ttocslliw

Yeah! a lot of CS education really breaks down without access to the internet. A lot of the debugging process and figuring things out and being self sufficient boils down to googling and finding stuff online. it made a lot of the assignments ending up feeling like I was spelling everything out and still having to answer a bunch of questions.

I think part of it was that the way you deal with requests is totally different. There was an aversion to saying no, so I would request things and wouldn't get told no, but they would just not happen and if you asked about it there would be some temporary excuse, but you'd get told it would still happen - when really for whatever reason your request wasn't going to happen.

It was really frustrating for me to not be able to get a straight answer and know if, for instance, I would be able to go out to dinner on a specific evening.

The other thing was that there was a lot of status given to age. I'd helped arrange a trip to the railroad museum, and that morning the guides told us that the trip was canceled because the museum was closed. After me trying to work with them for a bit to figure out what to do, one of the older korean american professors showed up and asked about it, and then suddenly the museum became open again after the guides made some calls.

People live normal lives for the most part, maybe 5-10% is the stereotype?

Like, before meals the students would march to the cafeteria while singing patriotic songs. That's the stereotype that you'll see in the media, but then they eat meals and chat normally, and play basketball, and go to class, and none of those things are the stereotype.

The leader is certainly loved and revered.

We could basically only go to places that are approved for foreigners / tourists. Those are basically the same places.

The two trips I took out of pyongyang were to Nampo and myoyang mountain. Nampo is on the coast south of the city, where a big 'west sea barrage' blocks the delta for the taedong river. Myoyang mountain is north, and is where a big museum of gifts to the leaders is, along with hiking and a big cave group.

So, we weren't in any of the super poor provinces of the country, but you end up getting a reasonable sense of what life is probably like in Pyongyang at least by living there for a few months.

The first thing that comes to mind is that when I was leaving at 6am after a snow storm there were tons of people out in the streets shoveling snow and sweeping the street. Seemed really weird since it was still snowing.

Lots of snakes in alcohol bottles. Lots of random traffic stops and social structure that felt controlling.

The children's palace is pretty depressing. It's a building for developing talent in students, but it ends up feeling like a showcase of the kids who spend their lives performing one trick every week and not getting time to actually grow up - like just repeating the same show over and over again for foreigners.