Barber Shop

I asked my director if we could get a car to pick us up at the hotel this morning because Andy and I both have plenty of luggage (he actually has more than me). So at 9:30, Mr Lee and his wife were both there in their respective cars to take us to our new apartments. On the way, he told us that our apartments are being cleaned today and the beds he bought us are being delivered, so while we wait for all this to get finished up, we get to hang out at the school. Imagine how much fun one can have while just hanging out at a school where there are a few tests going on and nothing else. Rah. I actually took a nap across a few chairs in my classroom. Then Andy and I decided we were too bored to stay here any longer, and figured we'd check out the surrounding area known as Balsan, the 5th to last stop on the 5 line.

There's this gym type thing that has workout equipment, a barber shop, a sauna, etc. so Andy decided he wanted to get his haircut (they don't have unisex salons here like they do in the States, b/c I'd like to get a trim, too). So we located the universal symbol for barber shop-- the swirly red, white and blue thing. There were several around, so we went to the one that looked like it was part of the gym. We walked up to the third floor and found the swirly thing again, but there was a glowing blue light around the door. After attempting to open the door, Andy decided it was locked, and we left. We passed another one that we couldn't see how to get into, and figured we'd go back to the very first one we saw. As we walked up to the door of the building, we noticed the barber was downstairs. Andy asked me why all these places look shady, because some passers-by gave us the same curious look they do this tall, white girl. Still needing to get his mullet trimmed, we went on down the stairs. You could hear the little doorbell inside the place notifying those inside that someone was coming in. There were some dolls evenly spaced on the funky green shelves and a fan in the corner. Didn't really look like a barber shop, despite the swirly thing atop the door. And then there she was. A thin, long, dark-haired Korean girl came to the open door. Short, pleated green skirt and a skimpy bathing suit top and nothing else. I'm sure my eyes grew a size, but Andy still asked in Korean, "Do you have haircuts here?" And she looked at him with a puzzled face, "Oh, No" as she shook her head. We practically ran back up the stairs and out onto the street, trying to hold in our laughter. We laughed all the way to the corner and back across the street. We laughed some more as we returned to the school, where we'd decided we had enough exploration for one afternoon and we'd just ask the director where a good place is to get your haircut. Without a happy ending.


Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed