Adventures in Guangzhou!

So Guangzhou is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. This is comforting, annoying, cute, and gaudy all at the same time. It's comforting because it reflects the passing of time, the presence of familiar Americana, and the fact that my family will be here to visit soon. It's annoying because much like the U.S., it's everywhere and it tends to lose the novelty factor after the third repeat of jingle bells at the grocery store. It is somewhat amusing to see all the employees in santa hats though. It's cute because they put up some lights, erect huge Christmas trees, and make at least a token effort to clean things up in the holiday spirit. It's gaudy because it's completely over the top. There's just too much. Everywhere. And over here I don't even see the tiny menorah shoved in the corner (out of politically-correct necessity).

At my English Corner last week, one of my students told me that she knew all about Hanukah. "Oh really" I exclaimed, "how is that?" "Why, from watching 'Friends'," she replied, "Ross is Jewish!" I laughed. So not only is America exporting authentic culture like the television series "Friends," but we're also educating the world on the diversity of religions out there. Too bad she couldn't remember anything except the fact that there's something called a dreidel involved. I promptly informed her that I made it out of clay.

While I have always known that Christmas exists outside of the northern part of America, it still seems odd to see "Merry Christmas" signs up on storefronts beside palm trees. Guangzhou is still hovering between the lower seventies and upper sixties which is just fine by me. I know that the PiA-ers up in Beijing and above the Yangtze River are starting to freeze their butts off so I have no problems with wearing short-sleeved shirts to work everyday.

Besides the sudden influx of Christmas decorations everywhere, it's been business as usual here in GZ. I have experienced some positive repercussions from my track victory, which is pretty funny. The first few days I walked into the teacher's cafeteria, everyone smiled and pointed over to me saying in English, "Superman. You...superman." My friend David would elaborate for me that they were saying how strong I was and about how I impressed all of them with my speed. I was also told that Mr. Huang, my defeated foe in both races, both somewhat distraught that I managed to take him down in both events. I would never say it to him, but there's a good chance he would have beaten me (at least in the 400m) if he didn't smoke. Whatever.

My big prize for winning both races and anchoring the relay was an enormous bag of hand towels. I don't know where they came up with this, but lets just say that I could probably go without washing another towel for the rest of the year. Umm, cool? I guess it's better than nothing. What's funny is that it was sort of a status symbol to receive my enormous bag of towels compared to most other people walking out with only one or two. I'm allowed to be proud, right? Final note on the track meet- I was talking to one of the teachers who doesn't have very good English and I'm pretty sure he said that my times were records for the meet. Now again, I'm not exactly going to tell my grandkids about running a 56 in the quarter, but it is nice to know that I made a statement.

Besides some minor basking, I have been doing quite a bit of reading lately. I just finished Murakami's "A Wild Sheep Chase" which is probably the most creative novel I've read in years. I wasn't blown away by the very end but it's well worth a read if you're looking for a book. In addition, I also finished "Freakonomics" by Levitt. This is another page-turner which brings up some very interesting ideas. Who in the world thinks to connect Roe v. Wade with crime statistics in the '90s? Anyway, the book is basically an economist's attempt to ascribe causation to various correlations in the everyday world. He comes up with some great theories, but as Dr. Fraser old us in Statistics last spring, correlation does not equal causation and there is only one very specific process in which to prove causation. Again though, well worth the read. Anybody have any suggestions for my next read?