The price I pay for a haircut has risen: From 6,000 Won ($5.30 at current exchange) to 7,000 Won ($6.20).
For the past year and a half, I've gotten my hair cut by a woman who runs a small barbershop in eastern Bupyeong**. After today's haircut, she handed me back three 1,000-Won notes after I handed her a 10,000-note. She'd smiled and said something I didn't understand, but indicated that she was aware she was giving me 3,000, which means the new price is 7,000. This is the first time I've paid that price. / Alright. It's still half what I paid in the USA.
In all my visits to this woman, she has never once tried even one word of English. Our limited communication is in Korean. I appreciate that, even though it means very limited communication. / There are some foreigners of my acquaintance here who have located an "English-speaking barber" in central-Bucheon, to whom they shell out 20-25,000 (about $20) for a man's haircut. I consider that a waste of money, but "to each his own".
** -- "Bupeyong" (부평) is an older neighborhood between Incheon and Seoul. I live to the east of Bupyeong, in a newer development called Jung-Dong, Bucheon. I have always felt a bit more comfortable in humbler Bupyeong than in self-consciously wealthier Bucheon. Bupyeong is also where I used to play soccer. See post-6. Actually, the barbershop is just above the anchor-point of post-6's map. I found it once on the way to play soccer, and I've stuck with it.
For the past year and a half, I've gotten my hair cut by a woman who runs a small barbershop in eastern Bupyeong**. After today's haircut, she handed me back three 1,000-Won notes after I handed her a 10,000-note. She'd smiled and said something I didn't understand, but indicated that she was aware she was giving me 3,000, which means the new price is 7,000. This is the first time I've paid that price. / Alright. It's still half what I paid in the USA.
In all my visits to this woman, she has never once tried even one word of English. Our limited communication is in Korean. I appreciate that, even though it means very limited communication. / There are some foreigners of my acquaintance here who have located an "English-speaking barber" in central-Bucheon, to whom they shell out 20-25,000 (about $20) for a man's haircut. I consider that a waste of money, but "to each his own".
** -- "Bupeyong" (부평) is an older neighborhood between Incheon and Seoul. I live to the east of Bupyeong, in a newer development called Jung-Dong, Bucheon. I have always felt a bit more comfortable in humbler Bupyeong than in self-consciously wealthier Bucheon. Bupyeong is also where I used to play soccer. See post-6. Actually, the barbershop is just above the anchor-point of post-6's map. I found it once on the way to play soccer, and I've stuck with it.
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