Category Archives: Uncategorized

Faculty members at PUST eat most meals with the students. This day we had an interesting conversation about the classic North Korean movie “The Tale of Chun Hyang” (춘향전) and how it portrays the belief system of North Koreans in … Continue reading →

The reunification monument spans the road toward Seoul. I share with the North Koreans a desire for the country to be reunified, although we disagree about how it could happen. The Arch of Triumph was build to commemorate the resistance … Continue reading →

This monument was built next to the school parking lot since last year. Similar monuments can be found all across the DPRK. I think the rough meaning of the words on this one is, “Onward to the final victory!”

I am speaking at the PUST Sunday morning faculty meeting, explaining the meaning of the Pilgrim songs.

Tonight we went to the Italian restaurant in downtown Pyongyang where I had the pizza and Coke pictured below for dinner. Pyongyang is a place of startling and puzzling contrasts.

Cafeteria breakfast, Korean style. A very moist and delicious piece of wheat bread, a soybean and rice porridge that is very much like oatmeal, and the inevitable kimchi. Not a bad breakfast for an American, but most of us also … Continue reading →

For the month of July I will be teaching at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in the DPRK (North Korea). I don’t have regular communication and would prefer that you not try to contact me while I am … Continue reading →

I just read a great article on the placebo effect in medicine and how some doctors are trying to study it and take advantage of it in treatment. This is part of the explanation for why so many “quack” cures … Continue reading →

I spent the month of July teaching a Computer Science class at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) in North Korea. It was a good trip, and I greatly enjoyed beginning to build relationships with students and staff. … Continue reading →