The Man with the Hammer and the School with the Megaphone

I woke up not able to see anything. My hand carelessly roamed the night stand for the alarm clock and when I felt the familiar cool plastic. I pushed the light button and saw that it was just after 5 a.m.. What was going on? The only light outside was from 4 very dim street lamps. Still I heard the sound of a lone hammer on wood, and then on metal.

What was going on here? I tried to get up, but the generic Theraflu had turned my legs to jelly. The hammer was consistent like the second hand on a clock. All I could do was lay there. Surely someone else at the construction site behind my house would stop him. Wouldn't someone yell at this brown nose?

Hours passed and the hammering became less consistent. Instead, it waited for me to almost get to sleep before starting up again for just a few moments. Then it stopped. Just stopped, almost as if in mid swing. I smiled and thought I could sleep for about 2 more hours. Little did I know that the hammer had a friend set against me as well. A friend that was even closer to my apartment...The school!

Not only do I live by a large construction site, but I happen to live by a boarding school. The school is about 50 meters from my front door, and they all wake up at 7 a.m.. Before classes start the kids are lined up in the court yard of the school for morning exercises. There is a very manly voice that orders them to do different stretches and the megaphone he uses is set on the highest setting and pumped through the school PA system. This goes on till 7:30 and then every half hour and hour the bells sound. The bells are not your typical school bell, with it's harsh ring. The bell at this school is a loud interlude where the it runs down an entire octave about 3 times.

It's 9:33 here in Xi'an this morning and for the last 2 and half hours I have been bombarded with the sounds of children, bells, and the hammering horde of workers in my backyard. What is this originalfatkid to do...