I went to get a haircut today at a place near our apartment. A pretty good haircut = 20,000 dong ($1.20). They also had a guy in the barber shop doing ear cleaning. I’ve seen this all over Vietnam but never had it done. Basically you see guys laying back in reclining barber chairs with the ear cleaner guy shining a big spotlight in their ear and putting all kind of medical looking instruments into their ear.

I’ve always been kind of curious but squeamish about it, but today I was feeling emboldened, I guess, because I decided to give it a try. So I lay (laid?) back in the chair and the guy put a towel on my chest with all kind of medieval-looking instruments. A long scalpel looking thing with a thin razor blade on the end, some long metal dental-looking scrapers, etc., and a collection of what looked to be long wooden q-tip swabs with large balls of cotton on the ends.

And for about the next half hour that guy went to town on my ears. It felt pretty good – although I imagine it probably feels better after you’ve done it a few time and have a little more confidence that the guy is not about to shove something straight through your eardrum. And my ears do feel clean.

I was afraid the guy was going to start going “Oh my god you wouldn’t believe how dirty this guy’s ears are, etc.” – since all I’ve ever had done before is the self-administered q-tip cleaning – which is nothing compared to the intensive cleaning I got today. I was just envisioning 38 years of crud lurking somewhere back in my mid-ear. But that didn’t happen – or at least the guy was quiet about it if it did.

Anyway, I think I now have among the cleanest ears in Vietnam.

Thao started her new English class tonight. I hope it goes well. I am about to go on a bike ride. Peace.