Rain Bugs

They surprised us one evening--suddenly pouring into the house through every open door and window, thousands of flying bugs.

It was early October, our first rainy season in Malaysia, and we had absolutely no clue what to do--except run around like maniacs shutting windows and doors and swatting pointlessly as the house appeared to swarm with a quantity of bugs the likes of which we'd never seen.

We battled them--every member of the family versus the strange bugs, and we finally conquered them, sweeping piles of dead bodies and broken wings up into the garbage. We looked at each other in utter confusion--what was that about?

We still don't really understand this phenomenon, although we learned how to handle what we have termed the "rain bugs" better in years since. I don't actually know what kind of bug they are--they're larger than a fly, with wings nearly an inch long. They come occasionally during cool and rainy weather, and they come in huge swarms, seemingly attracted to the lights of the house.

Our first house was nearer to nature--near the beach and a wooded area--we haven't noticed the rain bugs nearly as much since my parents moved into an apartment complex, though there are still times when a few will come flying in.

But those first few times, when everything about Malaysia was new, were a mite overwhelming. Once we realized that they didn't bite and weren't dangerous, and once we realized that they had a habit of dying of their own accord before morning came, we didn't freak out quite so much.

I remember one evening that the rain bugs attacked, it was already rather late, and I was tired. I remember going to bed, covering my face with a sheet to guard against any especially curious bugs, and sleeping like that till morning, when I awoke to find exactly what I expected--the floor littered with the corpses of these intense little insects.

At some point, my parents got screens for our house, which helped immensely at keeping both the rain bugs and the everyday mosquitoes out--they didn't keep the other critters, like the cockroaches and cicaks out, but at least they don't come in swarms...