We have a rat problem. We have had rats in our apartment since the day we showed up. So far, our efforts to get rid of them have consisted of wishing and hoping that they’ll leave, mentioning the problem to our waiban (who responded that we should jump and shout and scare the rat into never showing its face again), and begging the PE teachers to help us (they said they’d come, but they haven’t and it’s been a week). We have kind of just gone with it, settling into a sort of peaceful coexistence with the rats. They don’t touch our food, and they only hang out in the living room (we don’t hang out there). We’ve seen like at least one every other night, but, like I said, they have their territory and we have ours. It was a stable equilibrium situation.
Tonight, we set a trap. It is a humane one, or at least it said so on the cover. It is a little plastic rectangular prism with a swinging door, and we put a cracker with some precious peanut butter (hard to come by in
Disturbing the peace = bad karma.
Two hours later, as I was watching I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry on my computer instead of doing my Chinese homework, I looked up to see a mouse. Not in the living room. BUT INSIDE MY BEDROOM. SCURRYING VERTICALLY DOWN MY CLOSET DOOR. Which is like all the way inside my room. To get to the top of the closet, you have to go through the entire room, walk over all my clothes on the floor, trip over my computer and phone cables, hop onto my backpack, and up my curtains. WHAT THE HECK!?
I screamed. Long and loud. It’s hilarious that I thought I could kill a mouse. At Jenna’s behest, Nhu and I also went after one the other night with a book. We felt brave. HA! I fled the scene. I covered my stuff, took my pillow and my computer and left. I now reside in Nhu’s room.
I AM SURE THAT IT IS STILL INSIDE MY ROOM. I didn’t see it leave.
If you have any recommendations, I would really appreciate hearing them. Nhu thinks I have to empty my room, and look for the rat. I don’t particularly want to find it. Worst comes to worst, I will live in the computer room. Anyway, the plan right now is to go away for the weekend and hope that the rats are dead and the holes plugged when I get back.
