Panorama, Yellow Dust, and First Day of School!

That is a panoramic view from my floor, as I got the panorama program to work again (click to see it larger). Today seems to be okay, but let me tell you about Yellow Dust (or Asian Dust). Apparently, since there are deserts in Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan, and currently there are strong winds heading from west to east, Korea, Japan, and apparently sometimes even the eastern United States has something called Yellow Dust, which is a yellowy dusty kind of hue in the atmosphere. Until recently, it wasn't much of a problem. However, since the area that this dust is coming from has become industrialized, Wonkuk tells me there are heavy metals included in the Yellow Dust.

This is sort of bad, I know. Most of the older people around here wear the breathing masks (SARS masks). Maybe I will don a mask if it gets bad enough... I don't particularly care for heavy metals in my lungs. You can read more about Yellow Dust here.

Last week was orientation and today was the first day of class. So far, Wonkuk has helped me through orientation, helped me buy a coat (it's a nice one, but I will receive it in the mail in a day or two, as they didn't have my size... picture will follow), and now is lending me his old cell phone so that I can use it while I am here. He is a lot of fun, and all the girls like him.

First day was good, but it turns out that two of my classes were canceled until next week, and I ended up waiting around inconveniently for them to start. They are much more disorganized than UF.

Wonkuk sent me to his 'Korean Myspace' (www.cyworld.com) so I could download some pictures from orientation. So here you go:












And here is one with Christoph (Austria), me, and Wonkuk