hiding from the heat and the humidity

I can't believe I am saying this - but I wish it would rain. For a couple of weeks, it seemed like it would never stop raining. Now it is just hot and muggy. I know that I am from Texas and I am supposed to be "used to" the heat and humidity. But in Texas, I don't walk everywhere to do my errands. And when I go into a store, it is like walking into hot closet. I don't know if the Koreans do not have any sweat glands, but they seem to like it warmer. To prove my point, here is a picture I took just the other day (in July) of one of the women hikers.
(However, the lady sitting down with the towel on her head seems a bit warm!)
They are always dressed to the nines in proper walking attire. And don't forget the gloves and the face mask! I have mixed feeling about the face coverings here. On one hand, I am sure that I would have a rash or an acne breakout after wearing one of those while walking in this heat. (I always hated wearing surgical masks whenever I had to while working in the hospital.) However, the plus side of wearing one of them would be that no one would see my sweaty beet red face.

On a more serious note, there is alot of evidence to support wearing the masks here, especially while exercising. During the springtime, we get the yellow sand from the Golbi Desert blown in. Apparently, last year was really bad. And pollution from China can also be a problem. I have read a couple of articles about the Olympic athletes training in China and the difficulties they have encountered. When we first moved here, I used to comment on all the "hazy" days we seem to have - not knowing the cause of it.



Another lovely side of summer here is the influx of mosquitoes. Here is a notice we received from the apartment service company last month.

SUBJECT: Spraying of insecticide

It's getting warmer these days.
In line with this, vermin is appearing.
We can say they are not harmful to body.
If you are worried after bitten by insect, you apply ointment to a wound and
see a doctor.
We are doing regular spraying of insecticide the last date of every month.
If you are interested in this, please call.

I want to interject a comment before I continue on the mosquitoes. I sometimes get tickled at the wording of emails and notices. I am in no way making fun of them - I can't even imagine how I would mangle the Korean language. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a sweet Korean girl in the management office wrote this. I have been so thankful for her because she speaks English so well.

Back to the vermin. The mosquitoes are different looking than the ones I am used to. They look more like gnats. And the bites you get look more like pimples and don't itch as much. Of course, these are observations from my own personal experience. I wake up with a new one on a daily basis - unfortunately, they are usually on my face, neck and arms. I guess this is due to the fact that these appendages are usually on the outside of the covers. They do sell mosquito nets that go over the beds but we haven't tried that yet. I did buy one of these mosquito zappers.
You put in a couple of double A batteries and you are ready to electrocute those pesky things. Unfortunately, I don't usually have this close at hand when I see a mosquito. Ken has killed a couple with it. It makes a pop noise and the mosquito is dead on the floor. I got a kick out of the packaging. Click on the photo to read what it says.

While I am on the subject of the summer humidity, I want to show you another nifty item.
Someone turned me on to these when I first got here and I use them faithfully in our closets and storeroom. There are alot of brands, here is one I got at HomePlus. They have either charcoal or some white substance in them that absorbs the water in the air. When the container has water in the bottom of it, you ditch it and put in a new one. I have heard that some people have had mold problems, but I haven't due to these handy things. You know, we might have something like this in the United States but I have never had the need for one.