Apocalyptics Sign

Growing up in Northwest U.S., the only thing that really gives me the creeps was spiders. That is until I moved to Taiwan. A little geography lesson to those unfamiliar with Taiwan, Taiwan has a subtropical climate with what feels like 200% humidity and average temperature of 90 in the summer and 75 in the winter. With 26 million people on this island producing waste and building vast infrastructure, Taiwan is the perfect home and breeding ground for the ever lasting, ever pervasive cockroach.

So why has the cockroach has replaced the spider on my list of most detested things, because Taiwan's cockroach are super fast, harder to kill, and are everywhere even though they usually the themselves well in the dark crevices of the earth and building. They are about the only thing that really creeps me out. That is way this morning on the way to work I had a mini 'end of days' episode which I will never forget.

Every once in a while in order to control the population of cockroaches in Taiwan, the Taiwan government would spray pesticides in the gutters and under the streets. Well they did that to the street in between my apartment and the bus stop. When they spray the pesticide, all the cockroaches come out of hiding and run wild. My god I thought I was in my own version of private hell. There were cockroaches EVERYWHERE. Half dead, dead and on their backs, crushed by cars or motorcycles, many still running around trying to find relief from whatever chemicals is killing their nervous system. It was a sight you don't ever want to see and one unlikely I will ever forget. This is definitely one of the things I won't miss when I leave Taiwan.