Cockroaches. And mold.
One of the first things I saw on my first day in China when I first entered my apartment was a dead cockroach on the kitchen floor. A couple of days later as I was cleaning out the cupboards, I saw a live one scurrying away. A couple weeks ago I found another dead one in the kitchen. And just the other morning as I woke up and flipped on my bedroom light, I saw one run under the bed.
But the sight of mold is probably even worse than the sight of dead or live cockroaches. Seriously, nothing is worse than when you go to the kitchen, reach into a loaf of bread, pull out a piece and see green specks all over it. Ugh, the worst. Not only did you SEE the mold with your delicate eyes, but you just TOUCHED the mold with your skin. Your SKIN! It's terrifying. Deeply terrifying. I can't wash my hands enough after touching something moldy.
But after living in Hainan, a very humid part of China, for just a little over a month now, these two things bother me a whole heckofalot less. So now I feel more like this when I see them: like hey, I see you, and I'm gonna try to be cool with that...
Cockroaches and mold are just a part of life here. I clean my apartment daily, and still these things exist. I'm told that no matter how much you clean, there's no getting rid of them completely.
I hear there's another part of life here that I will be getting used to...rats. Huge rats.
I just thank my lucky stars I haven't seen a single one yet. (and let's keep it that way, rats.)
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