The Sign of Four (or 3A in China)

A Room with a View
This was the view from the main window of our old apartment, in the next block to the one we are in now. Inside, the apartment looked decidedly weird. Irena and I liked it immediately. We were so glad that none of the other new teachers (who were also looking at flats with us) liked it, so we grabbed the opportunity to live in such a splendidly eccentric flat. (The loo was electrically operated and the decor reminded you of a country cottage - or maybe a French bordello.)

 Why does the lift in our apartment block (and in every other apartment block in Shenzhen) have a weird way of numbering the floors? 1, 2, 3 - yes, okay so far - 3A, 4, 5, 6 etc. So why 3A? Because the number "four" in Mandarin sounds very similar to the word for "death". No one wants to live on the fourth floor because it must be unlucky, even though the whole building is covered with reddish-pinkish tiles that are supposed to bring good luck. (As readers of my previous posts will already know, reddish-pinkish tiles also have ghostbusting properties.) So how do we solve this problem? By not calling it the "fourth" floor. No, number 4 gets re-branded as "floor 3A" and then everyone is happy. Those who live on the new fourth floor can smile and say, "Well, really the proper fourth floor is downstairs. Actually, this should be the fifth floor!" A very Chinese solution to an even more Chinese problem.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Educaring, Part 2

Image
Not so long ago, I wrote a post for my blog called Educaring . Please do not misunderstand me. I really do believe that teachers, youth workers, parents (and indeed anyone involved with young people) all have a duty to protect children and teenagers, to keep them safe. As I argued in my previous posting, I also believe that the task of protecting children is becoming more and more difficult - almost impossible, in fact. Yes, the Internet has a lot to do with it, I am sure, but there is another problem that is hardly ever discussed.  In a nutshell, anyone who genuinely cares about children finds it very hard to imagine how evil and how subtle child molesters and pedophiles really are. I think that is probably why many teachers and parents just do not know when a pedophile is "grooming" a child and why they often do not believe it, even when confronted with the unpleasant truth. Michael Green at Windlesham House School I knew Michael Green when I was teaching at Windlesh...
Read more

On the Cards, Part 1

Image
Getting our new Bulgarian residency cards from the Microwave Oven Woman Rejoice! Let's celebrate. Hallelujah! At long last, the Microwave Woman has given us our new Bulgarian residency cards (BRCs). As a special treat, just in case you do not know what a BRC looks like, here is my old one.  My dear wife suggested that I should "black out" certain bits, as there are lots of evil people out there on the Internet, all gathering my personal and financial details in order to swindle me or involve me in some dreadful scandal or some such nonsense. Of course, no one who reads my blog could ever do such a nasty thing!   Getting our new BRCs means that we can go ahead with our applications for our Russian visas. Then, maybe two or three weeks later, our passports will be returned to us, with new Russian visas stuck into them. The other good news is that the insurance agent in Dragoman did not lose my car registration document. When she had finished giving me my new car ...
Read more

Moving to Bulgaria

Image
A lady called Betty Bradshaw recently wrote this on the Facebook Group "Moving to Bulgaria" and my replies are in italics. Sorry if this sounds thick... but what is the very first thing we need to do before buying a house in Bulgaria? Is it the visas? Is it buy a house first? We are serious about moving over, but have no clue where to begun our journey. Dear Beckie Bradshaw,  You are not being "thick" at all. We all have to start somewhere, when we do something completely new and out of our comfort zone!  Anyway, the first thing you need to before buying a house in Bul garia is to read my blog  www.bulgariawithnoodles.blogspot.com   Then you should watch some of Susan Ashwell's lovely videos about Bulgaria on YouTube. (Her series is called "Escape to a simpler place and time.")  Thirdl y, you should reply to the message that I am just about to write to you. Here is the message (or messages) I wrote to Becky, together with her replies. Hello! My wife an...
Read more