I spent the past few days in Helsinki at the NERA (Nordic Educational Research Association) Annual Conference. This year's theme was social justice and equity in education. As an advocate for special education students and other marginalized groups I was excited to learn more about social justice topics in Finland and the other Nordic countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark). The current immigrant and asylum seeker situation is on everyone's minds in these countries and is a constant topic of discussion in schools and universities. The conference was great but my time in Helsinki wasn't only spent in academic pursuits. We were able to catch up with fellow Fulbrighters Dave and Jenna and our Finnish friends Petteri and Julia. But most important to my Finnish acculturation was my trip to the smoke sauna on Thursday afternoon.
Annie, Jason and I met up with Johanna, one of the wonderful ladies from the Fulbright Center, to head to Kuusijarvi, just outside of Helsinki. Johanna loves the sauna and ice swimming. In fact, at our Fulbright orientation we were asked to tell everyone one of our passions, and Johanna's was sauna. She said she would do a smoke sauna and ice swim every week if she had the time (or even more often). Jason is "that guy" that wears shorts all the time. He shovels the driveway in shorts and just last week I saw a picture of him in very northern Finland, miles above the Arctic Circle, in his shorts watching the northern lights. Ice swimming is right up his alley. Annie was excited to experience this Finnish tradition and was totally on board to swim in a frozen lake. I, on the other hand, was much more hesitant but wanted to see a traditional smoke sauna and at least see people ice swimming for myself. I am not a fan of extreme temperatures, hot or cold, but that's the whole point of sauna and ice swimming so I knew I might not be able to fully participate, but I was eager to at least try it briefly. When in Finland do as the Finns, right?
Kuusijarvi is a beautiful recreation center just a few kilometers outside of the center of Helsinki. There is a traditional smoke sauna hut right near the lake that has the dock for ice swimming. The main hut has electric saunas that are open year round. There are also areas for just ice swimming and cross country skiing. In the summer the smoke sauna is closed but people swim in the lake. Below is a picture of the smoke sauna hut.
As this sauna is coed everyone is required to wear a bathing suit to participate. Johanna instructed us to quickly get into the sauna room and close the door as fast as possible. You will upset the Finns if too much steam, smoke and heat escape. The four of us walked from the main hut to the smoke sauna in just our bathing suits and flip flops and Johanna said this would be the worst part since we weren't yet warmed up from the sauna and it was only about 30 degrees outside. We walked into the sauna room and I was immediately hit with a wave of extreme heat. It smelled good inside from the burning wood but I found it hard to breathe as the air burned my lungs. The sauna was heated close to 100 degrees celsius, that's 212 degrees fahrenheit! No wonder our skin was glistening with sweat within minutes of entering. After just a few minutes I could feel my ears burning and had to remove my necklace as the heat from the sauna heated the metal so much it started burning my skin. Even though the sauna was uncomfortably hot for me, there was something relaxing about sitting in the dim light sweating out the bodily toxins in the quiet. Every few minutes someone would get up and fill a pot with water to dump on the hot stones. This sent up a new wave of very high heat and steam through the sauna. It was intense. After a few minutes I could no longer stay inside and quickly left the sauna to cool down. Now 30 degrees outside felt refreshing, not cold or unbearable. I was happy to be outside in just a bathing suit! I had mostly gone back to a comfortable body temperature by the time Annie, Jason and Johanna exited the sauna. We walked together down to the ice hole to now try the ice swimming part of this tradition. I was a total wimp the first time and didn't even put my toe in the water but Jason went all the way in and Annie made it in up to her waist. Johanna, the pro, got in, swam for a moment and then climbed back out.
Everyone was eager to go back into the sauna and give it another try. I stayed in the sauna a bit longer this time and committed myself to at least putting a toe in the water the next time. And I did it!
I was able to descend to the first step of the ladder and go about calf-deep into the ice water. It was freezing! When I got out I was nervous that I might fall down as my feet were numb and then tingling from the extreme cold. But Johanna said to wait a few seconds and I would be fine. Of course she was right and about ten seconds after I got out of the water I could truly feel the blood flowing through my feet and it actually felt good! Annie made it all the way in to the water the second time and Jason stayed in a bit longer. Annie and I had our fill of ice swimming and smoke sauna after two times, but Johanna and Jason did a third round. We all headed back to Helsinki feeling refreshed and a little more Finnish! I am so glad I made the trip. I'm not sure I will do it again, but at least I can say I tried it!
While I was off enjoying the Finnish sauna tradition, Adam and the girls were back in Jyvaskyla with some fellow Fulbright families enjoying front row seats at a hockey game. They went to watch the local Jyvaskyla team win. They had a great time as well.
This weekend we are headed north above the Arctic Circle to see Santa, try out some dog sledding and to visit some ice buildings. More to come next week!!