Turn It Off

Turn it off.

She had only been napping for half an hour. We usually get at least one-and-a-half hours of solid sleep in the afternoon, if not two. She must be talking in her sleep - its way too early for her to wake up.

Turn it off.

Her groggy voice sounded again. There was definitely a problem.

I went into her room.

Turn it off,

she said again. Turn what off? I asked.

Bang, bang.

Shanghai may be the world's largest construction site. We've heard that the majority of Caterpillar's cranes stand in Shanghai, and I believe it. We can see four out our window. Some times crews work 24-hours a day. I've read that a new Chinese law imposes timing limits, and that construction should cease from 10:00pm until 6:00am. This law rarely seems enforced.

They're pretty constantly working on the road outside our building. No one seems to know what they're doing. They're a large hole in the road - large, like double the size of an average American backyard. A crane raises and lowers large pieces of metal and machinery through the hole. They could be building a new metro line or a tunnel, but no one knows of plans for either.

The workers run welders, drop large pipes and blow whistles relentlessly. I feel new sympathy for the houses surrounding our high school marching band's practice field.