My roommate and I moved into a new house in Taichung about a month and a half ago. A few days after I moved in, I saw him outside and I said hello and introduced myself in Chinese. He looked at me and said something angrily in Chinese. I said, I’m sorry I don’t understand that and he then shouted at me, in English, “Don’t be noisy if you live here!” We had only been living here a few days and hadn’t made ANY noise at this point, so this really took me by surprise. A week later, he came over and started banging on our glass doors and told me not to park my scooter in front of our house (we can’t use the parking spot across from our house because another neighbor parks his car there and saves it with “cones” during the day when he is gone; if we park across the street, another neighbor will move our bikes to in front of our house). I was just polite and smiled at him and told him it was the only place for our 2 scooters.
A few weeks after that, my roommate and I had 2 friends over. It was about 8:30 at night and we were drinking, listening to music and laughing. We were being a bit rambunctious, but not having a crazy wild party and it wasn’t very late yet. He came over and started shouting at us that he was going to call the police. I went outside and told him very firmly that we were not being unreasonably loud and that the noise laws in Taichung are between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. He then shouted at me, “If you don’t like Taiwan, why don’t you go back to where you came from?” I said to him, “You are being extremely rude. That is a very offensive thing to say. From the moment you met me, I was polite to you, but you’ve only been rude. It’s not 11 o clock yet; when it gets late, we absolutely will be quiet.”
Last night he called our landlord and said that we party too much, drink every night, play music too loud all night long and are always sitting outside being loud. Occasionally, we do stand outside the front of our house to smoke a cigarette and talk-- we’re not ever SHOUTING. I get the feeling that this guy hates foreigners and thinks we’re loud because we’re speaking in English (you should HEAR how loud my neighbors often are in front of our house, but it’s always in Chinese!)
How can I deal with a neighbor who absolutely hates us? We haven’t actually done anything to warrant this behavior; we haven’t had any parties, we always quiet down by 11 (I am a student and have 9 am class in the morning, so I get to bed pretty early!) and I try to always be nice and friendly even now whenever I see him and his wife. Does anyone have any advice for how to improve this situation? Someone recommended I call the foreign affairs police because he is harassing us, but I want to see if there is anything I can do directly to smooth over the situation before taking a drastic measure.
Have you got anything that you can set up to record sound long-term? Like set a tape recorder up by the door or something and just press play whenever someone’s home. Or one of those decibel measure-thingies (I’m sorry, I’m not very technically minded).
And talk to your landlord. Your landlord may ask you to move to preserve the peace, but talk to him anyway so at least you don’t get blamed and kicked out. Also, find out who your Lizhang is and talk to him about the harrassment.
Ask him questions about the legality of how he came to own his property. Make subtle hints that you will be pursuing a full enquiry as you doubt his words. He will soon shut his silly yapper. Some people only really grasp fire when you shove a flame up their ass.
Or go bang on his door and scream he is making noise and you will call the police and say he is up all hours playing mahjong and causing you suffering. No need for niceness if facing insufferable pricks.
Superking is right. The fact that you are polite probably encourages him to cause even more trouble.
If he is complaining when you are causing no trouble, tell him to piss off or you will give him a real reason to complain.
I would also suggest to him that you might go to the police and tell them he sexually harassed you, and that you will go to the apple daily as well. They love a good bignose story.
That’s what I was thinking. You should tell him to go back where he came from. Switzerland, presumably.
But +1 to BigDuke’s advice. The guy is obviously a petty little bigot who just doesn’t like foreigners (although - and I’m sorry to put this image in your head - I bet he’s the sort who sits in his living room fapping like a caged monkey because he’s got a bunch of exotic foreign girls living next door). Some people just don’t understand anything else except rudeness and conflict, so unless you want to move (which would work) you’ll have to handle it like that.
We can guess what happened here. Previously another bunch of English teachers/students occupied the house and raised hell, now the neighbour thinks it’s going to happen again. And as I said, LOTS of people including me would get pissed off at noise up to 11pm. We are not students or I hate to say it young English teachers with alternative lifestyles. We live in places that we consider our homes. It does depend on what type of noise and the volume of noise of course nor does it excuse racist behaviour. I am just trying to give another perspective here.
I don’t get the impression the OP is doing that, though - and as someone just noted, it can hardly be any worse than the five dogs that live upstairs from me, the glass-repair guy and the advertising trucks ranting in Taiwanese, and the traffic.
A perspective of racism, old chap. “I see a duck. Duck done a poo and then went quack. Next time I hear a duck go quack I will assume it done a poo first.” We have no idea this guy believes all ducks poo before they quack. Maybe he is merely a loony and not a racist… My guess.
Is it racist to offer him up as a racist by way of explaining his behaviour?
Maybe OP can find out out the history of Mr Shouty and the history of their place.
The that guy is just being a racist, doesn’t like foreigners period. It’s going to be a little difficult to explain yourself and hoping the guy would be alright with it. What you can do is just go directly to him and ask, besides the noise what else is the issue here. Some taiwanese people are very direct and he might just tell you it’s because he doesn’t like you and your roommates . If this continues your best bet is just to call the foreign affairs police. I can honestly tell you if you were taiwanese the issue wont what it was today.
Something similar happen to me once. I jumped on the bus and instantly 2 Taiwanese lady started yelling at me telling me to go home. Its just how it is.
There must be something setting him off. When my neighbours smoke in front of their house the smoke travels into my bedroom if the windows are open…maybe the smoke bothers him?
You are women (right?) I don’t think you want to be using confrontation as a strategy if the opponent is a local man.
You need to bend like the bamboo and run like water. All that crap.
The proper response to any complaint in Chinese is to drop your gaze to your toes, and say “Bu hao yisi, bu hao yisi” over and over. Throw in a few “Shi, shi, shi” as well. That only means you’re listening to him, not that you agree. Then go ahead and do whatever you please. Just ignore his idiocy. Yes, he will come and complain about this and that. “Bu hao yisi. Mei banfa. Bu hao yisi.” If you are not confrontational, he looks like an ass continuing to yell at you. It’s a strategy used to very good advantage by most Taiwanese schoolkids (and university students!) when they are being yelled at by an authority figure.
Make sure you cultivate a good relationship with your landlord while you’re doing this. The whole point is to make him get tired of his little game and quit, or go bother someone else. Be prepared to have some little petty things happen, like maybe having your scooter keyed or or the seat slashed or something. But eventually, most likely, if he’s not a total loony, he’ll get tired of the games and leave you alone. Or you’ll move out when your contract is up. But either way, you need to not let him make this your problem. Don’t be concerned for his feelings. Women tend to try to reassure others and solve problems. There is no problem, only him showing up at the door. Don’t let him make you feel guilty for the peaceful enjoyment of your premises.
1-A lot of TWese think foreigners all behave the same so there is a chance you are following someone who was noisy.
2-Engaging locals without being engaged often leads to confusion and even annoyance. Don’t talk to people unless they talk to you. I usually sport a look that says ‘not in the mood for a chat’, might be a bit dickish, but my life is easier the less they know about me, and I don’t have to be annoyed by silly questions. Headphones aid this process mightily.
[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]1-A lot of TWese think foreigners all behave the same so there is a chance you are following someone who was noisy.
2-Engaging locals without being engaged often leads to confusion and even annoyance. Don’t talk to people unless they talk to you. I usually sport a look that says ‘not in the mood for a chat’, might be a bit dickish, but my life is easier the less they know about me, and I don’t have to be annoyed by silly questions. Headphones aid this process mightily.
3-Do your thing and don’t ruffle any feathers.[/quote]
Agree. If you take any personal race issue in you are only kidding yourself and killing your bigger experience. Globally, people are bonkers. Your neighbour is bonkers.
That’s what I was thinking. You should tell him to go back where he came from. Switzerland, presumably.
But +1 to BigDuke’s advice. The guy is obviously a petty little bigot who just doesn’t like foreigners (although - and I’m sorry to put this image in your head - I bet he’s the sort who sits in his living room fapping like a caged monkey because he’s got a bunch of exotic foreign girls living next door). Some people just don’t understand anything else except rudeness and conflict, so unless you want to move (which would work) you’ll have to handle it like that.[/quote]
I must confess the nuances of Chinese culture eludes me still; merely living next door to foreign women is known to cause such fapping?
Most likely the guy had a bad experience with foreigners living next door (as they leave for greener pastures, houses, cars, scooters, etc. tend to get passed onto new arrivals) and assume OP must behave like previous tenant since we obviously all know each other and share the same values.
I agree Ironlady’s advice is the way to go. Make the superficial apologies and go on doing whatever you feel like doing. If he doesn’t get tired after a while, do a 180 and yell “wao zer dao ni ge fap shiang wao men!!” videotape it and put it on youtube. Be prepared to move out shortly after, as he may find you making him lose face unbearable.
I agree with Ironlady’s advice, only adding that you should have some large male friends (preferably Taiwanese if you know any) come and visit and hang around outside conspicuously every so often. Bullies tend to pick on those weaker than themselves.
After having a few less than desirable neighbors in Taiwan, my criteria for a good neighbor has been reduced to the following: 1) They do not cause me to lose sleep. 2) They do not cause property damage/loss. Anything beyond that is frivolous. There were times here i would have traded neighbors with you in a second and even paid you. But then again, my standards are pretty low.
We have no idea this guy believes all ducks poo before they quack. Maybe he is merely a loony and not a racist… My guess.