Yellow dust, or is it?

For the last two days, there has been a weirdly post-apocalyptic haze hanging over Daegu. I first noticed it when coming out of my apartment as I headed to work the other morning--a dull, yellow/greyish fog clung to everything, obscuring the mountainside, obliterating any sign of streets or life beyond a few blocks' radius. On that first morning, the fog was accompanied by the pungent smell of squid, and at first, I thought there was some connection--that maybe the air was thick with the smoke of grilling squid from all over the city, that perhaps this was some Korean tradition I had not yet heard about. Quickly, though, I noticed that the lady who runs our corner shop was outside barbecuing her morning breakfast squid. Ah, should have known. :) But, still the fog/haze/smog remained, unaccounted for. And it was around today, too.

At orienation, we heard about yellow dust, which is dust that will sometimes travel from China to blanket Korea, Japan, and even parts of Russia, and sometimes it travels as far as the U.S. The dust does this because of deforestation in China--the winds start blowing and because there are no trees to help keep the dirt where it belongs, it blows into the neighboring countries. This dust, while not only an eyesore, is also super bad for people's health. It contains sulfur and industrial pollutants. Schools have closed down because of the yellow dust. People wear masks.

Now, I can't be sure that the strange haze that's hung over my fair city is actually yellow dust. And, in fact, everyone who I've mentioned it to has denied it. My co-teacher says that yellow dust only comes in spring. My boss says that the weather report will probably just say it is fog (she says this with an air of disbelief...as though there's some conspiracy at play here). And though I search on Korea news websites for some story about the cloud of crap that is hanging in the air, I find nothing. But I know it's not fog or mist. Unless you're in foggy London town, fog burns off as a day progresses. This stuff sticks around and clogs up the view. It smells slightly of sulfur and as I walk around outside, I can taste a fine layer of dust on my tongue.

So. Yellow dust or not, smog or otherwise, crazy, super-strong fog or whatever it is--it's there. And it bothers me. Not only because it makes me feel like crap physically, but because I guess I've never been so close to the physical evidence of full-on pollution. Yeah, I lived in LA and the night sky was always ablaze with the most beautiful sunsets because of the disgusting amount of smog, but it never seemed so near. I suddenly feel like maybe I should get myself one of those masks that everyone seems to favor here, the masks that I thought made people look crazy, but actually might be the smartest thing in the face of whatever weirdness is floating, across continents, in the air.