Wednesday, March 02, 2005

it takes pain (and a lot of time) to be beautiful in Urumqi!

Went to get my 'hair done' with Fatima today. On the way we got sidetracked and ended up in beautifully done-up Uyghur restaurant (and not the tacky kind either!), where gorged on all-you-can-eat Pollo (greasy fried rice with chunks of meat in it, peppers and sometimes raisins... a Uyghur staple), veggies and fresh Uyghur yoghurt, all for 10 RMB (about 1.5 Canadian dollars).

We did make our way to the salon where i spent over four hours getting my full head of hair dyed to "Dark Golden Blonde", and then 'Gold' streaks were put in, and then it was washed and cut, blow-dryed and styled... by the end of the night, i was the only customer left (Fatima had class) and i was doted on by at least 10 staff member, all who were trying out their pretty poor english with me. It was really nice though, relaxed and truly enjoyable.

I didn't feel like i was in English Corner whatsoever, which is often the case when you are surrounded by a bunch of non-English speakers who just want to talk to you and ask you questions about where you're from. Most of them were between the ages of 17-25, and it reminded me of being a PL back with Katimavik.... nice warm feeling.

Better sign off now.. off to the airport to pick up Matt who was away in Beijing and Qingdao for business. Oh i do NOT fare well with long-distance anything...

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