A good hair day!

This morning we took a cab to Paris Van Java mall and met the missionary couple and their kids for lunch. They chose an Indonesia restaurant – it was casual but nice. I played it safe and ordered chicken satay and rice with strawberry juice. Because Trevor and Teresa are fluent in Indonesian, they were able to ask for me if the ice was made from bottled water. It wasn’t, so I ordered my juice without it. While drinking my juice, it dawned on me that the strawberries probably had not been washed in bottled water either so I decided to forgo the rest of it. Teresa said we should just plan on having diarrhea the first 3 weeks we’re here. So far I’ve been able to avoid a bug but I’m sure it’s because we’ve eaten in almost every meal in and been very careful with the water.

I enjoyed visiting with Teresa but it was hard to whine about my inconveniences here, knowing that she’s been living in a tribal situation for the last 6 years! Since water is such a concern, I asked her where they got their water and she just simply said that it falls on the roof and runs through a trough and eventually into a collection tank, where chemicals are used to make it potable. They bathe in the river. Did I mention that Trevor has had malaria 9 or 10 times now? The good news is they have solar electricity and can use a t.v. and computer. Nice!!

After lunch, we caught a cab to the salon for the dreaded haircut. For my women readers, I don’t need to explain this. Finding a new hairdresser is a BIG deal. Ms. Winnie had been recommended to me because a) she speaks English and b) she knows how to cut Caucasian hair. The AC in the cab wasn’t working and after about 15 minutes we realized that our driver had no idea where he was going. After letting him drive around lost a while longer, I called the beauty shop and had them talk to him  (not once but twice) in addition to his stopping to ask directions a few times. When he finally found the place, he had the nerve to pull the “I don’t have any change” trick. So not only did he keep us lost with the meter running, he had the nerve to overcharge us as well! Oh well, such is life.

But... the good news is that Ms. Winnie did indeed know how to cut Caucasian hair and she did a decent job! Come to find out, she’s from near Hong Kong and also has lived in LA for 12 years, so her English is very good and she understood when I asked her to just take ½ inch off while keeping the same cut. As for the salon itself, there were probably at least 15 employees, many just standing around. After discussing what I wanted with Ms. Winnie, I was escorted back to the shampoo room. This wasn’t your normal shampoo bowl – it was a 15-20 scalp and neck massage using shampoo and conditioner while lying flat on my back! Afterwards I was escorted to my chair where I was served Sundanese jasmine tea. Someone put a smock on me and another person removed the towel from my head and massaged my scalp a little more. Ms. Winnie then cut my hair and sent me back to the shampoo room a second time for another shampoo, conditioner and scalp massage before bringing me back out for yet another person to dry my hair. The charge was 235,000 rp including tip (just under $28US). I think I just found myself a hairdresser in Indonesia!