Oh Dear God, What is That?!?!?

This is an oft' used phrase of mine here in China. Possible uses range from the more mild: piles of odd half eaten food on the sidewalk, an oddly colored pleghm puddle in the street, to the more shocking: mothers holding babies up to pee out of a little hole in their onesies...on the street, grown men pulling over in their taxis, scooters, etc to pee in a bush. Yes, I feel like I've seen it all here (although every day I discover I have nowhere near seen it all) but luckily, as described, all these "discoveries" have been on the street. Until now :( As I left my apartment yesterday I opened the door to leave and saw this in the threshold taunting me to try and cross it!
Oh dear God. What the HELL is that?!!?!? Besides the fact that I had about 129.99 pounds on it I leaped back in horror. To give some background on my bug phobia, close friends and family will know by experience, I am not the biggest lover of animals and when it comes to bugs, I would rather watch paint dry for eternity than have to touch or see them. Kafka's Metamorphosis?? Gave me nightmares for weeks. Australia??? Almost caused a separation from my roommates when I put a glass over a cockroach and left it there for days waiting for someone else to deal with it. So imagine my fear everytime someone talks of the bug culture in China and how bad it gets in the Summer. I never mentioned this before but when I arrived at my apartment that first night in February my kitchen was stocked with plates, silverware, pots, pans and RAID, as if this is a basic necessity for living in China.

Back to the creature though. It appeared to be dead and not moving for the 10 mins I stared at it while contemplating my next move. My Ayi (housekeeper) was coming the next day so I decided to leave it there and maybe she would do something about it. WELL, it was still there in the morning (thankfully not crawling around looking for my flesh to prey on) giving me some relief. BUT when I came back from class and was letting my ayi in while explaining to her (more in gestures than in words) the big insect that was living in my door jam, I discovered, to my horror, that it was gone!!!!! I quickly showed her the picture I had taken expecting her to laugh at me but she was just as horrified and then pointed to her ear as if this is where they like to hibernate. Noooooo! She then went on explaining how bad the first floor is for bugs (I know I know) and that I should move. This did not settle well AT ALL. I may shortly have a new apartment. Ughhhhhahhhlele!

I will write more on my Ayi later (and when I have a picture of her). Basically, she is my favorite person in China :)