Bugs.

If you've ever gone overseas, you know that one of the first things you will hear about from other people is the bugs. It doesn't matter where you're going or if they've ever been there because THERE in THAT FOREIGN PLACE will reside some ugh-nasty bugs. And they know it.

You ignore the warnings because you might be one of the lucky ones who doesn't have a problem. 

Maybe you went to Ukraine and Uganda and didn't have a problem. 

I hope everyone understands by now that "you" means "ME". 

As most of you know, I've had enough of bugs here in China, thank you. A few weeks after arriving in Taiyuan, I found these strange red bumps on my hands...then my arms...then my face. It didn't take long to figure out that, YES, I did have bedbugs. I was actually pretty calm about it until I researched getting rid of them on the internet and found that they are nigh impossible to destroy. 

Oh, FABULOUS.

I kept it together. I bought a steamer, steamed down all my possessions and furniture, washed my sheets in boiling water, moved into Alex's room on a new mattress, and planned to steam again in another week to finish the rest of them off. Done. I could do it. 

Five days later, the bites were back. In another room. With different sheets on a different mattress. After I had already killed them. UGH. 

The next two months were a constant battle--steaming things down before I went back to bed, still finding bites in the morning, watching as both of my roommates also started getting the bites. The bites began to disappear as the cold weather rolled in, but we knew where they were hiding. 

Yeah, the Bedcave of Wonders. 

We thought there was no way we would ever get rid of these beds. And then--AND THEN--last week the school gave us new ones. Well, they are new to us, not necessarily new to the world. But getting them was a lot like Christmas. 

Striped duvet from the school, snowman sheets from the resource room. YES. 

Unfortunately, "bugs" doesn't just mean insects. This week Team Taiyuan seems to be sharing more than lives and living space. Yesterday I spent the day trying out my new bed as I couldn't seem to get out of it. Four out of the six of us came down with a stomach bug, much to the bewilderment of our abandoned students. 

I suppose you can't make it through your third foreign experience without having some sort of bug problem. We're just grateful that it didn't hit over Thanksgiving--because by then I hope to have a stomach strong enough for one heck of a bug-less turkey.