Stories: Conquering the Cold Pool
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| One final bath house story. After I had been in Norway a number of months and had adapted to the bath house scene I began to try out the cold pools. I would see how long I could stay in one of them. Our cold pools were like small spas or large bathtubs scooped into the floor -- suitable for only one person at a time. I'm not sure how they kept them cold -- perhaps they poured ice into them from occasionally.
After trying it out a few times I discovered something. If you immersed yourself up to your neck and stayed absolutely still it wasn't so bad. In fact, it became downright tolerable.
I asked myself, "why?" Did my body adapt to the cold? Perhaps that was part of it, but I suspect the main reason was that my superheated body warmed the water just next to it. If I stayed stock still, the "warm" water would coat my body like a glove.
Once I learned this, I used to have a good time challenging the greenies to a contest of who could stay in the cold pool the longest. Of course, a new missionary would naturally step in the pool, scream and holler, and flop wildly around, trying in vain to keep his blood circulating. He would typically last about fifteen or twenty seconds. Then I would slither in, lay back and peacefully stay for several minutes. No problem!
I never lost a challenge. |
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