Dry Cleaning, Hair Cut, and Laundry (my head-on collision with the language barrier:)

Those pesky little domestic tasks finally caught up with me... I've worn all my dress shirts, am at risk of developing a mullet, and need to stop postponing laundry by buying socks, tshirts and boxers (no matter how cheap they may be.) Unfortunately, I don't live in a high-density expatriate area and so the local services (like dry cleaners) are not staffed by bilingual individuals. You might not think the language barrier would be much of a problem with dry cleaning... you drop off the shirts, point out the stains, and get a receipt telling you when to pick up your clothes... not so. Things were going smoothly until I had finished pointing out the stains (and repeatedly used my recently learned Chinese word for Soy Sauce) and we came to the part of our customer-dry cleaner interaction where I would get a receipt and leave; the lady behind the counter apparently had a problem with this plan, which I discovered when she started yelling at me in rapid-fire Chinese. Long story short, I ended up writing down my address in Chinese (this means copying the symbols as best I can from a piece of paper that I've been carrying around with me for the last 7 weeks and isn't in the best condition to begin with) and leaving with the legitimate concern that I may have just "donated" my shirts.

Fortunately, yesterday, Alice agreed to stop by the dry cleaner with me after work, and as soon as she said "no receipt" they knew exactly who I was and presented me with my shirts, perfectly dry cleaned and pressed (7 shirts for $3.25!) This would prove to be the highlight of my cleaning experiences as I have yet to master the use of my tiny washing machine (all the instructions are in Chinese) and it turns out a Swiffer dust-trapping push broom doesn't cut it for long term cleaning of wood-laminate floors.

I'm off this afternoon to try and get a haircut, taking with me both of my Chinese translators and really hoping that they don't feel like messing with me...