More apartment news...

Quick update on the raging battle that I have begun to call "home."
I thought I was winning the battle with the cockroaches. Then last week, a nest hatched. I killed many fierce beasts last Monday armed with toilet paper and cockroach goop. I lost track after twenty. I am rethinking the notches on the wall to claim my victories. Since then, I have seen a couple of dead babies (I sprayed a bunch of goop where I assume the nest was) and one other random bug that I have lumped into the cochroach umbrella but probably is a different species than the cockroachia obnoxnia.
And of course, the mold. I thought this was gone. The stuff in my bathroom is under control, so I thought everything was sort of okay. Every once in a while, though, I catch a smell of something a little fungal. On Saturday, when the new teacher and her boyfriend were over, I mentioned this to them. He lifted a place in the laminate floors. Mold everywhere. He recommended I ignore it and get some room fresheners. Sigh. I have some scented candles and lots of bleach.
The new thing. One of the other teachers told me that he had rats in his apartment last spring. I quickly discarded this idea: I keep my windows closed when I'm not here, don't keep my window open, etc. No, Andre says. In the subfloor under our building is a great place for little critters. They can get through the cracks in the tiles in our entryways.
Gasp, sigh, and scramble to look at it. He's right. I have a hole into the ground. I didn't know what else to do, so I taped some cardboard in front of it. At least if it moves, I will know to look for trouble.
And the saga continues....