Advertising Wonder

The louder the better! That seems to be the motto where we live. People here like "renao" which I think should be translated liveliness but which I sometimes confuse with the word noise. Haha! When a new business opens, the owners go out on the sidewalk and set off firecrackers - or sometimes even fireworks! In the mornings, hair salon employees go out for morning exercise drills carrying banners as they run and yell in the streets. (Any of you American hair stylists want to come apply for a job and get fit at the same time?) Stores blare music from loudspeakers to attract attention. Store clerks stand outside and yell out news about the latest sales (while clapping their hands, of course). At the old-fashioned restaurant by our house, the servers march out on the sidewalk clapping and chanting several times a day. I happened to be on my way to school with Archie while they were advertising the other day, and they were only too happy to pose for a photo opp. (I figure a bunch of them holding the only foreign baby for miles around was pretty good advertisement in itself :)