Korean Job Discussion Forums

[coffeeman]

Hum, blah, blah, blah! Stomp, stomp, stomp... Hum, blah, blah, blah! Those are the sounds of the hum and muffled voices coming from someone's TV set in my building. I can't place where the noises are coming from, the apartment beside me or the one above me. I hear that stomp of the idiot upstairs. Welcome to my villa apartment. I know I probably shouldn't complanin because, after all, it's "free", but... Do you have to put up with similar crap at 1am? This apartment is occupied by many university students. Who else but university students and foreign English teachers (who don't know any better) would live here?

Who's at fault, the tenants or the genius who designed this place (really poor sound-proofing! It's pretty bad when people talking in the hall sound like they're right inside your room)? Would you / have you complained about noise problems to your school or building manager?

[thorin]

How many cups of coffee have you had today?

[peppermint]

Worse. I've lived next door to a church for two years. One that has very long services at odd hours of the night, and is inordinately fond of their loudspeakers. How exactly do you complain to the boss about a church?!!!

[the eye]

My first villa in daegu was in an area concentrated with bars and room salons behind the Arianna Hotel. Two of the city's finest (read opposite) hostesses shared the studio next to me.

Every night at 4am, i awoke to their high heels cracking on the steps. They may as well have been doing a tap dance on my ear drums.
Even though we'd never met, and i'd never even seen their faces, they made a point of being ever-so-kind by pounding their fists on my door and shouting random, incoherent words. I was delighted to be able to make out that long, drawn-out, biatchy 'halllloooow!!!!' They managed to rreally nail the pronounciation on that one.
Did i mention this was at 4am?
They were always heavily sauced, and the whole thing became old very quickly.

After about a week of the nuisance i got myself an effective drunk bitch repellant. It was a simple glass of cold water which i kept by the door. Next night, they were drenched in mid-slurred-syllable.
I'm smiling now, as i think of them standing there, mouths wide open, eyes unfocused and glossed over, hands caught striking through the empty space where the door had just been pulled open.

I slept very soundly that night.....After they called the cops on me, that is.

And now, my current place is under what must be the first WWE husband and wife pro wraaaastlin duo. They have furniture throwing, body slamming fights almost once a month. They have loud arguments much more often.
If i'm really lucky, they have sex on the floor above my bed once in a while. If my window, and their window is open, i get to hear his grunting in stereo.
But the show ain't over until the last intermittant dribble of pee stops tinkling in the toilet above. It's so clear, ahhk. Then, it's my chance to enjoy a bit of silence until the veggie trucks come by in the morning....or the dogs in the yard outside my window start their desperate howling at passers by.

Oh, yeah. And there was that night when another tenant in the building wouldn't open his door to his mother, or wife, or god knows who. This was another post midnight ordeal. She pounded that door, screaming and crying for at least 3 straight hours until someone called the cops. The first hint of dawn was showing. I remember that well, too.
Then it took the cops another 30 minutes to get her to shut up. Of course they also had to pound on the guys door to see what was up with him not lettin in old mom...or maybe it was his gramma. It's so hard to tell because they all wear the same perms, carry the same stocky shape, and cackle like chickens. That guy never did open the door, even for the cops.

[coffeeman]

The Eye, I am sorry to hear your story. But I love your creativity with the water - non-violent, but very effective. Man! Korea will certainly try your patience at times. I think that when I go home someday, I'll have developed a level of patience that will impress most people back home.

[Hollywoodaction]

[SPINOZA]

As happy as I am in Seoul, I must confess it's the noisiest place in the whole world.

[jaganath69]

But clean. That makes you happy, no?

[bestyoucanget]

i understand mate.............we got idiots above us............thump thump thump.........we compained to the 89 yr old "security" grand dad..........he called them...........then the guy came down and blasted us for ringing the card board security on us...........

i spoke my very best korean swear words.............nice and clear so he didnt think i was speaking japanese............

no problems now.

[Hollywoodaction]

[I_Am_Wrong]

I'm sorry to hear about your problem. It seems to be a very common problem. I used to have this girl living next to me that was terrible. Her and whoever visited her would alway always slam the door. They would slam it multiple times throughout the night...2 am....4 am...etc. She would slam it so hard that my entire room would shake.

You could try earplugs...of you could try yelling "ya choyoonehay" (worst romanisation ever). Or find out what room it is, get a co-worker to right a note about it in Korean, and give it to the building manager.

In my new building there are a couple university age guys who live down the hall from me. One night they were extremely loud in the hallway and woke me up (I was wearing earplugs). I went out into the hallway and yelled "
ya choyoonehay" at them. They looked at me with a blank expression so I showed my fist towards him and then made the classic Bruce Lee "I will kill you" motion across the neck. It's been dead quiet since...

[coffeeman]

[quote="I_Am_Wrong"

You could try earplugs.....[/quote]

Yep. Got 'em. They're a necessity in this damn country. In addition to my own country, I've lived in Japan. Never needed ear plugs before Korea.

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

[mindmetoo]

I love when my neighbor had 4 small yappy dogs in his little apartment. He'd regularly come home at 3 am drunk and the dogs would all go off at once. He knew there was another human living next door. Did it ever occur to him that might be a bother? Happiest day of my life in Korea was when he finally moved. Who keeps 4 dogs in a small apartment in Korea?

Sometimes during the day the dogs would all start howling. Actually it wasn't even howling. It was a sound like.... imaging his apartment is on fire. The dogs are in a corner, surrounded by flame, and their little dog brains know there is no escape possible. The only thing they have left is to make a horrible horrible noise. That's the noise these dogs would make.

If I could have slipped poison meat through his little newspaper door, I probably would have.

[mindmetoo]