Random Noun Generator

The assignment today was to try "Noun Generator" and then just write!

Here is my word: Neighbor (and my second word; smell)

Long time ago I was living in Taipei, Taiwan. I lived with two roommates in a six story building. Our flat was in the third floor. All of our neighbors were local Chinese. Wonderful people, but curious--maybe I could even say nosy. Every single time when I went out, one of the neighbors would corner me and ask me where I am going. It was okay, I didn't really have to  say exactly where I was going; it was enough to say "I am going down the road". You know those cultural sayings that we foreigners ponder and try to digest, but we can't, so finally we just adapt and go along with the natives.

I don't think we ever had friends over that our neighbors would not know about. When we would go our the next day, someone would corner us and give us a mini inquisition about the visitors. Questions were plentiful. "What did you cook last night? I smelled something strange."  Or "Was that your boyfriend? Why are you not married? What does your mother think about you living here?"

But it wasn't always my roommates and I that caused a stir. Certain nights when you tried to sleep because you know you had to be rested for your presentation (in Chinese of course) the next day, you didn't really want to smell the "stinky" tofu and listen to the endless sounds of mahjong pieces hitting each other. I mean, I could have closed the window, but when it was 96 degrees outside and pretty much the same inside, even a little breeze to stir up the air was welcome. Yes, the air might have been mixed with smoke, smog, and fried tofu, but it also carried the sounds of my neighbors. It would not have felt as homey without those sounds and smells. And yes, I learned to ask my neighbors: "Where are you going?"