Tonight, I got a little haircut at a tiny place on the way home. I've been going there for a while now. I've always been fearful of getting my haircut (always meaning all of my life); you can imagine my fearfulness of going to a Korean barber. One time in the beginning, I went to a place recommended by another expat because one of the stylists speak English (actually lived in Canada for a year or so); however, they charged me about 25,000won (about $22) for a trim, and she constantly bugged me about my terrible scalp and kept reminding me of their treatment that cost $100/month. After that, I went to a friend of a friend for about 7,000 won ($5). I didn't really like that person's personality so I stopped going there. After that, I finally settled on this place. The owner knows a little English, and I can get by in Korean now to tell them I just need a trim. It's a good deal 8,000 won and that includes wash & shampoo. I seem to get the same guy every time, and I think he has been working on this English a little. He seemed to have more phrases to tell me this time. I thought it was funny to see my brown hair over the sea of black hair on the floor. Makes me feel unique.
In other news besides my hair (I hate talking about my hair...really, I do), the yellow dust season is in full swing now. That's when the sand from the deserts of China come blowing into Korea. In the past, it wasn't so bad, but deforestation has caused it to get worse every year. Like last year, I have so much mucus in the lungs (you're welcome). It's horrible. I actually went hiking a couple of weekends ago (pictured), and it happened to be the most hazardous days of the year. Our hiking leader is a determined one. This is one of the toughest parts about life here. If you live in Korea, I would recommend checking out the yellow dust monitor operated by the US Army in Seoul and don't go hiking like a crazy man on bad days.