The wind kicks up and quickly fills the streets with blowing dust as a monsoon brushes the city. Open lots and construction sites are the main culprits in creating the brown-out conditions when we have these small localized dustups. Big storms that originate in the south kick up the top layer of the desert and under those circumstances a wall of dust half a mile thick blankets Phoenix. For a moment the blowing dust looks cool and then the reality that people might freak out while driving as visibility falls grips you, bringing you back to normal paranoid driving.

Meet Billy and Rocky. Ok, those are their adopted western names, really they are Zhou Yiyang and Luo Jia from Xiamen, China. Billy and Rocky are studying to become pilots. For approximately 11 months they will live and study in Tucson, Arizona, to obtain their pilot’s licenses before returning to Xiamen. Gautam, an old friend of ours is one of their flight instructors; he brought them up to Phoenix for their brief visit. We had the chance to exchange blog addresses (here’s Billy’s) and I learned that, just as in Japan, Korean culture is very popular in China right now. The guys were surprised to find out my wife and I enjoy the films of Chan-wook Park who made Oldboy and that we loved the film Na Shan Na Ren Na Gou from Huo Jianqu, also known as Postmen in the Mountain. Good luck guys and enjoy your stay in America.