Tianjin Fog

This entire week, the city of Tianjin has been enveloped in thick pollution-mixed fog every single morning. You wake up, look out the window, and all you see is white fog. It's like living in a cloud. You go outside and cannot see 15 feet in front of you. Because my students and I all live on campus, our classes have not been interrupted by the weather. But for the Chinese teachers (ie. my Chinese class) who live off-campus, the fog causes major traffic delays, and they arrive to class 45 minutes late. For the foreign teachers who have to teach at TUFE's Pearl River campus, they have to sit 2 hours on the bus, instead of the usual 1 hour bus ride. I used to like the fog in California, especially the Golden Gate mists. I loved going to the redwoods and seeing forests mysteriously covered in morning fog. Yet in China, I know this fog ain't good. I see people wearing masks over their mouths on foggy days. What's worse, this fog doesn't burn off until 11am. It's not like in the U.S., where the fog is gone by 9am most days. So you go out in the morning wrapped in layers because it's cold, and by 11:30am, it's hot and a little humid.


Below is a photo of the main entrance to my dormitory. As you can see, we're on a main thoroughfare, with buses and subway trains passing by. Luckily, my room faces the parking lot, where it's much quieter. No car honking and bus rumblings, just annoying birds in the morning. The first photo above is the view from my window. Aren't the fall colors pretty?