Next comes a shower which Slava tells me, before leaving again, must be cold. In the television show, the Russian women, who also took saunas, jumped in some chilly river at the end of the process. But I shrink at the first touch of the cold water. Luke-cold will do just fine, I think, adjusting the taps. Slava will never know.
People go every week.
They believe they are important to health. As the stress leaves my body for the first time in about two weeks, I am beginning to see why. He is both proud of his new business and scared about the future. I feel great, I tell him. Pampered and refreshed.