EPTEnjoy!
Taiwan is a great place. The place is beautiful, with lots of greenery and an abundance of great scenery. This place would be perfect if not for the overwhelming heat and mosquitoes. I left Taiwan when I was merely 11 – about 5 years ago. Yet I am back now, and nothing seems to have changed.
I am currently living in Puli, Nantou, which is located in the center of Taiwan. I am living with my dad in his apartment in the university dormitory, where he is the head of the department for Applied Chemistry.
It is a typical Saturday, and my father and I are about to go out for dinner. When we arrive at the car, however, we realized that the lights had been on for hours now, and after trying to start the car, find that the car is now dry on battery. After much work, we managed to find a kind person to allow us to perform an electrical transfusion, and we are on our way to dinner. Unfortunately, more problems arise. My dad realized he had some more work to do in his office, and promised me that, in ten minutes, he will be back. It was decided that I am to stay in the car, as we fear that once the car’s engine was turned off, it might not turn on again. I was too lazy to move from my seat anyways, so I nodded and remained sitting in the car. That was a big mistake.
Soon it got pretty hot inside the car, so I decided to open the doors – that was a bad idea. It is dark already, and the parking lot was deserted. As I lie relaxed in the car, I realized my folly. How could I forget such a simple thing? A person lying still inside a car with the doors open is a perfect target for mosquitoes. The car was parked under a tree, and the cool shade provides the perfect place for those things.
All was quiet in the car and the parking lot, I was sleepy, and was starting to doze off when I noticed one of them on my leg. Suddenly I was wide awake, and I looked around for means to defend myself or killing the bugs (There is NO way I’m touching those things with my bare hands). The only thing I found that would aid me in my quest to eliminate the threat was a piece of paper. I quickly hit myself on the leg where the mosquito was with the piece of paper, and blood spilled out from the sac on the insect. My blood. I closed the car doors, but it was too late. The mosquitoes had flown right into the car, and were heading straight for me!
I immediately closed all the car doors and analyzed the situation. I can count 4 mosquitoes inside the car right now, all buzzing around, trying to get a piece of me. Instinctively I ran out of the car, flailing wildly so that I would not get stung. Soon I realized that simply flailing about for 10 minutes and waiting for my dad to come back was impossible.
My conclusion was that I had a few options:
Leave the car and go inside
Ignore the mosquitoes and go to sleep in the car
Kill all the mosquitoes inside the car
I entered the car again, but this time I close all the doors, effectively locking myself in with the mosquitoes. I took my trusty weapon, the mosquito-killer paper of doom, and proceeded to look about for the terrors. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my left leg, followed by the right. I immediately shook them off, and locked-on on one of the blasted bugs. The clueless bug landed on the window, and a quick swipe finished it off. The rest of the bugs were hard to kill, as they kept flying around me, taunting me by eluding my eyes every single time. However, after 5 minutes of fierce fighting, I emerge victorious, netting a total of 5 kills and without getting bitten a single time.
It was a fierce and noble battle that will be remembered.
tl;dr: I killed 5 mosquitoes.
