CRC in Thailand= Ants and Dengue Fever

The ants go marching 1 by 1

Hurrah!
Hurrah!

The ants go marching 2 by 2

Hurrah!
Hurrah!

I bite the pancake I just made,
and I find the body of an ant mid-run!
and I find them on my computer,
my bed,
the counter,
my shoes,
the floor,
empty cups.
and when I spill flour they swarm the spot!

There are a lot of ants in Thailand! I can't leave a banana peel out for 30 seconds before it is covered by 100 plus little bodies. The worst part I would say is that they swarm spilled flour, I like to make pancakes a lot and try as I might not to be wasteful, I always spill some. This would be fine if I didn't share a kitchen, I'd let them eat for a while and hope that they left then clean up. But, I share the kitchen with the family who runs the guest house we stay at and I feel that out of respect I must clean up immediately after I finish cooking, this means cleaning up the feast midway. Unfortunately there is no way to scare ants off of food. So, I must use the sponge to wipe up the counters and I always end up having to kill some of the ants. I feel bad, I don't even like to kill mosquitoes. I let them bite me because, hey, they need to live too. I don't know that we should be more concerned with the death of humans than the death of animals, just I like I don't think there should be more media coverage of the deaths of Americans than the Iraqis or the Afghanis that we are bombing. The Museum of World Insects was all about this, it was created by a man who loves and has studied mosquitoes for 50 years. His exhibition is all about respect for all living creatures, I was really moved by it two weeks ago and now, we have two students, one recovering from and one currently being tested for Dengue Fever. Is it insensitive to them if I still advocate not killing mosquitoes?