locusts

No, not my students. I saw the world's biggest grasshopper ever, today. It was dead on the ground, missing a leg, but regardless the body was a good three inches long and an inch wide. I mentioned it to one of my kids, and she told this fabulous story about a similar animal. She and her family were driving along the highway, and one alighted on the windshield. Her father, the driver, wanted a closer look so he opened the window, stuck his hand out and grabbed it, bringing it into the car. He had one hand on the steering wheel and another in a fist with the grasshopper in it, and tried to hand it to another family member to hold onto it until they got home. His wife shrieked and slapped at it, and it flew back toward him. Its head came off when she hit it, but the nerves were still going, so the head and the body were jumping around, separately. I guess it's kind of the Taiwanese version of running around like a chicken with its head cut off.