And I thought Israelis are hostile to each other. If I'd live in a places like you just described, I don't know how I'll feel safe. I can't even imagine that.
As an example: my sis is now home for the weekend (yay!), while piles of laundry. The machine broke for some reason in the morning, and my parents, living in the middle of the desert, have nothing they can do about it until Sunday, when it'll be too late for my sister. So we asked our neighbors for help, they agreed to do this within a second, without blinking or thinking twice and with an honest smile. My mom baked them a cake.
That reminds me of my freshman year of college, where people in the room next to mine would party late at night when I had 8:00 calculus the next morning. When I'd ask them to be quiet, they'd crank the music and bounce a golf ball off the wall in order to intentionally keep me awake.
I've not always known my neighbors by face or name in the places I've lived, but the apartments have been safe. Where I live now, I know all my neighbors.
Tommy, my roommate and I dealt with the late night/early morning partiers (they worked shifts that brought them home at 2 or 3am) by turning our stereo speaker to the wall/ceiling we shared with them and turning our music on very loud when we left for work at 8am. Goodtimes.
My uncle, a jr high teacher and then principal had a policy when he went on school trips - any kid that woke him up or kept him up would get rousted from bed at 5 or 6am as he was headed down for either exercise or breakfast.
You mess up my rest, I'll mess up yours.
My parents often have students living next door (often grad students, but still), and one time they had a late party that kept my parents up on a Saturday night. Since my father was a Christian minister, and worked Sunday morning, he just went over on his way out at like 7 the next morning and rang the doorbell until someone answered it. He very pleasantly explained the situation, and they kept it down from then on.
You know Spring is around the cornwer in NY when... [link]
You mess up my rest, I'll mess up yours.
Heh. I sorta' did stuff like that - our dorm had a single phone for the whole wing - On my way to my 8:00 I'd just call that phone and set down the receiver, letting it ring and ring....
Heh -- I heard Mister Softee a few weeks ago when it was still cold and got all confused for a minute!
Other fun things that happened when I was a freshman:
Someone stole my clothes and locked me out of my room when I was in the shower.
My roommate threatened me with a bow and arrow.
Someone drugged my food with stuff that high school wrestlers took to lose weight, leaving me sick to my stomach during an exam.
Someone locked me out of my room, preventing me from studying for an exam.
People would yell "Faggot" out the window when I was near our dorm.
Wow, tommy -- I had a really nasty roommate who was so eager to get rid of me that she stuffed all my belongings into two huge boxes when I didn't show up for a day after taking refuge at a friend's room after saying I couldn't stand it any more and applying for a new living situation.
You win.
