I could get used to this

Have I written about Sweater Cuts yet? I can never remember if I have, but I feel like I’ve opened at least another post this same way. Oh well. Sweater Cuts is a hair-cutting place just down the street that I go to for their 10 kaui ($1.25) head rub/shoulder massage/shampoo just about weekly. Sweater Cuts gets its name from these yellow Chinglish sweaters the employees are always wearing and I’m pretty sure it’s atypical to get the rub without an accompanying haircut, but we do it so often they’re used to it by now. I spent last night at Sweater Cuts with Ryan and we had a fun time teaching our masseuses some English and practicing our Chinese: a typical night here in Haidian Qu.

Last night my masseuse (I feel really strange saying that) was 26 and from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, she told me. She likes cold water (most Chinese don’t, they think it makes you sick) and thinks Andy Lau (a Chinese pop star) is handsome. For dinner she ate fried noodles and liked them. (This is an example of the information I’m able to gather from a typical conversation…) And, she really likes blue eyes.

She kept saying that she thought my blue eyes were really nice-looking (actually, she said beautiful—consider that a translator’s edit for manliness) and I kept saying thanks, and I’m thinking, “Man, I could really get used to this.” I guess I’m constantly surprised when I remember that everyone in China looks the same. They all have black hair, brown eyes, the same facial structure, body build, etc… for the most part. There are minority groups and there are tall men or fat women, but not many. The typical Han Chinese is well, Han Chinese. So when a foreigner sits in someone’s Sweater Cuts chair and a girl sees blue eyes up close for maybe the first time, it gets a reaction. Similarly with my students, or my teachers every once in a while. A student will raise their hand simply to tell me, “Mr. Jon, I see blue eyes!” when we’re not playing I Spy. Or a teacher will say, “Oh, your eyes are blue!” And I’ll say, yes they are. (Chinese people are also fond of stating the obvious.) Anyway, it made me feel good for a night. That and the head rub/shoulder massage/shampoo.

Thanks again, Sweater Cuts.