Apartment Living

China has a penchant for high-rises. The colossal amounts of concrete and steel that the country has required over the past couple of years are in evidence around Xiamen. Huge new complexes are under construction. In our area of Xiamen, skyscrapers are punctuated by well-maintained parks and lush plantings, which bring a more human dimension to towering skylines.

Our apartment is on the seventh floor. This presents an excellent opportunity to build up our leg muscles without additinal time dedicated to exercise. For those of you who know Hilda, you will be amazed to hear that she, too, has embraced the stair-climbing ethic. All the while, the elevator sits at home alone, stationary, with hopes of getting lucky with one of our neighbors.

At about 5:00am, I hear roosters awakening the city. As daylight creeps up, I hear a chorus of birds from the trees below. I have yet to see any of these charming singers, but I know they're out there, because they are loud enough to give the feeling of a rainforest (okay, not quite). During all this, there is the familiar sound of drink bottles clanging against each other, as though we are living next door to a bottling plant or a recycling facility. But as far as I can tell, we are not. It is another delightful sound. I looked outside this morning to see that the bottle clanking is a result of the trash collectors making room for more trash in their collectin boxes.

We enter our building through a side entrance that requires a key. Each apartment has a lockable outer door/gate and a lockable inner door. With all these locks, we feel very secure. Much to our chagrin, we found that all these locks can work against us. Yesterday, I left for a nearby internet cafe, locking the door behind me. Upon my return, I discovered that I had locked Hilda inside the apartment with no means of escape. Security can be a two way street.

We have a sweeping view over one end of an artificial lake just outside our building. Click the picture below to see the view at a higher resolution. Bordering the lake are several miles of park land. We stroll through the park to catch our bus at the terminal. The city flushes fish-filled water into the lake (perhaps from the ocean). Men with fishing poles can be seen night or day. Calliope discovered an exercise course at one corner of the lake, which even includes a see-saw.