Context

I’ve been complaining about the excessive noise in our building since I arrived here from my brief stay in the solitude of Clyde River, where the only noise I can imagine would be foxes rustling the leaves.

These complaints are in part due to contrast, when you go from dead silence to a neighbour out of the blue whooping and hollering, or loud socializing that can seemingly occur at any time of day or night, its far more noticeable than the constant din of big city traffic. Yes I have problem neighbours. Looking at this through a different lens, they perhaps lead a life as it should be lived. They don’t seem to work much, they love to live life with a boisterousness that we didn’t ever see in Taiwan, and they constantly socialize. We are polar opposites; we are quiet, reserved, and try to emulate the work ethic we experienced in China and Taiwan. As such there is bound to be conflict.

My wife tries to bring me a little perspective, reminding of the problems we faced in Hsinchu. So in the context of the recordings below – we truly live in paradise.

I constantly wear earplugs these days (which I resent) and I find it smooths out the rough edges. But no ear plug that I have heard of could alleviate the deafening noise that was experienced in the recordings above.