I went for a haircut the other day, and got a dose of religion at the same time...
I decided it was time to get the hair cut, and I wanted to go short. But short with style, not some dumb bowl cut. So I went looking for the right place while I was in Curitiba. What is the "right" kind of place you ask? Well to start with, I was looking for someone with two eyes. Made that mistake before and got a cut throat shave from a one eyed man... Generally I get it cut by a dude, not sure why... I also wanted somewhere with a bit of style, not just a plain looking hair cut place... So I went out and found the campest looking hair dresser I could find and walked in (his name was Paulo, and he might not have been gay at all, but it was the look I was going for).
And this is where the fun began. My Portuguese is shite, my Spanish is average and my ability to describe what I want in the way of a hair cut even in English is appalling. I got as far as explaining I wanted it cut short, then we gave up and got out a magazine so I could just point to what I wanted. During the pre cut hair wash, we established that yes my name is Zac and yes it is from the Bible. So we begin, the dude is cutting away and trying to make the usual hair dresser small talk and finding the language barrier a slight problem. But we get past the "Ah you’re from Australia? Muchos Kangaroos?" and then onto the other classic South American question, "so are you Christian?"... Of course I go with the standard evasive answer of, well my family is (ha!), but I am not so sure... Now depending where you are this either goes over ok and they let it go, or they start asking "What?!?!?! How can you not believe?" Fortunately it seemed the Paulo was going to let me get away with this answer.
So he keeps cutting and I am thinking this looks alright, not as short as what I first thought I wanted but ok. Then he changes the scissors for some other kind of weird scissors and goes again, by now the hair is starting to pile up. And I am thinking, ok ok, I said I wanted a change... but did I really mean this short? So now it's about the shortest it's been in about 10 years. Ok so I realise that what I think of as short is probably still considered long for most. But hey work with me here, I have had it in a pony tail for about half of those 10 years.
So it looks like we are all done, and Paulo takes me back for the post hair cut wash. So we are washing washing washing and Paulo calls over a girl who works in the shop and they are having a little whispered chat, and I am struggling to follow the Portuguese. But it turns out she speaks English and Paulo has asked her over to translate for me. She tells me that Paublo would like to invite me to go to a meeting with them, and I am thinking ok what the hell is going on here, so I ask what kind of meeting, and she says in the Church on Sunday. And now I am thinking phew, I was a little worried for a minute there, the idea of being invited to church is a bit of a relief as I wasn't sure what was going on. But sadly I wont be able to as I am leaving town that day (true). So there is another rapid Portages exchange between her and Paulo and then she starts to tell me that with my biblical name (thanks Mum and Dad), I should already know this, but Paublo wants to tell me that nothing in life is chance, that everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan for all of us. The whole while this is going on, I am lying there trapped as Paulo washes my hair for me, there is no where to run to, and no where to hide. And after the initial thought of shite, what the hell is going on here, what have walked into, I started to think yeah, this all sounds pretty cool, these guys were really genuine and I think had I been around on Sunday I might have even gone to church with them. Maybe…
Now the point of this story isn't that I almost found God at the hairdressers, but that occasionally you meet people who open you eyes to the world around you. And that's what Paulo did for me. I am not a great believer, but I do sometimes like to think that things happen for a reason, it gives me hope.
I decided it was time to get the hair cut, and I wanted to go short. But short with style, not some dumb bowl cut. So I went looking for the right place while I was in Curitiba. What is the "right" kind of place you ask? Well to start with, I was looking for someone with two eyes. Made that mistake before and got a cut throat shave from a one eyed man... Generally I get it cut by a dude, not sure why... I also wanted somewhere with a bit of style, not just a plain looking hair cut place... So I went out and found the campest looking hair dresser I could find and walked in (his name was Paulo, and he might not have been gay at all, but it was the look I was going for).
And this is where the fun began. My Portuguese is shite, my Spanish is average and my ability to describe what I want in the way of a hair cut even in English is appalling. I got as far as explaining I wanted it cut short, then we gave up and got out a magazine so I could just point to what I wanted. During the pre cut hair wash, we established that yes my name is Zac and yes it is from the Bible. So we begin, the dude is cutting away and trying to make the usual hair dresser small talk and finding the language barrier a slight problem. But we get past the "Ah you’re from Australia? Muchos Kangaroos?" and then onto the other classic South American question, "so are you Christian?"... Of course I go with the standard evasive answer of, well my family is (ha!), but I am not so sure... Now depending where you are this either goes over ok and they let it go, or they start asking "What?!?!?! How can you not believe?" Fortunately it seemed the Paulo was going to let me get away with this answer.
So he keeps cutting and I am thinking this looks alright, not as short as what I first thought I wanted but ok. Then he changes the scissors for some other kind of weird scissors and goes again, by now the hair is starting to pile up. And I am thinking, ok ok, I said I wanted a change... but did I really mean this short? So now it's about the shortest it's been in about 10 years. Ok so I realise that what I think of as short is probably still considered long for most. But hey work with me here, I have had it in a pony tail for about half of those 10 years.
So it looks like we are all done, and Paulo takes me back for the post hair cut wash. So we are washing washing washing and Paulo calls over a girl who works in the shop and they are having a little whispered chat, and I am struggling to follow the Portuguese. But it turns out she speaks English and Paulo has asked her over to translate for me. She tells me that Paublo would like to invite me to go to a meeting with them, and I am thinking ok what the hell is going on here, so I ask what kind of meeting, and she says in the Church on Sunday. And now I am thinking phew, I was a little worried for a minute there, the idea of being invited to church is a bit of a relief as I wasn't sure what was going on. But sadly I wont be able to as I am leaving town that day (true). So there is another rapid Portages exchange between her and Paulo and then she starts to tell me that with my biblical name (thanks Mum and Dad), I should already know this, but Paublo wants to tell me that nothing in life is chance, that everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan for all of us. The whole while this is going on, I am lying there trapped as Paulo washes my hair for me, there is no where to run to, and no where to hide. And after the initial thought of shite, what the hell is going on here, what have walked into, I started to think yeah, this all sounds pretty cool, these guys were really genuine and I think had I been around on Sunday I might have even gone to church with them. Maybe…
Now the point of this story isn't that I almost found God at the hairdressers, but that occasionally you meet people who open you eyes to the world around you. And that's what Paulo did for me. I am not a great believer, but I do sometimes like to think that things happen for a reason, it gives me hope.
4 comments:
who's in the pic
I am hearing ya man, why just the other day i tried lettuece on my meatball sub
PEACE OUT ZACMAN
Tim"thetoolman" Taylor
Hey ... why no comment space on the latest message?
Cause I don't like criticism... Problem fixed.
Post a Comment