My first ghastly contact with a bug was the tick, or die Zecke. A week before the incident I'd been given a handout at Kindergarten about forest school and deciphered enough to see advice to check my child for ticks after each forest school day. I brushed it off as something similar to hair nits in English schools - vulgar but rampant.
And then we found one clinging to the top of my 7-year-old daughter's leg after a visit to Zurichhorn Park in the city of Zurich. So I Googled it. And how scared was I! This little suckers can carry Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) or Lyme Disease - both which can be pretty nasty. I spent a few restless nights after this but we passed the two week mark unscathed (thank God) And we soon got our youngest two daughters, who regularly go to the forest as part of their school day, vaccinated. However, the vaccination is THREE JABS! The second, a month after the first and the third a year later. But I feel I can relax about them - we just need ours sorting out now!
The second contact we had with Swiss bugs was the Swiss mosquito which we encountered as soon as we moved here during last year's ultra mild October - my 4-year-old with her legs covered in bites (bedroom plug-in repellent now installed)
And now my poor hubbie is plagued by horse fly bites - three in as many weeks. Those things are pure evil - and like the mosquito, it's the female who is the bloodsucker, needing to gorge before she reproduces!
And then there are all the other outlandish bugs which are just slightly un-nerving...see the latest to land on my kitchen window at sunrise below.
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