Lately

I loaded new pictures on my Flikr page. There are some from the DMZ, and other random things here in my life. There are some new things to report, but I have no motivation to write them. I feel that some of my classes are quite mentally draining, and sometimes I come home and don't want to do anything that stimulates my brain. One class in particular has seven 6-year-old boys. They are adorable. However there are 2 in the class that take all my attention and patience that I have stored for the whole day. The last two days I've taught them, I leave the class at the end feeling like the worst teacher in the world, and a bad person. They've driven me to drink. One of them for sure has ADD, and the other, well, he could have ADD also. He speaks to me in only Korean, but he doesn't understand that I don't speak it, but that's not why he might have ADD. The other classes are good, nice students, but very challenging to manage. I have a bully situation in one class, for example.

The last few weeks have been quite busy. Katherine visited, I went to visit her, Christmas shopping, visiting friends, getting ready for Japan. I can't believe we are leaving in 3 days. I also feel sad that I am not with family and friends for the holiday. I did not think it would be this hard. I am glad that Denise and I are taking advantage of the time off, and I definitely feel like I need a holiday. Several people I know will be in Tokyo the same time as I, so it will be so exciting to meet up. One friend is from here, another is Miss Veronica Ebbs-Canavan. Veronica and I worked at the Westin Grand together back in the day. We were the only two female bell staff for the longest time. Should be great.

I had a dream last night that Frank was here. In my dream he ran out of my apartment and down the hallway into Denise's apartment, because he likes to run into other people's houses anyway. I woke up form my dream with my big heavy blanket on my chest, and I thought it was Frank. Instant sadness. I saw a Westie the other week. Its the first one I've seen one in 3 months.

All the dog owners out there, hug your dog for me.

One more thing...

Although the bus incident was highly annoying and inconvenient, my day was quite exciting because I bought a ticket to Japan. Denise and I are going to Tokyo for Christmas, from the 22nd to the 26th. Our plan is to spend Christmas day at Mt. Fuji, and then drink copious amounts of sake to numb our sad feelings of missing Christmas with family.

Bus 603

I did it again. The situation was not a severe as the first time. I was still in a densely populated, urban area. My keen sense of direction kept me in line with what part of the city I was in and a vague distance that was travelled. I was more angry because I was really hungry, and wanted to get dol-sot bibimbap (for those of you not versed in Korean cuisine, it is rice, egg, seaweed, lettuce, mushrooms and deliciousness in a hot stone bowl) from my favourite local eatery. The bus dumped myself and one other man at a terminal-like thing. I walked about 10 blocks in the direction I sensed my neighbourhood was and then took the subway 2 stops to my station. It really wasn't too bad. I had my ipod and I got a picture of the world's longest escalator. Today's lesson: don't take the bus alone.

I'm sitting in the teachers' room at my school next to a propane heater. Its been very cold here lately and I don't think the building has very good insulation, hence the cold in the teachers room. About 2 weeks ago, this huge heater arrived and we all hover around it as if we were around a fire. But I noticed a funny smell within a few days, a funny smell that was similar to gas. Well today, I finally said something about it being really dangerous to burn propane in an enclosed space because people die. Some of the other teachers looked at me with disbelief. I don't think anyone knew that. Then someone told the head teacher. Her response was, "Oh I know, but just open the door or something." Uhhh, ok. The door goes to another indoor space though. And do you care that there are 100 children in the school right now? I guess not. I'm laughing on the inside at the situation just to see what will happen. I mean we all know how to trun off the heater. But will we actually get a replacement? One that doesn't kill?

On another note, the foreign teacher situation is drastically changing in Korea. When I arrived, it was possible to get a job without a visa. A person has to pick up their visa from a foreign country, any country. So a school would often send that person to Japan when their visa was ready, for a "visa run". Since the pedophile was arrested in Thailand, and among other things, the rules have changed. Before an applicant even applies for a visa, they are subject to a criminal record check, a drug test and an interview with the Korean consulate in the country of origin. Then they have to wait and get their visa from the consulate. Its not a bad thing if you are just at home waiting for a job. But if you came here on your own and then found a job, you'd have to fly all the way back home to get the visa and then fly back again. Its a big deterent to coming here and then finding a job. And all the other requirements one needs to go through will probably decrease the number of applicants and subsequent foreign teachers in Korea. I'm not sure about Japan, China or Taiwan and how they are doing things, but it will be more of a hassle for people wanting to work here.

DMZ - this is a loooong post

Yesterday I went to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. It was an organized tour through the USO. I went with Leesa and her parents, who are visiting from Vancouver.The bus left at 7.30am from Seoul. We all had to abide by a dress code and bring our passports. The dress code was to wear runners, no sandals, and appropriate clothing, pants, a t-shirt. Runners were necessary in case we had to run. We had to provide our passports when we registered for the tour and when we were on the bus.

The DMZ is only 45km from Seoul. The tour consisted of three parts. The first part was to Camp Boniface and the Joint Security Area (JSA). We arrived at the Camp, which is a UN camp, and all the UN personnel that work here live in the camp. There are about 700 people, mostly from South Korea and the US, and a few from Canada, Australia, NZ and the UK. Our guide, (insert military rank here) Rashkin said that he and all the other soldiers working in the JSA are much more highly educated and trained than other military officers. They must have immaculate civilian and military records to be even considered for those positions. He also said that the SK personnel are educated abroad and are more educated than he is. Once we arrived at the camp, we left the tour bus and boarded another bus from the UN. We drove to a debriefing building where we saw a slide show about the area and the reason why the JSA is there. They talked about the most recent violent events from the last 30 years. The first major one was in 1976. A work crew was sent by SK to a spot to trim an alder tree that was obstructing the view UN personel. NK soldiers came over and started interrogating the workers. Two US military personnel stepped in and ended up getting murdered with the axes that the workers were using. Four NK soldiers were also killed. After this, it was decided that neither party could cross over onto the other party's side. The other occurred in 1984. A Russian civilian was visiting the north side and ran across the line and through a building on the south. A gunfight ensued. I believe some NK soldiers were killed, but the Ruskie survived.

After the slide show, we got back on the buses and headed the central part of the town of Punmunjom (the de facto city established after the war, right on the border). Freedom Hall is the building that was supposed to be used for talks between the two parties, but has never been used for that purpose. The bus pulled up to this building and we got out and lined up. My group went outside to the back of the building, where we could see the North Korean security building, several guards, watchtowers and many security cameras and sound devices. Six JSA soldiers are on constant watch to the North. Between where we were standing were 3 smaller buildings and a road. The small buildings are used for any negotiations between the two sides. While we were standing there, a guard from NK came out of his building and watched us with binoculars. We were not allowed to make any gestures towards them as anything could be used as propaganda towards SK. We then went into the small building. Half of it belongs to NK and the other half the South. Three guards are in this room at all times. At one time, there were only 2, but some NK soldiers tried to pull an SK guard through their door one day. Everything about this area and this room are operated with a strict routine, from locking the doors, to the guard changes. All activity within the room is monitored by both countries with sound and video equipment.

We left the building and got back on the bus. We traveled to a lookout point where were could see a large panoramic of NK. The first major part is the Propaganda Village. This looks like a medium sized town, with several buildings and a very large flag pole. The town is mostly deserted however. Kim Jung-il broadcast 10-12 hours of propaganda through the town. Another part was a tower on a hill that we could see in the distance. This tower is to block all radio, television and cellular signals from entering North Korea. This lookout was also one part of the JSA that was surrounded by NK on three sides.

After this we went to The Bridge of No Return. I think it was when the DMZ was established after the Korean war, that all people living within this area were brought to this bridge and given the opportunity to choose which country they wanted to live in, but when they crossed over into that country, they would never be able to return. This was the site where the axe murders occurred.

The buses then left this area and we headed back to the camp. The area between the camp and the Freedom Hall was an area that we were not allowed to take any pictures. We crossed through a massive tank wall and saw the electric fence that runs along the actual border. There is barbed wire fencing running along all roads and around all rice fields. The area is heavily land mined and is considered extremely dangerous. Rashkin joked about not seeing any three legged dear lately. But really, its true and one way to know that there are plenty of mines left.

We got back onto the regular tour buses and then travelled to a South Korean army lookout. It was a public facility so there were lots of regular tourists. By regular tourists I mean Koreans. I don't think that they are allowed to go on the tour through the USO, because of you know, issues.

The third part of the tour was to visit the 3rd Tunnel. This tunnel was found in 1978 and built by NK. Its now a pretty sophisticated tourist attraction. We saw a video about the DMZ and the effort towards peace between the countries and eventual reunification. After was a small exhibit about the Korean War and recent conflicts between the two countries. Then we went into the tunnel. It was 1.5 km long. We had to walk down a long platform to get to it, and I felt really claustrophobic once inside. We had to wear hard hats because the jagged rocky ceiling of the tunnel could be pretty dangerous if one walked into it too fast. We walked to the end of the tunnel, where SK had constructed 4 barricades, so no one would be able to get through on either side. We weren't supposed to bring our cameras here either. I did anyway and got some candid yet blurry shots. We got back on the bus and headed back to Seoul. The bus was playing a video about the Korean War, that was clearly from an American perspective. It had some good information, however it was corny.

The whole day was definitely the coolest thing I've done since I've been here. It was a very surreal experience. Once we were back in the city, I felt strange knowing how close the conflict is to the city. It is one of the most dangerous places in the world. Not because of the ongoing violence, but the potential for danger and violence. As the DMZ is 4 km wide and nearly 260 km long, with no human activity within it for the last 50 years, it is one of the most protected natural places in the world.

During the whole day, two things would not get out of my mind. The first was the movie Team America: World Police, because its the best ridicule of Kim Jong-il anyone has ever done. The second thing is that with all the talks and the media coverage about the two countries getting along and talking peace and rainbows and butterflies, I just don't buy it. When we were traveling to the 3rd tunnel, we learned that a 4th tunnel was found in 1990, and SK suspects another 20 more tunnels exist. That last tunnel was found only 17 years before. A dictator in a communist country with that much military power does not just give up. Kim Il-sun was in power for so long, but Kim Jong-il has done his own stuff, like nuclear testing. I just don't trust the situation. One other thing we learned was about defectors, or people that try to get into SK. Rashkin said a few years ago, 2 young boys, about 14 years old, were washed down the river that flows into SK before going to the ocean. These boys were given the choice of staying in SK or going back to the North. They chose to go back. Turns out that if the NK government finds out about anyone defecting, they arrest all remaining family members and send them to a type of concentration camp that mirrors hell, with no chance of getting out. In the reading I've done since I've been back from the tour, I've learned that North Korea has the 4th most powerful army in the world. Kim Jung-il was the minister responsible for the military before he succeeded his father as the leader, and during his time in that position, he was said to have ordered a bombing in Rangoon, Burma in 1983, that killed 15 visiting South Korean officials. It is also believed that he directly ordered a bombing of a Korean Air plane, killing 115 people in 1987. Kim Jong-il has also appointed himself to two positions that make him the leader of the government, the military and the country. However he does not hold the title of President. By not being President, he is exempt from calling elections that would possibly end his dictatorship. Kim has also spent $20 million on importing 200 luxury Mercedez Benz sedans. He is an avid film and music fan. He has been married once, a marriage he was forced into by his father. That marriage produced one child, and he has 3 other children by two misstresses.