Dust (and other stuff)

For more than a week now, I have been coughing, coughing, coughing.

I don't mean to bother you with my minor medical issues, but it did--hypochondriac that I am--make me wonder if I developed a new allergy or if the Beijing dust has already permanently clogged up my lungs.

Although I don't always feel like I'm living in a dust bowl--there are lots of nice days to be had--it is fair to say there is quite a bit of stuff in the air here (see also this earlier post about air quality).

This month has these huge clouds of seeds drifting through the air, kind of making you think you have upward-going snow in April. In the picture above, Simon is holding one of these clouds. (This is seconds before Thomas grabs it out of his hands...never a dull moment.)

In addition to those weird white clouds, there's of course also the regular dust, maybe from the desert, maybe from all the construction sites, or maybe from both, who knows. I often wear my sunglasses just to avoid the dust.

So today I learned in my Chinese class: “Wo de sangzi bu shufu” (my throat hurts, or literally: my throat is not comfortable.” Well, I can tell you, I think it's time to move on to some new vocabulary.

(There is "DUST" written here somewhere, if you can see it for all the reflection...)

In het Nederlands: Er zit hier altijd behoorlijk wat stof in de lucht, maar deze maand lijkt het nog erger dan anders. Ik hoest nou al een week, maar weet natuurlijk niet zeker waar dat van is. Op de eerste foto zie je ook wat voor grote witte zaad-pluizen hier deze week door de lucht zweven.