Skipping breakfast and not sleeping left my mind spinning furiously on all cylinders but with very little productivity. Finally, my mom said: "Go get your hair cut and buy the razors you'll need for shaving. And stop stressing out so much," at which point I realized I was doing this nervous tic I have of thumping my foot on the floor faster than a bunny in danger or a heavy metal drummer on speed. I stopped thumping my foot and obediently went out the door.
I went up the street to an Iranian barber shop. I've been going to the same barber shop for years. It's been run for the past decade by an Iranian couple. They were working together well for a long time (and he was giving me plenty of decent haircuts) until about 6 months ago when he decided to have an affair. She kicked him out about 4 months ago, and moved her shop. Since the husband had been cutting my hair, I didn't really know where to go, so I just let my hair grow for 4 months. I was getting pretty shaggy, so I decided to try my luck at her new place (secretly hoping she didn't resent me for being a regular client of her husband's).
When I got there, everything turned out fine. She had another guy working in her shop and I was very satisfied with the haircut he gave me. I was also amused at his insistence that only super hairy people go bald. "You'll be fine," he reassured me. I asked him what he thought about the possible difficulty of getting haircuts in China, since I don't even know the word for it. He said: "Just find an old person to cut your hair. You won't even need to say anything; they already know what to do. The Chinese are master hairstylists."
After my hair cut, I bought my razors, then raced to the Canadian Tire at Alexis Nihon mall to buy a voltage converter, then made a trek to a currency exchange desk downtown to change my Canadian money into RMB.
These tasks accomplished, it was time for lunch. And what a great lunch! Le Petit Coin du Mexique has really tasty food. I recommend it to anyone, vegetarians included (except for vegans, I guess). I had a lot of fun with my two friends. I think I'm really going to miss them and all my other friends in Montreal.
Finally, it was time to look for luggage. First, I headed to Bentley, where I picked up a Reebok backpack that doesn't really look like much when flattened, but is actually enormous. They didn't have the type of large bag I was looking for, though. I wanted something made of hard-sided plastic and waterproof, sealed and with locks, not a zipper. I also wanted at least two wheels and an extensible handle. If you're looking for something similar, Bentley is not the place to go.
Later my parents and I headed to Angrignon and I found what I was looking for in a little luggage store just outside Sears. They didn't have it in stock yesterday, so I had to go pick it up today.
It's a black Samsonite F'Lite 31". Below I took a few pictures of the Samsonite case as well as a picture of a few of the things that will be making the trip with me. The Montreal Canadiens are going to Zhengzhou.
Needz moar dictionaries
ReplyDeleteLol that's a hilarious story about the Iranian barber shop. Yeah don't worry, the Chinese knows how to cut hair =P And labor is super cheap there, so they really take their time and cut very carefully. My dad's haircut last time took almost 1.5 hours.
ReplyDelete