Humidity and its consequences

Humid heat is one of the things I just can't bear, but bearing it I have been since I don't have any other choice. Though I suppose I could always jump on a plane going home to where it's currently about 9 degrees and raining (Calgary has had one of its worst summers in history). I suppose Korea's climate should have prepared me for this but even that wasn't quite as bad as the misty heat you experience on this island.

I come from a city near the Rockies in Canada. Calgary is an extremely dry city. To the point where your skin will start turning white from lack of moisture and this happens no matter how much you moisturize. This is what I grew up with and where my body is comfortable. When it's hot in Calgary it's still alright. Whereas in humid areas, you can sweat just by standing outside for a few minutes. I tested this, and its true! Thank goodness we have an air conditioner or air kon which I've actually started calling it. Without it I'd cry on a daily basis.

Personal suffering aside there is another downfall to humidity and it has to do with spices kept too long in one's cupboard. Oh yes, I found this out yesterday. Lately, I've taken to cooking, figuring at the age of 26 I'd better be able to feed myself let alone others. When I first arrived at this house, a lot of condiments had been left. Curry powders, salt, pepper, oregano etc. Among these one was labeled "House Seasoning" which I figured was an all purpose deal. I hadn't bothered with this bottle and probably would've continued to ignore it had I not noticed a tiny fly crawling on the outside of it. Upon closer inspection it was revealed that the fly was actually on the INSIDE of the bottle. Somewhat grossed out, I picked up the offending container only to realize I was holding a breeding ground. There were actually a handful of flies crawling around and within the spices clumped at the bottom of the bottle were tons of larva.

It was probably one of the more disgusting moments of my life. Not knowing what to do with it, I set the House Seasoning on the table and then wondered how the hell I was going to throw it out. If you remember from an earlier post, garbage is all separated here. While the bottle would've qualified for the "plastic" category I had good reason to believe that the colony inside wouldn't. There was no way I was opening up that thing to comply with the garbage rules. I didn't want those flies taking up residence elsewhere.

Basically the moral of the story is, if you would like to experiment with flies of the fruit variety, buy House Seasoning, let it sit for at least one summer and voila, the little critters will pop out of nowhere. This would've been useful back in high school when we were trying to cultivate the flies.