The trim

I decided it was time to get my hair cut. I had a meeting with Dr. Sun Jian at Fudan, and I wanted to look presentable. So Paige and I ventured out around the corner to place that looked clean and decent. The sign in the window showed a list of prices. They were high for Shanghai: nearly 20 dollars; but since I pay over twice that in St. Louis, and I wanted to look my best...

So we went inside. I sat down, Paige at my side, and I asked how much, because I didn't want to get any confusion up front. The woman brought the calculator -- the vendors gasp when I pull out my OWN calculator, which I do, but I want them to know I came to bargain! -- and she typed in 15. Paige and I huddled; clearly she had dropped a zero off the end, but this was good news, the price in the window and price inside were different. I was looking at more like 17 dollars, not twenty. I sat down. I received a LONG, double wash, with lots of pleasant head massage (though no back massage as Marcelle had reported; and no Q-tip therapy to the ears); then a LONG warm rinse, and finally I was delivered to my male cutter. He took his time, and he seemed to know what he was doing. I have curly hair and it's not the easiest to cut so I came prepared to be very forgiving; but he was doing a good job.

Twenty minutes later, the cut was a CUT. We were done.
I went to the counter. They presented me with the bill: 7.5 RMB for the wash; 7.5 RMB for the cut. Total: 15 RMB, exactly as the pleasant woman had first dialed into her calculator forty-five minutes earlier. Paige was by my side, elbowing me. I paid up.

15 RMB is roughly $2.00 US dollars. I had a wash and a cut for 2 dollars. Total. And it looks just about the same as any cut I get in the states, to be honest. Did I mention I have curly hair and it's not the easiest to cut? Two dollars. I said to Paige, "At these rates, I'm getting a hair cut every week." And I just might.

My haircut:




* * *
My meeting Dr. Sun at Fudan went very well. I start teaching in two weeks, and will teach each week all year. We get January off for holiday. I'll have 33 students, and then a different 30 after the January break. It's the first time creative writing has been taught in English at Fudan University and my sponsors are quite excited by the idea; as am I. I'm working up my lessons as I write this. It's going to be an interesting year.
Exactly why we came here.

I think...


(Ridley)