Girls Day Out

It's grooming time and Yue Li, baby Star and I take a taxi to the downtown area where we've been several times before. The manicure shops are situated in the middle of a mall, somewhat like the kiosks that we set up in the central walkway of our malls. Each shop is composed of tables set up in a rectangular shape and chairs arranged around them to accommodate several customers at once. Baby Star sleeps next to Yue Li on the chairs.

The service is not much different than our Vietnamese shops at home, minus the fancy chairs, and the cost, of course, is less. $15.00 for two manicures and one pedicure. I'm really tempted to try a hair-removal service that is done with a piece of string and some kind of snapping motion (explained to me by Yue Li but not demonstrated, so I'm still confused how it's done). But on close examination of my face, both Yue Li and the manicurist decide whatever hairs I insist I have are too light-colored for them to see. I want to argue but realize how foolish that would sound. Curiosity can take me to places I don't want to go, I remind myself.

A few days ago Skyler took me to a very nice massage place here in the downtown area. We donned pajama-like clothing and shared a room while I got one of the best deep-tissue, combo Thai massages I'd ever had. I thought it would be odd to share a room with my son, but it wasn't awkward at all, we chatted for most of the two hours and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I also received a nice compliment from Sky afterwards - he confessed that the masseuses told him I was more hard-core than he was. Thus inspired, he decided he wasn't going to let that happen and quit his protestations. I did tell him the more deep tissue you get the less it hurts, and I've had plenty of them.

I'm explaining this because after the manicure I thought it would be nice to go back for another massage. I define an excellent massage more for it's after-benefits than how it feels while it's done, and this one had managed to clear all the swelling out of my right arm that I'd hurt last June, enabling me to close my hand into a tight fist for the first time in ten months. So, any excuse for a massage as my philosophy, I asked Yue Li if she could walk me over before she went home for the afternoon. Instead, she decided to stay and nurse the baby and maybe nap in the same room.

This time I had one of the worst massages I've ever had. That's not to say I didn't have as good a time as I did with Sky, maybe even better. What we had was more of a party. The first hour a steady stream of visitors filtered through the room to see the baby and ask questions and make comments. Hostesses (dressed in skirt suits and demure heels) masseuses, and I'm-not-sure-what-they-do women dressed in old fashioned Chinese clothing. (I know the place is clean and legal, Sky was careful to point out all the signs to me stating this, including showing me the characters for "no" and "prostitution".) The questions were specific (did I eat rice in America) and general (is the nursing going well) The expected (I can't believe you're taking the baby out before it's a month old) and one of Yue Li's and mine favorites - the baby looks exactly like her father. Our favorite because we hear this often from people who have never even seen Skyler.

Meanwhile my masseuse is working only until she gets caught up in the conversation at which time she forgets and takes a break to join in. The second hour, after everyone had had their looks and their says, Yue Li and I and the masseuse watch t.v., commenting on the news story covering the abandonment of a four-year-old boy, (how could anyone do that, ever?) and the young girl who jumped to her death off a high rise due to depression. (Such a preventable disease, and my auntie's friend had a friend who did that and...) All in all a fun-filled afternoon and well worth the cost ($10.00) for the room rental, tea and fruit, and entertainment. Oh, and a really good foot and a half massage.