Woe is Mold

Mold! Mold, mold, mold. Brave and bold. Oh mold.

It's the rainy season here in Miyazaki. And it's absolutely disgusting.

At first, I thought, "oh, how nice. The weather is warming up, things are getting greener, a little rain here and there is sort of romantic, right? I can drink a cup of tea and look out the window and sigh and feel like a heroine in a romantic French movie! Yay rainy season!"

Oh how wrong I was.

Because little did I know, rain + heat = humidity.

Not just a little humidity. A lot of humidity. We're talking 92% humidity.

And what happens when everything is humid, all the time?

Mold happens. So much mold.

My towels smell weird all the time. My shoes get wet in the rain and never dry. And two days ago, I discovered that they're also all covered in mold now.

Like, several different kinds of mold, too. My black flats have tiny brown forests of spores growing on the top. My black sandals have adopted a sort of grey fuzz along the heel. And perhaps the most fascinating of all is the thin layer of neon green sprinkles growing on my faux leather smoking slippers.

I'm horrified but I can't look away.

On Wednesday, I attempted to wipe the mold off my shoes, which actually went quite well. It came right off with one swipe of paper towel.

"That takes care of that!" I thought to myself before happily jaunting out the door.

I was so wrong.

When I woke up Thursday morning, the mold had returned.

"NO!" I screamed as I stared down at the once again moldy shoes I had cleaned so lovingly the day before. "NO, NO, NO! I ALREADY FIXED THIS PROBLEM! YOU CAN'T BE BACK!" I yelled at the mold, hoping to frighten it away.

But unlike mountain lions and other wild cats, mold is a trickier beast. You can't just make yourself larger and bang pots and pans together to get it to leave you alone. Mold shows up in your house and on your clothes and even on your bread if you're not careful.

Mold. The mountain lion of the domestic sphere.

So in a flurry of fear and general squealing, I went to the local grocery establishment on Thursday night in order to find the proper instruments with which to combat my foe.

When I made it back to my moist apartment, it was go time.

To start, $20 worth of dehumidifying beads were placed in strategic locations throughout my home. From the closets to my drawers, I made sure no dark, small, warm location went unbeaded. I scrubbed every pair of shoes I own and then placed them in the sunniest location in my living room.

I realized my air conditioner had a "dehumidify"setting (umm... really, Lauren? After allowing your shoes to undergo such devastation, you only just now realize that you have a giant dehumidifier in your living room?! Come on...) and I turned it up full blast.

I scrubbed my trash can. I scrubbed the walls of my bathroom. I scrubbed the mold off my floor. I even scrubbed myself (because it was 9 o clock, and time to take a shower).

This morning, my shoes were mold free. I felt like I had tamed the beast.

But for how long?