A funny haircut experience

Today was my third weekend in Switzerland. It's been quite a while since I had a haircut so I decided to have one here in Geneva. It's actually a pretty wild and interesting experience for me. Since regular haircut (e.g. Magicut-type haircut) in Geneva costs no lower than CHF 45 (approx. CAD 45), I decided to think of something to have my haircut somewhat economized by Swiss price standard. Luckily, Geneva has some hairstyling schools and I got to try the services of Ecole Superieure de Coiffure .

Finding the place is quite a linguistic challenge in itself. I just went by myself to the styling school and I got lost along the way... Tried to ask people for directions, my French is good in asking but what is frustrating is when they reply back as I cannot understand what they are saying. I can't complain though as Genevan's are really helpful when it comes to visitors asking for directions - albeit in French.

Finally, after 30 minutes of navigating I was able to find the Ecole itself. It's actually larger than what I expected with more than 35 student hairdressers. I asked in my broken French if I could have my hair cut (I don't really know how to say haircut in French and did some weird hand gestures) and I was assigned to a young hairdresser.

Now, here's the nightmare - how could I explain the hairstyle I want in French. I showed her my school ID to purposely show the haircut I have in there for her to follow but she somewhat replied in French that there is no discount! I kinda thought to myself that she was thinking if I was asking for a student discount but I pointed in the picture again and finally got what I meant. I also presented the specially-prepared instructions of my hairdresser in Winnipeg regarding the blade number but apparently, those numbers does not make any sense with European or Swiss hairstylists.

Now, I try to tell si possible, plus court parce que c'est tres vite meaning that I want the hair to be a little bit shorter in my ID picture as my hair really grows fast. I want to make the most of my haircut today as a single Swiss haircut is fairly equivalent to my one week grocery.

So she started cutting my hair using her machine. She really got her machine going and I saw my precious hair falling on the ground. Geez, what a nightmare I kinda think that she thought that I would like to have a really, really short hair because its 'very fast to do.' Yah, she just used her machine and did not used her scissors and in 3 minutes we were done! Although my hair was unjustifiably murdered and I was not really satisfied with what my hair ended up with, I really enjoyed her shampooing my hair with her soft hands and the refreshing smell of the shampoo.

As usual, it's a cloudy day again in Geneva and I have'nt seen the sun in the past week or so. In the afternoon, I took a stroll along the diplomatic district of Geneva and stayed in a little bit in the park near the lakeside. I should have brought my camera with me to have some pictures to share with you.

Finally, here are some pictures from yesterday's night out after a week of hard work at the ILO. Kinda felt guilty as the night was expensive, at 35 CHF!

Interns fromIndia, Norway, Belgium and Brazil

And remember, I am still waiting for those cheap, easy to prepare and nutritious recipes! As always, feel free to post comments and suggestions, even violent reactions should there be any. Goodnight from Geneva.