get naked. (part ii)

[Continued. See part i ]

Ice.

An Arctic lagoon. The testicles shriek at the top of their lungs. I’m shaking with shivers and goosebumps.

“Dunk your head”

I do without question. Both ears are ringing. Face is numb. Eyes are open. I come up for a large breath and start to fade into the frigid.

The next phase is warm tub–to contrast it from hot tub meant for searing skin and boiling lobster. Set to body temp perfection, I enter the warm and note the re-calibration of my cells from freezing frost to jubilant jacuzzi. Slowly, I lose sensation of arms, legs, brain. And slip into the korean soup.

Human sundubu.

My legs are uncrossed and arms out-stretched. I forgo the veteran advice. I observe the nonstop penis parade.

A light-skinned Latino plays hide-n-seek. He stands behind a pillar and clutches a beach-sized towel over his man-parts. Nearby, a dark Zimbabwean engages in a similar game. But more akin to peek-a-boo: intermittently uncovering himself to the spa then quickly going back into hiding. Walking out of the sauna is the pink Australian. He’s playing hopscotch with his publics– bouncing left then right then back and forth. Lastly, there’s the lazy American. He lies on his back, knees outstretched with soles of feet together–bold eagle.

I transition from seeing to sweating in the steam sauna. Not my first but certainly most crowded. Men line the benches. I spot a seat through the woolly-curtain mist. Approaching, I recognize the Zimbabwean lying down. Before I accidentally sit on him, he moves. Nice save.

Me being in a sauna channels the weight-cutting fighter. The first and most important fight. Not the one against the man in the red corner. But the one against oneself in the sauna. With the possible risk of death. By way of hypovolemic shock.

Scary shit.

I sweat on.