The DPRK

  The other weekend I and small group went up to the border of China and the DPRK, AKA, North Korea.  It was incredible to see the country and at first glance it did just look like another country and didn't really stick me as North Korea.  Things started to take notice though; look behind you, back toward Dangdong China and you'll see what industry gets you: buildings, electricity and other modern conveniences. Look back at the border and you'll see some old abandoned buildings and an old Ferris Wheel that was once a landmark for the border town, back in the 1950s.
   As sad as the border was when seen from the Broken Bridge and from Chinese border, it doesn't really compare with what you can see when you go to Tiger Mountain to walk a section of the Great Wall that overlooks the real country side. From the zenith you can really see the poverty of the land as well as the barren-ness of it. The line is literally, shrubbery on the Chinese side then dry nothingness. There are no trees. There are no roads.
 It's sad to view but it doesn't compare to the ultimate viewing chance that you can take and should if you ever find yourself able. A boat ride takes you along the border and you get to view the real North Korea, the one you're not supposed to see.
   Here you don't see the poverty. You feel it.
     The border guards look like what they have looked like for the past 60 years. The same jackets, hats and guns.  The country literally hasn't progressed past the 1950s when Grandfather Kim first took power after Korea separated.  We went by two border guard posts, the mens and the women's. The mens was littered with fox-holes which were supposed to look like natural rock fall but you could see the guards inside them watching you. We also saw many fishermen out in their boats and if our boat got to close, we could hear guards shouting at us.  We saw farmers on the land scrapping up what they could and it was upon seeing them you realize, life is day by day. The Men's Army has one power boat that sits on shore as it is probably out of gas.
  A little further down you'll happen upon the Women's base and its rare that you'll see them out and about. They tend to hide in their towers. Which I can't blame them for doing as I hate it when people try to sneak taking my photo because I'm the first White person they've seen. Past the Women's base you'll get to a spot where on either side of you is North Korea and it is here that you really feel the poverty. You'll see a run-down community that it is specifically for the Government officials; the Chinese farmers that live rurally and not luxuriously, have better lives.  You may see some people on the shore washing their vegetables and/or laundry, if you do they are lucky to be eating and have to use the river because they don't have running water. Or do sparsely and have to use it sparingly.  You may see some kids in school uniforms, wearing the uniforms on the weekend because it's the only clothing they have.
   We came across an army boat crossing from one side to the Army base on the other. It wasn't a motor boat. It was a large gondola-esque boat that was powered a man in the back rocking a large rudimentary oar. Sitting in the boat were some, what looked like farmers, but were actually Officials, and a young guard that stood sentinel with this old rifle. I stood in my boat to meet them and returned his glare of hate with one of pity and sorrow.
   Arriving back in China you really do feel a 'return to civilization'.  The experience of seeing North Korea in this state makes you wonder why they are so hesitant to accept aide. What are they so afraid of?   My curiosity is peaked and questions must be answered.  The next step is getting into the country..

Of Dragons and BBQ Bananas

Life at Maple Leaf Dalian in Jinshitan, China (金石滩 - Golden Pebble Beach) has been interesting to say the least. It has definitely been keeping me busy! There are three tiers for the High School students; Foundations (elementary) Bridging (intermediate) and Full BC (advanced) - I'm teaching the pre-social studies in the Bridging program - where all the students are striving to get into the coveted Full BC. Even the failing ones.  The high school is also segregated, so I have over 70 boys that I have to teach Canadian social studies to. On top of this I have to TOC (think substituting), which is an added headache as the process of getting the list every morning seems to be a cumbersome process.    Administration faults aside, once I get to the class it is usually pretty interesting. As a sub the boys immediately assume that it's going to be an easy class so it's "free time". The first part of the class is usually me having to somehow assert my position as the Teacher and more - or - less The Alpha Male.      Sometime it's easy and all I have to do is get the students on the page as me, usually achieved by talking about Dragons or making goofy comments about their names (ie. Friday, Field, Paradox, and.. Bieber - he got a 'change your name' comment) and sometimes it's the hard way and I have to kick a student or two out.   My most recent TOC was for an English 11 class and we had an excellent discussion about how Dragons are a fantastic element to a story and why Dragons are just simply fantastic. It was a fun discussion as the students really wanted to convince me why adding Dragons into their story would help it, I played the devil's advocate and gave them a tough stance to argue against. They did well and after some reminders that I was only arguing for the sack of arguing they really got into the discussion.
   Then, after the class got bored with the arguments, the word 'desire' was asked to be defined. I gave them a simple definition and put it in the terms of food. I asked if the cafeteria food was ever 'desired' and you should have heard the resounding 'NO!' that followed. I then asked for which food was desired and got some obvious answers, pizza and KFC. Then some not so obvious, sushi/sashimi and BBQ bananas.
 I was told by the class to ignore the student as he always came up with these kind of answers. But I was curious. Apparently, it's a real thing. You take your banana and grill it. I have yet to try it but I want to!