Swedish Sauna

Yesterday I took my first Swedish Sauna (pronounced saow-na, emphasis on the second syllable). It was a singular experience, and I have to admit, despite running a gamut of emotions, I enjoyed it... a lot.

My first impression of the Sauna? Lots of naked people. The Saunas themselves were separated by gender, with the Males in one and the Females in the other. The swimming area was co-ed, though there seemed to be an unspoken division between where each of the genders went into the lake.

But it was interesting. In the US there would be embarrassment, or the young boys who were there would giggle because people were... naked. Here it was just... that's how it was done. Nothing out of the normal. It was rather comforting, actually. I ended up deciding to "fit in" by not wearing a bathing suit, and I have to admit I liked the experience.

On another note, the water was COLD. But it was strange. You went in, and it was freezing, but then you would get out into the chilly air, and after a moment, you would be warm. Anita said it has something to do with the pores being open from the heat, and then when you hit the cold water they retract and get tight, so the heat stays trapped in your body, but either way, it was strange.

And it was also cool because each time I went into the cold water, when I got out I had this urge to giggle uncontrollably. Kind of the same giggle we get at camp from the people in the showers when the hot water suddenly runs out. Shrieks, and then giggles.

It left me with all these fun natural chemicals swimming around in my body, adrenaline, and happy chemicals.

And with a new impression of Swedish Habits and society. I like the fact that here nudity in certain situations... Saunas, locker rooms and certain pools or swimming areas, is ok. It's normal to see young children swim without clothes, and I have to say the whole pratice is rather convenient.

Family History 2

So the next place we went was Mildred’s old house, which is being fixed up by Håkan’s brother Rowland (who apparently is very well off and owns 5 houses all over the world). There we had fika, a wonderful Swedish tradition similar to teatime in Europe, except that it happens with coffee and it can happen both in the morning and at night… kind of a glorified coffee break. There we got to look at some really old pictures of some of our relatives (which I have on video and in pictures, since we weren’t able to copy the originals).

After having fika, we went to visit the farm that Zacharias was born on. As I said, the area was beautiful, and Håkan picked me a really unique flower that was purple with little dots on the underbelly and shaped like a trumpet or bell. I took pictures of it, but the camera didn’t want to focus on the flower *pouts* I want to find out what type of flower it was… it was simply beautiful.

Marion had arranged for a really neat craft museum to be open for us, where a couple had taken it upon themselves to preserve some of the handicrafts that were being done in the area. Marion had donated a sampler to the place (see picture), so she was able to get the owners to open it up and give us a tour. There was a loom, some really neat crocheting and lacework, and possibly my favorite thing, snow chains for bicycles. Yes, only in Sweden would the people be mad enough to ride their bikes in snowy icy weather that would call for bicycle snow chains.

After the craft museum we went to lunch… a welcome break because I was getting low on blood sugar and nearly falling asleep on Håkan as he drove us there. Next we went to a really neat place… Haverud, which is the only place in the world were there is both a road, train and water bridge all in one place. It was SO COOL. I got a postcard of it, in addition to video. Real Swedish innovation, along with being really creative and quite picturesque.

Then, off to a craft store that sold some really neat local crafts. At this point I was getting pretty tired, but I had just enough energy to peruse all four levels of the store and pick out some postcards and knickknacks to take back with me.

Finally, finally we went back to Håkan’s house, where we had a large fika or small meal, and then, Håkan surprised us with something he doesn’t show many people… the footage to his 50th anniversary. Then, we had to say goodbye to Håkan and Marion, for we won’t see them tomorrow, our last full day. I nearly cried, because it was so wonderful to meet such great relatives that were not only so kind and welcoming but so willing to work with me on my Swedish. They had great sense of humors, and even though by the end of the day I was feeling Swedish-Languaged out, they were just unflagging in their delight that I was learning their language. It was very heartening and humbling at the same time.