Eight Leg-ed Fear Mongers

There's a spider in my room. I'm not afraid of spiders. In fact, I used to have a pet tarrantula. But there's something you should know about this spider. It's the first one I've seen in Xi'an. I've been here close to half a year now, and this is the first spider I've seen in the entire city. I know I arrived in the fall, but I've barely seen any other bugs for that matter. Where are they all? Are all cities like this? I'm used to the bugs of wild West Virginia, swarms of ladybugs in particular. Here in Xi'an, the biggest bug I've seen wasn't even as big as my thumbnail.

I put the spider in my room to help fight off any other bugs that might wander in and bother my plants. He's been in here a couple days now and I jsut saw him again. I like to think that we've come to an unspoken agreement of, "he doesn't bite me in my sleep, and I don't squish him to a pulp."