what a wednesday is for

wednesdays have always been a day of the week i liked the most.
wednesdays in japan are proving to be the best.
actually i haven't really had one bad day in Japan yet, so i suppose it's hard for wednesdays to stand out but yesterday's wednesday managed just that.
and i don't want you to expect anything extraordinary in this post. it was just a good all around, interesting day with an ultimately accomplished feeling at the end.

i took a day off yesterday, 'cause i "worked" (hung out with friends in Naha for the conference) on Friday and Friday was an Okinawan holliday, so i get to take a day off for that anytime within the two weeks after that happens.
I decided to do some shopping and maybe put together the kitchen cabinet i bought.
the later plan failed as soon as it started when i realized i would need a screwdriver (good call, mom) and lacked one. Gabrielle didn't have one, so i decided to drive north to another village and see if i can locate one.
i discovered that a lot of little, tiny, grungy shops sell exactly the same things but they do not sell hardware supplies.
by the time i found a screwdriver (at school) i had decided to drop the idea of any handywork and drive to Nago to do some shopping for the apartment and maybe hang out with Mike (a canadian ALT).
I found quite a few things that i liked and bought; spent a couple of hundred dollars, actually. but it's all useful stuff, i'm sure.. it's still sitting in bags at home.. so i'll get to find out today after work how well i did yesterday.
towards the evening i got a call from two Group A JETs. One was in the north with his teachers and students and was wondering if i'd like to come out for dinner with them. and another called saying that she was heading north and was meeting a few people for dinner in Nago (where i already was). So i decided to stick around and 8 of us ate sushi at a mall in Nago. Good time. It's fun being surrounded by different English accents; i could most of time understand new zealenders and australians...but the irish can still be a bit difficult.
After dinner and then doghnuts at "Mr. Doghnut" (is that an American company?) Ben said he'd show me where his friend, the kite surfer aka hairdresser, has his shop.
Mind you, it was already 9pm.
So we get to the shop..which was by far the most interesting hairdresser shop I've ever been to, a little after nine. I play with the dog, a customer is seated and we wait. and wait and take the crazy puppy on a walk...and wait a bit more, and i sit down in the chair around 10:30pm.
Chikara is a cool surfer dude. His shop is celebrating one year in existence this Sunday and i'm invited. There will be jetskies and surfing and food, of course.

His shop is decorated with surf boards of all kinds, crazy, menacing comic book models, mountain goat's head hangs over the mirror in front of which hair is cut.
Equipment and decor are placed around the room on large, yellow barrels. The bathroom is a "dangerous" place, however. I thought of the show the "Young Ones"--their bathroom would probably look like the one i went into at Chikara's shop (although, if i remember correctly, the crew on the "Young Ones" managed to destroy their bathroom very frequently).

My hair was washed after it was cut. Ishikara took time massaging my scalp and i almost fell asleep...The haircut turned out to be great, i love it; and it only cost me a 1,000 yen (~9 bucks) and there's no tipping anywhere in Japan.

i left with such a good feeling, i can't even put it in words. It felt that I was at the right place at the right time doing exactly what i should be doing.
it was perfect.
now i have a new haircut in a new country that teaches me something new daily and it won't stop until the day i leave. yes!

cheers