When we were visiting Turkey, I (Jeremy) was in a desperate need of a
haircut.
One afternoon in
Cappadoccia, we found ourselves with ~2 hours to spare before our flight – too
long to sit around and too short to go see another one of the sights.
As we were walking about town, there
was a barber shop that was calling my name (and had an awning with male
celebrities’ pictures on top).
It
seemed like the perfect time to get a haircut – nothing else to do, we had the
time (I’ve been traveling for work 4 days/week), and it would be far cheaper
than going in Zurich.
Either way,
I wouldn’t be able to really communicate with the barber, so it didn’t matter
to me.
Needless to say, two tall white people getting a haircut was
a shock for the shop, and word quickly spread through town. The barber shops in Turkey seem like
they are a gathering and social spot for men to talk. During my haircut, five different people came in. Each new person who came in got to
change the song on the iPad, and each one picked “Gangnam Style”. Apparently that had already swept the
Arab world before Laura and I knew what it was, because we assumed it was a
Turkish pop star until hearing it all over the place the subsequent few weeks. Everyone was excited to try to
communicate with to Laura and I, there were lots of hand motions and laughing.
They served her tea and cookies, they gawked at my shoe size.
A 16-year-old kid, son of the owner, set out to cut my
hair.
The only two English words
he said was “zero”, when describing how to cut my hair, followed by laughter;
and “facebook” so we could keep in touch.
All in all, it was a good haircut, but the longest one in my life.
After cutting my hair, I got eyebrow
wax, a face mask, Turkish tea, and, when they started buzzing my ear fuzz, I
decided that it was time to get up out of the chair.
It was fun experience, and a good haircut (though the
shortest length my hair has been in 5+ years).
Well worth the $7 and 90 minutes.
