Mineral Bath

So before I left somebody sent me an email, and I think I probably passed it on to some of you....but anyways, it was basically about all the stupid questions people ask about Canada, just because they don't know any better, they aren't familiar with the culture.

I pretty much laughed my face off at some of them.... Sunday afternoon I found myself on the other side of this....I was asking the ridiculous questions...although they didn't seem so ridiculous to me at the time!

I came home from wherever i'd been....i can't even remember where anymore, i'm never home. But anyway..... One of my roommates asked me if I wanted to go to a bath. I'm sorry...do i smell funny? Ok, so after a quick second it registered that he wasn't asking me to take a bath. They call pools baths here. But it was a mineral bath...ok so sounds like fun.... my muscles are still complaining rather loudly from snowboarding the day before, I figure a swim would be nice...but I still wasn't sure quite what to expect...

I thought for a while...then said that all i have is a bikini that i wear to the beach in the summer, would that be ok to wear? My roommates response was to laugh at me, and ask if i expected to maybe wear some sort of diving suit or something instead.

Does that sound ridiculous to you? Let me explain why i thought it was legit at the time. First of all, I know at places like the pool at the PAC at UW everybody wears a sports suit to the pool...bikini's look funny....it looks like you've gone there to pick up the jocks or something. Second (and more importantly), on one of my first days here Immi (co-worker) was telling us about how many baths here are "textile-free". This means...you are not allowed to wear clothes. It's not even an option....you're just plain not allowed. Now I'm a pretty open minded person, but there's something about getting naked in a public place with people I've only just met that makes me feel a little shy..... so maybe now you can understand the motive behind my question lol.

Anyways, this mineral bath thing turned out to be fantastic. There were several different pools and the water was all salty, hence the term 'mineral' bath I suppose, and it was pretty much the most relaxing thing I've done in a looooonngg time. There was one pool where the water was relatively warm, and there were shallow areas with jets you could lay on, and one part where you could swim through a spot in the wall and be outside! That was cool, the water was warm and the air was freezing, and there was a round part in the middle that you could swim into and there was a current that would push you around. Inside there were freezing cold pools, hot little jacuzzi's....it was soooo nice! I got to know 2 of my roommates better and a couple of their friends as well, it was great. They teach me all the "important" german words and phrases....such as "I don't care" (less polite version) and "I have a hangover" lol.

Ahh good times