15 Kuai

The other day, Nathan went to get his hair cut, by his usual haircutter who charges 15 kuai (about 2.50 USD)

Nathan has gone to him for about two years ago, and we really like the hair stylist and are usually fairly pleased with the product (and especially with the price). It's walk in style, and this guy is always busy, but we don't mind waiting a little while.

Sometimes Nathan goes on his own, but this day I was feeling a little antsy so we took off together on our bikes. I just figured that I would hang out with Lizzy until he was done and hoped for a short line. Unfortunately, there were two people ahead of Nathan so we had to wait about 40 minutes. Even more unfortunately, by the time he was done, it was pouring! I'm talking torrential downpour.

So we waited for a little while to see if it would ease up. It poured harder. I was cranky by now, hungry (we hadn't eaten dinner and it was getting close to 7:00 PM), and tired. Of course we hadn't brought umbrellas since we were on bikes, and even a short walk to a nearby restaurant a block away would soak us to the bone. Nathan wanted to just ride through it and go home, but this seemed like a terrible idea to me.

Finally, I thought, maybe the haircutter has an umbrella we could use? I asked him, and immediately he went to find us one. Another lady there, I'm not sure if she was a customer or staff, quickly offered us hers too. I explained I didn't know how long we'd be since we were going to go to dinner, maybe an hour, and they said it was no problem. He kindly let us leave our bikes there too. Thrilled with my idea, we went off to eat a yummy dinner of hamburgers and pasta at a nearby western restaurant.

An hour later, tummies full and rain stopped, we wandered back to the hair salon to trade the umbrellas for our bikes. They were safely waiting for us, and he had even covered them with an extra hair cutting cover to keep off most the rain, then gave us tissues to dry off the rest.

I thought, in America I would never be so presumptuous to ask to use someone's umbrellas, and I also wouldn't feel safe leaving my bikes at the hair salon! I would never expect them to use their own things to cover my bikes, or help us dry them off! I love the kind and generous spirit of the Chinese. I love feeling like the haircutter is my friend, even though I see him twice a year. I love being able to bike everywhere, and I love having Nathan's hair cut for 15 kuai!