Fun Korea Fact #1 - Fear the Dust

See what's wrong with this picture?

No...hmm, let me explain then.

Its 3 pm in the afternoon on a Saturday and instead of heading outside, I'm held captive by this creepy murky sky. There's an overcast but no smell of rain. After doing some back thought and consulting my Korea for Dummies book, I found out that this is Yellow Dust.

Sand from the Gobi desert is swept from China by strong wind currents across the country, over the pacific and hits parts of the United States at times. However, part of its journey takes it directly over Korea.

But not to worry. Apparently the dust is only "detrimental" to your lungs and because pollution mixes with the sand, its like ingesting millions of toxic-coated mini-gobstoppers every time you breathe.

I just noticed my window is slightly open, which means that probably cost me 5 years of my life.

Now, I'm probably not correct in my figures here as I'm no scientist (but I should be), so there is no need to worry fellow travelers.

No need to worry at *COUGH* *COUUUUUGH* *AHeeeeeeeeeeeeem* *Cough* all.

For more on Yellow Dust, be sure to visit your local library.
http://www.lakepowell.net/asiandust.htm

Happy Birthday Dewy

When my mom first read Jason's blog (www.jasonjang.com), she told me to "watch out for this guy", in the typical mom fashion reserved for tattoo-covered, fully-pierced, baby seal clubbing drug addicts. But after looking at this picture and spending the weekend in his hometown of Gumi, I see that she's only half right.

Angelo and I took the Friday red-eye to Gumi and after 3 hours and 3 train beers, we found ourselves in a very country area of Korea. Or at least we thought...

Gumi isn't the quiet country life that I once imagined. Gone are the days of horse-buggies and outhouses and ushered in are the KTX bullet trains and Outback's. The foreign community is very tight knit and seeing all those foreigners in one place brings a smile to your face.

But back to my mom's theory. Jason is dangerous. Here are the reasons why:

1. The man cooks on his own. Now, I respect independence but I saw his fridge. Its full of taco shells and peanut butter. I'm no chef but unless you can make a quesadilla with Skippy, he's in for a long trip here.
2. He owns a scooter. True, it might seem cool and hip but he rides them in sandals and while listening to music. You would understand if you've seen Korean traffic. I'd rather take a bath with a hair dryer.
3. His Korean is like mine. When he orders chicken for the group, he usually only gets one piece. This doesn't necessarily make him dangerous, its makes him hungry. But hunger makes him necessarily dangerous (*mind exploding*) (see reason 1).
   
4. He's a good friend and will follow me around when I do stupid things. Its only really dangerous for him because he listens to me.
   

All and all, it was a killer time and a good experience for all.

Actually, I'm just glad I didn't have to carry him home. Happy Birthday buddy!