Mr. Rogers ("won't you BE my neighbor?")

Remember that quirky old man on t.v. singing to the little puppets on the train? My mom always loathed him for some reason and in high school, my physics teacher told me he grew up as Mr. ROGER's actual neighbor (and Mrs. Rogers I'm sure) . He was friends with their daughter and discovered later in life that there were allegations of Mr. Rogers sexually abusing his daughter. Interesting.

Now - a - days, nobody really knows their neighbor. You live next to the same families for YEARS & don't even know what they look like. Well I've met a couple of my neighbors under awkward circumstances and I'd like to share these moments with you:

Sharing an apartment with some of my best friends while attending the University at Albany (SUNY). Somehow it was never named #1 party school in the U.S. while we were there ... I find that hard to believe.... but it was the year before I started and a couple years after I graduated. Well I like to throw parties, but I usually know just about every person there and NOTHING bad ever happens b/c I keep a good crowd of quality people in my court. Usually there's always one really drunk obnoxious person dancing on the furniture and creating a scene (me).... but the cops never get called and no one goes to the hospital. So, we have this one party and it turns out GREAT because everyone shows up, EVEN Dwight who is the coolest person on the face of the earth and has blessed me with his presence at 2 of my parties now. Then these 2 "freshmen" show up. Most of us were in our last year (ya know, our 5th year) and it was obvious they hadn't come with any of my friends. But I was in my happy stage of drunkenness and decided to let them stay. One of the kids lit a cigarette in my kitchen, some of my friends looked at me (eyes widened) then looked at him like it was gonna be his LAST cigarette. I feel stongly about cancer sticks. So does my asthma. So I told him off like the freshman he was and threw him in the back yard w/all the other smokers. Shortly after, someone came in and said, "Nicole, your neighbor is pissed. I think you should go talk to her." I went on the back porch and there was an old lady on her back porch in her night gown and curlers. I tried so hard not to laugh.
She said, "Do you know what's going ON in your back yard?"
"No, what's going on?"
"They're drinking BEER!"
I said it was ok b/c everyone was old enough but if my friends were being too loud I'd bring everyone inside.
She said "I saw people NECKIN' back there too!"
I said "OH MY GOD!!!" (at the fact that she'd used the term 'neckin' )
"YEAH!!!! I saw it with my own eyes!"
I turned to my friends and said, "Which one of you was NECKIN??????? GET IN THE HOUSE!!!! NOW!!!" Everyone went inside and the woman and I exchanged smiles as we shook our heads and went into our homes. KIDS these days.

The other week I met my old lady neighbor in Korea. First of all, I live on the 4th floor; all the foreign teachers are put on the 4th floor because the # 4 is bad luck in korea. Much of the korean language was based on Chinese and the chinese word for "death" is very similar to the Korean word for "four" .... so they avoid that number like the plague (or death). If you go into an elevator, the floors are listed: 1 2 3 F 5 6 and so on. "F" stands for FLOOR because most signs are in English, though most Korean people can't read English.
SOoooooo. I'm on the TOP floor and there's this couple that lives downstairs from me with a daughter about my age. We all share the same balcony to hang our clothes on and one time they stole my rags (but I'm not angry about THAT). The balcony is right outside my door and I always put the puppies out there to do their thing (b/c we don't have YARDS here). I clean it up with a plastic bag and if it's pee, there's a drain and the balcony's cement. Shut up, it is not gross. So one morning I put the pups out and they poop and the old lady goes out there before I do. And she bangs on my door like the sky is falling. I open the door & she yells at me in Korean, pointing at the poop and all I understand is "EGO" "EGO" "EGO" !!! (this this this) I clean it up while she's yelling, then she smiles very pleasantly and bows. So now I avoid her like the number 4. Then the other night I woke up from the mother & daughter fighting. Usually, I never hear a peep ... but they were really getting into it. My puppies were running all over the bed and whining. Kogi's like me and growls when she's scared. Then I heard something big and loud smash on the ground (like a t.v.) then something bigger & louder. The screaming reached psychotic level and things kept slamming to the ground for about 30 seconds until the father intervened. Thank goodness. They could've killed eachother and there's nothing I could've done. I don't even know the # for police and if I did, I don't speak Korean. Besides.... the cops here are smaller than ME and don't carry weapons. One time I saw a line of police walking down the street and the last 2 were HOLDING HANDS! It's very common for men to hold hands here, or women, but COPS!? Check out the cartoon characters they post to intimidate the bad guys.

I stole this photo from my co-workers. I will be stealing more to share with you in the future. They started a great blog, but I know most of you are too lazy to check it. In case I'm wrong, their blog is www.livejournal.com/users/mmm_kimchi

Check out what THEIR neighbors leave outside their door. (below) They actually go upstairs and hang their fruit to dry right outside their door. We don't know why everyone here dries their fruits & vegetables this way... til there's nothing left basically. But at least my neighbors dry theirs on their own floor. And our balcony. Oh, did I tell you my first time "meeting" the couple below me? I woke up early one morning to the wife CRASHING into an SUV parked in front of our apt. The husband went downstairs & fought with the other husband, no police came. Then he tried driving the car backwards but it was STUCK in the SUV. Giving both women and Asians a bad reputation in the world of drivers.