 So now I'm going back to America. Hello! Hey guys, welcome to Jacob's channel! It's your guest, Monay Babazadeh, Persian American. Thank you, living in Seoul currently. I just moved here one month ago. Hello. And he's going to interview me and ask me some questions. So stay tuned. Done. So I'm Jae Kim and here is... Monay Babazadeh. I am an Iranian American born and raised in California, U.S. of A. And I just recently moved to Seoul and I'm just basically starting the next chapter of my life out here. Yeah. I'm really excited to be here. I'm excited to meet you. Thank you. Big fan of Jae Kim. Why did you come to Korea? Actually, I just moved to Korea just to be friends with Jae Kim. That's it. And I was like, I really want to be in his YouTube video. And here I am. Yeah. Dream is coming true. Dream is coming true. So now I'm going back to America. I am out of here. Goodbye. Bye bye. I came to Korea because I wanted a change in my life. Given the fact that I've lived in America for 27 years, I've always been attracted to Asian culture and I've wanted to live abroad. And so as far as opportunities go, I feel like Korea has the best opportunities for foreigners. So I'm currently out here living the best life that I can. Yeah. Korea is pretty awesome. I really like it here. As I told you, she's a Persian American. Your parents are? Iranian from Iran. My mom is from Tehran, which is her family's from like the capital of Iran. And then my father is from Meshad, which is more of the holy city. I guess half Tehrani and half Meshadi. Why did they move to America? My father moved to America from Iran because he didn't want to, I believe, serve in the military. Avoid military and then they come, trying to come to America for opportunities at the land of the free. Have you ever been to Iran before? Yes, I've been to Iran three times. I enjoy it. I really like Iran. Winter was when I was 15 years old, so it's been a while. Iran's just like, I think, any other cities. If you go to Tehran, it's kind of like Seoul. Do you think Korean culture and Persian culture are similar? Yeah, that was as far as my deciding factor in choosing the specific Asian culture that I wanted to live abroad. It shows Korean culture because it reminded me a lot of the Persian culture as far as respect for one another, the family unity, especially in the dating culture as well, men and women, they're very respectful and reserved and that's something I'm very familiar with growing up in my family and, you know, the strong unity, the family unity in Korea. It's the same with our family. My family is very strong, very close. Yeah, your family is Muslim, so I'm curious about that. Is there really discrimination against Muslim in America and especially against Iranians? Iranians? Definitely. I think, especially now that Trump's in office, the hate crime towards the Muslims and the fear towards Muslims has increased substantially. I wouldn't tell people I think in America or especially strangers that my family is Muslim because of their fear and their prejudice towards them. And then Iran, I feel like, has been brought to more of a negative light. It's intimidating to say you come from a Muslim family in America. I definitely keep that more down low, hush hush because a lot of people, they're afraid. They categorize them as terrorist. So yeah, for my family's safety sometimes and for my safety, if I don't know, I won't let people know much about my background or my family in America. Are you proud of that you're Persian blood and what do you think about your identity like American or Persian? I'm very proud that I'm Persian. I love being Persian. Persians was a huge empire and what's kind of left of Persian now is Iran. Persians were the first Aryan race. So yeah, I have pride. I love the culture where I'm from. My identity is American, but my family, you know, there are Iranian Persians, so I'm Persian-American. We're very loving. We have a lot of respect towards one another. We're not terrorists at all. Yeah, at all, yeah. I think every race, every religion, has their extremists, their own kind of terrorism. Unfortunately, the Muslims and the Iranians just have more focus on them. So it's a shame right now, but I hope in the future we'll have more of a positive light because there's a lot of great people. My family are Muslims and they're really open, loving, unconditional love to everyone, myself being raised by a Muslim family. I'm proud of that. I'm very proud that I'm Persian. I'm Persian like the cats. Yeah, that's Persian cats. So you grew up in an Islamic family. Did your Islamic family influence your life and where you were laced? I think I'm a very conservative, reserved and very respectful woman, especially when it comes to men. I like to be, I have certain boundaries in the dating life. For example, if they see my image, I'm not covered up, I'm not as conservative, but my actions and my personality are very, very similar to my Islamic family. Dating, friendship, life, work, ethics, family, traditions. Islamic family has influenced my life for the better. I think it's the reason I am the way I am today, being respected by many people. I have a lot of respect. I'm proud of that. I'm proud to come from. Shout out to my family back in America. I love you guys. So it's last question. What message can you share to people who are prejudiced by someone's religion or nationality? I guess the message I can share is people need to have more of an open mind. If you are prejudiced or you are intimidated by Middle Easters or Islamic people is to be more empathetic. There's a lot of good people out there and being empathetic. It'll help you understand how they feel, how they act. Everyone should be a little more empathetic today. That's really important too. Understand other people's feelings because if you can be empathetic and you can see, then you'll have a better understanding. You won't be as fearful or scared or as prejudiced because you'll realize we're all the same. We're all trying to be good people. Be non-judgmental. Be more empathetic and love. Love. Love. Finish. Yay. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe. Thank you and be safe and take care of yourself and I will come back with new content. So, bye-bye. Bye. Testing, testing. Testing. One, two, three, trim.