Articles by mgedwards

Fan death vs. mosquito death

The other night I couldn’t sleep.  I woke up at 3:30 a.m. with a mosquito buzzing around my head.  The lil’ buggers here are much more aggressive than the ones in parts of the U.S. where I’ve lived, and now is the time of the year when they seek refuge indoors, out of the cold and (literally) into the arms of humans.  It seems as if they visit you, not once, not twice, but thrice a night for a hemoglobin refill.  Fed up with the inconsiderate bloodsucker, I turned on the bedroom light, tracked it down, and mercilessly dispatched the annoying critter with a fly swatter.  I returned to bed victorious over my quashed foe, but by then I couldn’t fall back to sleep.  At 4:30 a.m., another nasty cretin buzzed around my head.  Fed up once again, I ended up getting up for the rest of the day.  Mosquito net is the surest way to eliminate annoying mosquitoes, but we decided to forego a net, because we did not need one last year.  What a mistake.
 
To avoid a repeat assault last night, I tried something new to discourage mosquitoes from accosting me–I turned on the fan full bore.  The air turned cool, and I hunkered down to keep warm, but I wasn’t berated by any mosquitoes.  I had a blissful, buzz-free night.  As an added precaution to keep the mosquitoes at bay, I closed the bedroom door.  Fortunately, I survived.  Most Koreans believe in "fan death," a condition where an individual in a closed room with a running fan faces a heightened risk of death.  That’s right–if you close the door and run an electric fan, you are more likely to die.  The alleged causes are many, including suffocation, poisoning, and hypothermia.  Is it true?  Ask a Korean, they will probably tell you "yes."  Ask a non-Korean, and you are likely to hear strong skepticism.  As a foreigner, I am more than willing to run the risk of fan death, particularly if running a fan in a closed room helps me avoid another, more credible, cause of death–mosquito death.  At the very least, my skin will look better, and I won’t be subject to so many mosquito welts!

A parade of dignitaries

The past few days have witnessed a parade of dignitaries streaming through Seoul.  Last night I went to a reception honoring the Washington State trade delegation, a group of 86 government and business leaders now in Korea on a trade mission.  Governor Christine Gregoire and University of Washington President Mark Emmert were in attendance.  Unfortunately, neither stayed long at the reception, apparently committed to appear at another function.  They departed before we could exchange words.  Nevertheless, it was fun to meet some fellow Washingtonians as well as Koreans who attended school in Washington State. 
 
Tomorrow a very important visitor will be in town for a one-day visit with Korean leaders.  I’m busy getting ready for the visit, as are many of my colleagues.  This weekend, yet another U.S. official will arrive in Seoul, and I will pick them up at the airport.  It feels like a veritable who’s who among American political and business leaders.  It’s definitely a happening time to be in Seoul right now.  I’m glad I’m here right now, despite having interviewed my 26,500th individual today.  It is a mental gride interviewing that many people, to be sure, but times when the dignitaries roll in and you play a part in planning and executing logistics make it worth the mental taxation.  I think.

Our wildlife collection

We aren’t really pet people.  We don’t have a cat, dog, or any other furry creature, but somehow we’ve managed to gather an eclectic collection of wildlife here at home.  We have three tetra fish.  The blue one is named "daddy," the pink one is named "mommy," and the translucent yellowish one is named "baby."  We have a pet spider, a gorgeous golden orb weaver spider outside our door I named "Charlotte," after the fictional spider Charlotte in Charlotte’s web.  Our Charlotte’s web is a bit messier than Charlotte’s web in the children’s classic. 
 
Then we have "Pest," a collection of pesky mosquitoes that have migrated into our home.  Korea has plenty.  It doesn’t help that our home isn’t far from a giant pool near a big city park, a good mosquito breeding ground.  In fact, the mosquito buzzing around my head right now helped me think of this trivial blog entry.  Now that the weather has turned cooler (it’s been a beautiful fall), the mosquitoes are trying to move in full force.  It seems that every night we have at least three mosquitoes in each room.  We won’t be able to root them out until late November or December.  They arrive in early spring and stay with us for about seven months.  I definitely will not miss the mosquitoes when we leave Korea.  I will miss Charlotte and the fish family, though.  We can’t take the fish with us, and we plan to donate them to someone in the neighborhood.  Charlotte will disappear within a few weeks as the frost sets in, her life having run its course.  I will miss the golden orb weaver spiders.  They are absolutely the most beautiful spiders I have ever seen.  I wonder what critters will be waiting for us in Paraguay.  Spiders, mosquitoes, and snakes, I’m sure.  Oh, my!