Almost Captured in North Korea (per Melanie)

We are finding that life is never dull here. Our latest adventure took us to a border town between China and North Korea, to a city called Dandong. We were invited to join a tour group from Juniata College, which is affiliated with the exchange program that we participated in when we were in college. It was billed as a day trip, leaving at 7:00 a.m. and back by dinner time, perfectly doable for our family. Dandong was further than we originally thought, but our driver never fully explained why we had to pull over 3 different times so that he could crawl under the bus with duct tape. We had packed books and card games to keep the kids entertained, but it was not enough. When we finally arrived in Dandong, our organizer hired a tour guide who started by taking us to a nice restaurant owned and operated by the North Korean government. We had our fill of wonderful spicy food, and were even treated to singing and dancing by the waitresses. We then headed north along the Yalu River, which divides the two countries, to board a small tourist boat. As we headed back down south on the river, we couldn’t help but notice the stark contrast between North Korea and China. China has flourished, with many tall skyscrapers and booming industry. From Dandong looking into North Korea, I only saw one van, one Ferris wheel (it’s cited in the Lonely Planet guidebook as never moving) and one tractor, that I could have sworn was running on steam. All other work was being done by hand and with large animals. Both sides seem a bit paranoid, with China’s barbed wire fences and video surveillance and North Korea’s underground bunkers and no photography policy. We saw North Koreans working the collective farms, young boys herding the communal sheep and soldiers watching our every move. Armed with only our goodwill, we were thrilled when some North Koreans took the time to return our smiles and waves. At one point, the boat captain received a phone call from the North Koreans complaining that someone on our boat was taking pictures. We were annoyed that a group of Chinese nationals at the front of the boat where drawing unwanted attention to us. Our guide pointed out that all of the windows in North Korea buildings used plastic, because they couldn’t afford to buy glass (or didn’t have the technology to make it). He also told us that the countries had each claimed the waters within 100 meters of their shore, with the middle waters being neutral. The high drama for the day was when our boat either got stuck (high centered) or the engine wasn’t strong enough to pull us up the current. We not only drifted into North Korean waters, but within 10 feet of the shore! Emotions were high, especially with the college age girls (was I ever like that?) After about 30 minutes of going nowhere, a small boat came and pushed us to safety. While we were still stuck and without explanation, our guide gave us the green light to start taking pictures, making all of our nervousness seem juvenile. Our next stop was the bridge that was “accidentally” bombed by US Forces in the 1950s during the Korean War. As with so many things before it, it, too, has been turned into a tourist trap. For roughly $3 US, you can walk onto the bridge, right up to the mangled steel that is still in ruins. The North Koreans dismantled their half of the bridge, so it abruptly ends in the middle of the river. The bombing of this bridge cut off supplies to the North Korean army and inadvertently the North Korean people as well. Overall, our kids handle the day very well. They had so many good questions about the history here and its ramifications; I am very glad that Mark not only has a degree in history, but enjoys sharing this interest with the kids. After a quick stop at McDonald’s, we rolled into bed at 11:30 p.m. feeling very grateful. We often complain about the hardness of our beds, but they were so much better than sleeping three to a bench on a bus or on the hard ground. After being reminded of the poverty and hardships in the world, we were just glad that we were safe and our bellies were full.

Hostess with the Mostest (per Melanie)

We've had a very busy past few weeks - so busy that I was almost relieved the first time I couldn't log on to our blog. After awhile, I started getting worried, and my imagination began to run wild with conspiracy theories and such. Mark accused me of taunting the higher powers with cryptic messages on my facebook account. Two weeks ago, we hosted my Chinese language class for dinner. It is always tricky cooking for new people, but it was even more challenging because there was so much ethnic diversity. My class includes 5 Korean college students, 3 Japanese who work in Dalian, a Russian pre-college student, and two wives of business men (this includes my good Korean friend and me). One of my two Chinese teachers and her husband were also able to attend. I ended up making a traditional New England clam chowder and an Indian beef curry. I was still afraid that some people wouldn't find something they liked, so I also made potstickers. We all had so much fun...I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time. Everyone was up for a little friendly competition, so we played pictionary using our vocabulary words. In one round, Alayna was matched against a Korean classmate who didn't know what the word was until she whispered it to him in English! My good Korean friend, Xin Yinhua, came early and helped me throughout the party. We eat lunch together about 3-4 times per week. At first, our conversations were limited to the text in our Chinese language books. Xin Yinhua is the top student in our class, always getting up at 4:00 a.m. to study and attending another language school in the afternoon. Her English reading and writing skills are good enough that, coupled with her Chinese, we are able to talk about a wide range of topics that are meaningful to us. She has a three year old daughter who lives with her, but her husband, who works for Pan Ocean (a partner in Mark's new joint venture company) lives a three hour bus ride away and only comes home for the weekend. I have found that most successful businessmen here (Chinese or otherwise) are largely unavailable to their families. I am so thankful that Mark doesn't have this kind of pressure on him, since our goal is to experience China together. He has the occasional business trip (once a month average so far) and business dinners (twice a month), but we can live with that. Recently, my Chinese lesson topic was about equality (or lack thereof) of household chores. All the Koreans and Japanese said that there were strong divisions of labor between genders that were layered in centuries of culture. My Chinese teachers have both talked about how China is becoming more gender equal, with men sharing in the housework. The first reason is that many families in China have two incomes, making it necessary to work together to get supper on the table and the kitchen cleaned afterward. The second more interesting reason is that the current ratio of men to women is 120:100 and increasing. With the odds stacked against them, men are doing whatever it takes to get the girl, including housework! I say all of this because I am so thankful for the husband that I have, who is doing the dinner dishes as I write this blog post, among the many other things he does. This is our last day of a three day holiday, Dragonboat Festival, starting Thursday and ending on Saturday. The holiday was actually Thursday, so the whole country took Friday off and now we have to go to school on Sunday to make it up! Mark is the only one that gets Sunday off, too. Addison and Alayna were sick (but not too sick) on Monday, and only went to school for two days this past week. Now, they are gearing up for a six day week! Happy Dragonboat Festival and International Children's Day (June 1).

Coleman

We slept, ate ramen noodles and played games on the train on the way to Beijing. We got to see the pandas at the Beijing Zoo. Saylor, Lanie and I (Coleman) bought pieces of jade that were shaped like an egg and had a panda painted on them. My favorite thing about Beijing was watching an elderly Chinese woman teach foreigners how to catch with a weighted ball on the end of a badminton racket. She was so good, she could catch the ball, swing the racket behind her and pass the ball behind her back in a single motion. I liked eating Taiwanese noodles.

Addison

When we were in Beijing we went to the Great wall of China like all the other tourists do. We went to Mutianyu because it wasn't as famous as Badaling, so there weren't as many people.

First, we got tricked into buying the more expensive tickets (the CD Rom type) and we didn't buy enough tickets so it took forever to get all of us through! Then, on the way to the cable car station (yes we were a bit wimpy by taking the cable car up) we got called banana, T-shirts and all the products that the people were selling. They said stuff like "Hello, Banana, Hello." "Hello, T-shirt, Hello". I had a feeling that they didn't really know what they were saying but at least they were attempting to sell their products by speaking a different language. I also reasoned that they probably learned it for the Olympics and all the English speakers coming to Beijing. We were funneled through the famous Great Wall Tourist Trap that all foreigners have to walk through, hoping not to get hooked on something that would sell for at least 3 times its actual price.

Finally, we made it through without buying anything and rode the cable car up. We walked down the wall and laughed and got lemonade all over ourselves (accidentally). We explored and did an experiment. The experiment included Coleman, Mom, a Snickers bar, and the vendors selling snacks along the wall. There vendors but they all wanted 10 yuan (we normally pay 3.5 yuan) for a single snickers bar. Mom thought that it was because dad was there with so many children. When we got to the next one, she went up to the vendor and got the same answer. Next, she told Coleman if he could get a vendor to sell him a snickers for 5 yuan, he could keep it (Saylor declined the offer), but couldn't just keep the cash. Coleman was determined that he would get candy, and mom forgot that the vendor would try to sell him something else for 5 yuan. Mom stopped him right as the vendor was handing Coleman agreed to take the Chinese made candy bar. They lowered their price to 8 yuan, but Coleman had to walk away.

on the way down, we went down one of those paths to the bottom we saw many kids crying because they wanted to go down the slide that you could take to the bottom. We walked past quietly and looked at the slide longingly but we didn't say anything. It did look fun.

Overall, it was fun, and we had a great time.

Marcie's notes: Addison was a little apprehensive about climbing the wall because she has studied the history and knows that many people died building the wall. I also found humor in the fact that I received a text message from my cell phone company, wishing me a happy May 1st Holiday while climbing down the wall. I'm not sure what surprised me more: getting the message in such a historic and remote site, being able to access it on my cell phone, or being able to read it in Chinese! The area was absolutely beautiful, but we're told it is even more breathtaking in the fall when the leaves are red!

Tourist Trap No. 1-Sure We'll Take Your Money

Hi (from Lanie)

I'm so sorry that we didn't blog last weekend because we were in Beijing. I wanted to blog about the Olympic Area because it was very interesting. In the first picture, we are behind our favorite mascots, but in front of the place where they had the gymnastic competition. We went inside it we saw exactly where they had gymnastics, and we also saw a very cool mural with pictures from a long time ago in the Olympics. There was even a drawing from the first Olympics. If you want to see it(real live) or see more pictures of it, you can come here to China and see it. It's really cool!!!!!! In the second picture (you probably already see it but...), it is me and Saylor, in front of the "Bird's Nest", where they had Track and Field events and opening and closing ceremonies. We didn't go in there, but we saw a small part of it. We might go with some of you if you stay with us sometime when we're in China. Did I mention that I'd love for you to visit us in China? Speaking of Saylor and me, almost everywhere we go, people say that we look like twins, but we don't think so. Well, that's the end of my blog today. Bye!!!!!!!!

Beautiful Beijing

For the Communist May 1st Holiday, we went to Beijing for a three day weekend. Everything came together so well for our trip. For this once (or twice) in a lifetime trip, we were more than willing to trade in our resident status for the role of tourist. Mark's company was instrumental in making it easy for us as foreigners. The Beijing office of Itochu arranged the train tickets and hotel, helped us schedule our itinerary, and let us use a company car and driver for our stay. These perks alone saved us so much in time and headaches. Our driver ate meals with us and helped out when we needed to negotiate, but wasn't interested in sightseeing. We boarded the train in Dalian at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night and woke up in Beijing at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The kids would like to write more specifics about their favorite sites in their own entries; if their descriptions are lacking, I’ll be sure to fill in the blanks. We checked into our hotel and went straight to the Olympic area which has been turned into Beijing’s newest tourist trap. We definitely reaped the rewards of the Beijing Olympics as everything was still so clean and beautiful; you could tell the city had been newly polished. There were beautiful gardens along scenic waterways throughout the city. After a lunch of Taiwanese noodles, we made the pilgrimage to the Great Wall. Even though we had ticket issues that forced us to go back and forth to the ticket office three times through stalls and stalls of pushy vendors, and ended up paying too much ($1 US extra per ticket for the VCD version, plus I was supposed to get the children’s rate as a student), we had a wonderful experience. As we drove to The Wall, it was raining lightly. When we stepped out of the van, the skies cleared and it was actually hot! We rode the cable car to the “top”, and walked back down, taking in the beautiful scenery and history. Our driver recommended going to the less famous of the two Great Wall sites close to Beijing, to avoid the large crowds. As soon as we got back to the parking lot, it began to rain hard with thunder and lightning off in the distance. As we drove home, the rain lightened, and we saw a rainbow over the freshly planted fields. We ended the day with Mark’s Beijing coworkers, eating one of the city’s most famous dishes, Peking (Beijing) Duck. It is served in a crepe with cucumber, spring onion and a soy paste, but no part of the duck is wasted. We also had platters of spicy duck feet, duck liver, and another mysterious organ that I tried not to think too much about. On Saturday, we started the day with a traditional Chinese breakfast at the hotel, and went to the Summer Palace. Because it was a Saturday AND a holiday, it was crowded even for Chinese standards. Addison proved to be the most enthusiastic of all the kids, and after two hours of wandering the grounds, she and Mark were still interested in climbing to have a look at another temple or living quarters, aka more of the same. The rest of the kids and I found a quiet spot of shade and played cards while we waited. On the way to the Beijing National Zoo, we stopped by Beijing University, which is the equivalent of Harvard in China. I think Mark was planting little tiny seeds of interest for educational opportunities to come. The kids had their first experience drinking coconut milk straight from the nut outside the gate, so I’m sure it will be a memorable experience. If you can imagine, the zoo was even more crowded than the Summer Palace. There were a few interesting animals that the kids hadn’t seen before, but the main attraction was the Giant Pandas. We all grabbed hands and waded through the sea of people into the panda house. Everyone was pushing to get a closer look, afraid to miss the moment, and it felt a little chaotic. As it turned out, there was plenty of space for outdoor viewing. Dinner was unremarkable, but we were too exhausted to care. The next morning, Mark tried to check out of the hotel, but was told that our $200 US dollar deposit couldn’t be refunded back onto our international credit card. Had he known, he would have gladly paid cash for the deposit, since they wouldn’t let him use his Chinese debit card. We left with only a vague promise that the whole transaction would disappear from our account within two months. We spent the morning walking around Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden city. Just before lunch, we went to Wangfujin Pedestrian Street that is famous for shopping. I thought it would be bargain basement old China shopping, but was disappointed to learn that it was more like 5th Ave. We did find a quiet side road that had twenty shops all selling the same trinkets and a few vendors selling scorpions (still wiggling their legs) and sea horses on a stick. On Sunday afternoon, the temperature reached over 95 ˚F. Mark still wanted to see the Temple of Heaven, another lavish historic spot that Emperors didn’t share with common people, so we slathered on the sunscreen and braved the heat. We were marveling at the reasonable ticket prices, only to realize that once you got in the gates, you had to pay more fees to get into the individual temples. Again, Addison and Mark wandered off to explore the “trap”, and the rest of the kids and I retreated to the cool shade. For the train ride home, Addison and I separated from the group, taking a train two hours earlier than the others. She wanted to get back in time to catch the bus to school the next morning. Don’t get me wrong, her first choice would have been to skip school all together, but if she HAD to go, she didn’t want to deal with the shame of being late. Our train arrived in Dalian at 5:30 a.m. Monday morning, with just enough time for her to shower and clean out her school bag! The younger kids were about an hour late to school, but at their level, it doesn’t seem to matter. At least two of their classes were in the middle of an English lesson anyway, so I probably could have kept them home longer. Mark also had to go to work on Monday, but I am enjoying a ten day break from my classes. I think it is experiences like this that are making this transition easier and more memorable for the kids. We are truly humbled that we can give our kids these opportunities.