The Reverse Perm

In the U.S., perms are synonymous with curly hair (this has nothing to do with my last post). In Singapore, they tend to be more obsessed with straight hair.  At any salon you'll see rebonding services on the price list.  When I first saw this, I thought it was like extensions or something.  Wrong.  Rebonding is what I like to term as the reverse perm.  It's chemically straightening your hair.  No wonder Asian hair always seems so straight and nice :).

The last couple of times I've been to my hair stylist she's made comments on my hair being curly.  There is a little wave in it and I could never let it air dry without straightening it, but curly??  A couple weeks ago when I went, I got the same spiel.  I asked her to cut more layers because it gets too heavy at the bottom.  She proceeded to tell me how that wouldn't work because my hair is too curly.  So I asked what the answer was and she said I could straighten it. So I did.

Habitat for Humanity - Batam, Indonesia

Back in the U.S., my home office usually dedicated a day each June for the last few years to a local Habitat for Humanity projects.  I've learned to drywall and properly hammer a framing nail :).  It's always been a great way to do something where you can see your impact immediately.  And, very nice to get out of the office and have some physical activity.  So when a co-worker here in Singapore said she was organising a local Habitat outing, I was all for it.  It was not a work sponsored event, so we ended up with a good mix of eight of us with different backgrounds.

There's a nearby Indonesian island, Batam, where the Singapore Habitat program does daily builds, Batam Build. Otherwise they also sponsor longer trips (~1 week) to areas such as Thailand and most likely Japan here in the future.  What I quickly realised was that there would be no framing or drywall here.  Houses are made out of concrete and bricks.  Prepare for some manual labor!

Here's a re-cap of our successful day (be prepared, lots to share).  I mean, I'm crazy sore this morning, so that means success right? :)

Hairy Food

Ever get hair in your food?? on purpose!?!  :)  This is one of the most disgusting things to me.  Hair in food (or really anywhere when it's not your hair), the horrible sound of people hacking up huge snot balls and nasty feet. These are the things that make me cringe.

So then we went for Chinese New Year lunch for work.  And someone asked me if I was going to eat the hair. Hmmm??  Do you see the black goop? It's on my abalone.