The Unmatchable Experience
After serving my time in prison (see below), we went to Toms’ godfather’s house for his god-sister’s 16th birthday dinner. They live in the country outside of Liepaja on a pig farm, and besides the smells, it was one of the most picturesque places I’ve ever
visited. It was just a small family cook-out, but I learned how to crack/eat crawdads which was a victory in and of itself.
I wish you could all meet “The Godfather,” as we called him. Harold is a large, loud Latvian man whom I'm thinking is always somewhat drunk. He prides himself in knowing English, but after listening to him ramble for a while, we realized he really only knew a couple of curse words and loved to drop the name “Arnold Schwarzenegger” as much as possible. BUT, turns out he is known for running one of the only old-fashioned, Russian-style bath houses in Latvia, a.k.a. a big wooden shed with burning hot rocks in it and way too much steam.
Boys’ turn first. After 15 minutes of melting, they all streaked past us, young and old alike, and plunged into the pond beside us. Alice, the birthday girl, announced it was now the girls’ turn. She spoke perfect English and graciously walked us through the whole process, explaining that the only reason that all of her girlfriends still had their towels on was because we (the modest Americans) still did. With a sigh, we muttered something along the lines of, “When in Rome…” and stripped down too.
After a few minutes, the girls ran out of the bath house in front of everyone and jumped into the pond just like the guys had—with nothing on. I was not a fan of this plan. Something else that I was not a fan of was the apparent Latvian “ritual” that the birthday girl told us about, where Harold, her DAD, comes in during your second sauna session and beats you with Birch branches.
The whole co-ed nakedness thing is simply not an issue in this culture. If you want more details about the night, e-mail me…it was quite the intercultural experience.
Toms told me later that if I ever wanted a weekend away from the dorm or just needed time to relax, his mom was very insistent that we come stay in their flat whenever we want. What a gift.
visited. It was just a small family cook-out, but I learned how to crack/eat crawdads which was a victory in and of itself. I wish you could all meet “The Godfather,” as we called him. Harold is a large, loud Latvian man whom I'm thinking is always somewhat drunk. He prides himself in knowing English, but after listening to him ramble for a while, we realized he really only knew a couple of curse words and loved to drop the name “Arnold Schwarzenegger” as much as possible. BUT, turns out he is known for running one of the only old-fashioned, Russian-style bath houses in Latvia, a.k.a. a big wooden shed with burning hot rocks in it and way too much steam.
Boys’ turn first. After 15 minutes of melting, they all streaked past us, young and old alike, and plunged into the pond beside us. Alice, the birthday girl, announced it was now the girls’ turn. She spoke perfect English and graciously walked us through the whole process, explaining that the only reason that all of her girlfriends still had their towels on was because we (the modest Americans) still did. With a sigh, we muttered something along the lines of, “When in Rome…” and stripped down too.
After a few minutes, the girls ran out of the bath house in front of everyone and jumped into the pond just like the guys had—with nothing on. I was not a fan of this plan. Something else that I was not a fan of was the apparent Latvian “ritual” that the birthday girl told us about, where Harold, her DAD, comes in during your second sauna session and beats you with Birch branches.
The whole co-ed nakedness thing is simply not an issue in this culture. If you want more details about the night, e-mail me…it was quite the intercultural experience.Toms told me later that if I ever wanted a weekend away from the dorm or just needed time to relax, his mom was very insistent that we come stay in their flat whenever we want. What a gift.
posted by Madeline at 1:50 AM
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