Bug Fu
Classes did start Wednesday and it was sand that was dumped to make a path through the mud, not gravel. The sand worked just find to preserve everyone's shoes, though I think half of it ended up on the brand new floors and stairs of the classroom building. (My sympathies goes out to the custodians.)***
In nature news, we dodged the bug bullet Friday night. As longtime readers may recall, we had suffered two bug invasions last year--one in the fall and one in the spring. (I never blogged about the spring invasion, as it wasn't exciting, just annoying.) Well, this semiannual event was far from our minds on Friday evening. Instead we were thinking about karate. You see, when we came back to town, our girls were invited to join in with the other expatriate kids in town for some extra curricular activities. (I know, I know. We just spent the summer telling folks that one of the things we were lacking were extracurriculars for the kids. Just goes to show that the good Lord provides...) Ga Dai is joining in on some drawing lessons from one of the college art teachers and Siu Wan is starting to take karate lessons. What does this have to do with bugs? Well, let me tell you.
Siu Wan's first class was Friday evening over at a nearby primary school. We all tagged along to observe and discuss business with the instructor. You see, the other kids have sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We weren't looking for that much of a commitment, so we wanted to see if the instructor would be willing to teach her if she only came to one session a week. So it was around sunset when we arrived at the school and went into the studio. (I'm tempted to call it a dance studio, since it's a big room with mirrors and bars along the wall, but for all I know, martial arts studios are built that way, too.) Like most places around here, the doors and windows are left wide open. We were watching the kids practice, when suddenly I noticed a bug flying around the room. It wasn't the most graceful thing. Suddenly it dawned on me that it looked like one of those bugs--about a half inch long with a dual pair of long wings. I watched it for a while and then one of the other spectators--a little girl--excitedly pointed it out. The instructor walked over and stamped on it. (It was crawling on the floor at that point. I don't want to give the impression that we were treated to some amazing kung fu bug removal or anything.) A moment later, another bug fluttered in. I pointed out to Yau Neih that it was bug invasion time again. We figured it wasn't worth running home to start closing windows. So we finished watching the class, accompanied by the antics of the 5 or 6 little critters that happened to make their way into the room.
At the end of the session we made our negotiations. We signed up for fifty sessions, with Siu Wan coming in for two hours over the weekend. We have the option to cut back to one hour, but since she's just starting out, we figured two lessons a week might be better for her. We then headed home. Once we got to the apartment, we left the lights off and quickly closed the windows. We then lit up the house and discovered that the bugs had passed us by. Either they were attracted by the light during the last two invasions or the recent construction has removed the bug breeding grounds from outside our window. Either way, we were pleasantly surprised.
posted by John @ 2:43 AM
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