I had been putting off getting a haircut for about a month.  I probably could have gone to my regular place before I left Seattle, the old Gene Juarez Academy, but instead I waited until we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City.  With an interview for a teaching job scheduled for the next day I decided it was finally time to find a place to make my hair look somewhat respectable again.

I had passed a sign near our hotel a few times which advertised on a whiteboard for a haircut and shampoo.  Being the closest and most convenient hair cutting option, I went with it.  The shampoo part ended up being a 30 minute process of lathering, rinsing, scalp massaging and, as it turned out, an exfoliating face rub.  All of this would have been much more enjoyable had I not been recovering from the sunburn I received a few days earlier in Nha Trang.

Having been thoroughly cleaned, massaged and generally pampered from the neck up, it was now time for the actual haircut.  I tried my best to explain using simple english and hand gestures that I just wanted a trim, taking about an inch off.  The hair stylist seemed to get the idea and went to work with his sheers and electric trimmer.  In a quick 10 minutes he was finished with cutting my hair.  After a careful examination I concluded that it looked like a perfectly fine trim, nothing spectacular, but enough to make me look a bit more like a respectable potential new employee.

Just when I thought I was done with my time there, they motioned for me to go back to the shampoo room and I went through one more round of rinsing and washing to get all those loose, newly cut hairs away from my head.

In the end the whole thing ended up costing $5 and I left feeling clean and refreshed.  For a fraction of what I would’ve paid back home, I was able to get a decent haircut and some pampering to my head.

It only took one conversation with Brian on New Years Day to be sold on the plan to work and travel around the world.

I
had been living in my hometown of Oswego for most of my life, minus a
few short stints in Rochester, London and Barcelona.  Just prior to
leaving for Seattle I was working at a pretty good job in the IT field.
It wasn’t my dream job but I worked with some great people and had a
chance to learn some new skills and expand my knowledge base daily. The
only problem was, I found myself living in the same city I grew up in
and I wasn’t really doing anything new in my day-to-day life.  I loved
the friends and family that lived there with me, but I also missed
meeting new people and seeing new places.  I came to the conclusion
that I had to move away for a while and see the world.  I figured I
could either save up some money for another year, quit my job and then
travel around on my own for a little while or I could travel and work
along the way with some of my friends and capture the whole adventure
on film.

That was a while ago now. Since then, I’ve quit my job
and moved out to Seattle in April.  It’s already been a pretty crazy
ride so far.  Since my departure from Oswego I’ve travelled to the
westernmost point in the continental United States (Cape Alava),
touched the Pacific Ocean for the first time, met the Mayor of Seattle,
shared a house with a couple of punk bands, and camped at the base of
Mt. Rainier.

I’m still not too sure what the future will bring
but if the last few months have been any indication, it should be an
adventure i’ll never forget.

Dan and Rob relaxing in the livingroom.