i think i'm due for a haircut.
and what that means around here, for me at least, is that i'll be making a visit to Xu Pin.
He offered to cut my hair one day and i took him up on it. it turned out great and i saved some money.
Xu Pin and his brother are the coaches for the Chinese Henan troupe. They do the final act of the show - This great Swinging Pole act where they're flying upside down across moving swinging poles. This isn't them here, but this is pretty much their act and those poles look exactly the same as our guys'. heck, it may BE our guys! in this video the acrobats are MASKED, but the routine's a little different - all the same - this is pretty much it.
Xu cuts all the hair for the 15 or so guys on the troop and he's also on the same casual labor crew with myself, Li Pan Pan (one of the acrobats), Vivian (Brazilian dancer) and, as of late, Wages.
my story here wouldn't be complete without mentioning these folks. Along with Eli, Jeff, and Buda (the sound guys) these are my load out and load in people. These are the folks i'm pushing boxes, driving forks, and loading trucks with till all hours of the morning in some cases. It's been a challenge working together when there're so many languages involved, but we make it work.
For the most part, the Chinese all at least know two phrases : "Good" and "No Good" which kinda comes out "gooduh" and "no gooduh" This is about the extent of Xu PIn's english vocab, though he also knows "Box" and "Finished" "bye bye" and our names. We've learned some work specific words like how to say "Pull" or "Push box" and "Water" and "Finished" as well as some not so appropriate words! Between all that and rudimentary sign language and the occasional drawing, the jobs get done, and even some jokes get told and news gets relayed.
Li Pan Pan is younger, 20, i think, as is Vivian who speaks Portuguese. They get a long well and joke around a lot - Li Pan knows more english phrases, which is the case for more of the younger members of the troupe and he seems to like Michael Jackson as he is constantly singing into his pretend mic and mimicking spins and moonwalks across the arena floor. Meanwhile, Vivian knows her own set of english and understands most of my spanish as i'm slowly picking up some of her portuguese -
so between us all, somehow, all the speakers and microphones make it from one city to the next, and i think we have fun doing it.
