Dreams come true

When I was very small, like many children, I hated to bathe. “Bath time” was a tortuous waste of time that should be avoided at all costs, or at least put off as long as possible. Elementary school me wanted nothing more than a world where baths were non-existent.

This week, my childhood dreams have come true.

Living in a freezing environment with no shower facilities means that “bath time” is fairly infrequent, both because stripping naked is pretty darn cold when you can see your breath inside, and because getting clean involves either a hike down the road to the public shower house, or a shivering sponge bath at home.

For my first shower here, I chose the public shower. There was a cigarette butt crushed among the other debris on the floor of my stall, but luckily I was wearing the shower shoes they handed me at the door. I’m sure they’re sanitized between every use, right?

Another feature of the public shower is that I got to share the experience with my friend. This is because to save money, and because we only had one bar of soap, we decided to share a shower stall. If that’s not taking a friendship to a whole new level, I don’t know what is.

To finish off the showering process, people here don’t bother with towels. Instead, they we simply pat ourselves off with the same damp washcloth that was used for scrubbing. It’s very efficient, plus there’s nothing like a little chill to remind you to put your clothes on.