( Steph Lloyd )

I’m not sure what it is about the mosquitoes here but they are bad news. Whenever I get bit, the area around the bite swells up at least triple the size of a normal bite, and that’s without scratching. They drive me crazy because they not only itch like crazy, they also burn a little bit. These suckers are horrible because if anything even brushes against them, they’ll itch and burn the rest of the day. It’s to the point now that if I even think I hear a mosquito, I jump up from where ever I am and start hunting. Matt doesn’t appreciate it when he’s awakened by the lamp at three in the morning, but, dude, I can’t handle being eaten up by them! The mosquitoes are also highly intelligent. Whenever I turn the lights on, they immediately hide. I swear it. I have spent up to an hour looking for one of them. No, I don’t have a problem. Yes, it’s that bad.

In class today, my students and I compared mosquito bites. Apparently I’m not the only one who swells up. Not everyone does, Matt doesn’t, but at least half of my class had these humongous bites. I felt so bad for them! One girl was nearly in tears because she had them all over her legs, ankles, arms, neck and face. I’m not sure why she got bit up so bad, she couldn’t really explain it in English, but it was traumatic for her. I’ve seen bug repellent here but I’m not sure how many people actually use it. One of my boys was bit on the eyelid while he was sleeping last night. The cutie pie has the cutest little eyes anyway, but with the bite, his eye was swollen shut. Haha! I tried not to laugh but he was just too cute!