Noise

Well, things have gotten a little quieter around the apartment lately because the weather has become cooler and everyone's windows are shut. Before that we could hear everything and now we just hear a lot, but tune it all out. There's the daily chatter, music, and activities of our neighbors. (There's a baby somewhere in the building and I can distinguish his middle of the night cries, "sounds fussy," "sounds mad and tired," "tonight is different--maybe he's teething," "sound like he's been woken up by the other neighbor's music") More confusing is when we hear their doorbells and telephones ringing and think they're our own! We even heard Charlie's cell phone ringing and tried to answer it, only to realize the ringing phone belonged to someone in the street below. Given that everything is built with tile and concrete, all noise is sort of echoey. Sometimes I can't even tell which room family members are in when they're calling for me. If I answer, "I'm right here!" it definitely doesn't help.

Street noises include car alarms a couple of times a week, the advertising calls of the newspaper vendor, the whistle of the knife-sharpening guy, and the screeching and ka-thunking of vehicles approaching the speed bump in front of our building too fast.

We've had countless Friday or Saturday nights that were party or concert nights. This starts at 10 to 11 o'clock and goes to at least 3 AM. There was at least one that went to 5 AM. The concerts involve an MC and applause between songs, the parties are endless dance mixes. It is so loud that it doesn't matter whether you shut the windows, wear earplugs, or take Benadryl--you can still hear it! Amazingly, I've slept through every party so far, though I did wake up to enjoy the "Grease" soundtrack, and the rest of the family is starting to not be quite so perturbed. Early on in the string of party weekends we were awakened at 3 AM by Paul. He was standing by our bed, crying out of sheer frustration and reflecting everyone else's maybe-this-is-the-last-song hopes, "I keep thinking they're stopping and then they start again!"

Since noise doesn't seem to be an issue for anyone else around here, we've done things we might have thought twice about in the States, like playing music and sermons at 6AM to help everyone wake up for school. I also let Paul and Thomas play soccer with a soft ball inside the apartment and let everyone toot endlessly on their zamponas (Peruvian pan pipes).