Sixteen Volts

Years ago in Finland, I saw a TV commercial of some Finnish company that was meant for the international markets. In the ad, there was a sauna depicted from the outside during a cold and snowy winter. Suddenly, five naked men ran out of this sauna all sweaty, accidentally locking themselves outside. I had to wonder whether all cultures interpret this visual imagery the way that it was intended.

The management of this building had repaired the sauna at the upstairs rec center, but it still is a pretty sad joke, the way all saunas around here tend to be. Like all true Finns, living abroad I miss the real sauna most, with the temperature going up to 80-90 degrees Celsius and water tossed on the stove so that the steam gently fills the room. My wife (who is Canadian by birth) is the same, since she was even more enthusiastic about the Finnish sauna and could tolerate higher temperatures and more steam than me with my sensitive ears and skin. But we don't get to enjoy sauna around here, since the upstairs sauna goes up to 40C at best (and even that is probably a generous estimate) and no water is allowed on the stove to generate steam.

Although in all honesty I must note that Finns can sometimes be silly with saunas too: I remember one department training day held in a place where the sauna had blinking disco lights at the ceiling. I have to say that was pretty surreal.

Today must have been the first day that winter is officially over and done with (although this year we never really got one to start with), since the building management also announced that the heat is turned off and the air conditioning is turned on in its place. It was quite nice outside and we had our first evening walk together. It practically felt like a Finnish summer evening, with the temperature going up to 18C and the first birds were singing. We can soon probably sleep with the windows open and sleep under only the cover sheets instead of putting warmer blankets inside them. You know, I have learned from TV shows and movies that a North American married couple should sleep together under one large blanket so that one of them hogging it can lead to comedy, but I don't really understand this convention. We have always slept under two smaller blankets, one each, the way Finns typically do it.

Another great news was that the hot tub which had been broken for the whole winter was finally repaired. It could have been repaired earlier, but the management had decided to delay this until the rest of the new heating repairs are done, so that the tub can be connected to the new system. I just came back from testing it, and it was just as pleasant as I remembered to sit in it and let the hot water and jets massage you while you watch the cityscape. Too bad that you are not allowed to take a glass of scotch with you up there.

Posted by Ilkka Kokkarinen on Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 9:04 PM