– Pettersson and his truly unique life, made of decisions taken outside the usual social patterns.
I meet Pettersson and his inseparable four-legged friend in a Seoul park. Finding a place to sit outdoors is not easy these days as the (anti)social distancing has horrifically blocked several urban areas smeared with red and white ribbons that seem like a huge insult to life and normality. Fortunately, a bench is free.
Born 52 years ago in Stockholm and raised in Umea, Sweden “I enrolled in the university of marketing and economics, but my creative passion made me choose a short course of a couple of years, finishing my exams just to have a degree. At 16 I opened a solarium with some friends and at the same time, I started DJing at parties, buying the sound and lighting system. After a short time, I started to become quite well known in Sweden and to play my records also in Finland and Norway. A happy time in which I became a professional DJ and where I started my career. In the same years, I opened a record company for DJs with some friends and I was manager of a Mexican burger restaurant”.
During this eventful phase of Pettersson’s life, several things happened: “Unfortunately, after a short time my mother fell ill and in about a year she passed away, at the same time my business partner discovered that he had a brain tumor and my girlfriend time left me. A delicate moment that prompted me to think about what to do with my life and what the next step would be.” As often happens, unexpected shocks are the causes of the biggest and most important changes in our lives, those who are able and have enough energy to react and make the most of the situation can make a good leap forward, as our friend did: “I contacted an international agency that managed DJs from all over the planet and I got a contract in Thailand where they were looking for someone like me to open a new super renowned hotel in Bangkok. I played here for six months in the club of the newly opened hospitality organization. A very interesting environment, especially for what concerns my profession, in a very lively cosmopolitan city with many clubs, one of the hottest places for DJs from all over the world.”
“That was how my adventure in Asia began.”
An experience of several months in the Asian continent is something that often leaves its marks: returning to everyday life in Europe is not easy, the energy of these countries is fascinating and bewitching!
“At the end of the contract, I returned to Sweden and here I realized that my hometown was no longer the place for me. So I decided to contact an agency in Singapore and the same day they answered to offer me a contract in South Korea. The position this time was much more demanding: in addition to playing records as a DJ, they gave me the task of managing the whole club entertainment at the Intercontinental hotel. I had to take care of marketing, designing and promoting content for evenings and events, sponsorships and so on. A big change. It was 1993, I was only 24 and I found myself managing a project that demanded a lot of responsibility, causing me some headaches and stress.” This was the first time our Pettersson landed in South Korea.
“After a year the contract ended and I was sent to Abu Dhabi: another DJ experience in an international club in a famous hotel. Here I met people from all over the world, rich Arabs and even members of the royal family. A similar experience is repeated when I was sent to play records in Bombay in a club reserved for high society people and super celebrities of the show. When the contract came to an end they asked me to stay but I found another job position that suited me in Brunei, an adventure that I was interested in trying to live. I was the royal family’s personal DJ, the first man to be hired for this role here as previously only women had been selected for this. A completely new experience, both in terms of the number of people for whom I had to play and their high social position. I worked to entertain the royal family’s guests with lights and sounds: Many superstars, famous singers (I remember Michael Jackson among them), wealthy entrepreneurs, royal families from other countries were among the guests. Two really interesting years, despite having a full-time contract luckily I wasn’t busy every day. I spent a lot of time exploring the small and super luxurious Asian state, it was like being in a fantasy world!”
“I went back to Sweden for a year, continuing my DJ career here. In 2000, I took a three-month trip to Asia where I enjoyed a well-deserved break. I was 32 years old.
While I was enjoying my free days, a friend who lived in South Korea offered me to return to Seoul to play in a Hilton hotel club in the capital. I accepted “
Seven years after his first visit to the country, Pettersson returns to the Korean peninsula. Even though it may seem like a short time, in a super-fast-paced Asian country like South Korea, seven years is a long time, many things change quickly. “I have noticed a great change in the country since the first time I visited it and lived in it for a year. Both socially and structurally. At that time there were not all these English teachers, but this time a rather large community of foreigners was starting to be created, Korea was starting to become a well-known and visited country, especially thanks to K-Pop and movies. Many people began to travel here and some to settle. Before just a few knew South Korea.”
Intense years in which Pettersson’s life was starting to stabilize “I began as a contracted DJ in the hotel and continued as a freelancer in several clubs in Seoul. The system in these venues was quite interesting and unique and I wanted to try this new kind of experience for me: I was playing for 25 minutes and then another DJ was taking the spot behind the turntables. I used to play in five different clubs in one night. A job seven days a week that took me for about 10 years.
Around the same time, I met my wife and we started living together. After a while, we finally got married.”
Korean society in those days was quite different from what it is today, especially as regards the foreigners living here, who were starting to arrive during those years. “I was a kind of pioneer. I began to participate and interviewed on TV shows as people were interested in seeing and knowing the reactions of Westerners. My style of beard, black dress and shaved hair did not make me go unnoticed, people were very intrigued by me and it happened that they recognized me on the street a few times.”
After many years of nomadic life, Pettersson decides to settle here in South Korea “I have seen and lived in many countries, but I felt good here, everything is very dynamic and Seoul is a city where I immediately understood that I could find work and live a pretty normal life. I liked Thailand a lot, for example, but I see it more as a destination for my holidays than as a place to put my roots.”
The desire to change and above all to be independent begins to take shape “In 2010, after 10 years here in Korea I abandoned my life as a DJ.”
“To earn a living I started, together with my wife, to rent two of the three rooms of the house where we lived. At the same time I was teaching and appearing in various TV shows, series and movies.
We were also interested in the second-hand furniture business: a lot of people who come to live in Seoul usually don’t know how long they will stay here, so the used furniture market is quite profitable. We bought and resold sofas, tables, refrigerators, televisions …”
One of the most popular professions here in South Korea is teaching English, but immediately after the hottest job, for foreigners who decide to make money in these parts, is acting for commercials or films. “Many people come here just for this; in my opinion, South Korea is one of the most important job markets where the role of models for commercials or films is required. I started helping a friend’s casting agency, thanks to the many knowledge developed over the years of work, which I have always done for a lifetime, I was facilitated in finding people suitable for the various roles.
And after some time I opened my own private modeling company, it was 2012. At the beginning it was not easy, especially about finding the initial capital to invest.”
A job that has kept our Pettersson busy till today “I have been working since I was very young and have never stopped. Now I have decided to take my time and slow down with the pace of work, giving myself more personal space and not getting too stressed out with my business, I’m trying to enjoy my life more. “
“When I was 50, I started to slow down and cultivate what I like to do: cycling, hiking in the mountains, going to the river and taking vacations around other Asian countries. I like the East coast of the Korean peninsula and traveling around the country by motorbike. Outside the megalopolis of Seoul, you can still find interesting more traditional towns and fishing villages.”
Living abroad and especially in a society that is only opening now like the Korean one is often not easy, especially for the integration with the locals, I ask him what his experience is. “I work through my agency constantly with Koreans, there are difficulties in communicating sometimes, but I have learned the Korean language and this allows me to express myself more easily with the locals. I am accepted more easily also thanks to my age and my decades of experience in the country. Age is very important here in Korea, people have much more respect for those who are older. I always talk to my neighbors, they know me in the area, I often sit with them for a chat. This allows me to get in touch with the local culture and not be imprisoned in a bubble like other foreigners residing here could be, I socialize mostly with the locals and not just with expats. I don’t want to be segregated in the community of foreigners living in Seoul.”
Compared to many other countries I have visited and lived in I have noticed that it is much more difficult for those who were not born here to open their own business or find a job that is not an English teacher or model … I ask how they see it “Foreigners usually find work in large corporations, such as Samsung or LG. Others come here to study from abroad, specialize and learn the language and then are hired in some companies in the country. It is certainly not easy for a foreign business, but there are many immigrants who have opened restaurants and small shops, several of them come from the Middle East, especially in the Itaewon area. There is also a number of entrepreneurs who import and export products of all kinds.”
I am curious to know what the positive side of Korea is. “Life here is convenient: you can have all the comforts one wants, everything is modern. In addition, there are excellent infrastructures, the hospitals are super efficient and at the government level everything works well.”
And the negative one… ”Everything is so fast, everything here is “pali pali” (an expression widely used here in the Asian country which, in Korean, means “fast fast!”), a rather stressful life. Koreans are often pushed by the system to become selfish, you can see that from how they push you on the subway. Furthermore, it often happens that people talk and promise many things … but in the end you don’t know if what you are told is true. You can never fully trust someone, lots of times here is just to show off, to appear, to show that someone is worth something. I learned not to get too emotionally involved in this attitude, I listen and take a step back, because I know that not everything that is said and promised can be realized.”
“I like living abroad. South Korea is my base. From here I can move almost anywhere and travel wherever I want. I am happy with my life now, I could try to make more money to have more things, maybe buy a bigger house but I prefer to enjoy the simple things. I am interested in being in balance, the slow pace of life, because when you start to slow down you also start thinking about your life, what you are doing and you start enjoying the time you have available” A characteristic that I have often noticed in other people who I met, from everywhere, slowing down allows you to start thinking. Which is impossible with the usual stressful rhythms of this hectic life in which we are almost all trapped. “I like meeting new people, creating a nice stimulating conversation with them and learning from the experiences of others”
I ask him about current and future projects: “I keep working on my casting agency, but being well organized for the first time in my life I have a lot more time for myself and therefore I have more freedom, now I have the possibility to choose what I want to do. Before I was much more focused on challenging myself and earning money by working hard, but now I have the opportunity to enjoy more of a peaceful and balanced life. Now I have the choice of working or spending time for myself without the stress of thinking about making money. I am not retired, but I can choose how to use my time. This is freedom for me.”
After decades of life in clubs, what are you missing? “I don’t miss the DJ life. But I still like playing music for fun. I don’t want to go back to a full-time job, I don’t want to live to work, I want to have control over my life and my personal decisions. I don’t just want to survive. Many people, like here in Korea, live and work until the end of their days. They don’t enjoy their existence as we all should. We only have a certain amount of time to live, life is made up of decisions that should lead us to be happier and free, it all depends on you and your choices.”
What can be learned from your experience? “I have always followed instinct, so I recommend everyone to do the same. Take life more easily. Do the things you like, make your own decisions, and don’t base your life on the responsibilities that society and governments put on you:…you have to buy a house, you have to get married, you have to find a job, you have to have children, you have to, you have to, you have to …For example, having children is a great thing that changes your life, but it is certainly not for everyone to have this kind of responsibility and commitment for more than 20 years. Some may not feel like facing something that is predetermined by society.
The government wants you to work, produce, and pay taxes, to support the system itself …try to get out of this kind of life.
Don’t follow what others do and what you have to do according to some social patterns, but make the decisions for yourself. Go your own way and choose what you like to do and what makes you feel good.
Not everyone likes self-employment, many need a boss and rules to follow, otherwise they would feel lost.
People don’t like changes in general, they feel unwell in something they don’t know and have not experienced yet, not knowing what will happen they prefer to stay in their routine life and don’t make decisions, this is probably 90% of people. But when you get out of the patterns, unexpectedly positive things often happen … so make your own decisions, take risks and live a free life.”
