Piercings

One day I was talking to my darling friend, Helen and she was telling me how she's always wanted her ears pierced but she's afraid of the pain.  She's 27 years old and terrified of ear piercing? Unacceptable.  I made a date with her to go and hold her hand while she had it done for the very first time.  We met in the morning and headed down to get the piercing done on Guan Qian Jie, a popular shopping street in Suzhou but on the way there it became clear that she thought that I was having it done too.  I thought, well it's been like 10 years since I had my cartilage pierced, maybe I could have it done again.  And it'd be kind of fun to say that I had it done in China. 
Helen took me to a small beauty shops tucked behind a bunch of street food vendors and shoe repair men.  Inside she negotiated a price and then told me, "It's 10 kuai per ear," (About $3 total) "So do you want?" 
Me: I want to watch you do it first.
I spent a little time helping Helen find her courage to get it done and then reminded her to make sure that the earring is sterling silver.
She said that it is and took her seat on a stool.  I watched as the woman opened a drawer filled with nail polish bottles and a bunch of loose earrings swimming around in the bottom.  She fished one out and approached Helen, put the stud up to her ear and used her hand to ram it through her earlobe. No fancy Claire's piercing gun, no sterilization, just pushed through her flesh! Helen yelped and I think my mouth actually dropped open in shock.  I whipped out my camera to get a shot of ear number two.

 Afterwards, she swabbed around the stud with cleaner, thank god, but I said that I'd be passing on the piercing.  (I mean I've been vaccinated for Hepatitis but let's not push it.)

Helen with her newly pierced ears! 

 I praised her up and down and told her how impressed I was with her bravery.  Then I reminded her that she needed to clean it every day. She said that, "They said there was no need for that." I was horrified and described rubbing alcohol in great detail, making her promise to go to the pharmacy immediately and buy some.  I'm happy to report that Helen has had these piercings for three months and no disease in sight.  Her lobes look lovely!