October 14th | 14 октября

Notes

9.21 a.m. - Hostel

• Waking up. I eat breakfast while Yakoub reads news.

11.19 a.m. - =

• Answering a call for paper.

3.05 p.m. - Cold water swimming club

• The "training" ended. I sit at one of the tables and start to write:
• When I arrived, I got lucky because the first person I talked to was the one I wrote to on the phone. She understood when I said my name.
• I was two hours in advance, because the sauna was under construction. So the training started around two instead of midday.
• The communication was hard, but we managed. Sometimes using Yandex translate.
• A few people were already here. A couple. The man was working on the sauna, and the woman proposed to get in the river.
• I change and put on my new swim trunk, bathing cap and glasses. And I take my first dip in the cold water. I manage to control my breathing, but the brain freeze starts to hit a little after a little more than a minute in. We get out, and go to the sauna.
• The first two minutes in, I paradoxically start to feel cold and shake a little, in the sauna. Some men join, we exchange a few words. One of them is wearing some kind of chapka, made out of one single kind of wool, with a red star in the front. I wonder why he is wearing this while in a sauna.

• At some point, the first woman opens the door and asks me something. I think she tells me the training is about to start. I get out and see around eight men in line ready to pause for a picture. One of them offers me a bathing cap. Then the woman rise her phone and asks me to say Bonjour for someone (I think it is some french athlete, but I'm very confused). She tells me the name of the guy. The recording starts, and I say "Bonjour [the name]". But the smartphone camera is still with me (I'm positioned at the extremity of the men line). I was expecting her to point it in the direction of the others right after my Bonjour, but after a little silence I realise that I have to say something more, and somehow play the TV presentator. "Eh bien, je suis très heureux d'être ici, tout le monde est chaleureux et acceuillant, c'est un très bel endroit, et un plaisir de pouvoir nager avec mes nouveaux camarades..." I nod my head to signal that I just gave everything I had, and everybody starts to clap. I could have done better than this corny impro, but I was really taken by surprise!

• Some other pictures are taken, and a safe line attached to a belt is given to me. They say we go for a five-minute swim. I react optimistically.
• We get in the water, and we start to swim in a group. Three difficulties appear. First, I do not see where I'm going. The water is brownish, and I have to lift my head to follow the group since I'm behind. Then, breathing management is challenging since I have to not overbreath, because of the cold, because of the effort, and because of the urge to do a correct performance. And third, the water is so cold that I do not feel my face anymore, hence, I do not feel if my mouth is over or under the water! I bois la tasse a few times.
• When we pass the pontoon, we get caught into the river stream. We go so fast without swimming! A few seconds in and we do not feel the water pushing us, so, when I look at the river side for a moment, It just feels like I'm steady, and the ground is going away. We pass under fisher lines. I finish with the others, but I gave everything for this first swim.
• Only men were swimming. We all go in the sauna. Almost all of them have one of these funny hats, but in different colors and slightly different shapes. One of them has horns. The age ranges from twenty-five to sixty, apparently. A few of them have a cross around their necks.
• Sometimes heat burns the inside of the nostrils and the throat.
• Pouring water on the hot stones makes the air hotter. Two of them are engraved with "AC/DC" letters.
• At some point I lie down on the upper deck, and I get wiped with wet branches on the back and the front side. When I get out, my head is spinning, like when we get up too fast. Everything is very bright, and I try to maintain my momentum. I see green and purple colors where there are not. It's like the beginning of and acid high. I ain't used to such temperature changings. I sit down, and others share tea with me. A few minutes after, I feel normal again. (R1)
• There is a barbecue, and two women are cooking. Some other people joins after the "training".
• The woman that welcomed me, offers me a plate of potatoes and grilled fish from the river.
• There is a big table in robust wood. And a lot of different flags.
• I leave around 4.20 p.m.

7.30 p.m. - Antique dealer

• I'm in the shop under the supermarket. Lots of old funny things, and vinyls.

9 p.m. - Hostel

• Sharing a last moment with Yakoub and his friends, taking some pictures.

Later - Hostel kitchen

• Alex invites me to share some drinks and snacks. Then my roommate do the same, and I end up drunk.

Reflection

• R1: I recently saw on Russian tv news an orthodox priest bless tanks, with a "hairy stick". It's soaked in water. Look at the below picture, and you will understand the correlation I'm making.