Sandstorm from Mongolia

I woke up at my semi-normal time (5:45-6am) and walked into my living room. I opened the curtains to let some light in and found a yellow haze over everything. I was extremely confused as the sun doesn't usually come up on this side. I closed the curtains, rubbed my eyes, and opened them again. Still the same. It was like I was in some sort of movie that something horrible had just happened. I ignored it and went about my morning routine. I was so frustrated as I sat on the couch "man, I just cleaned in here 2 days ago and it already smells like dust again. I think it's this couch. "

On my way to class, I saw a bunch of students holding their nose, or with their shirt collar up over their face. My first thought was, "did someone fart? Wait, that's too many people doing it for a fart." I started trying to smell what it was that everyone was covering up for. Is this another Chinese over exaggeration again? I thought. I kept walking along confused about why my teeth felt gritty, I just brushed them 35 seconds ago.

This yellowish tent covered all of campus - I had no idea what it was. I thought it was the strangest fog.

I started taking pictures of this yellowish phenomenon that covered the campus. I didn't know what was going on. Maybe a volcano went off, maybe there was a nuclear reaction, maybe there was an attack on a power plant, maybe one of the power plants had an explosion and this was the repercussions. I wondered if we were going to be on the news, I wondered if the news would make it to America, creative imagination rushed through my head until I saw this...

It's finally at this point when I saw the strip of marble that goes around the center square that I realized that all of that "fog" or pollution was really dust and dirt in the air.

The "track store" grocery store was selling masks like hot cakes - it didn't matter the color or style that day.
(not that it really ever matters about the color or style - at least to the Western eye.)

I love how the girl in the bottom right corner doesn't want to breathe it in,
but doesn't want to hang up the phone either.

 

It was a very strange day. You could smell it with every breathe. You could taste it. I wanted to just brush my teeth over and over again. I kept scraping my tounge on the back of my teeth trying to scrape it off. It was interesting. I had taken a shower just before going outside, so later that day I scratched my head and felt my hair to be crispier than normal. Apparently the final result was that it was a sandstorm from Mongolia that swept through the Northeast of China. My freshman said it never happened before, some seniors said, "yeah, about once a year or so it'll happen."

The next day it rained and helped clear all of the air, now it's just time to clean up everything else that the rain didn't clear. Happy Friday the 13th! :) (although this actually happened on the 12th)