Hello dust.

Just in case you thought that life in Kay Oh Ray was all mountains and kids and kimchi and giant boxes of asian pears.... think again. 

As with any aspect of anything, anywhere there are cons in this pro-filled international life. One such 'con' turns out to be that living in a big city involves dealing with the inconveniences while benefiting from so many conveniences.

Though yellow dust isn't necessarily a 'big city' thing, its arrival in SK this past weekend did have me counting the blessings of living in big old fresh-aired Canada. 

Though 'plagued' is a strong word, I would say I've had my fair share of sinus/respiratory ailments since arriving in August last year.  Some of this may be allergy-related, but I'm fairly sure that some is also due to the air quality and my insistence on running outside, often alongside busy roads and highways. 

This past Sunday, I awoke to check out our beautiful view of Busan but could barely see 2 km out the window because of a thick haze on the horizon - the worst I've seen since we've been here. 

I figured it was just fog from the rain the day before, and I set out for a 60 minute run to the beach, where I proceeded to spend the better part of the day. 

After checking the English-language newspaper online, I came across a headline about yellow dust, claiming Korea's worst yellow dust this year''.  So THAT'S why there was no one at the beach. Ooops.

Two days later, wondering if I should run outside again, I got a great link from my trusty Dr Ian, and was able to check the air quality in our region:

The graphic speaks for itself.

Again, there are ups and downs to living anywhere, and I see this only as a version of Korea's answer to Canada's snow-filled, low-temperature winters.  Neither is worse or better - just different.  

Now, students, are you ready for the wise words of Jill Teacher's quote of the blog?

No? Too bad:

Learning to live in different types of adverse conditions can only create a stronger character and breed compassion and understanding. In short:  deal with it. 

Thanks for tuning in, and for those readers who hate 'negative blogs', I hope this wasn't one of them ;)