Guillaume Patry
More widely known to the general public in South Korea, Guillaume is a Canadian celebrity on a Korean TV show Abnormal Summit (비정상회담; pronounced as Bijungsanghuidam). In the show, Guillaume represents Canada on conversations that seek to compare cultural practices of different countries. Guillaume is also one of the two Canada 150 Ambassadors with the Canadian embassy in Seoul.
Would you please briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Guillaume Patry. I was born in Quebec City. I got really into StarCraft in the end of 1998. That’s when the game came out. The game at the time was not popular in Korea, but it was in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. So, I played in tournaments in that area. But then, by the end of 1999, StarCraft became a really big thing here in Korea and some of the tournaments were televised. So I decided to come here for three months just to have fun and maybe make some money – maybe win a tournament or two. But things went better than expected. I ended up winning televised tournaments, and people and sponsors started to recognize me. It was a lot of fun. The three months I was supposed to stay in Korea ended up being close to 18 years. I’m still in Korea and I love it.
What was your first impression of South Korea?
Well literally, when I first came here, I didn’t know how to take the bus. I took a taxi to Jamsil from Gimpo [airport]. It was Gimpo airport back then. There was no Incheon [airport]. There was so much traffic, and the bill was ridiculous. I couldn’t believe it. “Am I not counting this right? This is impossible. It has to be more.” I had to pay probably $100 for this, but it was probably only 20,000won. Maybe $22 or something like that for a long taxi ride in the traffic for over an hour. I was like, “Wow, this is amazing.”
“WHEN YOU PLAY STARCRAFT, KOREAN CHARACTERS ARE ALL BROKEN DOWN TO ASCII CODE. I THOUGHT THAT WAS KOREAN.”
Any memorable experience in Korea?
I was looking for a PC bang [internet café]. It’s not easy in Canada to find a PC bang. I was supposed to meet them [my friends] in a specific one called, “Sillghee P.C bang.” It was really really hot and humid. I asked one of the students, who probably was like five or six years older than me, to help me find Sillghee PC bang. Somehow he knew because he was studying at Yonsei University and it is right in front of Yonsei. He walked with me in the hot summer for 15 minutes. I was really happy when he pointed at me in the right direction. When he figured out I didn’t really know where I was going, he walked with me. That was amazing. It’s very unlikely to happen anywhere else I have been.
Did you know about Korea before coming here?
Nothing. I knew about Samsung, LG and Kia, but I didn’t know about Korea. When I told my dad that I am going to Korea, I was doing it with my own money because I had won some money in tournaments. So, he couldn’t really say like “Oh, you can’t go.” We went to a travel agent together, and even the travel agent did not really know anything about Korea. So, we were like looking up together, “Does Korea have good hospitals?” That’s what we were literally doing. We were like, “Wow, they have good hospitals.”
Did you speak any Korean before you came to Korea?
I was actually not the smartest kid. When you play StarCraft with the original version and chat with a Korean, Korean characters are all broken down to ASCII code. They are all rubbish [characters]. I thought that was Korean. There are some dollar signs and other symbols. I thought, “Oh my God, that is so funny.” I was not the smartest kid. But then, my friend back in Canada was like, “Are you stupid?” And, I was like, “What, that’s not Korean?” I actually googled and yahooed, and they showed me what real Korean looked like.
“ONCE YOU SAY HI, PEOPLE ARE GOOD TO EACH OTHER AND ARE VERY ENGAGING.”
How did you learn Korean?
When I first got here, there was this guy from New Zealand named John Riley. He works at the embassy. He knew how to speak Korean already. He learned in 1997. So when we would walk on the street and saw a Korean word, he would tell me each alphabet and the sound. We would practice, and I sort of memorized that. Then, I went to Ewha language school. Back in the day, they have the same building today. They only had two or three classes, so it was really empty. Now, it’s packed with students. I was not a good student. I only studied for like ten days. I learned how to really read slowly. I kept living in Korea and I learned little by little. I think the real basic Korean I learned was by living here.
What do you enjoy or find interesting about Korean culture?
In Korea, I think you just have to break the ice. Like, [let’s say] you are driving and you change lanes. You put your blinker on, but they don’t want to let you go. If you just like sort of show your hand [out the window], they are like, “Oh, there is someone in the car!” Then they let you go 100 percent. Once you say hi, people are good to each other and are very engaging. This is something about Korean culture: they go out of their way to help you, and you want to go out of your way to help them and get to know each other.
And there is the age thing that is really cool. If someone is older, you have to be nice to them because they are older. But if someone is younger than you, you have to be even nicer because they are younger than you. So you have to be sort of, not like a mentor or role model officially, but you just have to act and be deserving of some sort of respect. That’s how I feel about it. With regards to friends, you just meet the guy and suddenly you guys are best friends for the next three hours. I think the age thing is really cool most of the time. It really depends who you are meeting, but I like it most of the time.
“I AM REALLY HAPPY THAT I CONSIDER MYSELF BICULTURAL.”
How’s your overall experience in Korea?
I don’t have a benchmark to compare my experience in Korea to. But, I believe everybody should try to be bicultural. When you are just brought up in one place, you never learn about what other people believe and the way they act in different cultures. I feel like you are missing out a lot. [Actually], you are not really being yourself. It’s more like [living a life of] what’s being passed down onto you in terms of the values, cultures, and the way what to believe and how to think.
I am really happy that I consider myself bicultural. I want my kids to be bicultural. And, some things that I now find obvious are totally new concept to my parents, for instance, who have never really been living abroad other than maybe in Florida for a few months once in a while. So, [I believe it is important to] become bicultural, learn about different cultures, and learning to respect other people’s culture and opinion. That’s definitely one of the things that I got out of living in Korea.
“KOREANS ALREADY HAVE GOOD IMPRESSION ABOUT CANADA.”
Could you describe your role as the Canada 150 Ambassador?
I think my job as the Canada 150 ambassador is somewhat easier than other ambassadors of different countries. I heard about some surveys where they asked Koreans which country they have Hogam (호감; favourable impression) to. Canada was number one. So, it’s pretty hard to find a Korean who doesn’t know anything about Canada. It’s like a country where people want to retire to or imagine themselves having safe and good life. You may disagree, but I think it [Canada] is more tolerant to minorities. So, Koreans already have good impression about Canada. That’s why they want their kids to go to school there.
I think also on the TV show, I have a big Canadian flag right in front of me. So, people already know I am Canadian. They recognize me, and they already like Canada. People always ask me, “What’s Canadian food?” Well, the country doesn’t have the history like Italy, France, Korea or China. That’s why we have more progressive ideas on the way the country should be running. That’s what I would like to think.
Is there anything that you would like to tell to someone who wants to come to Korea?
Yes, I would definitely recommend coming to Korea to visit at first. If you like it, then you can decide to move here. Since I was very young, I only sort of did what my parents want me to do. In the winter, I would go skiing. In the summer, they would send me to golf course right in front of where I lived. I hated golfing. I was never good at it. Skiing, I was okay, but not great. And I found something that I really wanted to do: StarCraft. I sort of followed that dream, and that led me to Korea.
That was one of the best decisions I ever made. Which was followed by one of the worst decisions I ever made which was not to invest a decent amount of time into learning Korean language. So anyone who comes here, even if they don’t really plan to stay here for rest of their life or even for like five years, investing a few hours every day into learning a language is really something that they would never regret. They will regret not doing it even if they go back home at some point.
[Also], don’t do what other people want you to do. I mean, [some people] are exactly on the perfect path of what [their] parents want you to do. It’s not for everyone. If I don’t like something, I am really terrible at it. The path you chose in life would have been hard for me. Like, everybody’s different. Now we are living in a globally connected world. If you are really good at one thing, it doesn’t matter what it is anymore. [Whether it be] social media, drawing, acting or singing, just go for it.
Or, pro-gaming. Pro-gaming didn’t even exist when I came to Korea. I was like, “I am just going to play a few tournaments.” Then, people were like “pro-gaming pro-gaming”. [I thought], “Oh, I am a pro-gamer! I have a sponsor. I am literally a professional gamer. That’s pretty cool.” They call us 0.5 generation. The really first generation of pro-gamers. Gaming was never popular enough before that. It was never on TV anywhere.
What would you say was your cultural struggle?
I have been living in Korea for a year and half, going to TV stations meeting people almost every week. After that, I found out that younger person is supposed to say hi first. I didn’t know for a year and half. People were a little scared of me back then. I don’t know why. They said I looked very snobbish. I am not like that. But, people got that feeling. They thought that’s who I was: rude. I really had no idea. It took a year and half until a person finally told me. An American guy. He finally told me, “You know the younger person is supposed to say hi first.” I was like, “what?” I had no idea. I never said hi first. Never. Once I knew, I made an effort to say hi first. To be honest, “why? Just say hi. Why do you expect someone to say hi first because you were born earlier?”
“I FOLLOWED THAT DREAM, AND THAT LED ME TO KOREA. THAT WAS ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS I EVER MADE.”
What’s your vision from this point on?
I have been doing the show for three years now. It’s exhausting. I want to travel. I mean, the show is really fun. Fun to shoot. Great people I get to meet. But if they say, “We got a new Canadian representative.” Then, I will be like, “Great. I hope he/she does a great job. I am going to travel a little bit.” It was great three years, and changed my life for the better. I don’t know if I will be doing it for a very long time. I see myself doing it for one more year. Actually, my contract is over in about a year, so I will go back to what I did before. Which I did not talk about here… I used to be a poker player. I don’t have a casino sponsoring me, but I would travel the circuit. Poker is fun. I like it. It’s not very stressful.
Is gaming stressful?
Gaming is stressful. It’s so competitive. You got to be in the top 20 in the world. I mean, there are a lot of gamers. The percentage of people who can make it to the top is really low. Poker is not like that. You play it with ten random dudes who may or may not know how to play. You just have a good time and order coffee. It’s very stress-less.
So, do you not worry about losing or winning profit as much?
I don’t worry on a short term. If I lose for six months in a row, then I will be like, “Maybe, I am not as good as I thought I was.” But it never really happens. I have been doing this for ten years. I quit playing Starcraft in 2003 After that, I have been playing poker until 2014 or 2015. I hardly ever play now.
Written by Paul Chun, Jina Ko and Caleb Park