I Live in Southeast Asia and I NEED TO VENT!

This title might imply that a good public rant is about to unfold.  Well, it just may come across that way, but I have actually calmed considerably.  In fact, my alternate title idea was "There's a Fungus Among Us", but that was cheesy, grade school science teacher level humor -  even for  me!  Anyway, here's the point is - WE ARE GETTING MOLDY! 

The humidity in Shenzhen is something I have written about before.  When we arrived last August, the consecutive days of rain and heat were unlike anything I ever experienced.  Our flip-flop straps stayed perpetually soggy, snails the size of fists slugged along walkways and up walls.  Mushrooms sprouted everywhere.  We lived temporarily in a third floor apartment during the peak of this phenomenon, and I don't recall any indoor affects of all the moisture.  Soonafter we settled into our "just- finished-being -completely- remodeled rental house".  By necessity, we kept the AC cranking and by early September the rainy days became few.

Fast forward to last week  (and it IS going by fast I must admit and give thanks).  Increasingly, days have periods of a little or a LOT of rain.  The air feels thick, sticky, like something you must push through.  Mother Nature's furnace has not yet added her blast though, so we have not had to run the AC too much.  BIG MISTAKE!

I guess I should have gone on higher alert when the spices started seeming a bit "clumpier"; when the salt in the shaker turned into a solid block.  And then there were the notes from our friendly community management office.  "SWEETLY REMINDER", these notes are always titled.  They warned us to prepare for the upcoming hot weather by running AC and putting dehumidifiers in our drawers and closets.  Since I picture a dehumidifier as a big electrical appliance, I filed this suggestion as I do other puzzling things here.  (Meaning I tilted my head, shrugged my shoulders, wondered why there is so much every day that I "don't get", and and went on my merry way.  Ignorance has always been blissfull for me!)  Another mistake!

The moldy shoe!

But the other shoe dropped (literally!) when Emily came walking out of her bedroom a few days ago holding her favorite Sperry Docksiders at arms length.  The "Mom!  Big Problem!" that she proclaimed as she marched toward me got my attention.  To our disgust, the inside of her shoes, which had been resting innocently inside her closet on a wire shoe rack, were a fuzzy blanket of mold in many shades of green.  We looked at the shoes and each other, disgusted and puzzled.  I strode into Emily's room, cranked the wall-mounted AC down a few degrees and told her to "keep it running, wear a sweater if you have to, but get some air moving in here."  Emily swung her shoe closet doors open wide.  We concluded that "dockside" shoes are meant to get thoroughly wet and I told Emily to clean them up and spray a mild bleach mixture on them.  All done, or so I thought.

Another day or two passes and I am skipping  up the stairs ("Mom, you don't skip!  Who are you kidding?", I add this because Elly will SO say it if she ever reads this blog!) .  I glance over towards the corner stand that sits on a landing part way up our steps, fosusing quickly on the bowl of potpourri on the middle shelf.  Double-take!  It is covered in the same lovely blanket of green that graced Emily's shoes!  Okay!  This is serious stuff, this mold.  More AC everywhere.  Throw out the potpourri.
Another day goes by. 

The moldy potpourri!

"MOTHER!", comes the scream from Emily's corner.  This can't be good, I just know it.  I walk hesitantly in the direction of the probable disaster and sink at what Emily holds in her hands.  They are collages of treasured memorobilia she put together last summer.  She worked for hours arranging photos, quotes, ticket stubs, etc. and mounted them on tall cardboard poster frames.  When she set up her room she hung them in a place of honor next to her desk here where she could glance over at good memories.  They fell from the wall a couple months ago when the 3-M stcky hooks just "let go" one day.  (Humidity?).  Since their fall, she had kept them propped against the wall by her desk.  And....yes....the backs of both framed pieces were covered in fuzzy mold!  A peak behind a newer print above her bed revealed the start of another crop of the hairy stuff.

Emily's collages after being vacuumed and wiped down.

So yes, I live in southeast Asia and I need to vent !  Apparently, I need to vent A LOT!  We vacuumed the backs of the pictures and rubbed them down with bleach solution.  A friend who has lived here longer told me to turn on all the bathroom fans and never, never turn them off.  I went to the "Park and Shop" and bought "dehumidifiers" for enclosed spaces (like Emily's shoe closet).  I bought two today but will go back and get a few more! 

Moving to another part of the world brings new discoveries every day.  I just hope that I stop discovering mold!  Luckily, no one has had any illness/allergy yet.  If anyone has "advice for the moldy", I'll take it!

A "dehumidifier".  Who Knew?  Not Me!  As Erin would say, "Oh, China!"