Sauna Stories, Volume I
At my gym, which let me preface by saying, boasts the attendance of the older more “eclectic” crowd in the Richmond District of San Francisco, has a sauna that I like to think of as my reward for actually working out – it’s either that or a donut, hence my eternal love and devotion to and for the sauna. As you can imagine, there are some characters that like to get their sweat on, and of course chat me up. I’ll just let you in on some highlights of the past week:
- Seeing/hearing an older woman who, consequently, looks as if the hard train of life has hit her whilst being tied to the proverbial tracks, wielding a stick-like crystal and waiving it frantically around her figure as she let me know about how the end of the American presidential office is near (she’s sure!) since her Russian friend let her know about a proverb saying so that she learned while growing up in Russia.
- A man who sits in the room for about 2 hours with 3 bottles of water. He looks as if he’s dead when he leaves. Poor man… I wonder if anyone will ever tell him you’re only supposed to be in there 20 minutes?
- A lovely queen who told me about his being stopped by the Mexican Federallys 6 weeks ago because he had ridden a horse along the beach, and they were worried he might have gotten too close to the Mexican animals to be let back in the US. Consequently, he kept reiterating his innocence to me, which made me wonder, “What do they mean, too close, and are you sure you didn’t?”.
- A woman from Russia who let me know that her first sentence she wrote while taking the citizenship test was, “I like chocolate chip cookies”. Profound.
Can’t you just see why I love it?!… I mean, where else on Earth would I meet these people, let alone strike up a convo? They’re absolutely endearing. I think the swimsuit gives everyone a false sense of intimacy… I know I feel closer to someone once I see them half naked and dripping. Haha! Lovely visual, I know. Happy sweating!
Peace and Love XO
February 26th, 2009 saat: 1:38 pm
Haha…“What do they mean, too close, and are you sure you didn’t?”
Priceless.
Oh, and I totally know that guy you’re talking about who sits in there for hours. I hate the fact that he always takes the seat we want, and even when he leaves, we can’t have it because there’s like PUDDLES of sweat. eww….
February 26th, 2009 saat: 2:54 pm
Oh my – you’ve got quite the crowd at your sauna. I can’t believe it’s co-ed!
My steam room in college came with its resident Gassy Gilda at least 3x a week. She always had the room to herself, haha.
Wear flip flops!