Thanks, China

Well, we haven't even been here two months yet and I am officially an asthmatic. Living in the rapidly industrializing second world is taking its toll on me already. In some ways I feel like Morgan Spurlock, who intentionally ate as much McDonalds as he could to prove what he already knew: that the stuff is really bad for you. I guess I knew that the pollution was really bad in Shanghai, but I didn't think that seven weeks into my year here, I would have developed a new disease. Kind of like that scene in Supersize Me when he just starts throwing up. Suddenly I realized I really couldn't breathe. So, one day after my return from the top of a blue-sky mountain, I am using an inhaler to cope with the coal dust, diesel exhaust, cigarette smoke, chemical vapor, and mold spores that make up what we in Shanghai consider air. On the bright side, my visit to the doctor cost me thirteen cents and prescription drugs here are almost as cheap.