There are things kids find scarier than cicadas.
For example, a praying mantis:
Bugs have never weirded me out, but even if you are a bit scared of bugs, how can you not think a mantis is anything but cool?I found this one hanging out in the stairwell at work tonight, and promptly scooped it up to take it on a tour of the building. I showed it to the kid who brought the cicadas in, and he liked it. Most of the students (and some of the teachers) freaked over the mantis even more than they had over the cicadas.
After I showed it to a few classes, I took it into the office so I could get a good picture of it. I set it down on my bookbag and moved to grab my camera.
It seized the opportunity to make a break for freedom.
Of course, the door was closed and it just buzzed around the room, sending the Korean teachers (all female) into a tizzy. It landed on some shelves across the room from me and I moved in to snap the pic there. (Gotta love a lens with a good macro!)Once that was done I took it around to a few more classes, to the delight of some and disgust of others, then set it outside on a windowsill in the stairwell where I’d found it. Hopefully it’s off somewhere safe from kids (and people like me), settling in for an evening of hunting or sleeping – or whatever it is mantises do at night.
I thought it was pretty cool, since I hadn’t seen a mantis in a long time, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in Korea before.
But I do wonder what it thought of the whole experience.