This School Could Employ Its Own Army Barber...

Looks are very important in Mexico. With schools that means that both the buildings and people there have to look pretty. Part of looking pretty is looking uniform. Part of looking the same is having the same haircut. So essentially what I'm saying is that haircuts are very important.

Every couple weeks the Prefecta (ranked one step below principal) comes around to each class to check on peoples hair. Girls just have to keep it looking reasonably clean and they do this without the Prefecta's nagging. On the other hand, guys have to pass a test from her that usually depends on her mood. Each boy gets a rough grab at the back of their head to test the length. If she decides it is too long, you get told to cut it and she writes your name down in her little notebook of secrets.

One day we were in gym class playing soccer on the field. The Prefecta comes out on the third floor balcony on the building and watches us for while. After about 5 minutes she roars, "JOSE FERNANDEZ, COME HERE!" Jose, a boy in my class, went running into the building. It was very impressive, even though I had no idea what was going on. For the next few classes he wasn't there. Eventually he showed up, with his hair cut! After asking some questions I found out that if you don't get your hair cut within 2 days of the Prefecta telling you to, the school will phone your mom or dad and make them come and get you, doesn't matter if they are busy or at work, they MUST come. You have to leave school with your parent, get your hair cut and return. It is unacceptable to wait until after school that day.

Maybe a Cat Had Just Passed Through

There was a hairball by my desk today. It started out as a ball of lint but grew as the day went on. It picked up hairs one by one. Hairs that were so big I couldn't believe that I hadn't noticed them on their own on the floor. Once it reached a certain size the wind from the fans was able to move it, back and forth across the class. It had traveled its journey 3 times and on the fourth crossing it started heading straight for me. As it came closer I saw that it was about 3 inches in diameter, loosely packed and trailing behind it was a almost 50cm long tail of nasty nastyness. Hairs, candy wrappers, someone's gum, all headed for me. I started to panic so I lifted my legs and it passed harmlessly under my chair. For the rest of the day it grew and and got blown about. I wonder if it will still be there tomorrow.



I believe that the threat of hairball related injuries and deaths in Mexican schools is constantly on the rise and should therefore be taken into consideration. A Mexican hairball's natural habitat is in small, smooth floored, well ventilated enclosures. Their main source of sustenance are the hair snippings from Mexican school girls grooming their split ends during a particularly boring class. I think that these unique natural wonders of Mexico should not be exterminated, but rather to be relocated by a school janitor to a nearby garbage can where they can be properly cared for.