Swim and Sauna

I live in a country where the sun comes up at 10:00am (if you can even call it up) and goes down at 2:00pm. It's been several weeks now since I've actually seen the light of day and my body is starting to feel the consequences of the lack of vitamin D. The days blend together in an eerie and somewhat unpleasant manner and I seem to be tired all the time.

You have to come up with ways to beat the winter chill and darkness and I am still learning what works for me. The one thing I have noticed is how much better I feel on the days that I get some exercise. I am also addicted to lighting candles and drinking tea…anything really that helps to convince me that living in the cold just makes everything cosier.

Last night I went swimming with Anna at an indoor swimming pool and then we took a sauna. The sauna experience is very popular here in Scandinavia, and for good reason. I'm not sure why Americans don't jump on the bandwagon because sitting in a wooden room full of what can only be described as dry, piping hot steam is really quite extraordinary. I was warmed to the core for the first time in a long while and the feeling lasted long after we got out.

It's the small things that make the difference and make it a little easier to live in the North Pole :)

(For the record, "to sauna" is not a verb in English, right?…"I saunaed" just doesn't seem right but my Swedish-thinking brain is confusing me)