Hair cut day: Anna Mei and Elizabeth (top). The "salon"--Linh with Elizabeth and Anna Mei. Faith and her short hair!
Hello, all!
Another first in our experiences here in Vietnam. All of us had our hair cut today! There is a "salon" of sorts just one half block from the house--no need for a motorbike or taxi! Linh went with us, our ever faithful translator. The building was much like many businesses here in Danang--a tin shack of a building, completely open on the front side (there are metal doors and gates that secure it at night). The "clients" chairs were well-worn--I don't think either of the two of them would sit upright. There were two people (employees?) at the shop when we arrived, but neither of them was the hair stylist. We were told that if we could wait 10 minutes, one of them would go by motobike, pick up the stylist and be back. So we waited. The shop had a concrete floor, no screens or glass at the windows, plastic stools and a rough wood bench, covered with vinyl. There were no electric lights to be seen, but it was a bright afternnoon!
Sure enough, in a few minutes, the stylist arrived. We had taken an old family photo with us to indicate lengths and styles. Elizabeth was first. Because of the condition of the chairs, hair cuts are performed with the client seated on a plastic stool. It appeared at first that the young lady was using a comb to cut Elizabeth's hair, but after watching awhile, I could see that one side of the comb opened and inside was a razor blade. This tool was for the first cut. Later, the hair was carefully trimmed, measured, and adjusted by more conventional (at least in the US) means.When the stylist finished the cut, another young woman worked with each girl, brushing and styling the hair. They even offered a little make-up, which all the girls except Faith accepted with relish.For two days now, Faith has been telling me that she wanted her hair "cut short like Daddy." I think of all four, her hair was the longest (only Jillian's is longer). Joy has trimmed her own hair too many times to compete in hair length. So, off it went. After the first trim, she was not happy--"I want short hair!" I assured her that more would be cut. In the end, it is adorable and suits her. She has never been one to want her hair curled or fixed in a special way--only a ponytail. She is very happy with her simplified "do." Joy, of course, thoroughly enjoyed all the brushing, fixing and primping.
The moment of truth came...I had to inquire about our bill in Vietnamese and interpret the answer on my own, under Linh's careful ear. Yeah! I did it! Our total cost (for all 5 of us) was 65,000 dong--about $4.
Grace and peace!
PS Another first for us...our house is next to a little cafe. Anna Mei was at the gate and met two young girls, in their teens. We invited them in and were able to ask their names, tell them ours, exchange pleasantries like "How are you?" and tell them we were from America. It was the first time we were able to communicate with language without any interpreter. We loved it!
