So at about 8am EVERY morning, we have several lovely friends downstairs who love to give us a wake up call! And if that doesn't wake us up, our neighbor will play some traditional Chinese instruments on his back porch, which is right next to us.
The very first day we thought the sound of the instrument was really cool, but it is serving us now as a way to ensure that we never sleep in. (At least I get up early now every morning and get work done I suppose. :)
We are guessing that the neighbor keeps them for eggs. We haven't seen any other people keeps chickens anymore. That must have been more common longer ago. Every day that I see them, they do look more and more appealing to eat! Especially since they love to squawk every morning! Maybe he will have a Thanksgiving feast with them! The demise of the chicken! No, it's creating memories for us here.
We have tried to talk with our neighbor from the very limited amount of Chinese that we know, but we think that he may only speak in the Changsha dialect here because he hasn't seemed to really understand what we have been saying to him.
The wife though, (I don't know if Lisa shared this story yet,) one time led us all the way down the hill from our apartment in the search for water. We had run out of drinking water and did not know how to order more. She just put on her slippers and away we went down the hill looking for the water guy!
And, as far as pets, there are also some kittens nearby as well. Although, haha, I have to be careful at night-time with those little suckers! There is a green plastic trashcan that people all put their trash in for collection and those cats like to go in there and rummage around for food. One time I was coming up the hill and passing nearby it, when a cat jumped out right in front of me and scampered away! Now I always kind of clap or make some sort of noise if I am passing by it.
And speaking of cats, one of them REALLY frightened me at night. I was walking up the stairs to our second floor apartment, (which can be very poorly lit at night) when I saw this large shadow coming down the steps toward me! I couldn't see much of anything and taught that it was a rat because all I saw was black! It then leapt towards me, landed on the window sill right beside me, and then bounded to the left and down the stairs! I shouted in surprise so loud that Lisa came to the door to check on me!
The lights in the hallway are activated by noise! Sort of like clap on, clap offs! But for some reason, the walk to our apartment is pretty dark with poor lighting. Also, our particular hallway lights can be very dim at times. I think the cat fixed it that way for that particular night! Getting me ready for Halloween huh? :) -Shane
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