Those who have an interest in a certain culture would know that if you are interested in a culture, you will start noticing things only about that culture everywhere, it doesn’t matter if it’s a small thing or not. You will not do it willingly, but your brain serves as a sieve.
For example, you are walking in the crowded Istiklal Street in Istanbul, and a crowd is walking towards you full of German, British, Arab tourists. In a crowd like this if you are interested in Asian culture like me; the first thing you notice will be the two or three Korean tourists trying to take photos while struggling not to get crushed in the crowd.

Just like this, with a coincidence, I noticed a Facebook page. Today I’ll introduce you the page of these two Korean – American Youtuber. Actually, they will introduce themselves (^_^)

Özlem Burcu: Hello, First of all, can you briefly introduce yourself?
Kim:My name is David Kim I’m Korean, but grew up in Los Angeles.
Oh: I’m Nick Oh. I’m also Korean but grew up in San Francisco.
KIMOH:We both love food, NBA, and learning about different cultures.

Özlem Burcu: How did you two meet?  

KIMOH: We actually met while taking a class together. We both found out that we had a lot of things in common and we quickly became good friends.

Özlem Burcu: How long have you been in Istanbul? 

KIMOH:We have been in Istanbul for around two years.
 
 


Özlem Burcu: I think it's been a year since your page started. Where did the Vlog idea about Istanbul come from? How did your Istanbul adventure begin?
KIMOH: We wanted to come to Istanbul, so we started researching by watching youtube videos, but found out that no one actually didn’t make any good videos. It was always the same couple of things. As we were watching the videos we said: “ we can totally make better videos than the ones we found.”

Özlem Burcu:The name of your page is very original. Can you explain the meaning of KimOh to my readers?
KIMOH:
Sure, we were thinking of a name for our channel for a long time, but nothing really fit well. While we were eating Hatay doner we started talking to the owner. We introduced ourself. David said David Kim and Nick Said Nick O. Suddenly the owner started laughing and said,*” Kim Oh” That’s how we picked our channel name. It was totally by chance. I think it’s pretty clever.

(*Özlem Burcu’s Note: In Turkish “Kim O?” means “Who is it?”. I used the same tactic for my Turkish website name(“burcu.kim” means “Who is Burcu” in Turkish ;) )  

Özlem Burcu: How do you decide the topic of your videos on your page? How often do you make new videos?
KIMOH:
We make videos on things that we like. For example, all of our food videos if places we love to eat in Istanbul. We also do a lot of videos about Korean things, since people in Turkey are really curious about Korean culture. We also make a lot of silly videos like Turkish tongue twisters. Pretty much we just like to have fun while making our videos. We try to upload a new video once a week.

Özlem Burcu: Which languages do you know? Do you speak Turkish? 
KIMOH: It’s easiest for us to speak in English since we grew up in America, but we also speak Korean. We also know some Turkish. We for sure need want to improve in it.

Özlem Burcu: Every culture can have an interesting word in its own language. Or you can find it fun to learn when you hear the pronunciation (as a foreigner). For example, for me, it is the word "Ganbarimasu" in Japanese. The word "Ganbarimasu", which means “I will do my best”, is better than the word "fighting". When I say “Fighting”, I feel like I have to work harder and fight and it will become more and more difficult than it should be. So is there a word that is interesting for you in Turkish? And why?
KIMOH:
"Evyallah" would be the word for us hahahahah. You can use it in some many situations. We also like “kolay gelsin.” There really isn’t a phrase like that in English. It just reminds me a lot of how language and culture are some tied together.  

Özlem Burcu: You taste different foods in your videos. What is your favorite dish in Turkish cuisine? 
KIMOH: For Nick, it is “Iskender”, for David it is “Kelle Paça çorbası”

Özlem Burcu: There are different kinds of Turkish desserts. So I have to ask. Do you have a favorite Turkish dessert?
KIMOH: We love Turkish desserts so it’s so hard to choose, but If we had to pick one it would have to be kunefe. There isn’t anything like it in America.

Özlem Burcu: Let's say you have friends visiting Turkey. What kind of souvenir do you recommend them to buy when they are returning home?
KIMOH:We would probably say postcards. It’s a way to keep memories of the places you have visited. If it was Turkish specific we would have to say a tea glass

   
Özlem Burcu: Let talk about Korea, too. You two have grown up in America. Have you ever been to Korea? Do you have such a plan for the future? Will we be able to see videos about Korea from you in the near future?
KIMOH:
We would love to make videos in Korea in the future, but it all depends on finances. We have recently done some videos about Korea on our youtube channel, like Korean dating culture.

Özlem Burcu: Do you have any dish or dessert that you can recommend to people who are interested in Korean culture?
KIMOH:
If people haven’t had Korean food before, we would recommend getting Korean BBQ first. It’s a great way to get introduced to Korean food.

Özlem Burcu: Can you recommend a place in Korea? ( A place that you will call “MUST BE SEEN” if we are visiting Korea).
KIMOH:
It really depends on what you like. Kind of like Istanbul. Probably Korean BBQ hahahaha


Özlem Burcu: How about a souvenir? What should we buy for our friends if we visit Korea?
KIMOH:
Socks, because they are cheap and pretty fun at the same time

Özlem Burcu: Can you teach us a Korean word that you think can be interesting to my readers?
KIMOH:
건배!((geonbae) Cheers!)

Özlem Burcu: Thank you for the interview!

Social media accounts for those who want to see Istanbul through KimOh's eyes;
KIMOH’s INSTAGRAM:
DAVID’s INSTAGRAM:
NICK’s INSTAGRAM:
KIMOH's YOUTUBE CHANNEL: