A Blonde in Korea

Pieces of My Seoul: Let's take a moment to discuss Korea's mosquitoes

partyintherok:

lifeandloveincanada:

partyintherok:

piecesofmyseoul:

Huge. Nasty. Relentless.

I have ten mosquito bites on my hands ALONE (three of which are on one thumb). I have bites on my forearms, upper arms, neck, forehead, calves, thighs, ankles, feet, and even toes.

I don’t even WANT to count how many I have. It is getting ridiculous. There are six dead…

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT KOREAN MOSQUITOES. THEY ARE THE NASTIEST MOST EVIL CREATURES IN THE WORLD. They can bite through multiple layers of fabric (at least, I would assume, seeing as sometimes in the middle of the day I find mosquito bites on my BUTT and I am definitely not walking around my workplace pants-less.) They can also bite through tights and stockings. If they’re flying around your room while you’re in bed, and all your arms and legs are under your covers, they will not be afraid to BITE YOUR FACE EVERYWHERE. Their bites are super-itchy and make big red/purple lumps on your skin. It is not rare for me to have at least twenty bites on my body at any given moment during the summer. If I’m in a room full of people, it is not unusual for me to get 3 or 4 bites while everyone else is untouched. There’s a particular type of blood mosquitoes love, and whatever it is, I must have it. They will be here until October. Don’t think that you’re safe if your windows have screens, because they can also get into your house through plumbing and pipes. 

My new apartment doesn’t have a screen, either, so I just use a fan, and haven’t gotten any mosquitoes in here yet. If you want to keep them away, there are lots of options. I bought mosquito repellent and anti-itch cream at the local 약국 and all pharmacies in Korea should have these. I also had an anti-mosquito thing I plugged into an outlet that was supposed to release some poison… but I don’t think it really worked. And if things get really bad, you can buy a mosquito net to put around your bed while you sleep. Yeah, that sounds really hardcore, but I almost had to buy one last year. Last year was rough for me and mosquitoes.

The good thing is they’re dumb and easy to kill. They usually just perch on the walls in plain sight, and you can smack them really easily. It’s always gross to see blood on whatever you use to kill them, though, because it is YOUR blood. I have a special mosquito-killing fan, which is the Mister Donut lion mascot, and it’s very cute. And there are year-old blood and insect juice marks on it, which is kind of disgusting.

I hate Korean mosquitoes more than anything, but haven’t had to deal with any yet this summer. Knock on wood.

I have questions. Namely: 

1. Are these mosquitoes in Seoul? Seriously? I grew up in the woods, and I’m used to blackflies and mosquitoes, and evil fucking deer flies that will bite giant chunks out of you, and annoying little no-see-ums, but once I moved to the city (and not even the big city, like 40, 000 people type city), there was rarely every any type of flies at all. Hardly enough to be a nuisance. We also don’t have any type of flies in Vancouver, I haven’t even seen any on the campus, and it’s surrounded by a giant national park full of woods. Seoul is a giant city that’s essentially a concrete jungle, shouldn’t there not be any mosquitoes hanging around? :/ 

I only ask because fucking mosquitoes LOVE my blood, and I will never go outside ever in summer in Korea if they’re going to be in the city. I moved out of tiny hick towns and the forest to get away from bugs, I don’t want to go to the city and deal with this shit. 

2. Is it really already summer in Korea? I thought Korea had that whole ~4 distinct seasons~ thing going for it. How is it already summer in mid-may?! Where is spring? This confusion could possibly stem from the fact that I’m from essentially the artic and we don’t have summer until like the middle of june (fun fact, it snowed on my birthday a couple of times.. and my birthday is at the end of may), even here in Vancouver, while it’s still nice out, it barely cracks 20 degrees, so I’d still consider it spring. Is Korea really that wondrous that summer is already a thing? 

… I am so ignorant about the world. I need to get the fuck out of dodge and go see things.

There are a lot of mosquitoes in Seoul because, I think, mosquitoes grow and thrive near water, and there are lots of rivers in Seoul. Also, the mountains.

As far as Korea’s four distinct seasons go… I feel like Fall usually lasts a week or two tops, which is a shame because Fall is so beautiful here. Spring is kind of weird this year. It was really, really hot for awhile, and today was freaky rain forest weather, and it looks like tomorrow will start gross hot weather again. But then in a few weeks we have the lovely monsoon season to look forward to, where your hair will be constantly frizzy, your face will be grimy and sweaty and all your makeup will melt off within seconds of stepping outside, and you will constantly be wet with sweat and rain water. Last year, parts of Gangnam and Myeondgong were underwater. Entire buses were submerged. And winter is long and miserable and sometimes it’s so cold outside I cry. 

But it’s not really that bad. If you’re coming from California or Florida, where it’s usually warm and there’s not as much humidity, it can be startling, or so say friends from both those places. But growing up in a place that has four distinct seasons as well, it’s the same here, just the summer is a little hotter and the winter is a lot colder. I think it seems worse here because you’ll spend a lot more time outside, waiting for buses and walking to wherever it is you want to go, whereas in America or Canada you would probably drive in your air-conditioned car everywhere.

I just want to address one thing: Humidity in Florida.

Florida is crazy humid.

I’ve lived there for most of my life there: 16 of my 23 years.

Trust me.

Sometimes it was so humid I practically had to swim to get from work to my car.