Corn in the crease.

November 4, 2006

Today I went from being irritated my host-family to being irritated a little less. More specifically, I got close with Ana in a way I never knew we would. In the morning I was running late to school and my kasha (porridge) was foarte fierbinte (hot!) so I only ate a little bit and basically ran out the door. As I excused myself from the breakfast table I said, “Thank you, I’m done. I’m running a little late.” Big Sasha felt it necessary to enforce his dad-ness over me and began lecturing that I needed to wake up earlier, and not sleep so much. I must note that usually when I get up for class Big Sasha is already at work so he never sees me in the morning. This was my first time running late, ever, and I actually ended up arriving at school five minutes early.

Feeling morning angst-y and being scolded like a 15-year-old, I left for school so ready to hurry these PST (pre-service training) Ialoveni days and begin my Ocnita days already, where at very least I won’t have a host dad reprimanding me, and I can wake up for work when I damn need to sans lecture. I made it through class a little glumly and killed an hour at the internet café before returning home. At the house, I was disappointed to find the whole family was home, as today I really just wanted a break. I ate lunch with Ana and Big Sasha. I tried making small talk, asking them about what they’ve been doing and what their plans were for the rest of the day. They told me they’d been working around the house all morning, and the afternoon was for relaxing. I agreed that I too was taking today to relax.

Then Ana said she was planning to go to the sauna later. I enthusiastically responded how great it will be for her and she that really deserved to go. (She really does too. For someone she’s not married to, she’s awfully good to this man and his good-for-nothing son. She cooks all day, she works and brings in the money, she cleans the house, and she works the garden. The woman always looks tired, but is never stressed out. She definitely could use some down time.) So I’m telling her, as best as I can in Romanian, that I didn’t even know there was a sauna around here and it sounded really cool. She told me she and her friends always go to this one in Ialoveni and asked if I wanted to join. Of course I accepted the invite. She made a few calls and we made plans to go at 4:30.


So today I went to a “bania.” What she called sauna, which it was, was also definitely an old school bania like my Dad always told me about. Bania is basically a bathhouse where people would bathe and meet. It had a sauna room, which was truly refreshing, a large bath, and hot showers. In the sauna, four women sat; all of us naked and perspiring. We’d enter and exit the sauna to go rinse off or have tea before returning to the heat. It was so relaxing; lying in a small, hot room, bare like the others. Nothing makes a girl feel more accepted than gossiping with naked ladies while sweat drips off our faces and down our shoulders. We broiled in the steam and discussed my going to Ocnita and the funny lingual faux pas I had made in the last couple months; they talked about friends and happenings around Ialoveni.

As our time was winding down I way laying in the sauna and heard Ana yell for me from the showers. I put my towel on and walked over. Ana and the other lady insisted there was little time left and I needed to get in. I joined them in the shower room and immediately Ana poured something yellow and powdery in her hands and mixed it with liquid soap. “Faina de papushoi!” she exclaimed, “It makes your skin soft!” and started rubbing it on my shoulders and back. ‘Faina de papushoi’ is the corn flour mamaliga is made with, and apparently also a shower scrub. So here I am in the shower, naked with my host mother, and she is rubbing mamaliga up and down my body. Ana does my whole back, down the sides of my butt, and all I’m doing is standing and letting her. I put my hands up on the wall, in a sort of frisking position, bracing myself through the rubdown and I may have even said, “Este Bine! That feels good! Thank you!!” After covering the entire area, she turned me around and I was mortified she was about to do my front, but to my relief, she poured some in my hands and told me to continue on by myself.

It wasn’t until later tonight when I was retelling my sauna experience to Annie that I had the realization that most host mothers probably do not get naked with their American and rub mamaliga all over their bodies. In fact, in some cases it might be an activity that could justify an incident report to PC. Even though Annie’s reaction was that of both amazement and horror, I can’t say it felt unnatural for my host mother to scrub mamaliga on me in the shower. I mean, how else would I be able to get my back? I wouldn’t! So I obviously needed my mom to help me. I enjoyed my naked evening with the host-country nationals (HCN). It seems I needed this refreshing experience to refuel my PST energy. Plus, I am feeling my arms and neck, and Ana was right, my skin really is softer.