the final straw

Remember how my neighbors annoy the hell out of me with their noisy, inconsiderate ways? This morning, just now, at 6:30, they woke me up with their yelling, which is obviously unnecessary and so rude. I've put up with them banging around for hours for days and for months, feeling trapped in a torture chamber where I can't get any sleep.

I had previously asked the head teacher to type up a memo in Korean that asks them most politely to be quiet. I have rather an aversion to confrontation, so I figured this gave me a much longer rope with which to tolerate the noise.

I had also asked the head teacher to print out a list of my symptoms for the pibukwa, or dermatologist, so that I could get the eczema on my hand treated (several weeks ago). In my mess of an apartment, I just happened to keep these two memos together.

This morning, being woken up for the umpteenth time, I decided I'd had enough. I marched into the living room, grabbed the memo, and squinted in the dark to make sure I had it. Then I went upstairs and knocked on their door. The whole family was leaving for the day, and they were all in the doorway, and I handed the memo over.

Being exhausted and just woken, it took me a few minutes to understand their behavior. They read the paper again and again, under their breath, and looked back at me. The man pointed to his feet, and I said, "Yes, the stomping and the yelling!" And they looked back at the paper, confused...

Then, the lady picked up a cream from the counter and handed the memo back to me with this tube of cream. THEN it hit me. I had to laugh at myself and then apologize to them, making the 'be quiet' gesture with my finger over my mouth, that they understood, then I came back home.

Seriously, of all the things to mistake. Now I really don't want to confront them again over the noise levels, but maybe they'll be more quiet. If anything, it's impossible not to laugh at myself, and their poor confused faces, handing the memo to one another and re-reading it slowly...This weird foreigner shows up inexplicably at 6:30 in the morning and hands them a paper describing her eczema symptoms!

I'm going back to sleep.