The Zoo (Foreign "Expert's" Housing)

the front of my spacious apartment, complete with front porch

The area between apartment buildings

Behind my apartment

The above pictures were taken recently inside the the apartment area of the foreign experts housing... We jokingly call this compound "The Zoo." As you can see in these pictures, we are completely fenced in! If you look closely at the first picture, you can see that these bars are even topped with spikes. This fence is complete with a heavy iron gate. As if the fence itself were not enough to give the feeling of "zooness," the creatures inside certainly complete the picture. I am referring of course to US-the foreign teachers... On  nearly a daily basis, while outside the apartment either eating breakfast or doing whatever, passersby will literally stop and stare into "the zoo." The funniest part is that many of these people make no attempt to hide the fact that they are staring at us- some laugh and point, others just look dumbfounded... Being stared at in China is definitely something that I will have to get used to... We teachers joke that we need to hang the following sign on the fence: “不要饲料的外国人” （do not feed the foreigners)