2009.10.26: Kazakstan Peace Corps Volunteer Dustin Hogenson writes: A sauna does not adequately describe the initial awkwardness of a banya

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Kazakstan : Peace Corps Kazakhstan : Peace Corps Kazakstan: Newest Stories: 2009.10.26: Kazakstan Peace Corps Volunteer Dustin Hogenson writes: A sauna does not adequately describe the initial awkwardness of a banya

By Admin1 (admin) (151.196.21.240) on Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 12:42 pm: Edit Post

Kazakstan Peace Corps Volunteer Dustin Hogenson writes: A sauna does not adequately describe the initial awkwardness of a banya

Kazakstan Peace Corps Volunteer Dustin Hogenson  writes: A sauna does not adequately describe the initial awkwardness of a banya

Initially I was apprehensive about bathing banya-style. I generally tried to avoid situations where I was naked in front of people I don't know. However after a few times going to the banya, I realized that I could actually get cleaner from a banya than from a shower in my apartment. Plus I just felt better. Additionally every time I went to the banya, I would meet new people and we'd have a beer or two afterwards. It became a cultural exchange.

Kazakstan Peace Corps Volunteer Dustin Hogenson writes: A sauna does not adequately describe the initial awkwardness of a banya

A true cultural shock that's more like a learning experience

By Dustin Hogenson
Contributing Writer

Caption: Banya Boys by Jimbo Jetset. Flickr Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

So I'm standing, naked, with fifty other people I don't know. An elderly woman, swathed in a scarf and armed with a broom, is ordering other naked men around. The men, though probably twice her size, do what she says. The room is steamy and I can't really see because I'm not wearing my glasses (did I mention I'm naked?). A Russian man sitting across the way offers to whip me with birch tree reeds. He says in Russian that it will improve circulation and kill dead skin cells. Where am I? Is this one of those awful dreams where you have to give a speech in front of your class completely naked? Then I remember, I joined the Peace Corps and I'm living in Kazakhstan. My water quit working in my apartment and so I have to resort to other ways to bathe. The public banya. A banya, in case you are wondering, is Russian for sauna. But a sauna does not adequately describe the initial awkwardness of a banya.

The banya is more of a ceremony than just an event such as brushing your teeth or shaving. It's something that Kazakhstani people do on a Sunday afternoon much like friends and family go bowling here in the U.S. It's a full day event. The banya consists of three rooms. In the first room, you pay your fee to enter (usually about a dollar or so) and, taking off your clothes and putting them in a locker, you walk into the second room. The smell of sulfur and steam emanates off of everything here; it's hot and steamy like a natural spring.

A banya is generally not co-ed. Culturally, women do the cleaning, however, so there is generally a cleaning lady for both the women's and men's banyas. Hence the elderly woman in mine, bossing around guys half her age and twice her size. The second room is the cleaning room. There are elevated surfaces for sitting and taps on the walls for filling small tubs and buckets with water for cleaning. The third room is a dry sauna by American standards. You would spend your time going back and forth between the second and third room. The goal was to stay in the third room for as long as you could conceivably take it and then go back to the second room to cool off. Wash, rinse, repeat. You keep doing this until you're completely exhausted. It is believed in Kazakhstan that being whipped with birch tree reeds is conducive to ones health. To ask if you want to be whipped is not a strange question in a banya either. Furthermore, it is culturally acceptable to ask if someone is married upon meeting them for the first time. Its also acceptable to ask financial questions like the salary a person makes at a certain job, questions that would be taboo by American standards.

Initially I was apprehensive about bathing banya-style. I generally tried to avoid situations where I was naked in front of people I don't know. However after a few times going to the banya, I realized that I could actually get cleaner from a banya than from a shower in my apartment. Plus I just felt better. Additionally every time I went to the banya, I would meet new people and we'd have a beer or two afterwards. It became a cultural exchange.

Kazakhs and Kazakhstani people generally go to the banya in groups. There really aren't any intramural sports to play on the weekends, so going to the banya both isn't just to get clean but it also gives many people an excuse to socialize. Women would gather together and gossip about whatever came up that week. Men would get together and play cards aftewards. Kazakhs specifically have a general belief that strength is achieved through unity and numbers. They like to be with other people. Personal time is not as highly regarded as it is here in many western cultures. I remember my host family being very concerned about me initially because I would sometimes prefer to sit alone in my room and read a book, rather than sit in the kitchen and drink tea with everyone else; I sometimes simply needed some alone time to absorb what was happening to me in this strange country.

The water and plumbing system in Kazakhstan is a relic of the Soviet Union. Water is heated in a central hub and pumped through iron pipes above the ground to all the houses and apartments in the surrounding area. Generally there are no hot water heaters for individual houses or apartments. As a result, if one house has problems with their pipes, everyone down from them also has problems with their pipes. As one can then guess, hot water does not always work consistently in smaller cities and villages in Kazakhstan.

By the end, I learned to really look forward to my Sunday routine. I'd go for a run in the morning, hit up the banya in the afternoon, have couple of beers with some friends, eat ice cream at home and then take a nap. It was the perfect Sunday. Thinking back, that's one of the things I miss. Though its nice to have consistent hot water here in the U.S., I think I'd give it up once a month to go to a banya if I could.




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: October, 2009; Peace Corps Kazakhstan; Directory of Kazakhstan RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Kazakhstan RPCVs; Humor





When this story was posted in November 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers RSS Feed

 Site Index Search PCOL with Google Contact PCOL Recent Posts Bulletin Board Open Discussion RPCV Directory Register

Oct 9, 2009: Turkmenistan Denies Entry to PCVs Date: October 10 2009 No: 1424 Oct 9, 2009: Turkmenistan Denies Entry to PCVs
Turkmenistan denies entry to PCVs 9 Oct
Guinea PCVs evacuated to Mali 8 Oct
Obituary for India Country Director Charles Houston 30 Sep
PCVs in Samoa are Safe after Tsunami 30 Sep
PCV Joseph Chow dies in accident in Tanzania 23 Sep
Aaron Oldenburg creates Peace Corps game 15 Sep
Chris Siegler helps rebuild Sierra Leone 10 Sep
Diana Kingston establishes bakery in Uganda 9 Sep
Beverly Pheto is top staffer on House Appropriations 8 Sep
Aaron Williams visits Dominican Republic 3 Sep
McKenzie Boekhoelder supports Sustainable Farming 24 Aug
Thomas Hollowell writes "Allah's Garden" 19 Aug
Scott Stossel writes: Eunice the Formidable 14 Aug
Peace Corps Program suspended in Mauritania 12 Aug
Jenny Phillips uses meditation to help convicts 11 Aug
Jim Turner operates the Hobbit House in Manila 10 Aug
Shelton Johnson in Ken Burns' New Documentary 7 Aug
Steve Gall is a Recess Freak 5 Aug
Scheper-Hughes reports Illegal Organ Trafficking 29 Jul
Tucker Childs Preserves West African Languages 27 Jul
Ambassador Hill gives Tough Love to Iraq 22 Jul
Lynee Moquete builds homes in DR 21 Jul
Time in Tunisia best years of Ken Dorph's life 18 Jul

Memo to Incoming Director Williams Date: August 24 2009 No: 1419 Memo to Incoming Director Williams
PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams

Join Us Mr. President! Date: June 26 2009 No: 1380 Join Us Mr. President!
"We will double the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011. And we'll reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity," said Barack Obama during his campaign. Returned Volunteers rally and and march to the White House to support a bold new Peace Corps for a new age. Latest: Senator Dodd introduces Peace Corps Improvement and Expansion Act of 2009 .

Meet Aaron Williams - Our Next Director Date: July 30 2009 No: 1411 Meet Aaron Williams - Our Next Director
Senator Dodd's Senate Subcommittee held confirmation hearings for Aaron Williams to become the 18th Peace Corps Director. "It's exciting to have a nominee who served in the Peace Corps and also has experience in international development and management," said Dodd as he put Williams on the fast track to be confirmed by the full Senate before the August recess. Read our exclusive coverage of the hearings and our biography of Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams.



Read the stories and leave your comments.








Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Retriever Weekly

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Kazakhstan; Humor

PCOL45221
75


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: