Erin and Justin

After 6 weeks of taking advantage of the supermarket bargains (mainly vodka), we have settled ourselves down somewhat, and become comfortable in our now-familiar jobs and cosy home and new language. Well, we can speak enough to say hello and goodbye, get around in taxis, order food - usually get vegetarian messages across (except to one particular English-speaking Korean man, who we suspect is aiming to convert) - demonstrate some politeness... but we'll learn more. ONE of us can even READ Hangul (despite not understanding it most of the time)!

We have made some friends - and almost everyone we have met, even the Korean people are very transient. It's funny that on one hand, we're quite fixed here, with a home and a job and a local community that we're becoming acquainted with, and yet we are reminded of our temporary status with each person we meet.

And now finally, our employer is sending through our applications for working visas, so shortly we will be able to head to Japan for a long weekend, and work in Korea for real! And by that I mean legally

So anyway, Yellow Dust.

Yep! Yellow dust. Neither of us had ever heard of it, but its an annual springtime phenomenon, where dust, collected in Mongolia and China from deserts and river basins, is carried on winds across Korea and Japan. This results in respiratory problems and an increase in other disease in both people and livestock. There's a news article I found if you're interested, at http://english.kbs.co.kr/news/zoom/1348045_11781.html

So we are wearing masks during our walk to work on the days when its clearer, and catching a taxi to work, on days when its bad.

See some more photos of our Korean life at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Yellow%20Dust/?start=all