Sauna time

we're still hot from the sauna
Originally uploaded by The Enforcer.

Saturday morning at 11, four girls stepped out from karklu penki into a snowy blizzard to trek to the Baltic Sea and experience the traditional Lithuanian Sauna.
We arrived @ the ferry dock to be delayed for 1 1/2 hours due to the snow storm. We hit up the best cafe I've been to yet here and then walked around old town and found the coolest little Lithuanian Art store. It was full of local Lithuanian art-paintings, pictures, sculptures, etc. I have been back already twice since then, the owner lady and I are good friends already, haha.
Finally @ 1 pm, we took the ferry across the spit (only a little longer than the Ft. Langley ferry, yeah pathetic) then we hiked through a national park for 20 min. and finally arrived @ the beach and found the sauna.
It was a tiny little building, hidden to the public...it's not advertised at all, but local people go there every weekend. It was an incredible time. We sat in the 100 degree C sauna for about 10 min. and then when we thought we were going to die from heat we ran straight out the door and 100 ft. into da Baltic (0 degrees C) So we went from boiling point to freezing point and back again...crazy, but really good for the body. The Lithuanian people do it very often, especially during the winter. We're going to try to do it @ least once a month.
We finally got back to the dorm @ 4:00pm and made a killer dinner--we were starving. That night Peggy, Andrea and I took the bus to Maxima (a huge shopping mall). When we were getting off the bus, I tripped and fell in the middle aisle in front of everyone. I totally hit my shin and my chest--a lot of pain. Everyone on the entire bus, including the driver stopped and stared at me...then the bus started again and I was trying to get Peggy to tell the bus driver to stop cuz we needed to get off, I was yelling, "ne, ne, ne! Sustoti!" The bus driver stopped and i hobbled off. Everyone was still watching me the entire time. it was hilarious but by far the most embarrassing experience of my life, and due to the other culture I couldn't even try to laugh at myself and make some smooth joke to smooth over the experience. Haha, oh well...I guess it keeps life interesting. What a day!