August 4, 2006

• …turning heads…

  So in Memoirs of a Geisha, Mameha tells Sayuri that when she can stop a man in his tracks with one glance, then she is “ready to be geisha…”

  Now, with my mohawk, I, too, am “ready to be geisha.” Haha. Everywhere I go, people stop in their tracks and STARE. People on motos slow down, occasionally running into the person in front of them, so they can STARE. People across the street in their little shops come out and STARE. Why is that? Some people hold it in until after they’ve passed me, then they talk and laugh. Others comment in Khmer telling me that my hair is “loy-ah” (cool). They don’t think I understand them until I thank them, in Khmer, then their jaw drops because they thought that I was Japanese the entire time. Who’d have thunk that the Japanese looking boy with the mohawk was Khmer after all, right?! Haha, I think it’s hilarious how something as simple as hair can make such a big statement and illicit so much attention, but hey, whatever floats your boat. Since cutting my hair, I’ve gotten more smiles, laughs, and stares here than I ever thought possible just from a haircut, but I guess it’s not such a bad response to evoke from people given the difficult circumstances they’ve encountered already. I may not have made a lasting impact on people in the area of human rights, but I am proud to say that I have made people smile here. If anything, this has been a sojourn for smiles, and this countryside has been littered with it.

  Forget sarcasm, forget embarrassment, for blessed are we who are able to smile and, more importantly, are smiled upon…

  • 7:15 am
  • 8 Comments