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.
Showing posts with label noise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label noise. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 7 December 2009
My Canadian AM alarm clock won't turn off
I still have a noisy neighbour. After a week or two of relative peace and quiet last night saw a return to my megaphone voiced Canadian neighbour's usual ways. This girl is incapable of speaking in a normal voice. Is it possible she is part deaf? I feel sorry for her boyfriend. I'd hate to hear her shouting. Does this woman snore? Heaven forbid. I wonder how her students or co-workers view her. It's like living next to an amplifier.
Last night she was on the phone for well over two hours (no crime, obviously). How do I know? because I head most of her conversation. At five in the morning. It was that loud. I assume she used a telephone though she could probably be heard in Vancouver without one. One thing I don't understand is how can the people in the other apartments not hear her and why are they not complaining like I am? I should be moving out in about two weeks. It may be time to use the ear plugs.
Last night she was on the phone for well over two hours (no crime, obviously). How do I know? because I head most of her conversation. At five in the morning. It was that loud. I assume she used a telephone though she could probably be heard in Vancouver without one. One thing I don't understand is how can the people in the other apartments not hear her and why are they not complaining like I am? I should be moving out in about two weeks. It may be time to use the ear plugs.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
The sound of Korean Summers
It is unmistakable and unavoidable. It is hypnotic and suffocating. It is the sound of Summer in Korea. It is cicadas, cicadas and even more cicadas. If you have ever visited Korea during the Summer time then you must have heard that noise. If not, then the best way to describe it is similar to electricity power lines crackling with power. Buzzing, alive and unnerving, the sound ripples through the daytime on this peninsula. Here is a video clip where I hope the sound gives a brief impression of what it's like here during the Summer months.
Summer is at a close and the seasons are changing but the noise can still be heard sometimes during the day, especially when you are close to some trees. You will hear a loud electrical kind of sound coming out of nowhere. The noise then moves to another set of trees, then to another and goes on and on. This is the true sound of Summer in Korea to me. Not children playing in the streets. Not fruit selling men driving trucks early in the morning. But cicadas. When I first came to Korea in 2005 I knew little about the many things that lay in store for me and naturally I had never heard of cicadas. I look forward to the future where I never hear them again because the sound is most unnatural. I know I won't be hearing them back in England. Anyway, I tried, unsuccessfully (despite their size) to take a decent picture of a cicada. Here is my attempt.
Summer is at a close and the seasons are changing but the noise can still be heard sometimes during the day, especially when you are close to some trees. You will hear a loud electrical kind of sound coming out of nowhere. The noise then moves to another set of trees, then to another and goes on and on. This is the true sound of Summer in Korea to me. Not children playing in the streets. Not fruit selling men driving trucks early in the morning. But cicadas. When I first came to Korea in 2005 I knew little about the many things that lay in store for me and naturally I had never heard of cicadas. I look forward to the future where I never hear them again because the sound is most unnatural. I know I won't be hearing them back in England. Anyway, I tried, unsuccessfully (despite their size) to take a decent picture of a cicada. Here is my attempt.
Monday, 31 August 2009
Something in the air
Am I imagining things or have the last few weeks been a cacophony of noise in the mornings? The novelty of change has become the sad inevitability of planes flying overhead virtually every morning out here in Daegu. In about three and a half years here, the last few weeks have been vastly different from previous times. I don't know what is going on. Has there been a new air base developed? I don't know the answer but I cannot help get the feeling that someone is preparing for something. Daegu has an airport and I can safely say that the noise is not coming from commercial airline flights. I wonder if this is happening just in Daegu or other parts of Korea.
Thursday, 25 June 2009
A room with(out) a view: ESL life in Korea
The exciting day to day life of an ESL teacher in Korea whilst at 'home'.
There are no bars on my prison here, but I'd hazard a guess that the view from a Strangeways prison cell is better than the one I am faced with. There is also precious little sunlight at times given my present surroundings, leaving my home here dark quite often and making me feel like someone in the Taliban hiding in a cave in Pakistan or Afghanistan. The pictures here contradict those thoughts but are taken at noon in Summer with sunlight especially strong.
The view from my bedroom window. A delicious shade of faded grey/white with the added bonus of being able to see someone else's window
A side view from my bedroom window. Can you see how close four buildings are together?
Different side view from my bedroom window, with more buildings.
Here is the view from my kitchen window, much better than from my bedroom. As you can see I am facing another apartment, this time with the added bonus of seeing someone else's room - they can see me too.
A side view from the kitchen. not too much to see.
Finally something to actually see. Some remnants of plant life (a rarity in Korean surroundings) and also the street.
The walls in my apartment building here appear to be paper thin. You can hear almost anything. Other buildings where I live are so close together that you can here what everyone else is doing too. Right now we are in the midst of Summer heat so most people leave their windows open which exacerbates the problem. I often listen to music on my computer which to me is not loud at all but when heard from outside is clearly audible. I haven't had any complaints so far but that's probably because of the noise coming from everywhere else.
Babies screaming, doors slamming, children yelling, people jumping up and down the stairs of the apartment building, people having showers, people crying, drunken men shouting at their wives, pianos and recorders playing in the day time, men hoiking up phlegm and spitting, grown men shouting over alcohol, airplanes flying overhead, sirens that sound like the four minute warning and continue to disturb me, vans selling fruit and vegetables that carry loudspeakers blaring out messages and many many more sounds that I hear at various times of the day and night in my apartment. My current 'favourite' is the religious types who knock on peoples doors and then ask for some water, then try to stay in the apartment. This is life in Korea.
There are no bars on my prison here, but I'd hazard a guess that the view from a Strangeways prison cell is better than the one I am faced with. There is also precious little sunlight at times given my present surroundings, leaving my home here dark quite often and making me feel like someone in the Taliban hiding in a cave in Pakistan or Afghanistan. The pictures here contradict those thoughts but are taken at noon in Summer with sunlight especially strong.
The view from my bedroom window. A delicious shade of faded grey/white with the added bonus of being able to see someone else's window
A side view from my bedroom window. Can you see how close four buildings are together?
Different side view from my bedroom window, with more buildings.
Here is the view from my kitchen window, much better than from my bedroom. As you can see I am facing another apartment, this time with the added bonus of seeing someone else's room - they can see me too.
A side view from the kitchen. not too much to see.
Finally something to actually see. Some remnants of plant life (a rarity in Korean surroundings) and also the street.
The walls in my apartment building here appear to be paper thin. You can hear almost anything. Other buildings where I live are so close together that you can here what everyone else is doing too. Right now we are in the midst of Summer heat so most people leave their windows open which exacerbates the problem. I often listen to music on my computer which to me is not loud at all but when heard from outside is clearly audible. I haven't had any complaints so far but that's probably because of the noise coming from everywhere else.
Babies screaming, doors slamming, children yelling, people jumping up and down the stairs of the apartment building, people having showers, people crying, drunken men shouting at their wives, pianos and recorders playing in the day time, men hoiking up phlegm and spitting, grown men shouting over alcohol, airplanes flying overhead, sirens that sound like the four minute warning and continue to disturb me, vans selling fruit and vegetables that carry loudspeakers blaring out messages and many many more sounds that I hear at various times of the day and night in my apartment. My current 'favourite' is the religious types who knock on peoples doors and then ask for some water, then try to stay in the apartment. This is life in Korea.
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
The luxury of hearing not so random noises
Unless I am having very lucid recurring dreams, something keeps waking me up on weekdays from about 9-10am. The reasons vary from day to day but it's either a very noisy kid jumping or shouting his way up and down the stairs, someone talking excessively loud on their mobile phone, very loud shoes or a ghost that likes waking me up. It's not every day but it is proving impossible for me not to shout "shut up" - the noise is that loud. It's not a big deal but something I could do without.
Some of my co-workers have it far worse than me. One couple lives above a piano school. It's very loud when they get going and that's from just listening outside. I can only imagine what its like having to put up with that. Another person I work with is being harassed by people in his apartment building where anytime he makes a sound they are on his back, threatening him with being evicted. This has never happened to me during my three years here. Where I am now I can play music or have the TV on as loud as I want and nobody complains. Perhaps it is me who is disturbing other people.
When I worked at my previous academy I lived on the 1st floor and heard a lot more noises than I do these days tucked 'safely' away on floor two. At various times of the morning I would hear or be woken up by men selling fruit, usually oranges. They would never knock on your door and you hardly ever saw them but you knew they were there because of the outrageously loud noise of the speaker on their truck which relayed the same message over and over again. Very Korean and something most foreigners will have experienced during their time here.
Looking back at my life before I came to Korea I always woke up before 9am, even when I was a student. I'm also a light sleeper. Once I'm up, I'm awake for a long time. I always had something to get up for, but these days there are still large holes in the daytime that I struggle to fill. Waiting for the clock to reach work time. I'm lucky to be in the situation where I don't have to get up until I want to. Some kind of luxury which I don't always appreciate. I wonder what it will be like for me when I return home. Will I be able to cope with the return to normality?
Some of my co-workers have it far worse than me. One couple lives above a piano school. It's very loud when they get going and that's from just listening outside. I can only imagine what its like having to put up with that. Another person I work with is being harassed by people in his apartment building where anytime he makes a sound they are on his back, threatening him with being evicted. This has never happened to me during my three years here. Where I am now I can play music or have the TV on as loud as I want and nobody complains. Perhaps it is me who is disturbing other people.
When I worked at my previous academy I lived on the 1st floor and heard a lot more noises than I do these days tucked 'safely' away on floor two. At various times of the morning I would hear or be woken up by men selling fruit, usually oranges. They would never knock on your door and you hardly ever saw them but you knew they were there because of the outrageously loud noise of the speaker on their truck which relayed the same message over and over again. Very Korean and something most foreigners will have experienced during their time here.
Looking back at my life before I came to Korea I always woke up before 9am, even when I was a student. I'm also a light sleeper. Once I'm up, I'm awake for a long time. I always had something to get up for, but these days there are still large holes in the daytime that I struggle to fill. Waiting for the clock to reach work time. I'm lucky to be in the situation where I don't have to get up until I want to. Some kind of luxury which I don't always appreciate. I wonder what it will be like for me when I return home. Will I be able to cope with the return to normality?
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