Mani Time!

Down at the nail kiosk!  Stephanie, Rachel, and Lisa came with me this time.

Last night I got the girls together for a manicure.  We walked toward Tingling Road, to venture into a hidden  "Nail Market" on the second floor of a department store building.  As you reach the top of the escalator, you see small kiosks stuffed side-by-side, with narrow aisles lined with eye brow waxing, lip plumping, makeup artistry, and of course, nail polish booths.  For a foreigner, it may not be the most comfortable place to be.  The room is not heated, nor air conditioned.  There is not enough room for "personal space" so you expect bumps and nudges from strangers, and in this particular store, you receive stares as though they have never seen a foreigner before.

We sat down at the nail salon I had been to before.  The people were friendly, but knew very little English.

I remember being a little overwhelmed the first time I had my nails done in China.  In our town, most of the locals do not know English.  They don't really need to because they only have a handful of international guests in the city.  How do you order your nails in Chinese?  The task is difficult, even with a translator.

We pulled out our phones from our bags, typing words and phrases, while passing them back and forth.  We were astonished to find out that gel polish (which is over a $60 USD treatment in the US) is only $10 USD here.  A basic manicure is 20 RMB, which figures out to $3.50.  We were in a girl's paradise.

After doing our best attempt at "Chinglish," we finally pulled out our dictionary.  I have begun composing my own dictionary of words and phrases I learn from others.  The workers were very excited to see it, and began to look through my book and sound out the English words.  

We had a lot of fun, learned a little Chinese, taught a little English, and got our nails done.

Until next time...