American Impressions, first visited the Russian bath

The Russian journalist that the American edition Los Angeles Times Jonathan Cayman resulted in a friend's wedding, who lives in Moscow. Site publishes a translation of his article, in which Jonathan, not hiding emotions, shared his impressions with the compatriots. "In Russia," a nice relaxing bath "- it's not what you think" - is the name of his article on the pages of Los Angeles Times, in which the author was able to pass a bunch of emotions from the first visit to our country:

"After a hard week" hot bath "sounded like a good way to escape! I was in Moscow for a friend's wedding, and everything was not as good as we would like. It was the first time I came to Russia and did not speak in Russian, which allowed the waiter and two taxi drivers to peel me like sticky. I confused the two metro stops, the name of which was written only in Cyrillic, and 40 minutes, waited until my friend figured out where I am.

So when my friend from college, who now lives in Moscow, and asked if I wanted to join him and go to a traditional Russian sauna, I jumped at the opportunity. I did not realize that in addition to hot water and steam, the main part of the ritual are serious physical suffering -. A kind of masochism »

Next Jonathan colorfully and emotionally described all that experienced in the Russian" steam room " that "looked like a normal father drinking saunas»:

"Banja can mean both a sauna and, in fact, Russian bath, and a visit to the bath at the end of a long week to improve your health and communicate, is an old Russian tradition. Not as old as the oppressive Stalinist architecture of the city; old as the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Place of our destination, Seleznevskaya Bani, was quite unremarkable red-brick building in the north of the center of Moscow. It definitely needs to be repaired, the light was dim, besides there is a little musty. Value baths visit $ 20 in 2 hours ».

Caught on tape at the Guardian office in Soho

A photo posted by Jonathan Kaiman (@jrkaiman) on May 23, 2014 at 11:45 am PDT



Here an American came to the fun. There is a feeling that the images seen them until now flashed before his eyes ...

"On Saturday night, the place was full of naked men, young and old, moved around the premises and familiarly with lazy confidence. In the first moment I saw more smiles than for many days. For the dressing was white tiled shower. Shower ended in a thick, reminiscent of a medieval wooden door, behind which there was a steam room.

Steam looked scary. Rickety wooden benches rose right up to the ceiling. In one corner of the oven perched, like a commercial, light was some jaundiced, and the walls are blackened from the heat.

Visit baths consist of several sessions. Several dozen of us crowded into a room together, then sat shoulder to shoulder on benches. Veterans or permanent visited warmed stones in the furnace and poured their water. Steam smelled burnt oranges. Some men were standing in the corners and beat their bundles of birch twigs with leaves. "It is good for blood circulation," - said my friend

. One of the patrons took a giant fan-like blade with a long handle, and began to circle the room, distributing the steam. He waved a fan of slow motion and sure in the dim light was like a Greco-Roman artist. He went from visitor to visitor, fanning them like a fan, and they trembled and strained muscles, resisting heat »

Then came" the most heat »:.

"Gradually, the room temperature is increased until about 200 degrees Farangeytu, almost enough to boil water. We were all in pointed hats of felt to protect our brains from boiling, which made going on a surreal and comic effect. We were like dwarfs in the oven.

When a person with a fan got to me, I panicked. Wind from his fans cut like knives. I could not breathe. Morgan became sick. I began to worry about my

internal organs. " "Quote of Russia, vague and incomplete, ran through my brain. Later, I found it on the Internet. It was written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. "The most important, the most fundamental spiritual need of the Russian people have a need to suffering continual and insatiable, always and everywhere," he wrote in 1873 ... We were in about 10 minutes. »

Then, suddenly, as if on cue, everyone broke into applause. The session ended; all together we went out for the guy in the next room, where there was a small turquoise pool. Through the open window came through the cold air from Moscow. We jumped in the pool. The water was cold as ice. I gasped. This is somewhat reminiscent of exorcism.

In rural baths, as I was told, visitors simply jump into the snow. »

It's unfortunate that Jonathan did not get to experience the "snow shower»!

"After that, we went back to the locker room to drink beer and dried fish to chew on. I looked up and saw a man fanned we fanned out. A few moments ago, he seemed omnipotent, and now it became clear that he was quite young, probably a teenager. He had malocclusion, besides, he slouched noticeably - likely a hacker than

Greek god. " "After a few sessions in the bath, I felt both tired and completely updated. The winding streets were icy but beautiful under a thin layer of snow. Cold sharpened my senses. I realized that no problems over the past week did not bother me that the bath washed them. Suddenly I felt fortified, almost satisfied.

Probably, this is the meaning. So much suffering in life is infinite stretch without any benefits or rewards in the end. How rare, and how well that sometimes they end in nice and in the end all the suffering you feel is not defeated, and enlightened! »



via ru-open.livejournal.com/197549.html