황사 (Hwang-sa): "Yellow Dust From China" MYTH

  Here in Korea, we are starting to enter the spring season. While spring is associated with lovely things such as warm weather and cherry blossoms, the other thing that is on people's minds during this time is 황사.

  '황사' (pronounced 'hwang-sa') is often translated into English as "yellow dust from China".

  When I first heard about this, I was entirely confused. Being raised in a mid-eastern US state, and having been a victim of severe seasonal allergies as a child, when I hear the words 'spring' and 'yellow dust' used in conjunction, my mind automatically thinks 'pollen'. So I found it very odd; why were Koreans blaming China for pollen…?

  As my ignorance was replaced with knowledge, I realized that it isn't pollen; it's pollution. However, my initial thoughts about blaming China apparently were not entirely misplaced.

  It turns out, while yes, some of this air pollution is blown over from China, much of it actually is domestically-created. South Korea's Ministry of Environment even admitted last year that at most only 50% of it can be attributed to external sources.

  So what are the main culprit's of Korea's pollution problem?

  Part of the reason is Korea's reliance on coal power for its energy. And a NASA-sponsered project found that massive manufacturing factories in places like Ulsan can be specifically identified as contributors to the pollution.

  A few years ago I actually worked in a research lab that studies particle matter (PM), so I do know a bit about this stuff. And it's scary, because for fine PM, once you inhale that stuff, there's no way to expel it from your lungs. And I think it's a shame that there's not more attention and outcry about it here. The whole world knows about the drastic air quality states in places like India and China. But South Korea somehow manages to fly under the radar--even though one morning last week its capital city managed to clock in the second-worst air quality in the world, right behind New Dehli, India.

  I suppose the first step would be to squash the China myth. By blaming it on them, the government is able to sidestep being held responsible for the horrible air quality and thus avoid doing anything about it. In the wake of a political upturn, perhaps once Koreans are educated on the truth about 황사, they'll be able to mobilize and demand their environmental and health rights to be respected and upheld.

Grieving times.

  On Monday, around noon, I was walking back to my room when I received a notification from a group chat.

  "Does anyone know what happened…? There's a police line…with about 10 police."

  In a few moments I was able to understand what she was talking about: once I arrived at my dorm, there was a police van outside, with many people standing around the lobby.

  In the hours after that, more information continued to be revealed.

  First that a girl in the dorm had been missing for five days.

  And soon after, another devastating news: A body had been found in the said missing person's room.

  One of my fellow classmates here on exchange from the US as well was now dead.

  A police report concluded that the death was due to natural causes. While this puts to rest the chilling thoughts of suicide or foul play, the weight of the tragedy still remains.

  For me, I can't help but to deeply sympathize for the family members. In Nigerian culture, there are few things that are considered as bad of an omen as having to bury your child. As my mother put it: "Imagine…they send their daughter off on a plane with suitcases, and she comes back in a body bag…"

  Here at Yonsei, we will be continuing to pay our respects in the wake of this terribly unfortunate incident, and I ask that you also keep the family of my former classmate in your thoughts as they endure their loss.

Being social is exhausting.

Many people think I am an extrovert.

And I understand this assumption. I genuinely enjoy public speaking, so I handle myself very well with people. I can easily spark conversation with strangers in any kind of setting, and even am confident about carrying on intimate conversations with people born generations before me.

Based on what I described, it probably does sound that I am an extrovert.

But I promise, I am not.

For me, socializing is exhausting. I don't hate it per se, but I hate the energy that it requires. And because of that, I often time rationalize myself into avoiding it.

In addition, I have this odd love-hate relationship with people. This is to say that I really love people. I love watching people; seeking to understand how people form their motives and morals, and make their decisions; learning about peoples vulnerabilities and small quirks and all the small things that go unloved or unappreciated.

But at the same time, I hate people, genuinely avoid human interaction as much as possible.

It's odd and confusing, I know. To bring it back together, though, I typically regard myself as an 'outgoing introvert'.

My reasoning for mentioning all of this is mainly just to shortly talk about the social exhaustion I mentioned above that I'm currently enduring. Being in a new place, it is natural that I need to do a lot in order to establish myself comfortably--including in terms of friends and a social life. That means lots of introductions, lots of the same questions over and over, and lots of superficial basic conversations to get the ball rolling. Just my cup of tea.

I especially struggle a bit with this because I really love my own company. Those who know me well know that it's not uncommon to find me sitting in my room, alone, in the dark (because why waste electricity?). Literally as happy as I can be in the company of myself. Back at home, when presented with the choice to go out and forcefully chat with uninteresting strangers, versus sitting in my own company, 4/5 times I opt for the later. Add on inconvenience of transversing from Point A to B and the frigid weather that usually graces Ithaca, NY most of the year, and you can come to the correct conclusion that I don't spend to much energy socializing. So to be suddenly ramping up the amount of human contact I have here has really been having its effects on me.

Another layer of this social exhaustion emerges when I factor in keeping up with people from back home. I don't have too many people I keep in contact with, but those I do are spread across an entire spectrum in terms of physical and personal closeness. I have family members in the US, UK and Nigeria, very dear friends in France, Canada, China, Mexico, Ecuador and the UK, on top of colleagues back in Ithaca. And since the people I need to keep up with range from friends and family members, to mentors and other academic affiliates, it seems like I am always in need to contact one person or the other. Which, again, never fails to leave me socially exhausted.

This definitely was something about traveling that had never crossed my mind--have you ever had a similar issue?

TL;DR--I'm in South Korea, Follow My Journey!

  It has been a shamefully long time since I last posted.
  For that, I am sorry.

  As you can see from the title, though, I have a big announcement--I'm in East Asia!! I was in Tokyo, Japan in February, but now I am in Seoul, South Korea, where I'm just started my new semester as an international student at Yonsei University.

  People often criticize me for not being transparent about what I do. And I 100% admit to that. Pulling from my grandmother's wisdom, I don't really like people knowing my "waka"--which in Peguin English, literally means 'walking', but refers to my movements, or how I conduct my business.
  And as I work to increase my online presence through content publication, I find myself struggling with this more and more. How in the world do I expect to run a blog or Youtube channel with the intention of people following me, if I obscure my movements and intentionally don't let people follow me?! It's counter-intuitive, I know. And I'm working on it, I promise.

  The anti-transparent thing isn't why I haven't posted anything here though; it's simply because I haven't had time. In Tokyo I was apart of an intensive 2-week program, so my schedule while I was there was jam-packed. Then immediately after I had to haul myself out to fly to Seoul, where I am now.  Thankfully, though, now that I am starting school, I am beginning to get back into the flow of my student lifestyle, so I'm thinking I'll have more time these days.

  Since we are talking about transparency, I'll end by just giving a rundown of what the hell I'm doing here to begin with.
  I am part of a program called the 3-Campus East Asia. There are two variations of this program; I am in the half year one. That means that I spent two weeks in Tokyo under Keio University; then I have a semester at Yonsei University in Seoul, lasting four months; and then I'll conclude the program with a summer internship in Hong Kong.
  So this essentially means that I will be away from my home country for a total of about 6.5 months.
  How do I feel about it? Absolutely stoked. I love getting out of my comfort zone, especially culturally, and this allows me to do just that. And so far, it's been wonderful.

  As I let you guys know already, I started a Youtube Channel! I haven't been able to post anything new yet (video editing software issues), but I'm in the process of editing some of the film I have from my Tokyo trip! Please stay tuned for that. >.<