Dear friends,
Since arriving in Taiwan, there have been sightings of the following creatures in our apartment:
1) a white lizard
2) cockroaches
3) and more cockroaches.

While I was prepared to deal with cockroaches, I never expected to see a white lizard the first night I stayed in my apartment. Here's what happened that fateful day. I had just finished taking a shower and stepped out of the bathroom. I thought I heard some strange noise so I looked up and lo and behold, I saw a white lizard about 3 or 4 inches long crawling on the wall. Eek! I didn't scream because it was late at night and my apartment mates were sleeping, but I didn't know if I should kill it or just let it be. I decided to let it be because it was so large that if I killed it, it'd make a mess. Plus, I didn't know how to kill a lizard. Do you just whack it? Anyway, that night was my first night in Taiwan (not staying in a hotel). Let's just say, I didn't get much sleep that night because I was paranoid that a cockroach or...a lizard...was going to crawl into my bed. The next day, my program advisor told me that a white lizard is good luck and it eats mosquitos. So, good thing I didn't kill it!

My first sighting of a cockroach in our apartment was also, again, right after I took a shower one night. This time, I definitely heard a squeaky sound and when I looked down there was a cockroach in the middle of the hallway. Not knowing what to do, I immediately grabbed the toilet plunger and capped the little critter. I didn't kill it. I merely put a plunger over it's head. Since I wasn't in the mood to get the cockroach poison out and spray it (remember, I did just take a shower), I left it there until the next morning.

My whole apartment was wondering why the plunger was out in the hallway. After I told them there was a cockroach underneath, they thought my strategy of suffocating the cockroaches by putting a plunger over them was pretty clever...and hilarious. So now, whenever there is a cockroach, I reach for the plunger and Billy reaches for the poison. Once I cap the cockroach, I lift it up a tiny bit and he sprays underneath. Then we leave the plunger on top of the cockroach until the next morning. We have the whole strategy planned out.

Cockroaches beware! Plunger power!

Now, you may be wondering, "Why the heck don't they just buy cockroach poison food?" Well, here's the deal. We did buy cockroach poison food, but it's really rather freaky what the instruction pamphlet said:

(paraphrased) When the cockroach eats the poison food, it will not die immediately. In fact, the cockroach will go back to its home where the other cockroaches are and will die then. After it has died, the other cockroaches will eat its body and the poison will travel through the entire colony. So, when you happen to come across the location of the entire colony in your home (let's say the kitchen),  you'll find a rather large mass of dead cockroach bodies scattered across the floor.

When my apartment mates and I read this, we were really freaked out by the picture:

Who wants to come home to that???? (Cue to look at picture)

I also saw the logic of cockroach food poison as flawed. Why would you want to feed the cockroaches in your apartment? If there weren't that many cockroaches to begin with, you will certainly increase their numbers now that you've put food out; even if it is poisonous food, you're attracting a lot more cockroaches. I don't want my home to be a site where they die...yuck.

Anyway, I think you've heard enough about the cockroach situation =) When you sleep tonight, don't let the bed bugs bite. I certainly will be wishing they don't.

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