Bonding Over Hair

so i don't think anyone's actually reading this, but for it's therapeutic effect and just in case, i'll write something about Mexico for today.

Hair is one of those things that most girls are very particular about. Either they have a certain way they like to do it, change it often enough they can't get too bored, or give up entirely and basically don't care. One of the first nights I was in Tecate, one of the girls in our school, Sinai had to dye her hair, because she wanted it all black to match her passport. So we went and bought black hair dye. After dying her hair entirely, there was plenty left, so we decided to dye my hair underneath so that on top I was still gringa, but I had a little more Mexican in me. It was fun, and got us all giggling. Some good girl time.

Then during our second week, when I was still just getting to know everyone, somehow I convinced Dina to braid all of my hair into cornrows. So we stayed up well into the night doing just that. We snuck out of our cramped room and into the kitchen where we could have light to see, and she braided my hair. This left a lot of time for one on one discussion, which didn't happen much when you live with 25 people. We really got to know each other better, and downright felt like sisters by the wee hour when we headed to bed.

I also officially got my hair cut in Mexico. Don't ever get your hair cut in Mexico. Haha, not really, but I did have a bad cut. The day after I got it, I decided to straighten my hair. And to everyone's horror, it looked like this:

It was all choppy and looked as if a child with scissors got a hold of my head. Dina however, came to my rescue and took me back to have them fix it. This I would not have done, mostly because of the language barrier, but it taught me that it was okay for me to rely on her to get things done.

By the end of our lecture phase (the first three months primarily in Tecate) we had grown quite tired of how little there was to do in our free time. We were also going a bit stir crazy knowing that our outreach phase was coming. There was also the stress of losing our beloved Courtney (the only other American) and mi amorsito, Israel, in the same week. However, we made a new friend, John Paul who came down from Detroit with his father to spend a little time with us. One day we didn't know what to do with ourselves as we were given a few hours with which to do whatever we liked, and turns out Dina and JP share a love for the color purple, so of course we decided to dye my hair that color. I was too scared however to lose all of my "gringa", so I left the front of my bangs blonde. It actually turned out quite well, and just in time for the "fun day" with all four San Diego/Baja bases at a waterpark in Tijuana, where I got to spend the day with my lovely Susie! Below is a picture of me with my friend Jonathan who was in my DTS. Note the many colors of my hair, the obvious purple, but also the blonde bangs, and the black underneath, also Jonathan had just cut his hair into a mohawk-que chido!

During outreach there was little time to ever fuss about hair and even less use in doing so. We really learned to not care about the way we looked besides being presentable and and respectful as we could with dirty missionary clothes, and the rare bathroom in which to shower or even freshen up. But it was so much fun! Those moments and experiences centered around my silly hair really created fun and allowed my relationships with people to grow, mostly with Dina. (Mind you, Dina has the most magnificent hair ever!) It helped that I dyed my hair purple, because she loves that color so much it made her love me more. However, I did have to have my hair to a "normal" color for school, and most of it had faded out by then, unlike my love for Dina. Despite our distance, that hasn't faded at all.