Hebrew, Haircuts, & Optometry

I have an exciting first few days of the week laying ahead of me...

Tomorrow morning I have a Hebrew lesson with my amazing new friend Noa. She's been coming over to our apartment at 10am twice a week for the last few weeks. Sadly, she and Jethro--her boyfriend and our other new amazing friend--are leaving Wroclaw for somewhere less "ghost-towny" in the next few weeks. Such is fate. You meet some of the kindest, funniest, most interesting people and you click, and then something happens and they're gone. But we're so glad we met them and have gotten to hang out, watch bad Monty Python, eat vegan food from Berlin, and go hiking. And of course, there's the lessons. It's really given me something to focus on other than work. Since starting lessons every Monday and Wednesday, I have something to look forward to, I feel challenged, and it takes my mind off of teaching for an hour.

I also thought, in my Friday stupor, that I would schedule a hair appointment for 10am Monday, not realizing of course that I had my lesson. My hair has been getting long, especially the region above my eyes (not eyebrows), and I'm beginning to feel like one of those dogs whose hair-genes allow them to survive harsh Winters. Really I just want a bang trim. So I went to the mall (Pasaz Grundwaldzki) and the one hair salon they had, Wella, was booked through the weekend. Not sure how reputable this one is. That's the problem with living in a foreign country: You're not sure if you'll get a Supercuts Choppery or an Aveda salon. The logo was okay, the stylists were young, as were the clientèle, and they had a translator on hand to deal with the influx of English-speaking tourists ready for a new doo (mind you, this is suspicious as we live a good 30 minutes from the tourist center and there are only 3 or 4 native English speakers in our area, so far as we know). But the big neon lights flashing UWAGA (caution) was the 50 zloty price tag. The dollar is about 2.60 to the zloty and this is Supercuts Choppery cheap (sorry to repeatedly knock the Supercuts--I've had traumatic experiences and Bhadri has had sideburns above the ear from them. Never a good thing. Especially at different angles in relation to the lobe). The really good salons charge over 100zl, so it does make me wonder. Although I am never one to turn down a good deal, there's a chance I'll arrive home with a nice and trendy Euro-mullet or severe bangs that were cut by careful trimming with a soup bowl held over my face. Either way, I still double booked and won't be getting my hair cut for a few days. Maybe it's fate's way of guiding me away from bad-haircut-ville and in the direction of linguisticity (this word copy write Bethanie Verduzco 2008).

Also exciting in my life: I'm getting glasses. I really don't have bad eyesight, and the English speaking optometrist told me I didn't have to get glasses. But it is nice to be able to see clearly at longer distances and in low light. At 200zl for the exam, lenses and frames, glasses here are a steal. Of course, if you play it right you can buy a pair of frames for all of 1 zloty, and that can knock the price down a bit. Yes, I found the coolest (read: dorkiest) pair of frames ever. A merge between 1950s and 80s, these light brown with purple iridescence plastic beauties were shunned to the promocja rack. One zloty. That's less than 40 cents American. Poles obviously prefer the hard-lined rectangle look, with thick colored or thin wiry frames, sometimes with the lenses poking out at minute angles. Sounds weird. It is weird. But not as weird as it sounds. They do not prefer shrunken Buddy Holly frames with a purple tinge. Please do not imagine a 3rd grade Bethanie with her forest-green-graze-the-lower-cheek massivities. These are substantially cooler. And I won't be sporting the frizzy perm or the buck teeth to boot. Although I probably will be sporting the unkempt dog and the pasty white skin look. Out with the old, in with the new.