Friday, September 24, 2010

Dangerous bugs everywhere!

I'm beginning to get somewhat frustrated with my rash of colds and constant flu-like symptoms as of late. My chest cold has apparently flared up again and I wasn't able to run tonight. I was supposed to run 10 km tonight, but simply wasn't up to it. I did manage a short walk. Being a new father (I was up from 3-5 am this morning) combined with parents sending all of their very sick children to school these days, I have ben finding it hard to run 6 days a a week. I've only hit the pavement 4 days a week for the past 2 weeks. i will of course finish my next marathon running, but the time will be a slow one me tinks!

Last night while out walking close to my house, I spotted a rather large and interesting caterpillar! Check it out:


On the topic is insects and, there were certainly a lot of the venomous ones I mentioned in the previous video at school today. For whatever reason, several trees around my school were covered in some very green and dangerous critters.

I had a student last year who had the misfortune of accidentally touching one of these critters in a local park. He was in a world of hurt and had to spend the afternoon in the Emergency Room!


I even know adults who have had one of these fall on their shirts and then not be able to sleep for days because of the pin and massive swelling!

As someone from Nova Scotia, Canada, the idea of insects being dangerous is quite alien. When we saw a fuzzy caterpillar in NS, we picked it up as fast as we could to play with it because we knew it would be soft. Here in Japan, if it is fuzzy,stay away!

2 comments:

Wanderer said...

Yes, it does seem foreign to think of "cute" caterpillars as deadly or at least dangerous. The worst we have to fear is mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus, but no one likes mosquitoes anyway, so they're avoided at the best of times.

Nice reading your blog Kevin. Sometimes they're so conversational (as are your vlogs) that it's like having a coffee together.

Dawn said...

Came across your blog through your Dailymile page.
Interesting!
What a change- Canada to Dangerous Bug-Ville.
Do we even HAVE a dangerous bug here in Canada.....
:)
What an experience living where you are now....thanks for the informative/interesting take on your Home away from Canadian soil!
dawn