunciation and not perfect extraction of the sounds going to speak the language and they will be willing to accept and understand. I love that perspective. Yeah, I love that perspective.

54:08 It's really I hadn't thought. About it because they didn't get the chance to listen as as many people speak their language as like we like listen daily like people with from 100 different countries speak English and you're like OK, I'm I'm getting it I I know this language. Do you see any shifts in like the culture of Seoul or because there must be an influx of tourists now if K pop and everything is so popular? Are the people who are visiting like affecting Korean culture at all? Or is it still like, oh, foreigner? Like I was definitely the only white woman in a few of the places that we ventured off to. And I love that. Like, I I don't mind being like looked at. Like, what are you doing here? Like I kind of, I love knowing that I'm somewhere that maybe other like, you know, it's just like the newness of it.

54:55 It's like the city. Like that there are a lot of tourists in the city, but it's not overwhelming. I'm not like, I don't know, like it's not like they're ruining everything or the life is miserable because of the tourists. I don't think so. I think the, I mean, whoever hasn't been to Seoul, you need to understand how big this place is. Like the city proper, what we say like the city administrative city is 10 million and metropolitan area is 25,000,000. We have line number one. If you get the metro line from one end to the other end is 4 hours, it's 120 kilometers metro. You know, we, they've just built like GTXA line, which is like a express line and moves with 180 kilometers underground. So you can go from the city center to the, the, the outskirts and to the, you know, metropolitan area, a distance that usually takes one hour and 20 minutes. Now you can go for 20 minutes.

56:00 So the place is really big and it's the way it's built. It's meant for people to migrate and to populate and to feel comfortable because unlike most of European cities, I'm not sure how it's in America, but in Europe we have the center and everybody commutes to the center to shop, to entertain, to eat. And so it's pretty distributed. Every area has their own little Center for food, their own little Center for entertainment. So basically, you don't have to move a lot of people to do their daily chores. Everybody stays in their area. I mean, you commute to work or you want to meet some friends. But you know, it's kind of very interestingly distributed and it's very livable. Like people think like Japan is, you know, city like Tokyo because you've seen like the Shibuya Cross, like this is like a huge concentration of people.

56:55 But actually the density of Seoul and when it comes to population, it's two times bigger, higher than than Tokyo, because here we live in like a high rise like 4040. Yes, yeah, I. Really want to go into one of those apartments. That's one of my goals. I'm so fascinated by the 40 story. Things take me 4 years. It's not easy to get into a Korean home, though. I know I won't be that like because the friend thing is different there, but that's like a whole other thing. So like one of my favorite places to that I always touch or I walk by is is the Chung. I can never say this one. Chung Chung, Chung the stream. Yeah, Chung Chung. Chongi Chong.

57:35 It's so can you just answer properly? Say it one more time. Chongi Chong Chongi Chong stream. Chongi Tong Chongi Tong. Anyways, one of my favorite places and I I think I wanted to go see it because there's a scene in lovestruck in the city with Wookie anything. Anyway, Wookie. But the stream itself is an amazing place and part of what I really like about Korea and what you show people about Korea because I know you you've you've filmed there as well. Is there? I love when they project fish on the stream, right? And then they have rainbow colors and they have planters and then they have chairs and you could be there day or night. And again, as a woman traveling alone and sometimes just walking with another woman, I've never felt unsafe. And I just don't even think I'm that like ignorant like. But it's relatively safe, like, let's say, safer than a lot of many other places, let's say.

58:36 Yeah. And yeah, the city transforms. And like, yeah, the level of attention to the child, It's it's amazing. I mean, maybe it's not as clean as Tokyo, but I find it like really entertaining. And like there's so much care for the people who live in the city and who visit. Like, for example, last week, Chongichong was like a a library, like a open library, basically. They put more like cute like chairs around the stream and like you had like a cute lamp and there are books everywhere so you can go actually, you know, get a book and read. It was like so romantic and nicely done. And they always have something happening over there. Like now they put like a cover above the screen, like above the screen above the stream, like like to create shade because it's so hot at the moment.

59:28 So they have like a kind of like what is it called the balderhin or whatever, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's always beautiful. It makes me feel peaceful and connected at the same time. But also almost every city and even not big cities because we went to a Oh my God, I'm going to use the wrong word again. I can correct you. Come on. I know, but I keep calling it a retirement. It's not the right word. Oh my God. And I practice before I talk to you. A pension, We went to a place where there was a pension and they also had a stream that you could walk around like, you know, like it had to walk around. So I think part of the culture is to keep nature in the city. Why I love Seoul and I actually I like in Guangali down in Busan, is that there's art everywhere. Right next to a Buddhist temple.

1:00:19 Then there's trees being suspended up in the air. And I know to turn right there because it's like I have a sense of direction and where I live, I have none. But when I'm there, even when the time between, like I knew where I wanted to go once I saw something that I had seen before and that makes me feel steady. And I always know there's more to explore. So. Yeah, it's very exciting. I love it like it's. Very exciting. So how many accounts do you run and when is the next time you are doing a guided tour? Because I'm sure people are going to want to know you more. Yeah, I mean I'm involved like at the moment for accounts that Instagram, but I also have like a little TikTok account and a post on YouTube like this my kind of like next project and challenge to create more long form or for YouTube.

1:01:07 I've been, you know, documenting my life and vertical, horizontal, vertical photo, video, all, all form forms needed. So I just need to find time to post. So yeah, it's a lot of work, but it's slowly from a hobby becoming like something that I might consider some at some point to be my full time job or something. I don't know. I'm not sure yet. But for the next tour, actually, you're going to be the first to know. There's no set date, but I'm working with Jay to create my own tour. So it's going to be, for now, just Korea. But it's going to be way different than what you've experienced.

1:01:48 So it's going to be a little bit slower. And we're going to go different places. It's going to be, you know, a little bit of mixture of history and coffee shops and and K beauty taking care of our bodies. OK, OK. So, you know, we did fine Clinic. My eyes are finally. Oops. I hit my mic. My eyes are finally healed. That took a little while. No. Oh, now see if I. You should have started with that. Yeah. So what? What year is that going to be? It's going to be next year in the in the spring. There's going to be my first my own fully curated by me. And I'm like by this weekend we're going to have the dates and like the rough itinerary. So we're going to start collecting participants and I'm super.

1:02:35 I'm so jealous I can't do this Spring. When's the? Like this, no, I mean, if it's this, maybe I'm I'll do it like it's not something that I can do all the time because I mentioned it's very tiring. We we, when we do this with Jay, we really take care of people. So it takes a lot of effort and a lot of your manpower to to do it. And after a trip, I mean, you can have an amazing experience, but then after the trip, I'm like, I cannot do anything for one week. It's I'm like, I just, I cannot speak to people. I don't want to be around people. I just want to like lay on my, you know, my coach and like, I don't want to even watch YouTube. I don't want to do anything you know but. Wait, I want to tell people how amazing you are by as a guest?

1:03:18 No, it's like seriously, because I like, I think everyone falls in love with you. I do because you do you. You, you don't just you don't manage us. You're managing 1000 variables of transportation of when you're going to eat of of creating space for whatever mood you're in. If you're having a good day or a bad day, you are helping to connect people. Because when I first met you guys, I solo traveled. And technically I solo traveled this time too, but I knew the people like I was meeting. So I had friends there. But solo travelers are welcome because you are this object of connection, because of your love, because of your creativity, and because you're actually a super cool person.

1:04:04 You're, you're a grown up with a great sense of humor and, and you're not rigid, right? It's not like here's a flag, we're going here. Whatever. It's more like, OK, beautiful people, you have an hour here. I will see you in a little bit. We're going to meet up here. And if you don't want to do this, you can do that and whatever. And there were definitely people on the last tour who had more needs than other people. And there was never a moment where I felt neglected and where that other person felt neglected or, you know, everyone has their own thing. That's quite a lot of work. Like I've done retreats and I, I don't, I stopped doing them. It's, it's very taxing emotionally. And also you're up early and go to bed late because I also know you work at night after the rest of us crash like on your other things, and you're still bubbly and energetic and that's so rare and not fake, not fake. I mean, because we, I mean, Jane, I would really enjoy what we do and we want to, we, it's a great responsibility because we, we actually know this is not easy money for any of the people.

1:05:18 Like they are in Korea, not because they just want to spend some money. They don't know what to do with their money and they just came to Korea to, you know, waste money and just have fun. But it's like a deliberate act of, you know, saving and sacrificing and putting like a dream together to travel to Korea and to learn new things. So it's, we take it seriously, you know, because it's not a small investment. It's not like, you know, a rich, you know, club that we like, just like, oh, let's have a, you know, a ten $10,000 retreat to somewhere and like. You are very welcoming and kind and I never saw you lose patience. I don't, I don't honestly know how you do that. And the accommodations and the, the way we travel when we're all together is so comfortable.

1:06:08 Like I could never plan all that. Like planning all that out to myself is like a nightmare, which is why. So, OK, so now you have the, I'm going to call it the luxury. This is what we were asking for. I'm like, give me the spa day. Let me let me get my skin Botox and just do it all. Yeah, I mean, I guess like a lot of people that that have already joined our tour might want to join again. So I want to have like, you know, more like a relaxed, we're not going to do all the, you know, basics again and again and again because like, we've done it already. And I've figured out that like the basics people can do themselves. They don't, you don't need me to go to Giangbung Palace.

1:06:48 You don't need me to, you know, to see this and that. But we can provide things that are not easily accessible to you, like, you know, like stay in a Hannok place or like have like a pottery class or like, I don't know, like create something and all like, even like go learn about K beauty. Like, you know, what are the 10 steps that the Korean woman woman do? Woman, women, Korean women? And men. My mine is only men, no. You know it works for me. They would do we do wait. You said ceramics and I'm trying to book that ceramicist. I think I. Found an interpreter talking about I. Will tell you. I'll tell you off camera. I have a by the way.

1:07:31 Do you have a friend? Wait, you have a friend who does it too? I have a friend of mine who is like one of these Instagram ceramics, like the dual mode. OK, when I hit, when we hit off, I'm gonna ask you see if it's the same person. Cuz I've been. Trying to book someone. Yeah. But OK, so I wrap up every interview with asking my favorite question, which is if you come with a warning label, what would it be? I mean my warning so pretty, but like it will be rotten's fast. It's just like I'm like I feel like I don't have much time left on the this earth to play games and to, you know, do things that I don't really need in my life.

1:08:22 You know, so like I'm talking to other people that I do want to do stuff with and I will tell them like I'm I don't want to do stuff for money anymore. Like I don't want to, you know, like invest for 10 years in this so that something's going to like in the future is going to happen. I want the things that I do to bring joy to me now. I'm I'm in a phase where like I cannot invest in the future anymore. I just want to live now. So yeah, it rottens fast. So like take it or live. Yeah, I can affect myself to the point that I need to be accepted and loved. If I lose weight or if I do this or do that, like this is who I am.

1:09:05 I don't have time to perfect myself. It's going to be more difficult with time to perfect myself. So yeah, take it or not. OK, excellent. So say out loud the the Instagram that you want most people to who can find you. It's like at Chris, it's at Chris beautiful. He man. It's so Chris with CHB GB G comes from Bulgaria the the short for Bulgaria the the country Internet code like BG Bulgaria. So that's why Chris from Bulgaria Chris BG like simple as that. Just follow me on Instagram. I'll be really helpful and I try to answer any message that I get unless it's like super stupid or like I mean, if you say hi, I'll probably not won't say hi back, but like you kind. Of it's like 7 accounts and a business and a tour. I mean, you're just a little busy. Yeah, if you have a question, just ask the question. I don't have the time for the small talk. Like I'm good too, just like shoot a question and I'll answer, yeah.

1:10:10 Excellent. Well, thank you so much for your time. I know it's late at night view. I love and adore you. And if anyone has a question, you can also leave it here in the comments. Please like and follow so other people can find it and go be creative. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.