Haircut

Kenya

Getting a haircut in Kenya is a big deal. I figure in the two years I’ve been here I’ve gotten eight or so haircuts (the best of those being Sara’s). I can specifically remember three that were terrible, but I’m gonna go ahead and round that up to four because I’m sure that’s a more realistic figure. Here’s a few notes about the haircut I just got tonight in Westlands after work:

  • My heart dropped and stayed in my stomach for the entire twenty-minute ordeal.
  • Why did it take him so long to find the scissors, and why are all the other (Kenyan) men only getting their beards trimmed?
  • I should be put asleep for these kinds of procedures.
  • Is this guy drunk? Why isn’t one of those nice-looking, fashionable ladies cutting my hair instead?

Despite all that, I’ve now washed and touched up my hair with my pair of scissors and it’s not looking so bad after all. I also bought a new pair of shoes to replace the beat-up pair I already had, so tomorrow I’ll probably cause a scene at work when everyone sees the “new” Alan. HAHA!

Also, stay tuned: pictures of the marathon are out, but I haven’t sorted through them all!

Kenya, Pictures

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I went for a routine trim at my usual hair cutter in Nairobi this weekend, as my hair was getting a bit too bushy. The guy ended up cutting a ton of hair off and I was panicked at first. As my heart began to beat faster I decided that I would just say, “It looks good” and pay for it, then run over to the first barber shop and buzz it all off. In the end it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but I definitely had to get rid of my beard. I haven’t seen some of those freckles on my cheek in years. Now it’s been three days since I got the cut and I’ve gotten a boat load of compliments; I guess Kenyans just don’t like the California beach boy/hippy look.

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In other news, I went ice skating this weekend. There’s a ridiculously-nice hotel on Mombasa road called Panari, and it has an ice-skating rink. Imagine that, it’s gotta be the only one in East Africa, if not all of Africa. Most of the people there were kids, and they were all kids who looked like they had done it before. The chicks I went with had never skated on ice or pavement so it was slow-going. I tried to help out a bit, but I even had some problems because the blades on the skates were a bit dull. The guy who worked at the rink had really nice skates, though, like straight from the NHL.

There are a few more pictures here: http://thefro.org/gallery2/v/2009/iceskating

Kenya, Pictures

I got a package from my mom in the mail today and there was a digital camera inside. I was hanging out at my friend’s pharmacy after work so I decided to test the camera. Check me out!


In other news, I got a haircut a few days ago and it turned out a bit funny, hence the hat. Immediately after the haircut I went on a mission to find a hat and this was the only one that fit. I lost my Canadian hat a few weeks ago… I don’t know where I lost it; I guess that’s what losing something means, though.