Dancing in the Park

Chinese people are shy or so they would have you believe. A Chinese friend and I were walking in the park when we happened on a group of women doing a form of line dancing. It was so cute to see the synchronized kicking and shimmying and sliding. If it weren't for the distinctly Chinese music I could have mistaken it for some variation of the Electric Slide. After gawking for a few seconds I reasoned that this would be a good way for me to try fit in so I jumped in and started flapping around.

My friend said that it isn't like Western culture where people get really into their dancing. But I explained that it isn't common for people to dance and/or sing in groups in the park in the parts of America that I'm familiar with. Maybe I just don't know enough about Western culture to be dispensing that kind of information. Maybe things have changed in the five months since I've been here and people are actually like the characters in Sound of Music or High School Musical.

Hair Story

My sister asked me about my hair in China. So I'll just write a little regarding that 话题。

Hair styling can be quite an experience. While the prices are very reasonable there are, of course, limits. Many women and men in China have straight jet black hair so the hairstylists, used to working on the hair of their countrymen, are perhaps not familiar or comfortable working with other shades and/or textures of hair. A friend from Italy went into a salon to dye her naturally brown hair blond and after three attempts left the salon with GREEN hair. Another friend who is of mixed race (Black and Hispanic) was turned away at the door of the salon because the stylists knew they weren't up to the challenge. What about me?

I am black and my hair is not chemically processed so my hair is in its' natural state. That is my hair can be described as nappy or curly or kinky or whatever adjective ending in "-y" you think would fit here. Due to my hair's natural state and due to my overall cheapness I didn't frequent beauty salons back in America. It's good that I learned to "care" for my hair myself because their is no way that I would be able to walk into a salon here in China and have someone competently work something out with my hair. People gasp at my skin color how much more so my hair's texture.

In the winter I did two strand twists on my hair. Now in the summer I often wear my hair in an afro or in a bob and from time to time in twist outs. The twists are a "favorite" of the locals as I have had students ask to touch my hair and perfect strangers molest my hair while out in public with this hairstyle. Also, as mentioned in a previous post, a taxi driver also mentioned that my twisted hairstyle looked as if it belonged in an art museum.

Being here is actually kind of liberating hair wise because my hair can be what I will so poetically refer to as a "hot mess" by Black American/Jamaican standards while being regarding as a work of art here in China. It's all still a learning process though as I try to balance my desire to express my individuality with my desire to assimilate as much as possible into this, a new culture. While all things are lawful not all things are advantageous and I find that certain hairstyles might be more shocking to the locals than it would be in the States. It's important for me to not let a silly thing like choice of hairstyle further separate me from this people and culture when I'm striving to be all things to all people.