Cockroach Crescendo

This post has been building since the day we arrived. I've held back as long as I can and now the truth must be told, the above creature has been one of my greatest hurdles in China. There were so many things I considered before coming, and this was not on my list of concerns, but it truly has been an issue. This morning I went in to the bathroom to brush my hair before heading out the door and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A cockroach crawling through my hair. I yanked it out with a brush, swished down the sink and plugged up the drain. I am just hoping that it was on the brush and just climbed on me momentarily, and not on me as I slept. This is an all time low point in my bug battle. We live in some of the nicest apartments in the city. I am a super clean type person. This is not okay. But this is just one of the things about southern China that I've had to adjust to. I have never had bugs anywhere I lived except for ants one time briefly during a rainy season in California. Although I keep all food secured in plastic with clips and keep everything put away all the time, they are here. Most of my friends say that they've disappeared in the last month or two as the temperatures have dropped. Unfortunately I am a baby about the cold and bought a little heater for my bedroom, something no one else does around here. And so all the cockroaches have left everyone else and come to me. I moved the heater the other day and about 6 scurried out from underneath. So...cold or cockroaches, that is the choice. Other gross outs...
They love to go under the microwave. They climb up inside it and I've seen one inside the digital clock. So now as steam is coming out the vent whenever I use it I am wondering just what all is cooking in there. Yes, there was one inside the microwave a few weeks ago. I spray Raid under the microwave and set up traps around it, and wonder what chemicals may be getting on our food. In my hurry to spray a creature I forgot about the gas flame on the stove and almost torched the kitchen. I used a bomb that worked for about a week, but that might also be what gave them the idea to head back to the bedroom.
And cockroaches aren't the only ones...the mosquitoes were a nightmare when it was warm. We have plug in insecticides and would have to cover ourselves with repellent at night. Did I mention I hate chemicals? Still we would be awakened and bitten all through the night, but they are gone now that it is FREEZING. I knew that bats were a symbol of good luck in China since the "fu" pronunciation is the same as the word for fortune, but to me they always seemed creepy. Now I understand why they are beloved. They fly out of the top of our buildings each evening at dusk and begin eating up all the mosquitoes. We are so happy to see them and it's our signal to get inside before we get eaten.
Flies were also a big issue in the summer. It was hard to even eat a meal trying to shoo them off all the time. The Chinese believe in "fresh air" at all times and continually open doors and windows. A plastic flyswatter was no where to be found, I went to many stores. Someone did sell me an electric tennis racket type thing that was supposed to zap them, but I never hit even one. I got really good with a wet hand towel though.
Now the geckos are sort of cute, but it is really yucky to find them in the sticky cockroach traps, I shouldn't even look to see what's wiggling inside, but somehow I just want to know how many bugs I've gotten.
So there it all is. You know I try to be thankful in all things and I am sure in the big picture this is all inconsequential. But I thought you all should know one of the things that's been hard. I remember Corrie Ten Boom being thankful for the lice in the concentration camp because the guards kept a distance and it gave them more freedom. Maybe there is some such redeeming factor working on my character and helping me to have an eternal perspective.