Jumé Irmscher

  One of the reasons we picked our current flat was the antique market that’s casually sprawled behind our compound. It’s a charming 2-block stroll with Chinese antiquities all around. And as a bonus, the vendors here aren’t as obnoxious as those at the fake markets.

How does that expression go? Time flies when you’re having fun? OR time flies when you are preparing to immigrate to another country, you're writing (ludicrously difficult) exams to speak that country's language and then you find out that you might not be able to even enter that country because of all sorts of (unnecessary) red tape. And all this was just last week. 

Not all is bad in China. At least not all the time.   It took me longer to write this post than originally planned. I guess after the rather negative previous article, karma stepped in and since then China’s been a little more sadistic than usual. I guess it’s easy to say that inspiration failed me in writing about the things I love here. However, seeing as this is supposed to be an “optimistic” post, I’ll spare you the details of my past week and jump right into being positive.

In China, no one is ever safe from the constant head-splitting symphonies of construction. If you’re out and about on the streets, you’ll have to duck and dive the physical process of construction and getting away from the ear-deafening sounds are unavoidable, but the moment you get kicked out of your own bed at 07:00 am because the deafening hammering is coming from both above and next to your home, well then those moments go on the “I really hate China” list. And that’s where I am now. As I’m sitting here, the drilling followed me from my bedroom to the bathroom, to the kitchen and now finally decided that they’re more comfortable with staying in my study. I have the drill on the left and the bone-crushing hammer on the right. My management agent is avoiding my calls and texts and every now and then my desk vibrates from the rattling going on behind the paper-thin wall.