This morning it was 6:20 when the voices shouting from below wheeled the creaking generator (I now recognize yesterday’s heavy piece of machinery to be a generator) into the lane. Drilling commenced at 6:45. The bed is shaking. Even my teeth are thrumming. My head is completely congested, I suppose from all the fine dust that has also coated everything in the house. I’d have to say that a hotel is looking good again.
Archive for November, 2008
Rosy Fingered Dawn
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008Shake, Rattle, and Roll
Monday, November 10th, 2008Monday morning, a quiet morning. My husband is away in Beijing. I am going to stir slowly and spend the day writing.
6:45 am: Loud shouting outside. I pull the covers over my head. The shouts persist, so I give up on snoozing and go out on the balcony to have a look. The hardhat crew is heaving a heavy piece of machinery into view near the kitchen door. Not a great sign.
Sometimes I wonder why I even write this blog at all, when the photos tell it all. This is my neighbor, a couple of hours later, watching what’s going on below.
And this (taken from my kitchen door) is what she is looking at.
You’ll just have to imagine the sound effects for yourself.
A little further down the lane, they are further along with the work and are now hauling away great chunks of concrete in carts.
In the narrower places, they are using old-fashioned jackhammers. And yes, you noticed correctly, they are not wearing any kind of eye or ear protection, despite the truly deafening volume.
This shot, I am sad to say, was taken from my kitchen door.
Tomorrow, my housekeeper says, it may be difficult for me to walk outside. I’ll say. Here’s the view of the other exit, through the garden. I don’t suppose there is anything personal in being blocked in from both sides…..
Aargh, I’d better put away the camera and close the windows. There’s too much dust settling on my keyboard. The floorboards are shaking, the desk is vibrating, and my brain is bouncing around in my skull. Fortunately, the sun is going down, so soon I will be able to test whether the ringing in my ears stops when the drilling stops. If I ever figure out why all this is going on, I’ll write more. Till 6:45 am, then.
Yes, We Can!
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008The phone started ringing early at our house — friends were calling to find out who has CNN. Courtesy of our (technically illegal) satellite dish that picks up Asia CNN from the Philippines, and our Slingbox, an amazing device that connects us by internet to our cable TV in Washington, DC, we had a range of options. People started gathering for coffee and our housekeeper’s dumplings.
Sometime between when the networks called Ohio for Obama — and I began to breathe — and when they called the election, I looked out the window. Unbelievably, a worker was tearing down the barbed wire on our wall and that of our neighbors. We are prisoners no longer, but free at last.
the new painted and shorn entrance to our garden
When my son Christopher in Boston sent me a text message to let me know that Fox News had called Virginia for Obama, we switched channels on our Slingbox to Fox. Then I called a friend who had been tirelessly campaigning for Obama in Virginia to congratulate her. She picked up her mobile phone and said she was in my house in DC and that the TV had just changed to Fox and she was just seeing that Virginia had gone for Obama! What a hoot! What a world!
In the afternoon, I wandered outside and was startled to find that life on my street was going on as usual, despite the momentous events at home. A woman called to me to buy flowers; kids were laughing on their way home from school. At one infamous street corner, a man coaxed me to come look at all the handbags he has for sale. No bags today, I said. Do you know my country has a new President? He shook his head but agreed, Okay, no bags today, and asked me if I am American, then smiled.
When I dropped a watch off for repair, I asked again, Do you know we just elected a new President in America? This time I got a knowing response. Obama. He’s good for America, but maybe not so good for China.
He’ll be good for the whole world. I hope I was reassuring. I hope I am right.
The afternoon papers were already out as I headed home. Here is the front page of the Shanghai Evening Post:
Inside, there are spreads with photos of Michelle and Barack Obama voting.
Back home, I had a couple of excited emails from Chinese friends. One said she had been thrilled to watch the returns and hopes for much-needed reforms in America. Another wrote: I wish the buddies in the United Provinces of China could elect a president in the days to come. I had to answer that if a man with Obama’s personal story can become President of the United States, anything is possible, and that I share my friend’s hopes for China, too.
Election Day
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008It’s getting dark on Tuesday here and in just a few hours the polls will open in the States. I can hardly think of anything else, and everybody around here knows that. I can’t contain myself. Some of my Chinese friends are a little worried about Obama because of some of his remarks on trade, but mostly I don’t hear much one way or the other about our election. Sadly, I have recently lost my Obama button, which had generated a little interest, and given me a chance to talk about my favorite subject.
Last week, in the fabric market, the person who sold me silk took at look and asked me whether the man was my husband. No, I laughed. Then why are you wearing his picture? came the reply.
Our driver didn’t seem to know that we had an election. I was sure he must have seen something in the news about Obama and McCain, so I tried to get him to recognize what I was talking about by describing “the black man who wants George Bush’ job.” But he only expressed surprise to learn that we have black people in the US. Our housekeeper was for Hillary — everybody seems to love Clinton — but isn’t so sure about Obama.
Tonight I will swing the Tibetan prayer wheel again and offer up my hopes for our country and the world. I’ll suffer from Obama Insomnia, so worried am I about the election. And when I wake up, I will eat breakfast dumplings while joining you to watch the returns. Right now, I am so homesick I can hardly stand it.