Cockroaches, Frogs, and Lizards, Oh my!
Yesterday was a bad day. A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Why? I was ambushed. By cockroaches. An “intrusion” of cockroaches. You know how a group of crows is very aptly called a “murder”? A group of cockroaches is called an “intrusion”. Trust me, I looked it up. And intrude on me they did.
This intruder appeared in the bathroom of our 5th floor apartment. How did he get up there?!
We were at our new favorite spot, Doi Coffee, working hard on our latest projects when I felt something tickling the top of my foot. In Thailand, land of many mosquitos, gnats, and flies, I’ve developed “phantom fly syndrome”, which is something I just made up. Essentially it means you just think you feel tickles and itches, even if there’s nothing there. And usually there isn’t anything there, so scratching every itch or slapping at every tickle makes you look like a crazy person. Trust me, Kevin told me so. In an effort to look as sane as possible, I indefatigably ignored the tickle until it was clear it was not in my head.
Finally, I relented and looked down at my foot, and was utterly horrified at what I saw! Not one, but two (TWO!) cockroaches were trying to climb up my leg! The horror! I screamed, I jumped, I hollered, I nearly knocked over my bar stool. Shockingly, I don’t know the word for cockroach in Thai, so I couldn’t convey what had happened to the ladies in the cafe. They just stared at me with these “check out this foreign nutcase” looks on their faces. (I’ve grown used to that look, you know, being somewhat of a klutz.)
I decided that this intrusion of cockroaches was a sign that it was time to head out, so Kevin and I packed up our things, paid, and went on our merry little way. On the way out the coffee shop doors, another cockroach made its debut! This one seemed to be running towards me with a mission on its mind (“ATTAAAACK THE FOREIGNER!” perhaps?), and I deftly hopped over it and escaped into the great outdoors. Once we were outside, yet another cockroach scurried across our path, completing the superfecta (a trifecta, but with four) of cockroaches.
We’re still not sure what was behind this intrusion into our daily life. Could the cockroaches know something we don’t? Is another earthquake headed our way? Do they sense a drop in barometric pressure and an impending thunderstorm? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we’re doing our best to live with all of these creepy crawlers in peace since they’re part of daily life here. Just a couple weeks ago, we were having dinner outside at Magical Garden Cafe and a frog landed on Kevin’s arm! Several days ago, a lizard fell from a coffee shop overhang and landed in Kevin’s hair! And after we first moved into our apartment, Kevin was pinched by a cicada he tried to kill. It has been a wild ride. We’ll keep you posted as the wild ride continues. Safe travels, friends!
We want to hear from you!
What is the strangest creepy crawler encounter you’ve had on your travels?
I learned you can train cockroaches to carry things for you. On Orange is the New Black. So it must be true. You should try it. Hah!
Ha! That’s amazing. We’ll have to start catching up on Orange is the New Black so I can learn more about this. It would sure be nice if I could train one of them to carry my laptop bag for me all day.
This is the most horrifying thing I’ve ever read.
Yes! Mission accomplished.
Oh, Mel. Your stories are bringing back vivid memories from living in St. Maarten! We, too, had cockroach invasions – the most horrifying being in our bathtub. Every so often, when I would pull back our shower curtain in the morning, I would find a slew of them in our tub. They would come up the drain. So gross! The islanders called them water bugs – too polite of a nickname if you ask me. Love your question about whether or not they are sensing a natural disaster. Keep the stories coming! Your blog is amazing. I’m loving it!
Ew! Just what you want, a bunch of cockroaches in the place that’s supposed to make you feel clean. Here they at least seem to have drain covers that are supposed to help deter cockroaches, but I’m not sure how well they work since we’ve had one cockroach show up in our bathroom.