Saturday, June 13, 2009

Mosquitos in Korea

They are bad.


Ian's eye was even more swollen when it first happened. It didn't seem to bother him so we just waited for the swelling to go down on its own and didn't take him to the doctor. The mosquitos are biting their faces because the pajamas cover the rest of their bodies. Ian has a few others on his face as well that really swelled up. Eva doesn't seem to react as badly. We have something that plugs into the wall, but I think we need some mosquito nets.

We saw a little electrified racket for killing mosquitos. Supposedly you can picked them up for 7,000 won.

11 comments:

akoto said...

Oh my goodness! I hope it heals quickly.

When we were in Incheon last weekend, they had the bug zappers everywhere--outside the hotel, outside of restaurants. I'm sure Seoul has less bugs, but as Ian has clearly demonstrated, that's not worth too terribly much. :\

Mama Seoul said...

That one has faded, but then others have cropped up. He did look pitiful. I am just thankful that it didn't hurt or itch.

chalica pack said...

thats one benefit of living up higher, we dont have those misquitos in the apartment! Poor little guy.

Unknown said...

When we were in Cairo in our apartment next to the Nile, I wrapped the sheets around my whole head so there was just a hole for my mouth for breathing. Sure enough, I woke up with a big bite on my lip. Grr!

We bought one of the zapper rackets, which was great. What ultimately helped was a net for the whole bed, though. A worthwhile investment! Ian, you have my sympathies!

sharon said...

Woah, that looks awful. I didn't imagine that it would look this bad when you described it. Keep the screen doors closed! Or try mosquito patches, they work for outdoors too.

not-so-quiet mom said...

Poor little guy!

We've just gotten a few so far, but they were BAD last year: http://domesticblissinsouthkorea.blogspot.com/2008/09/head-wound-domestic-disturbance-and.html

The pictures of Liam's bites are at the very end of the post.

doulamomma said...

Poor guy! I hope it's not bothering him too much. When we moved on post at Yongsan from off post (we were 19 stories up) last year, no one warned us about the mosquitoes. Graham was 5 months old then and the first morning in the new place we woke up to find about twenty bites all over his head. It was heartbreaking!

Mama Seoul said...

Nora, the bite on the lip is one of the funniest/saddest mosquito stories. They are relentless. I definitely need to get nets for the beds.

Chalica, we found a new place (potentially if the barriers to deal are overcome) that is one the 21st floor so maybe that will help. One can hope! More on real estate in a future post.

Sharon, I do have some patches but have been "saving" them. I guess the time is now, though. Have you bought the patches here in Korea?

Amy & Catherine- seeing your kids bit up like that makes you feel so awful! Sorry to hear this is such a common affliction over here in Korea! This was a problem last year, but winter and almost 5 months in the States made me forget.

Melissa said...

Hi!

I use mosquito nets every night, and they help a lot. Also, Hayden likes sleeping inside "like a tent". I bought my last one at Homeplus (hangs from the ceiling) for about 25,000 and it covers my king size bed.

Let me know if you need the web address: you can also order one online.

Cheers
Melissa

Mama Seoul said...

Thanks, Melissa! I think I will ask my husband's admin person to order one. Good to know there is one that will cover a king sized bed.

Anonymous said...

Yikes! I worry so much about that. We had a really big problem about a month ago. I commented on a post on EMCK about mosquitoes too to tell our solution. They were coming in through the fireplace we finally figured out! We used a large black trash bag and taped it with clear packaging tape to the opening of the fire place... almost a perfect fit. it doesn't look too terrible either since it is black just like the opening was. Now the only mosquitoes we get are when they come in from the sliding glass doors as we let the dogs in and out. We kill maybe one to 3 per week... We were killing 6-10 per day! Every night we did a mosquito check but they'd always wake us several times per night. If you have a fireplace consider covering the opening. Also, I found that hemorrhoid cream works great on mosquito bites for reducing the swelling and the itching- don't know if you can use on kids but it works great for me.