Sleeping Shanghai Style

Now I have lived in many different states and towns across the US - so I have seen my share of bugs. In Havana, Illinois, where I went to high school, the bugs were so bad in the summer "the fogger" would come around town every night spraying the bugs. "The fogger" was basically a pick up truck with a big machine that blew bug spray out the back. Kids would chase "the fogger" on their bicycles and get lost in a cloud of chemicals (hopefully they are all still normal after inhaling all the toxins??). After college I moved to Corpus Christi, TX and experienced bugs I had never seen before.  They say everything is bigger in Texas - including the bugs!! I once had a cockroach in my apartment the size of a Almond Joy - I use this to describe the size because I really thought it was an Almond Joy - until it moved. Well here in Shanghai the bugs are like vultures! This morning I awoke to 4 mosquitoes on the wall about 6 inches from my pillow!! Just waiting for a feast. When you actually kill these mosquitoes, they leave about a pint of blood behind. Twice now I have gotten up in the morning to notice smears of blood in the sheets. After checking myself for scratches I realize that it is just me smashing mosquitoes in the bed. I am many nights awakened by a high pitched buzzing in my ear. One night I slept with the lights on and killed 8 in one night(with my fancy electric tennis racket bug zapper). Why am I such a mosquito magnet?? Someone once said - if you have blonde hair and eat bananas your are a target. Well I think I might have 2 hairs on my entire head that are truly blonde (the rest are helped by bleach) - I do still eat bananas. Someone said - if you have a sweet tooth you will be eaten alive (Ian and I both have a sweet tooth and we are the two eaten the most - so maybe true?) Anyway - to protect the kids they sleep in tents. The first few nights we had some claustrophobia attacks, but now they don't mind at all being zipped in and mosquito free!!