Is it the enunciation?

I ventured out of the confines of our South African abode today to get my hair cut. Kelly's family is in town, so I have spent the bulk of my week alone in our house. Well, minus the two days of contractors, but that is another story.

Anyway, on the way to the salon, I stopped by the mailbox. Two guys were sitting in front of my box and I politely asked them to move. That's when one of the guy says "Are you American!?" (He sounded very excited!) I confirmed his hunch and replied "Yes, I am, did my "accent" give me away?" And he says "Yes, it is a great accent! I want it! I try to speak American but I need lessons. Will you give us lessons?" Much to their dismay I stated "Sorry, I don't think I can do lessons. But the trick is to enunciate your words. Have a good day!" And I was off.

I get to the salon and take my seat. After two failed attempts with hair stylists here in SA, I was hopeful for this one. As I waited, an assistant asked if I would like anything to drink. So I said, "Yes, I would like some water." She looks at me with a very puzzled look. "Water? Do you have water?" I ask. She stares blankly again and mumbles "yes" while walking away. That's when the hair stylist approached me and says "You want water?" And I am like umm, yes, W-A-T-E-R. The clear liquid you can get almost anywhere. Fortunately they finally got the point. (I didn't really say the last portion....)

I showed her a photo of my most recent cut by my FAVORITE hair stylist in the States, Jessie. Then I say, "I like this style, only I would like for you to cut it longer." I felt comfortable and reassured by her apparent look of comprehension and confidence. "Oh yeah," she says, "we can do that." And she gets to work on the cut. Cutting, cutting, cutting...I can tell it's quite short in the back, but what could I do? The music was blaring, tons of people were talking and the blow-dryers blowing. She finally stops and begins the blow-dry. After the blow-dry, she assesses her work, examining the angles, etc. She asks me "what do you think?" And I say, "well, it looks like this side is longer than the other." (The cut was supposed to be SLIGHTLY longer in the front than in the back...instead there was a HUGE length difference between the back and front. The back being super short and the front being super long.) So she starts cutting some more, but not in the front, no mam. She cuts more off the back. NOOOO! Finally she stops. I don't know how she could have missed my look of disappointment. I tried to explain that I thought it was too long in front and she says "Yes, next time we will cut it up more in the front." UGH! And I just wanted a trim following the lines of my old hair cut. I gave up and just paid.

As I walked to the grocery store (in the same shopping center) I pondered what could have possibly gone wrong. That's when I realized, it must have been my enunciation. Maybe if I had slurred my words together and not moved my mouth when I spoke, she would have gotten my cut right.

I included pictures in the blog for you to see the major decline between back and front of my haircut. At least it's just hair, and it grows back, right?