The Swedish Bastu
Posted by Guano & Associates | Posted in | Posted on 6:46 PM
Yesterday our mining group was invited by a prospective consultant/management group to a dinner and social event. This was to be put on specifically for our company, three of us invited with the five of them. I had lots of work to do and it started at 3:00pm so I really wasn't excited to attend. But I relented and set off for their office in the late afternoon (wasn't far to go, they were next door to our office!).
We drove to the local shooting range and were greeted by a couple of Finns dressed in chaps, western shirts, and cowboy hats. One, a man in his late 50's with Parkinson's, told me with pride that his hat was a Stetson and that it came with instructions that it was "not 'a' hat, but 'The' hat" and that you weren't supposed to take it off indoors. This gentleman informed us that he was part of the local black powder shooter's association, was a fan of 19th century pistols, and was there to teach us all about shooting black powder firearms.
We shot 44 caliber pistols and a 50 cal. rifle. One of the pistols was loaded like a typical black powder weapon and the other used brass cartridges. The rifle had a hair trigger (dual action) that went off when a large mosquito bit me on the side of the face while I was aiming. After shooting a variety of weapons, they pulled out a modern 22 cal. revolver and gave us each paper targets with our names on them. Given six shells, we each took our shots at 25m and they recovered the targets without revealing our scores. Since I’ve never been able to hit anything with a pistol, I was not hopeful.
From there, we went to the parking lot of the shooting range where we cooked hotdogs over a fire and fought off mosquitoes. Hotdogs were good but … finer ground meat? I can’t quite explain it, but it seems like the meat is more like bologna and less like hotdogs that I’m used to.
We finished eating and from there, it gets a little strange. We drove back to the consultant’s office which is directly next door to our offices. Once inside, we went to the company game room which had a pool table and dartboard. We played for a while and munched on snacks, I drank Coke while they each drank a couple of beers. Then, upon some signal that I didn’t hear, everyone went to the back of the game room where there was a locker room, stripped naked, hopped in the shower and then into the sauna. They all brought a new, cold beer with them. Not wanting to look like the ugly American (metaphorically even though I fit the description literally), I decided I’d join the group.
P.S. this photo is not actually of my time there...this is just a stock image from the web!Four people entered the sauna before me and when I sat down, I looked around trying, with some apprehension, to figure out where the other two members of our party would sit since we were already sitting very close together on the top bench. I was envisioning have to spread our knees so the guys could on the step below us and thought I’d have to leave the room if that happened.
Other than the homophobic thoughts and trying to keep my eyes straight ahead, all I could think of was the hours of sauna time I spent in high school trying to lose weight for wrestling. The time in the sauna was not exactly the most enjoyable I’ve ever experienced. I stood it as long as the others inside the sauna and then went out to the locker room and took a cold shower. New, clean towels were provided, I wrapped myself in one and followed everyone back out into the game room. There, everything continued as before, pool, darts, snacks and beer. I almost forgot we were all naked until the CEO crossed his legs and body parts appeared!
We got dressed and went downstairs for dinner. There we had reindeer meat appetizers, some sort of roast beef as a main course, and strawberry cheesecake for dessert. Conversations between the Americans, Finns and Swedes covered everything from hunting and shooting to the mining business to the cultural differences. We sat there chatting until nearly midnight. Finally, they announced the winner of the shooting contest; I took second hitting the target 5 out of 6 shots and 3 of them in the black. I’m not sure how but was pleased that I wasn’t the worst.
And now, that’s the story of my first Swedish sauna!
Yesterday Daniel and I stopped at Bog Hot Springs and I told him stories of how the cowboys would gather there on Friday night and bathe there. However, I have some misgivings about my son getting naked with a bunch of urban cowboys. At least those Finns & Sweedes didn't tuck their Levi's into their boots Hollywood style.
Yesterday Daniel and I stopped at Bog Hot Springs and I told him stories of how the cowboys would gather there on Friday night and bathe there. However, I have some misgivings about my son getting naked with a bunch of urban cowboys. At least those Finns & Sweedes didn't tuck their Levi's into their boots Hollywood style.
OK, I have a friend who visited her relatives in a rural area in Latvia. She had a similar experience except with her relatives. They sweated it out in the sauna, jumped in the near by creek (mind you it was winter) and then slapped eachother with sticks to take their baths. Now I told her are you sure this wasn't just a practical joke on the naive Westerner. So, don't be too surprised when there are pictures of your outing all over the office:) Sweet Dreams
I wanted to let you know that your experience was spread across the US to my friend at work in Austin. My boss deals heavily in Latin America and had a few experiences with Saunas, but said your was a bit more extreme than his experience. I am no so worried about the homophobia but rather the hygenic portion, just like like seeing people's bums on objects I may later come in contact with.