Tough Love, Lightning Speed, High-Tech Tools

I know to expect lots of love from one group of organisms while I am in Taiwan: mosquitoes. After my battles with mosquitoes in Japan and Taiwan last summer, I knew to come fully prepared this year. I packed insect repellent, pants-only and one skirt (instead of mostly skirts for the hot humid weather), long-sleeved button-up shirts, and two bottles of salve with me to Taiwan. Without sufficient knowledge of how to use insect repellent, I decided not to use it after trying it once. These tiny insects can always find me, and choose me over people around me, including Jason. They can find me whether I am indoors or outdoors. Every time I go out, I put on long-sleeved shirt, wear pants, put on socks if my shoes do not fully cover my feet, and bring a bottle of salve with me just in case.

My strategy works well most of the time. I have gotten less love from them this year, especially compare to last year. But I still get a lot more marks of love on my arms and legs than people around me. In fact, no one else seems to receive any marks. I begin to wonder the shape, the movement, and the physical structure of these insects. Here are two main examples as to why I begin to think they fly with lightning speed and eat with the most high-tech tools possible:

I was interviewing someone in her house. The interviewee, her husband, my grandmother, and my aunt were also present. Without seeing or hearing the presence of these tiny creatures, I felt intense itch-pain on my left forehead and temple area. From my experience last summer, I knew that my forehead and the top of my feet can fall victim to these creatures' crazy love. Nevertheless, since my defensive strategy and the cooler weather had defended me from their attacks, I did not expect them to find my bony (and bloodless) forehead/temple area to be their feeding site. No one else in the room got this type of love.

I was waiting for a bus today. My hair covered my neck and back, my pants and socks covered my legs and feet, my long-sleeve shirt covered my arms, and my glasses and face mask (from smog) covered most of my face. After waiting for more than five minutes, I felt an intense itch/pain around my left ankle. I looked down and saw a swarm of mosquitoes around my ankle. My socks and pants were thicker than usual today. I did not think these creatures could have succeeded. I rolled up my pants and pulled down my socks to look at that area, and saw nothing. I touched the area to smooth the itch/pain. I began to pace around the people-less bus stop. By passers stared at me with puzzled eyes. I also shook/moved my hands because they were not covered at all. By the time the bus arrived, and I sat down to examine the area again, two big marks appeared around my left ankle.

Previously when I got bitten around my covered ankles, I had thought that these mosquitoes somehow found ways into my pants. But today's experience taught me that these creatures could and would eat no matter what layers of clothing were in front of them. Before I received the two big marks, I happened to see one mosquito on my left thigh. I immediately waved it away. But I did not notice the swarm of mosquitoes around my ankle until it was too late.