That rug really tied the room together
Today was a gorgeous day in the city of Cheonan. I took a walk out and sat in the park reading- 'Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs' by Chuck Klosterman. It's a good read even if he does slightly over analyse at times.
Then it was in to town to pick up some shelves, the more stuff I buy, the smaller my place gets so I needed somewhere to put everything. Met up with a buddy of mine and he helped me bring things back and put the finishing touches to my flat.
The touches had to be made as I have a visitor from the sunny shores of Scotland arriving here on Saturday, and I don't want to embarrass myself too much with the filth and dirt that had accumulated over the last 6 months (and from the apartment's previous tenants).
After finishing we went out to wander around in the lovely sunshine, he decided to try and get a haircut so I took him to the one I used the other week (the girl was pretty in there). We went in and he got taken straight away by this new guy who could not get it into his head that we could not speak Korean. After a while of showing measurements using fingers and pointing at pictures he seemed to understand what was needed of him and he attacked the hair with gusto.
Strangely enough the only English that he spoke was 'stress' and kept on going on about something to do with it. After the cut was done (him still chatting away as we had a clue what he was talking about) he pointed to a chair for my friend to go and sit on. Scott (buddy in question here) said he didn't need a massage (strangely sometimes offered in hairdressers here) as the seat looked like one of those fancy massage chairs. The guy said- 'no no, stress stress' and motioned for him to sit down and look up at the TV that had been blaring away the whole time we'd been there.
The guy then brought out a device that looked much like a torture device, had you got someone from the 18th century to make it out of 22nd century parts. After putting said device near Scotts head, the screen flickered and came on to a highly magnified picture of Scott's scalp. Scott freaked out and told the guy to back off, I burst out laughing and the shop stopped to stare at us. We payed up and left shortly after the final check with a mirror blah blah blah.
What struck us afterward was not particularly about what the device was (I had asked the girl and she gestured and said 'hair out, hair out, no hair' - some sort of 'Baldoscope' then). No, what struck us was that the guy thought he could explain what was going on with this machine, the fact that he didn't understand what we had said in the last 15 minutes stood for nothing at all in his head. The fact that we had said over and over that we didn't understand meant nothing to him.
I look forward to a day that I can speak enough Korean that a simple haircut is not such a horrible and difficult task. I know though, that I will continue to go to these places and have no way to pass on information, at least until a famous Korean gets a good haircut that I can copy, or until I go hair out, hair out, no hair .
posted by Alanowski @ 9:02 pm
4 Comments:
I haven't actually read the post yet.
The Big Lebowski.
I'll read it now.
And it was well worth the wait, let me tell you.
I'm having language problems of my own and dealing with my arch nemesis -- best before dates.
To give you context, my family has always had a somewhat laissez faire attitude towards the best before date. I, in total contrast, believe that the best before date is sacred and those who transgress it shall die (or words to that effect).
Enter a jar of Helman's mayonnaise. A French jar! The date on said jar reads 05 Feb 20. I believe that the jar went out of date in February, while my parents insist that it is still good for another 19 years and 11 months. I point out that the French are clearly dating backwards. They insist such a thing would be total folly.
The jar remains unopened as this crisis continues and I have taken to doubling up on Flora ProActiv to redress the dryness of my sandwiches.
((And yet the Pope being dead is still leading the news!))
I've sooooo been waiting for a Big Lebowski quote.
Nobody fucks with the jesus.
gref.
bollocks, dfp's answer wisna there a minute ago.
twats.
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