Progress YES!!!! Inconvenience NO!!!!

Here it is 5:00 in the morning and I've not being able to sleep due to all the construction noise behind us. I've been laying in bed for hours hoping to fall asleep but with the constant sound of a large drill squeaking and pounding the earth, that's not going to happen. On top of the noise, I've also been brewing about an anonymous comment made on my post about the construction here in Shekou. I was pretty pissed off because this person made a comment about how in this country all the construction is called progress and that the foreigners here don't want to see the Chinese people progress. They stated that the foreigners all want the Chinese people to continue being poor and living in their poor houses. THAT IS ABSURD!!!!! Are you serious? You think we are so racist that we would want to see a society not progress and continue living in a poor state? That really pissed me off!

The purpose of my post was to inform our family and friends what our life has become here in China. We have lived here for three years and have seen quite a lot of change which is great, but the annoying part is the lack of consideration for others and how their actions effect others. When we first lived here we had to endure the subway construction and constant blasting behind our first home. We moved after that first year to what we thought was a quieter place and it was until a few months ago when all the construction started. We literally live right in the middle of all the construction in Seaworld. What used to be a pleasant quiet view of the ship and driving range out our bedroom and living room windows, has been replaced with a warzone. Every night we are "serenaded" with the sounds of heavy machinery (like the drill that is keeping me awake tonight), trucks driving in and out being loaded with all the debris, and just noise. It all is within meters of our home. This goes on all night long and I mean ALL NIGHT. The other night along with the trucks and drill, they started destroying a small guard shack right out our window with a jack hammer at midnight. It wasn't just a small hand jack hammer, it was a large jack hammer attached to a caterpillar bull dozer. No consideration for the people trying to sleep only meters away. Like I said this was only meters away from our bedroom balcony. They were so close that we were able to yell at them to where they could hear. Gavin, Jonny, Rachel, and Saren went up on our roof and starting throwing apples at them to get their attention to let them know that there are people trying to sleep here. It was midnight and they felt it was ok to wake everyone up so that they could tear down a small building. That couldn't wait until the next morning? That's the type of inconsideration of others that is really annoying. They are so focused on getting their job done that they don't think of others. I don't mind the working seven days a week for long hours but not at 4:00 in the morning.

Yes I want to see progress but not at the expense of safety for others. Unlike many foreigners here, we don't have a personal driver at our beckon call to drive us where we want to go or a car, so we have to walk everywhere. The pictures I posted were to show what I have had to walk through with my six year old daughter to get to school that is only a few blocks away from our home. It is extremely unsafe and again, no consideration of others. No safety precautions taken to ensure the safety of people who have to get around it. The open trenches, piles of bricks, dirt, machinery was not a safe environment for anyone let alone children. Instead of thinking of others and providing an alternative route, they expect us to either just walk over the open trenches and debris or out into a busy street with traffic. We have had several kids at school who have been hurt just walking along the sidewalk trying to get to school. I personally have fallen several feet through a thin piece of plywood placed over an open hole. My entire leg fell into the hole up to my thigh. I was very lucky that I only walked away with a bruise and scratch. No consideration for the safety of others, that's my complaint.

I probably wouldn't be so upset if I lived in the plush Jing Shen houses, Coastal Rose, or Peninsula apartments, but we don't. Our school won't pay for those places so I'm stuck right in the middle of construction with inconsiderate people and have to walk and live in an unsafe environment.

Progress is great. Of course I want to see this society excel and yes it will look nicer when completed but it doesn't have to be at the expense of people's safety and health (such as the lack of sleep).

He also said that the foreigners want everything perfect with their maids and easy living. Obviously this person does not know me at all. I would happily give up my Ayi if I had another option for daycare for my daughter. My husband and I both work long hours and need someone to pick up our six year old daughter from school everyday. If I didn't need that service, I would probably not have a maid at all. She is a very nice reliable person but I could easily do without poor laundry and cleaning skills. No matter how many times I have tried to explain not to soak our socks in bleach, she continues to do so to the point that the elastic is ruined and my socks are now twice the original size. She once used so much bleach on a pair of my white pants that they literally fell apart and disintegrated while I was wearing them at work. Fortunately it was only at my knees. That would have been rather embarrassing to have my pants fall apart in other areas. She insists on using tons of bleach in our laundry and has ruined numerous items of clothing but won't use bleach to clean the mold out of our showers. The numerous complaints from my husband about his basketball shirts smelling like poo because our Ayi doesn't use enough soap in the laundry are easily things I could give up, but like I said she does provide a service of caring for our daughter which is the main reason we have kept her around.

and the easy living? Where is that? My life here is way more difficult than back in the states. Maybe some foreigners enjoy the easy life but not us. I have to shop everyday to keep just a small amount of food in our house for my family and without a driver or car, I have to physically carry it home. This has totally messed up my shoulder again by having to carry large bags of groceries home everyday. And the hassle to get anything done here can make a normal person crazy. Just the simple task of trying to buy decent shampoo and conditioner becomes a two hour ordeal with either riding a public bus or taking a taxi to Walmart. The other day Gavin and I were trying to purchase Ipads for prizes for the school science fair. What would have been maybe an hour task back home, if even that because we could have ordered them online and had them delivered to our house, was a whole day of endless hassles here. We left our home at 10:30 in the morning to go to Hong Kong. Three hours later after having to take a taxi and wait in lines to cross the border for an hour and half then sitting on a bus for another hour, we finally made it to an electronics store in the mall to only find out that they were sold out of the ones we wanted. We checked several other places, and they were all sold out. Eight hours later we returned home empty handed. Everything here is a hassle. Easy living? NOT!!!!!!

I blog to inform my family and friends about our life here in China and I don't appreciate ignorant anonymous comments, so please unless you really know me and our situation and have something positive and kind to say, keep your comments to yourself.

It is now 6:00 in the morning and I have to start another day with little or no sleep due to the lack of consideration of others. I have every right to be pissed off and upset. No sleep makes a very bitter and angry me. Look out world because this seems to be my life for the next few months and I'm not going to be happy about it.