Yesterday we awoke from a poor night’s sleep, one troubled by the sensation of things crawling on us, but not troubled enough to wake up fully.  When we looked in the daylight, we saw thousands of tiny winged ant like creatures on the floor beside the bed,  on the walls, and yes, some in the bed.  We saw tiny nests that looked like anthills in the cracks of the concrete.  We might identify these as termites, except we live in a concrete building.  I had on hand some “natural, non toxic” spray called “Avenger” specifically for travelers, for bedbugs.  I used that at first, and I must say it is remarkably effective.  But, it is a small bottle.

We called the person in charge of our “daily life” issues and she said it was common at this time of year and we should go to the market and buy bug spray.  She didn’t grasp the magnitude.  When we explained more fully, she said she would send the maintenance man to fill in the cracks in the concrete.  As homeowners ourselves, we are concerned about the little guys destroying the building, since they are obviously using the mortar to build nests.  However, this is not a concern for the University.

We took photos.  We went to the market.  We bought the “big gun” bug spray.  I imagine it is DDT, which was still in use in China last I checked.  We took the bed apart in order to move it from the wall.  We shook out the bedding and stacked it in the front room.  The bugs were limited to the bedroom and the bathroom, none in the kitchen as far as we know.  We swept and sprayed.  I mopped up the dead bugs.

Dear Husband went off to class and I waited.  I haven’t mentioned that the electricity was off all day.  No internet, no lights, no washing machine.  The day started off sunny and warm, but a cool wind was blowing, so I knew a storm was brewing.  I waited.  I graded some papers. I sat outside for a while.  I swept the balcony and sprayed around the window and the ceiling.  I waited some more.  I graded some more papers.  I waited.  I read a little bit.  The storm broke and it was quite dark for a while.  I kept on waiting for the maintenance man.  Our colleague stopped by and said, “It looks like moving day.”

Just before five o’clock, I called our official and reported that the man had not come, and would he still be coming?  She was surprised and said to give her ten minutes.  Then she called back to say they were very busy and they forgot, but they would still come. Just as I was reaching my limit of patience, the power came back on.  As is the custom, a man came first to look at the situation.  Then he came back with his solution which was a bucket of mortar.  He filled in the cracks around the base of the floor.  Then he cleaned up his mess!  This is a new guy.  Then he made known to me that he would help me put the bed back together, and we did that.

Then the student assistant came by to see things again, and told us, “Tomorrow the water will be shut off during the day.”  I did some laundry late into the night–some of that bedding, and the towels.  I got a headache during the night, I can’t imagine why.