Haircut

I got my first ever hair cut from someone who is not my Aunt Kristi. But it went pretty well! Heather, a teammate, tole me about Daeng who just cut her hair earlier this week. Thursday morning, Julia and I biked over to Daeng's house/salon. There was an old man weaving inside who told us that they were closed. We were a little confused because we understood "We are closed" more from his body language and lack of welcoming than from the words coming out of his mouth, and because we weren't even quite sure we were at the right place. We left and called Heather and she told us to try again in the afternoon. 

We returned in the afternoon and were warmly welcomed. Daeng tried to ask me a few questions, but I came prepared with a picture of what I wanted it to look like and Touy, my tutor, wrote down some phrases for me to say: one was trying to explain layering, and the other Don't cut it too short please! She started carefully cutting my hair, while it was dry, before washing it. She was kind enough to allow me to practice my few Lao phrases on her, and patient enough to respond slowly and even teach me some new words. After cutting it, and layering a bit (although probably not as much as I would have liked) she washed it. She put shampoo in my hair three times and scrubbed my ears, forehead and neck too. I don't know if my ears and neck were super dirty or if everyone gets scrubbed down that vigorously. Then she trimmed a few stray hairs and blow dried it to finish. Although it wasn't quite as nice and relaxing as usual when I go to my aunt, it was still good! And if she didn't do quite what I wanted, it isn't a huge deal since I put my hair up almost every day anyway. And Kristi was also nice enough to give me an extra scissors that she had, so if I need to fix a few hairs, I have the equipment to do so! 

Daeng cutting my hair

Friday night we went to a wedding. It was for a couple that we met at the Lao church. They thought it would be a good cultural experience to attend a Lao wedding. We kept the envelope that the invitation came in, because when you get to the wedding, there is a big decorated box to return the envelope with some money in it. They don't give presents, but the couple knows exactly how much money each person gave because their names are on the envelope.

The couple sat on the floor for most of the service. They were this far apart almost the whole time and hardly touched each other.

The couple and the four pastors of the church

Getting ready to throw her bouquet!

Julia, Touy (our tutor) and I

A better picture of our sinhs

They had a reception and food at the church after the ceremony. Touy introduced us to two of her (English speaking) friends. They were really nice and fun and it was so nice to be able to chat easily in English.