I decided two weeks or so ago that it was time for a haircut--I was unwilling to trim my bangs in the mirror one more time and I realized that my last cut was sometime back in early July.  So I asked one of my Bulgarian friends where she gets her hair cut. She has a good haircut and I figured that's a great endorsement for the salon.  She helped me set up the appointment and then went with me to talk to her hair stylist Rosa about what I wanted.

It turns out that I need to be more descriptive than a cut.  I've never been a picky hair cut person (well minus that time I got a "mullet-esque" hair cut and I cried. A lot. And then ended up with a much shorter style that I originally imagined.  Thanks for reminding me, Charlotte).  One bad haircut aside, more or less with curly hair the layers matter but how many or the length of these layers doesn't really make much of a difference.  So it's pretty hard to go wrong.

I'd been going to the same guy in DC--at <a href="http://www.bangsalon.com/flash.html" target="_blank">Bang Salon</a>--Bryce that I would show up say hello and he'd give me a great cut.  Some times shorter sometimes longer depending on my mood but it was easy.  He got me.  I liked it and there wasn't the pressure of a really fancy-she-she place where you're worried if you can afford the hair cut let alone the tip plus the cost of the cut.

So yesterday I met my friend at the salon and sat down in the chair trusting my Bulgarian friend and the

[caption id="attachment_370" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Oh, a haircut! "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04381.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-370" title="CAE Haircut" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04381.jpg?w=225" alt="Oh, a haircut! " width="225" height="300" /></a>[/caption]

stylist and tried to tell them what I wanted.  I was a little bit nervous.  She cut my hair without washing it and simply brushed out my curly hair spraying it occasionally with water.  At some point, she told me that I had hair that made other women are jealous and the natural color was pretty.  I couldn't wonder if she was a little nervous to be cutting my hair too but she never showed it.  I just kept smiling at her in the mirror and hoping that I didn't end up with a second mullet some how.  She did tell my that my hair is dry and that I need to use more conditioner but if she was in the shower with me in the mornings she would know I am not skimping on the conditioner.  So I guess that this confirms what I already knew--that my hair seems to be permanently dry and that I need to buy a better hair conditioner.  But all of this said, the haircut turned out great.  My bangs may be a little shorter than I'd like but the good thing is that those will grow.<!--more-->

What surprised me was the price.  I paid 10 leva for my haircut and when I asked my friend about how much to leave as a tip she said it's not expected and that she never tips. So I didn't either.  In hindsight, maybe I should have but there were a lot of other people in the salon and I didn't want to make a scene or anything--you know the crazy American trying to press money on her hair stylist.  I guess these days it's kind of my MO.

But this post isn't just about my haircut.  It's also about heat.  Today I decided I need to figure out how to use my wall mounted heater (which also doubles as an air conditioner--I just never needed to use it well until now).  The thing is that it's not actually too cold in my apartment sure I am wearing a sweatshirt and wool socks but that's not much different than the giant group house I lived in for the last four years.  What spurred this decision was when I realized that a sweater and sweater-skirt that I hand washed 24-plus hours ago were still not dry.  I would like to wear them rather than end up washing them again because they've mildewed.

The tricky thing is that the unit mounted on the wall say Toshiba and then all of the markings are in Japanese.  Really, my heater/air conditioner is Japanese?! I can't even sound out Japanese.  The remote has about five buttons on it and pictures and if you hold it at the right angle you can see what the temperature is in degrees Celsius.

I am not great with technology. Sure I got the hang of the spin wheel on the ipod and I am keeping a blog but I don't like power car windows and I would prefer most things to have either a timer or a simple on off switch.  So I did what anyone else would do.  I punched all of the buttons and stood on a stool with my hand in front of the unit trying to decide if it was warmer or colder depending on the button I had selected.

After about 20 minutes of this, I realized that I was only blowing cold air at different speeds around my living room.  I looked up a model close to mine online and in a couple of minutes I was blowing lots of hot air around my apartment. That's when I figured I'd better find a reasonable temperature in degrees Celsius.  Yeah online converters.

So I am going to be a whole new person soon with my great hair cut, a warm apartment and dry clothes! I do however think that it's strange that it's the middle of November and I am turning on the heat for the first time in more than three months.  Oh to be energy efficient.