Job Discussion Forums

[7969]

i live about 15 metres away from a set of basketball courts (about 8 of them). during the weekend there's basketball being played from 6 am till 9 or 10 pm. dribbling and bouncing of balls (and associated screaming and shouting) non-stop every saturday and sunday. sleep after 6 am on the weekend is impossible. i mentioned this to the school by email two weeks ago and they promised to talk to the security guards (whose post is about 100 metres from the basketball courts) to see if they could prevent basketball from being played until a more decent hour. so far, no reply and no change in the situation. the basketball continues unabated. further, it seems that most of the guys playing basketball on weekends arent even students at this university. they're middle school kids, most of them (so it seems).

its not easy to sleep in during the week on my days off, there's the national anthem, early morning announcements on loudspeakers, basketball during the week early in the mornings on occasion, and students reciting text outside my bedroom window.

i'm just wondering what i could or should do if the school cant fix this problem. its surely within the power of the security guards to just prohibit basketball until 8 or 9 am on weekends. anyone else in a similar boat? i'm simply not getting enough sleep here and i am not a happy camper.

i've just emailed the FAO once more to see if anything will be done.

i should mention that three weeks ago, i played my music rather loud in my flat on a saturday night while drinking some beer. the following day, there was an anonymous note on my door asking me not to do that again. i complied since it seemed the civilized thing to do.

7969

[vikdk]

[Shan-Shan]

It's basketball -- the life force of Chinese men. A riot would likely ensue should the guards attempt to restrict this sole outlet of manly competition. Basketball is their soma, it well ventilates all the frustrations and worries that accompany possessing average Chinese citizenship.

[Lhorde]

[Steppenwolf]

Learn from the Chinese - they are, after all, your bosses...
Sleep after lunch during what's called 'siesta time' or 'nap time'. And sleep a lot during class.
I don't know when else you could or should sleep!

[kev7161]

Let's see - - water balloons on a cold Saturday morning might be a deterrent. Ear plugs as suggested. Move to a higher floor? My guess is that the group that plays at 6AM is the same group every week. You might try and reason with them. If that doesn't work, get up at 5:45 and do some Tai Chi or something - - when they arrive, they'll have to wait until you're finished . . . two hours later!

Okay, some of these aren't reasonable suggestions, but if you want to fix this problem, you are going to have to do more than send an email. You are going to have to physically go to the guard's office, get them to come with you, and tell the guys to stop FRAKKIN' playing basketball at 6AM!!!! Is this court enclosed/locked up? (probably not) If it is, buy a padlock and chain and close that sucker up yourself. Get a Chinese person to make a sign posting the "new" hours of 9AM to 6PM.

[7969]

hahahaha well after some brief conversations with some chinese "friends", i'm a troublemaker for playing loud music (even though i relented to the request to turn it down) but those kids playing basketball (louder and more annoying than my music i should say) are only out for a good time and they need their exercise at 6 am. since most chinese think alike, it would seem that there will be no favourable outcome here..... maybe bigger speakers are in order now. if you cant beat 'em, just take revenge i guess LOL

[adamsmith]

Go with the bigger speakers, blast out some good classical music and lest I forget - make sure you acompany it with a beautiful and extremely noisy fireworks display (beginning at about midnight and going on until about 3 AM. Then your neighbors can go complain about the basketball because they will also want to sleep in.
If anyone complains - just tell them you are preparing for your new years celebration as it is your custom.

[johnchina]

Hey you, foreigner person! Shut up about China pee-poo play national song in early of the morning! China national song very important for China pee-poo! you no like, you go home!

As for basketball, we China pee-poo will defeat you A-may-wee-kans in super fantastic Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, so then you will know our power! Yes! We China pee-poo know must prepare, not like lazy A-may-wee-kans pee-poo! You just jealous bee-coz China pee-poo gonna beat your whoopee asses!

Anyway, foreigner friend, you also very noisy pee-poo person. I used lived next to foreigner friend. Every Friday and Saturday night him have big religion party in room! Bloody noisy, I am tell you! All night, some girl scream "Oh my God, yes!" I fink she maybe influenced of the very naughty Falun Gong. you bring despair to glorious nation of 5000 years history China!

[Francois]

That's funny!

[ghost]

Sorry, but your request to stop the students from playing basketball at 6am will be met with deaf ears......why? because that is the way things are in China, and we don't have the power to change that.....and actually, the culture there does not go by the same western logic that we go with....in fact many of the people playing basketball at that hour will consider your request bizarre, because they (the Chinese) are, in general, immunized to noise pollution, and they simply do not understand our (western) bias to noise pollution, and privacy and many other things.....

One feels a lot of sympathy for you, but you have to understand that it would be unreasonable for us (foreigners) to ask them to change an integral part (established) of their life style....it just doesn't work.

In 2005-2006 ghost lived near Taichung, Taiwan, and the flat where ghost lived overlooked a bar/restaurant where Taiwanese taxi drivers and other workers would gather to eat, drink beer and sing until the wee hours of the morning (often till about 2-3am on weekends) it was impossible to sleep, but the day ghost realized that the situation could not be controlled, it (ghost) started to sleep, despite the noise....in the end you have to change your mind set, and not get annoyed by the noise....the day you accept it, you will be able to sleep through it.....irritating as it might seem initially.

ghost

[TravellingAround]

Don't mean to be rude but I don't see why students should have to rearrange playing basketball just because you are a lazy pisshead. Hey...I'm a lazy pisshead too but come on!

Had the same situation myself with all the bells and whistles at an ungodly hour but I just got on with it as I had no excuse not to. Bloody annoying but who am I to tell the world what to do?

If you don't like it then leave, as that's campus life.

[jg]

The courts were there when you moved in? Well... students need an outlet, and their playing early isn't such a big deal - thats what kids do. They may have classes or mandatory study halls later on in the day, and that is the only time they can exercise or do something together. God knows the kids in China need more time for exercise and play.

Why not try to ignore it? Would you really feel good about stopping the enjoyment of many kids just for one persons contentment? Thats a community.

[7969]

well, have to say i disagree with some of you.

first of all, most of the people using these courts on weekends arent even students at this university, so i dont know what gives them the right to be here at all, let alone at that hour. i work here, so i should be entitled to a decent sleep, and not suffer at the hands of some peons who troll in to play basketball on weekends. in fact, i dont care who uses them, the hours of use are the problem.

second, the school in their email reply to indicated that they felt i should be entitled to some sleep on the weekends. they just didnt bother to do anything about it. they could offer me another apartment, i'm the only FT currently living on this side of campus. the other three live a 20 minute walk from here. but so far the school hasnt said anything else on the matter.

third, true, the courts were here when i moved in, and i've lived near basketball courts before in china, this is the first time i've ever seen them used at 6 am (and on a few occasions before that hour).

you learn something new at every job you take (this is my fourth job in china now). just when you think you've got all the bases covered at a new place of residence thanks to past experiences, something else pops up that you never thought to anticipate.

lest anyone think i'm new to this china experience, i'm not. at my last job in zhengzhou, there was a major construction site, five apartment towers going up right outside my balcony. that was actually easier to deal with than this, as those workers stopped at 8 pm and didnt begin their work till 7:30 the following day. i learned long ago that chinese people dont care about this type of thing and i dont expect anything to change. i'm just trying to find out if anyone else had the same problem and how they dealt with it. not all problems are the same and not all have the same solution.

[TravellingAround]

Is there anything so outrageous that going to bed earlier wouldn't solve?