Here we go again…
Spiders. It seems I can’t keep any sort of travel journal without the subject popping up at least once. They plague my existence. I don’t care how miserable we’d be without them, I really hate spiders. Especially the googley-eyed ones. I heard a statistic once (so therefore it must be completely reliable) – you’re never more than three feet from a spider at any given time. Think of that while dozing off tonight. I’ve had spiders drop on me from the ceiling, spiders under my pillow, in my hair, bursting from my car (newly hatched spiderlings – yeah that was a fun discovery while speeding down the freeway – it doesn’t beat the praying mantis on my shoulder, but still comes in pretty close). The only logical explanation is this: There’s an international conspiracy among all arachnids. They’re out to get me.
You don’t believe me, eh? Oh, but you will. Case in point – today. First class. I spot an enormous (to be more specific – and interactive – touch your thumb and pointer finger together. That circle you’ve created, that’s how big it was) spider scuttling along the floor beside the wall. My students spotted it too, although they didn’t seem nearly as preoccupied with it as I. Luckily I didn’t spy it until class was almost over. And to give it some credit, it did keep to the wall. That is, until my students left. I swear, as soon as they were out the door it turned and sprinted across the floor right at me. Granted, I was wearing a black suit, so maybe it just saw a giant shadow in which to hide, but I don’t buy it. Even when I’d stomp my foot to scare it with the vibration, it just came at me faster. Seriously, the spider chased me into the hallway. That’s where Kathy found me. She, being from Australia, wasn’t nearly as phased as I, but she insisted I take it outside and not kill it. Our school is in a basement! And I didn’t have my special candle jar to trap it. So using me as bait and her kick as an incentive, we managed to maneuver the spider into an unused classroom. The room was dark and littered with posters and papers – the perfect place to hide. Once the spider was in, we shut the door and went about our business. But does the story end there? Oh no.
An hour later, while herding my students into my room, there it was, just outside my door. I couldn’t believe it! I quickly shut the door and started the lesson, foolishly thinking that would stop it. Ha! Seconds later it was under the door and AGAIN running at me. My students watched curiously as the spider and I did a little dance back and forth. Perhaps my new nickname should be Dances with Spiders. I finally snatched a kleenex and threw it at one of my high schoolers, telling him to save the class (and by class I meant me) by killing the spider. I felt bad because he was scared of it too, but peer pressure works wonders and he smushed the sucker and saved the day, setting the scene for what turned out to be a really fun class (more fun that usual, I mean).
So that’s my story. No exaggerations whatsoever. Well okay, maybe the dancing bit, but that’s it! Damn spider. Now the paranoia has set in. My skin is crawling, no matter how many times I check my apartment. I’m going to do some spring cleaning tomorrow… and then start making my bed every day. I’ve grown too complacent here in Japan. Australia kept me on my toes. (Literally! That mottled brown carpet hid its share of silver fish, cockroaches and spiders. Bleh!) At least my apartment has beautiful wooden floors. Spiders are one thing, but AT LEAST I don’t have to worry about mukade (google it, or click here) this far north. At least that’s what I’m told… we’ll see if it holds true this summer. The mukade make spiders look absolutely adorable, as harmless as drosophila melanogaster (a big name for such a small creature; the fruit fly, my constant companion through all those biology and genetics labs…).
So that’s my spider story. Spring is here and life is emerging in all its forms. …..Yay. I’m still waiting for the snow.
