Since I got here people have been telling me about the Yellow dust. Apparently, in March this year, the Korean Weather Agency measured the highest amount of Yellow Dust since they have started measuring. Keep in mind that could mean they only started two years ago… I wouldn’t be surprised.
Let me tell you about Yellow Dust… with the spring come a different wind pattern. The wind now whips across the Gobi desert in Inner Mongolia and picks up clouds of sand. In years past, when China had less pollution and more trees, Yellow dust was not this huge of a phenomenon. Now the wind pattern blows generally un interrupted, no trees to slow it or help filter the pollution. The sand gets blown into pollution and it mixes together in the air stream and then travels, across East Asia. China, Korea and Japan get it pretty severely but even the West coast of the United States can feel the effect.
Today, for the first time, I feel the effects of yellow dust. I hate it. It is like always having a mucus layer in your throat and no matter how much you drink it doesn’t go away. It is just harder to swallow. No measure of green tea, hot soup, water or oranges makes a difference. And it is not just me, everyone in my office has been coughing, clearing their throats and the water cooler is almost empty. From my third floor class rooms I can usually see the ChungMu bridge, but today it was well hidden behind a day long fog. I guess I won’t be running at the Seaside park today… or for the next week, at least, my co teacher warned.
