Ah, the Turkish bath!

Just sitting here thinking about it makes me feel more relaxed, happier, and sweatier...



So here's the run down on how this whole Turkish bath thing works. We showed up and paid our dues. They gave us each a key for a little locker off to the side. There, we undressed. I think going nude was an option, but the three of us opted to keep the boxers. Then, you grab yourself a pair of the house slippers to wear and a little cloth thing to wrap around your waste, and it's off you go.

Once inside, you have a wide range of things to choose from, but I think what we did was pretty typical. The room is large, with a high, domed ceiling, with the light being provided by small holes in the dome of the ceiling. The method of lighting the room gives it a strange ambience. In the middle of the room is a large octagonal rock. The room is very hot and humid. We went it and sat around on the large rock in the middle to start with. Not only is the room hot, but we found out very quickly that the big rock is hot too! But, we unwrapped the cloth from around our wastes, used it as a little blanket, and got comfortable on the rock. You just sit or lay there and sweat, allowing your muscles to relax and unwind. After being in for a while, an old man started calling us over one by one to a wooden plank on one side of the rock. There he would put a mitten thing on his hand and rub your whole body. And when I say "whole body," I mean your WHOLE body. From there I was directed to a man sitting by a fountain with a big bucket. There were these fountains spaced around the big room at intervals. They had a hot and a cold water faucet with a large marble sink to catch the water in. At this one, the man had a seperate bucket of suds. Here he washed my hair for me. He did a great job, it was the best scalp rub, and maybe the only scalp rub, I have ever had. Once he had rinsed me out, he pulled this huge sponge thing out of his bucket. It was scratchier than a normal sponge and was roughly the size of my entire back. He used it to wash my back, my chest and stomach, then my legs and arms. After a good rinse, I was free to roam the hot room again. So I started to look around and noticed that there were four rooms that you could go into from the big room. Three of the rooms were private bath rooms where people would go to continue washing themselves at a fountain. But the fourth room had a sign next to it that said "Sauna." Seeing as how I was already sweating profusely, I didn't see that going into a sauna would be much different, but I went in anyways. The room was small and very dimly light. They used the same lighting system as the big room, with just some small holes in a small dome over the center of the room, but the plexiglass that covered the holes was almost black from the charcoal heaters that kept the room warm. And boy did they keep it warm! It was oppressive heat. One of the guys that came with me couldn't stay in the room because he couldn't breath with the air so hot. I had to labor to breath myself, but it felt great. I sat in there for a while and then went out to a fountain to wash off with some luke warm water. I started to wander again and found that in the "in between" room, between the lobby and the big room, was a small pool full of ice cold water. I went back into the big room and told the other guys about it. We tried to acclimate ourselves a little by pouring some luke warm water over us but when the time came, nothing had us prepared. To say it took your breath away would be an understatement. If my body temperature hadn't already been thirty degrees above normal, my heart may have just stopped right then. But as hot as I had been for the past hour and a half, it only took five minutes in that pool to return to normal. But as shocking as it was, it really felt good. We went back out into the lobby, dried off, and changed back into our street clothes. We sat around and had a drink (I tried carrot juice for the first time and was not impressed) before venturing back out into the real world.

When I walked out of that building, I felt like a new man. It was the cleanest I had felt in years! (No showering jokes needed.) One of my buddies said he was having trouble walking his leg muscles were so relaxed and loose. It was awesome. With the cold weather set in for another month or so, I hope to make at least one more visit to the place this winter. I don't know if it'll be quite as refreshing in the middle of July. But all in all, it was one of the most relaxing and refreshing experiences of my life. If you have a chance, definitely check out your local Turkish bath. (And if you're wondering if it's really a "Turkish" bath that you've wandered into, just look to see if your masseuse is dark skinned and has a hairy back. If so, it's genuine!)

In other news, I am almost completely over my little cold. I had a fever Sat night, but slept half the day yesterday and stole a two hour nap this afternoon as well. I took the lead in one of our exercises tonight at English class and things went fairly well. The students still have a hard time seeing me as the "teacher" since I am young enough to be their child, but as I am being phased into the teaching, I think their respect for me is growing as well.

John, I have a whole carton of Akdeniz Suyu in the fridge now. It may make it to lunch tomorrow. Maybe. Gouge, I hope this doesn't bring the "sex site" lockdown again. Sex Sex Sex. And Monsieur Masson, you have my email address now. I am waiting to hear from you and/or your lovely wife.