The amount of blogging I have to catch up on doesn't even come close to the amount of laundry that needs to be done. I'll start now- now that all my guests have finally left and I have some down time before the semester and my work takes off again....

The Banya

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I finally had my first real banya experience only two nights ago. The Russian banya is a tradition I had only experienced vicariously through tales of other Americans abroad. I could never convince Sashen'ka to take me as she believed that the banya boils your brains. I was hosting fulbrighter David and his (American) friend was visiting from Paris and needed an education in Russian life. We recruited a group: Sasha, David, Daniel, Anna, Carrie, Olga and me and headed to soak in the culture.
The banya is the Russian sauna- you beat each other over the back with soaked birch branches and take breaks from the heat by jumping into a pool of water (or snow if you're doing it right and banya-ing out in the countryside). You do this in cycles of three- three rounds in the banya, three breaks in the cold cold water. We only had time for one troika in our group and it was so much fun! The shock of the cold water feels amazing after sitting around and sweating.
The banya cleansed all the vacation out of me, and petersburg has gotten cold, as if to say "the time has come for more serious work, to sit inside and read and write."