The noises from the ceiling

Plod, plod, plod. Thump, thump. Scrape, scrape, scrape.

For the last week or two, I have heard incessant noises coming from above. For a brief moment of terror, I thought I might have rats. I quickly remembered that the walls here are solid concrete; no insulation, no crawlspace, just concrete.

The noises are audible at all times of day, with the exception of the daily napping hours - when Zhanjiang briefly becomes a ghost town. "What could it be?" I wondered...

It turns out that my problems is much worse than a few rats in the ceiling, I now have twenty-seven students living above me.

Last post, I told you about our new forklift class. Apparently those people have moved in for a month of job training and displaced the students who previously lived below Janet and me. With our school facing a housing shortage, the girls who had been living in two dorm rooms, were now put upstairs in the vacant apartment above me.

In the same space of approximately 1,100 square feet and three bedrooms that I have all to myself, there are now twenty-seven students crammed in. Even with bunk beds I'm not sure how that would work. Also, the apartments only have one bathroom. Logistically, how can twenty-seven people share a single bathroom?

It turns out that one of Kevin's former middle school students is one of the multitude living above me. She expressed her dislike of the current situation (who could blame her?) and told me that they often have to go to different buildings around campus to use the bathroom or simply get ready for school in the mornings! Luckily, the students will only have to endure this a while longer until the training class leaves and they can reclaim their rooms below, but can you imagine?? Twenty-seven people?? Sometimes here, I feel like I've checked out of reality for a while...

Poor kids!