Noise Makers...

It really isn't the neighbors fault, I know that. I could blame it on the poor construction of our apartment building since there is not a thread of insulation in the place, but compared to other buildings ours is well made... so I best not complain about that either. I guess I am just once again suffering from my spoiled American upbringing. We never lived in an apartment building, we never had loud neighbors, our home was well insulated and we could barely hear what was going on right outside our own bedroom door. No one shot off firecrackers randomly at 5 am or 9 pm and they didn't stand outside our window and shout into their cell phone either. But that is case in point - I grew up in America and this ain't America.

Why am I rambling you wonder? Because tonight Lola, who does not go to bed well anyway, was just about to sleep when our upstairs neighbors dropped what sounded like a bowling ball on the floor above our heads. She was almost there again and a chair was dragged across the floor. Then they started jump-roping, later they were arguing... it really isn't their fault we can hear everything they do and say as though they are in our room, but really - could they just not make so much noise between 7:30 - 8? I just have to explain the insulation-less problem. Our building, like all the others here in China, is made of brick and cement. We live in a cement shell. The inside has the appearance of something else because they whitewash the wall, put tile or hardwood type floors down and decorate accordingly. But it is just cement and sound carries. At this point, I wish I had gone to loud concerts as a teenager, or walked around with those ear buds in listening to high decibel music every day. My ears were protected to my detriment. As I type, a group of people are walking home from some place - it is 9:05 pm and I can hear every word they are saying as if they were in my room. Actually if they were I would ask them to speak little more softly because it is loud even with space and walls between us.

Lord knows I love em, but I sure do live in a country full of noise makers!