Nancy and Nori

MOLD

Sure, I have been around mold in my life. Its been on that cheese I forgot about in the back of the fridge. On the organic bread that just didn’t have the preservatives to fight the green stuff. On the furniture of a client of mine whose landlord just wouldn’t address the issue. BUT, the molds of Mae Sot are of industrial strength, species seen nowhere else in the world I am sure, just waiting for you to forget about them for a moment so that they can mutliple, grow, and consume your every cleaning minute, every conversation, and nostril walls as you walk in your front door at the end of a stressful day. Yes, Mae Sot mold. A friend of mine was away for work for 3 weeks, and was welcomed home, not by her husband who is also away, but by the colonies of funghi. They missed her so much, they were waiting on her pillow, on the bed cover, in her drawers, on her books. Welcome home! Yesterday, I opened my passport to determine the date I need to make my last visa run to Burma, to discover that the spores had built a little passport cover for me. How kind of them. Saves me the effort of making a cover or buying one at Borderline. I pulled out my final 100USD bills that I will happily cash in for Baht to buy gifts to take home, and yes, the mold seems to have been having a long chit chat with Pres. Franklin.  They have also taken over my book covers, the underside of my tables (sneaky fellas), my couch, my clothes, and yes the frame of my picture of the venerable King of Thailand. Nothing is sacred, huh? So, just clean it, Nancy, you may think. Well, even this is easier said that done. If I clean the things with water, they will not dry (unless the cleaning happens on the one sunny day of the month). So, clean it with bleach you may think. Well, without mastery, or any skill, in reading the Thai labels of cleaning products, the best I can do is buy products that show white things on the label - this may indicate bleach is in the ingredietns, I think. But, two days later the next generation has arrived. This year, I have tolerated or battled the gangs of barking dogs at night, the cats whose wailing calls suggest that they are always in heat, the law-ignorning drivers, and the elephant walking down the road blocking my path. But to the mold, I surrender. You have won. Congratulations. But you only control my thoughts and senses for 2 more weeks. Ha.

Posted on August 13th, 2009 under Nancy • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback