Monday and Tuesday this week I didn't have to teach. I don't really know why, but it has something to do with either parents or teachers from other schools coming to observe. I didn't find out I was off the hook on Monday until I was walking to class, but I knew about Tuesday shortly thereafter so I was able to make plans for the day. I hadn't had a massage in a couple weeks and my friend Alaina happens to have no classes on Tuesday afternoons, so we decided to meet up in Dongmen for massages and a little shopping.
I got up early that morning and put on my new China outfit: black leggings, jean skirt, colorful tank top and red shoes. Whenever I leave during the day, especially when I'm wearing non-teacher clothes, I make sure to leave while the kids are in class so they don't see my "scandalous" clothing. That morning, however, I forgot that people were coming to observe, so even though the students didn't see me, a large group of professionally dressed people did. Oh well, chalk it up to being the crazy waiguoren.
I got to Dongmen relatively quickly and, upon checking the ATM, discovered that I had not been paid yet, which means my original plan of going to the tailor was foiled. Mei guan xi ("never mind" 没关系), I had a feeling this would happen so I had another plan: hair cut.
Now, in China there are two types of stores: those that look like real stores, and those that look like someone stuck a card table into a corner. I decided that I would at least try to find a salon that looked like a salon, rather than a chair on a corner with a scissor-wielding Chinese person. It took about 20 minutes of wandering around, but I found one tucked in the corner of one of my favorite "malls".
I walked in and was immediately pushed into a chair and surrounded by 4 Chinese people asking me questions. I said "haircut?" and they nodded and asked me something I imagine meant "how would you like it cut?" I wasn't sure how to describe this so I asked for a book of pictures. I couldn't find what I wanted right away and they kept asking me if I wanted a perm or something else I couldn't comprehend. I tried to gesture how short I wanted it, but I was afraid that that could go very wrong so, feeling overwhelmed, I took out my translator. They poked around with that asking me "bob?". "Mmm, not really," I tried to express by shrugging and twisting up my face. More scratching, then "mora?". "I don't know what that means in English," I said. I kept searching the books I had while they poked at the translator some more and I finally found a picture that looked like what I wanted. As I looked up to show them, the translator was shoved in my face again. There was a long list of English words associated with the characters they had written, but these words didn't seem to go together. I remember seeing words like, "line", "to draw out" and "diarrhea" and decided that whatever that was, I didn't want it. I said no to that, and pointed to the picture I had found. "Oh!" they said and whisked me away to wash my hair.
Getting your hair washed in a Chinese salon is very different than in an American one. In the States, they only wash your hair if they need to and you're head is stuck backwards into a sink. Not in China. The hair washing section of the salon is separate from the hair cutting part, and rather than bending backwards into a sink, you lay down on this bed thing. Not only do they wash your hair, they massage your head, and it is awesome.
When that part was all done, I was whisked back to the chair where the hair cutting commenced. As I was sitting there I noticed that one of the workers was taking a picture of me on the sly with her camera phone. This is certainly not the first time this has happened, and I always wonder why they don't just ask if they can take a picture!
I got a lot of hair cut off, but the guy did a great job and he did it pretty fast too. I went to pay and was pleasantly surprised to find out that a hair wash, head massage, and haircut only cost 25yuan. That's less than US$4!
Not much later Alaina showed up and we went to the foot massage place. As we sat there chatting she said "oh! will you be my witness for my vote?" "Of course" I said, and as we sat there in a Chinese massage parlor (with 25yuan hour-long foot massages) she voted for the US president.
Only in China....and God bless America!
My new (very short) look!
1 comment:
I like the hair, it's CUTE!
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