I've been to the Russian Sauna

Today I went to a Russian Sauna and had what ammounts to the experience of a lifetime. Hours later, I am still in shock. The Sauna experience was shared with my clustermates Christa and Sean and my language instructor Olena, though really, it was Christa, Olena and I who shared the most. We shared it all because we bared it all.

The sauna was in the home of a middle-age Russian couple. The four of us went around eleven in the afternoon. The Russian couple had a seperate log building that housed the sauna and its various facets.

To begin with, I had no idea what to expect. I thought that I would wear my swimsuit, perhaps drap a towel over myself and enjoy some intense heat. Instead I ended up naked, being beaten by Birch branches, slathered in a sourcream and salt body scrub, beaten with Birch leaves again and then washed --that's right washed-- from head to naked toe by a half naked Russian woman. It was to say the least, a crazy cross-cultural

Our first stint in the Sauna was co-ed. I was wearing my swimsuit bottoms and a towel. It was steamy and incredibly hot and I sweated like a pig. Our second stint in the Sauna was ladies only. This is when the Russian woman offered to beat us with the Birch leaves to give us the full, Russian Sauna experience. Christa and I went into the Sauna and laid down on our towels, both of us still wearing our bathingsuit bottoms, which we were promptly told to remove. Then the Russian woman made the Sauna extremely hot and steamy and started beating us with the Birch leaves. She started at our feet, moved up our legs, beat our bare butts, our backs. She did this for a few steamy, hot minutes and then she had us flip over. She beat our naked front sides, and at one point she shoved the birch leaves into our faces, smothering us, and told us to breath deeply.

Our third stint in the sauna involved a sourcream-salt scrub slathered all over our bodies. It smelled awful and made me sweat like I didn't know I could sweat. The Russian woman beat us again, lightly this time. After our third stint in the sauna, we went into another room where she had use lie down and she washed us. I mean, she got a sponge and soap and washed us head to toe, front side and back side. It was rather bizaar; nobody has given me a good cleaning like that since I was wee.

I didn't expect to be so naked today, and really, I'm still kind of in shock. My muscles are incredibly relaxed and I feel like the toxins have indeed been beaten out of my body, so it was worthwhile, especially since now can say I've been to the Russian Sauna.