The Sound of Unsilence

Word of the Day:
Hay mucha bulla.- There's a lot of noise.

One thing that's really been getting on my nerves lately is the inability to find a quiet space to work or take a break from everything. Obviously I find being around people enjoyable, but introvert that I am, I also find it exhausting, and I need a lot of "me time" to compensate. The way my schedule is, especially this semester, that's been pretty easy to get.

The only problem is that it is SO LOUD everywhere, all the time. As someone who thrived on a farm miles from much of anything, in the hushed libraries of Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts or in discreet, relaxed coffee shops, I still haven't been able to adjust to what it's like to live in an environment that is less artificial and less polite.

A panorama: 

Chickens. Although the 20 roosters who were living at my house for several months have moved on, praise be to God.

Radio Disney blasting at 6 am when my host sister showers before school. For a while, they had the same playlist every morning, so I woke to the Canadian vowels of Carli Rae Jepsen. (I missed you seeeeewwwwwwww seeeeeeeewwww bad)

Babies and toddlers crying and shrieking.

 People yelling back and forth in their houses or from the street. I've decided that if I ever have a family, it will be a house rule that you need to go find the person you wish to speak with, and talk with them at a normal volume. Unless it's an actual emergency.

Neighbors blasting reggaeton, ranchera, Jesus music, or Jesus ranchera  (yes, this is a real thing) so loud you can practically feel it, even from across the street.

Evangelical churches singing off tune for HOURS.

Trucks passing selling vegetables or bricks or announcing some festival.

My probably half deaf host brother, playing the same 10 annoying and sappy old love songs on his cell phone at full volume (TE QUIEROOOOOOOOOOOO, TE QUIEROOOOOOOOOO, bla bla bla bla TE QUIERO) or watching Discovery Channel so loudly the house shakes until my host mom yells at him to lower the volume.

Children at school dragging their desks, an awful sound that "Teacher Emily" has stopped even responding to, settling instead on making angry frowny faces until the kids stop doing it.

Rain storms, sometimes nice, sometimes deafening.

THE THUNDERING 1/2 MUSICAL 1/2 ANIMAL MADNESS THAT IS BAND PRACTICE.  BOM BOM BOM BOM BOM BOM IT SOUNDS LIKE WE ARE IN LORD OF THE RINGS AND BEING INVADED BY SAURON'S ARMY.....WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Earplugs were a good invention. Thank you, inventor of the earplug!  Wikipedia says this was Odysseus and his crew, so go figure.