Cambodian Logic & Spa Day
Today I went to buy lockers for some of the younger kids to safely store their belongings at the Center. The first place I went wanted $8 pere locker. Since I needed to buy $20, I wanted to get a lower price. Drew had previously purchased lockers for $6 so that was my maximum price. Chin (Drew's translater) took me to another shop across the street from the first place, to see if we could get a better rate. I started by telling the guy his competition was charging $8. I figured that would give him a baseline price to beat. Unfortunately, logic did not prevail, and he started at $12. The best he would do was $10. Not exactly sure why he thought I would pay $10 when I wouldn't pay $8, but it seems this type of thing goes on pretty frequently. Chin then took me on a 20 minute motorbike ride to a metal shop further out in the city where we were able to get the lockers ordered for $5 each. A much better deal. After that we went to buy locks for the lockers. The vendor gave me $2.50 US too much change back and then argued with us when we tried to correct his error. Shopping in Cambodia is like live comedy!
Anyway, Spa Day was an adventure. Stephanie painted nails and I washed hair. The kids were demanding little customers, wanting everything done to their exact specifications. Steph definitely had the more pleasant of the two jobs. I ended up in the wash area which consisted of a well of water, a bucket on a string to fetch the water, a bowl for pouring the water over tiny heads, shampoo, conditioner and my hands.
I think I washed about 30 heads of hair! I was soaked to the skin, sweaty, and way dirtier than the kids were. It's hard work washing hair in the heat. At one point, the bucket I was using to pull up the water, untied and dropped to the bottom of the well.
Before I could stop him, one of the boys had shimmied himself to the bottom of the well to fetch the bucket. I was aleady making excuses in my head as to why one of the kids were missing! Fortunately, this happens pretty frequently and the boy was able to get back up easily.
Here's one of our happiest Spa Day customers:
It was hard work, but the kids were so thrilled to be clean. They would leave the wash area and go out to Steph to show her how nice they looked. They certainly smelled pretty. We ended Spa Day by handing out little candy bars to all the kids. I'll have a couple more hair washing days before I leave to head home. It's really a simple effort that goes a long way with the kids.
We're in Angkor Wat today and tomorrow. Details and photos to follow...
Anyway, Spa Day was an adventure. Stephanie painted nails and I washed hair. The kids were demanding little customers, wanting everything done to their exact specifications. Steph definitely had the more pleasant of the two jobs. I ended up in the wash area which consisted of a well of water, a bucket on a string to fetch the water, a bowl for pouring the water over tiny heads, shampoo, conditioner and my hands.
I think I washed about 30 heads of hair! I was soaked to the skin, sweaty, and way dirtier than the kids were. It's hard work washing hair in the heat. At one point, the bucket I was using to pull up the water, untied and dropped to the bottom of the well.
Before I could stop him, one of the boys had shimmied himself to the bottom of the well to fetch the bucket. I was aleady making excuses in my head as to why one of the kids were missing! Fortunately, this happens pretty frequently and the boy was able to get back up easily.
Here's one of our happiest Spa Day customers:
It was hard work, but the kids were so thrilled to be clean. They would leave the wash area and go out to Steph to show her how nice they looked. They certainly smelled pretty. We ended Spa Day by handing out little candy bars to all the kids. I'll have a couple more hair washing days before I leave to head home. It's really a simple effort that goes a long way with the kids.
We're in Angkor Wat today and tomorrow. Details and photos to follow...
posted by Michele @ 11:40 PM
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