Although you can see some fine yellowness on black cars, I don't see it as that big of a concern.
South Korea is a very health conscious society that prides itself on its nutritious food. You can see it in the streets with the vast majority of Koreans being fit and rarely seeing any overweight. They must be doing something right, as even the kids tell me that they don't like junk food because "it's not good for the health".
Recently the country has been in panic over the new scare from the infamous "swine flu". If you think it's big back home, it's exponentially worse here. The minimal cases of people getting it here (only the old or very young with pre-existing health conditions) have made it a big cause for concern. During a foreigners convention for teachers a little while back, it was said that a dozen showed signs of the flu. This sparked a big report that foreigners had been spreading the flu from abroad. Some English schools have been closing do to this alone, where parents don't want to send their kids to foreigner present places. One of the teachers was required to stay in "quarantine" when she arrived before joining my school. This meant having her stay in her hotel and only going around her area by herself for the first 4 days in Korea until it was clear she had no symptoms of the flu. Pretty harsh... glad i didn't come then.
Our school has now been taking the temperature of all people that come into the building to check for high fevers. Anything over a certain degree and you get sent home (have been running up the stairs in hopes to achieve this... no luck yet). Also each child and teacher must receive hand sanitizer multiple times a day and mouthwash. I feel it's been pretty over the top and unnecessary to do all this. On the other hand if anyone is diagnosed with the flu, the school would have to shut down and it would be detrimental, so it's hard to complain. This blown out of proportion "epidemic" will hopefully soon pass.
