"S" is for Sauna

Alright - I'm officially 95% "Finnish".
I have a reflector tag on my coat, the baby's pram and Tim's getting one for Christmas. I've eaten the fish here, eaten reindeer stew and reindeer pizza and eaten a tonne of baked goodies. Oh and I've picked blueberries in the woods too.

So I don't know what's left to do in the 5% - maybe a trip to Helsinki or something or dye my hair blonde and get some blue contacts for the eyes - however! I finally went in a sauna (Pronounced - sow-nah...not sawn-ah).
I never went before because I was pregnant, it was summer outside (I hate the heat as a general rule especially while pregnant) and presently rocking the stretch marks ("badges of honour", "Tiger stripes"....not Tiger Woods.)....so needless to say - I am shy of my body presently when viewed by others.
Maybe I should go in more depth.

You go in the sauna NAKED. No towel, no bathing suit, etc. So me puting myself out there in front of some strangers (females go together and males go separately together)...yes everybody has the same bits and pieces - but with all my scars from my operations I've had as a newborn - it can cause some eyebrow lifting.

Anyways - I caved. I went as it was just Jessica and I. And with Jessica being at the birth of V�in� - there's not much to hide.
So the sauna was in a separate little building and when you walk in - you take your clothes off and then turn right and you're in the bathroom/shower area before the sauna room. Generally one would give themselves a quick rinse and the sauna itself takes an hour to heat up. Then you go inside the sauna room and there's a bucket filled with water with a large spoon to splash onto the hot coals...which increases the heat greatly. At first when Jessica first poured some water - the heat increased so quickly - it was a rush - similar to that of an asthama attack. But it was fine. So there's a patio with benches to sit on that go along the walls and you have a wooden step to step up onto the patio/platform. And every so often - we got up and left to cool off and we grabbed our towels and stood outside on the snow. I was too chicken to roll in the snow. I could've gotten away with it - as it's a very Finnish thing to do. I wouldn't get charged with indecent exposure - the street is too quiet. HA.
And you just go back and forth - we didn't go outside each time - but just in the entry way to cool off.

It was great and after we each showered and voila.

Now - for those of you that may not know this - DO NOT wear contacts in the sauna. Thankfully I brought my contact stuff with me and my glasses in anticipation of going into the sauna for my first time.
Now another tip - it took me 4 trips into the sauna before my gold necklace (the one with the little gold ball on it) started to heat up and leave red burn rings around my neck. Jessica was talking to me and I started getting a burning sensation around my neck and couldn't concentrate on what she was saying. Finally I interrupted her and said "OW!!!" We couldn't get it off in the sauna - so I went in the bathroom and took it off. Apparently pure gold melts pretty easily. It was 80 degrees inside the sauna.

Oh and I brought my glasses in there too - to see if they'd fog up while wearing them. They did - so I left them on the bench and they became malleable (plastic frame) and now fit much better on my head. They were getting a wee bit crooked for awhile...haha now you know some tricks.

Re-shape your glasses in the sauna and don't wear pure jewelery.