Friday, April 20, 2012

The gift of silence

Anyone who knows me knows what a struggle it is for me to get through each day here in Brazil. Or at least they've heard me b•tch about it once or twice, in any given conversation.

One of the things I've been thinking about a lot lately (or ever since I moved here) is exactly this - the silence around my house, or lack thereof.
People think of their homes as a place to find solace from the stressful lives most of us lead - job, traffic, gossip, broken hearts... (and BELIEVE ME, whoever lives in Sao Paulo needs a place to find peace of mind and heart). Our home is supposed to be that private and quiet place where we can just be...

When I came back I told my husband that it would be hard getting used to sleeping with the street noise... cars and buses... but nothing compares to my neighbors.

Since I moved in, not a day goes by that I'm not disturbed by this. Don't people have any awareness??? I know we live in apartments, but I've lived in apartments before and have never had such noisy neighbors!!! It's like they have no respect or regard for anyone else.

It is 2.44am and they're playing loud music and hosting some friends. They're all laughing and screaming (yes, deliberately screaming "woohoo's" and "yippie's" and "OH YEAH's" for no reason at all, other than to be obnoxious to the 5 other apartments surrounding them) and they're dancing and jumping in the living room - which just so happens to be right above mine.

I've never made a complaint to the administration because I know all other neighbors do it and nothing happens. Every once in a while they circulate a memo saying "we've had complaints about the noise, please keep it down or we'll have to place a disturbance fee", and that's it.
I've thought of going up there and talking directly to them, but I don't wanna be the bitchy neighbor that knocks on their door to complain... besides I'm most afraid of retaliation. I don't doubt that they'd make it worse to piss me off.

I've called the police and they told me they couldn't do anything about it and that I should call the City Hall. Did that and they told me they couldn't do anything about it and that I could call the police. So I really don't know what else I can do to have some quiet and peace in my own home.

3 comments:

  1. E eu não sei? No meu prédio sofro do mesmo mal, as pessoas não sabem fechar as maçanetas das portas sem bater, arrastando móveis, parece que vieram da favela pra um apartamento. Meu prédio era só habitado por mim: caseira, quieta e educada e velhos aposentados que tb nao enchem o saco at all... Com o aquecimento econômico isso mudou e eu trabalho cada minuto do dia pra poder morar numa casa térrea, pelo menos, logo, porque nada pior do que dividir o espaço DESSA MANEIRA com ESSE tipo de pessoa.

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    1. Ivy, aqui no prédio o povo arrasta móveis, deixa cair coisa no chão, sem noção nenhuma, de dia de semana, as 4h da manhã... sem pudor nenhum. E não é coisa q acontece de vez em quando, é assim TODO SANTO DIA...

      brigada pela visita :*

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