Wednesday, November 10, 2010

I've Got it Covered

I think I forgot that Taiwan is a tropical island.

When I arrived, I expected to see giant insects, poisonous snakes and lizards in my house.

This is not the case.

I encountered vastly more cockroaches in South Carolina. I have yet to see a snake (poisonous or otherwise). We did have a lizard in our house, but it was less than 1.5 inches long. We welcomed him because he ate the mosquitoes that congregated in our house for free drinks.

Overall, however, I found myself amazed at the limited number of non-human creatures I encounter here…until about two weeks ago.

Sure, you get a mosquito bite at night every once and a while. Sure, there is a lot of rain during this season, so a few more mosquitoes isn’t unusual.

However, sleeping with the sheet pulled tight over your head because you wake up 6-7 times a night swatting mosquitoes only to end up with 10% less blood in the morning is not acceptable.

So, just like the Peace Corps workers in Somalia, we put up a mosquito net to protect ourselves at night.

Only we live in a city with millions of people, have indoor plumbing, electricity, and a McDonald’s down the street.

On the bright side, Kaytlin likes it because it reminds her of a fort and she is entertained by crawling through the opening at the foot of our bed.

2 comments:

  1. I'm with Kaytlin.....it would be like sleeping in a fort everynight. Although I'd much rather just not have to deal with the little blood suckers at all so, good luck with that!!

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  2. HAHA, that's great. Just this week I killed a cockroach with a shoe and when part of it's mangled body came hurtling toward me I shouted so loud that David and Josh got scared. Also we have a pet lizard in our house... not by choice. He's about 2"+ and he's living behind the fridge. I wish we could put a mosquito net up around the entire house.
    -Matt

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