Hi! I’m Jake from theSeoulGuys. I’d like to give a quick introduction about myself and talk about the future of the blog.
Who is Jake?
I’m Jake. I live in Seoul. If I had to describe myself in one word, it would be “contradiction”. Looking back over the past 10 years, my life is full of contradictions. I like to think of myself as a conservative, security-oriented person, but over the past decade my titles have changed a lot: from public sector banker, to pilot trainee, to product owner of a startup, and now I’m just a guy in his 30s with no title. Looking back, I’m not sure I ever really wanted a stable life.
And I’m a person with a lot of challenges and failures. My biggest recent failure was not becoming a pilot. It took me over two years and a lot of money, but in the end, I couldn’t find a job as a pilot in the face of the global pandemic.
After a short startup life, I’m now dreaming of a life without a company and challenging myself to a new way of life where I don’t belong anywhere.
Why Seoul, South Korea?
I’ve lived in many places around the world, and in many places in South Korea, but I don’t think any city resembles my contradictions as much as Seoul. Seoul has been the capital of South Korea for over 600 years, and while it has old castles like Gyeongbuk Palace, new things (trains, the internet, tons of brands) have always come to Seoul first. Seoul is a mix of naturally occurring urban areas and planned neighborhoods like Gangnam. I love Seoul because you can get off the subway and go hiking right away, and there are Buddhist temples in the middle of the most developed commercial district.
It is very difficult, even impossible, to describe the people who live in such a contradictory city in a single sentence. Rather, it would be correct to say that we are observing one of the many different Seoulites.
What is theSeoulGuys?
I want theSeoulGuys to be a place where many men can freely talk about everything about life, including travel, career, money, and health. Through the blog, I hope that even men who are not in the same space can have a good experience of connecting and sharing opinions with each other. I also hope that it will be a place where we can calmly share deep thoughts that we may not be able to feel or express in many recent media outlets, especially those centered on video and images.
I’m planning to organize this blog with Max, who used to work in a bank with me, and he’s also living in Seoul and managing his life well as a man. I believe that the more diverse people share their lives, the richer our blog will be.
Max