Neighbour departs

It would seem that out neighbours have got rid of their dog. Either that or the dog has passed away but I think the former is more likely. We suddenly noticed one day that we couldn't hear it when we expected to - i.e. all the time. I can't say I will miss it. It was no fun to be woken up early on Sundays and to put up with it's barking for eight hours or so.

Korean housing does not lend itself to noisy pets. Here, apartments or so called 'villas' are boxed together tightly and their is very little space between buildings. You can hear pretty much everything the neighbour does if they are a little loud so having a dog that yaps a lot can be a big distraction for people. I think the kids next door will miss the dog but certainly not us but I wonder what actually made them offload their pet.

Buddha's Birthday hot dog

Another day and another National holiday here in Korea (Buddha's Birthday) so that means I'm working again and the kids at my academy will not be up for doing much in the classroom. Anyway, it's 32°C outside right now and my neighbours are dumb. They have a dog which to be fair has not been yapping so much lately and they've taken it outside to play with it. Their son has a bike with a basket at the front and they've put the dog in it so he can ride around with it. Fingers crossed this little boy does not fall off his bike like kids often do, eh. Oh and they've just wrapped the dog in a blanket. Do they serious think this is a good idea for the dog in this heat? Sometimes I cannot believe what I'm seeing. Poor dog.

Small mercies

And now the noise has stopped. So today the dog was only barking (intermittently) for six hours and not the customary Sunday figure of nine. It's 2:30pm and it's owners have come back from a day at church or whatever they've been doing.

I repeat my stance, If I had a gun I would seriously consider shooting that little fella' and then make some dog soup, or some mittens. I like dogs just not ones that wake me up at 8am on Sunday morning because its owners neglect to take it with them when they go out for long spells.

Even though being woken up so early on a weekend annoys me I still prefer it to the noise machine who used to live across from me in my previous apartment. Waking up early is not the end of the world especially if I've had a decent nights sleep - it's beats not being able to sleep at 3am.

Yap yap yap

It is 8:30am on Sunday morning and I am fully awake as I have been for thirty minutes. Next door neighbours dog woke me up and is yapping intermittently but loudly. Last Sunday it was barking on and off for nine hours until its owners came home. There better not be a repeat of that today. As it is their kids now wake me up every week day at 8:20 as they go to school. I need just a little more sleep than I am getting especially on the weekend but feel there is little I can do as my wife has already talked to the neighbours about things and dogs will bark won't they. This is what can happen when you live in a country where there is no space and people are packed in like sardines.

Dog day afternoons

One of the big reasons I changed apartment some four months or so ago was for some peace and quiet. Where I live now had no people in the building other than the landlord which was a huge bonus considering my ex-neighbour was a noise machine. I'm used to noise here with fruit sellers pumping the streets with their loudspeaker at various times of the day. I live over a piano academy and I'm OK with that and have no complaints but recently a family moved next door to me.

A family with kids - I don't mind kids, I've been teaching them for over four years. But these kids make a bit of noise like kids do (do they need to shout "Mum" when the leave and come back to their apartment so often?), and now the play recorder in the day time, badly, and sometimes wake me up in the mornings, on weekends, when I need some kip. And now they have bought a dog.

If I had a gun I would shoot that dog or be tempted too (Korea has made me a little grumpy in that respect) - and it's not even making noise all day. It's not even a real dog, it's a little yappy one that serves no purpose in life other than to yap away. Reading this anyone might think that I am neither an animal lover or a dog person but I grew up with a loveable dog in the family and like them, just not small ones that look stupid. Koreans in general just don't get the idea of pets and many mistreat their animals in some way. Why would people who live in an apartment building here keep a dog? I think my neighbours are looking after theirs so that's something good. At least it's sunny outside right now and the kids are in school.

After Dark (there is only noise)

For two years in my Daegu apartment I've had some good times. Nothing to really complain about. Sure there's been some crazy noises here and there but by and large it's been two years of trouble free peaceful living. Then a few months ago another ESL teacher moved into the building (not a co-worker). And things changed. At first there was no difference but that didn't last long. I. Have. A. Very. Noisy. Neighbour.

When I say noisy I must stress that during the daytime there is no trouble. In fact there is probably more noise coming from the music on my laptop than from her place. And then day turns to night. AM turns to PM and things often change. She has an unbelievably noisy voice, unbelievably noisy friends, makes unbelievably noisy phone calls that I cannot fail to hear, has a noisy TV and has a friend that recently knocked on her apartment for ten minutes without answer at 7am recently. But none of my Korean neighbours complain. It beggars belief. I just don't understand it.

I am a light sleeper at the best of times but when someone is so bloody noisy at 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7am AM (times I have been woken up at least ten times during the past two months) then you can't help but be extremely annoyed. Let's be honest, it's not every night and recently things have been largely pretty quiet but last night the straw broke the camels back and I had to knock on her door after being woken up at around 4am. Again. After asking for a bit of quiet things were great again. I'm sure she's a nice person but her voice is intolerably loud. I have never met someone who talks as loud as her. Perhaps she is deaf. There is a solution at hand. I'm probably going change apartment next month, fingers crossed. My noisy North American neighbour, I won't miss you.