Protesters and yellow dust

Today there was a protest scheduled. It's very civilized actually. Whenever the Koreans want to protest the American Army bases, they have to give notice of what date and time they'll be protesting. I can't completely say I blame them for protesting. I can understand not wanting another country having an Army base in your back yard. I can't even imagine if another country decided they'd be setting up camp in the US! At the same time the USFK (United States Forces in Korea) employs a ton of Korean civilians, and creates lots of job opportunities that wouldn't otherwise exist. So, while you have the protesters protesting the US Army, you have more protesters who are protesting that they believe we should in fact be here. What it boils down to for us is, we can't get out of the house, or go near the protesters. I'm sure we'd be safe, but just to avoid conflict, all soldiers and their families are alerted, and told to stay away. Too bad- I'd like to get some pictures.

Yellow dust. I loathe yellow dust. I've developed an annoying cough since being here. It's one of those deep chested coughs that you get with a bronchial infection. Bet you'll never guess why. Yellow dust.

It's this disgusting phenomenon. These winds blow from the deserts of Northern China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, all the way to Korea and Japan. They carry this fine dust of dry soil particles, as well as all the industrial pollution from China. The result is this nasty yellow dust (think pollen) that gets everywhere, including your lungs. A lot of Koreans wear respiratory masks to protect themselves from the irritants in this yellow dust. I think I might look like a SARS patient and take up wearing a respiratory mask too! It's horrible. I don't feel sick or anything, I just have this phlegmy cough- very gross. I think I may be writing the babies' Great Uncle Billy and asking him if he could get a hold of some infant sized respiratory masks. So far I haven't noticed the children coughing, but I still don't want their precious new lungs being irritated!