Hot Steamy Fun

Last night Sara and I decided to sleep in a Chinese sauna. Every Chinese city is scattered with these places, where you can steam yourself silly, eat dinner, get scrubbed down with salt and even spend the night in a comfy bed (useful when travelling as cheaper than a hotel).
At this sauna, I confronted and overcame a personal boundary (mentioned in an early post) about being naked in front of people. I'm not shy because I have body issues, on the contrary I'm reasonably confident about my body. I just find the idea of being publicly naked uncomfortable in China, because people here don't need ANOTHER excuse to stare! When I went to saunas in the past, I always made a big deal about remaining fully clothed at all times. This time I was determined to try the full body salt scrub, which is rumoured to be amazingly good for your skin. Unfortunately it requires being fully naked and allowing a Chinese lady to rub you all over. Feeling brave, I took the plunge. She looked at me in astonishment when I said I wanted to have the salt scrub, but commanded me to get naked. Which I did, and then stood there waiting while she prepared the scrubbing equipment (all the time thinking 'why didn't you do this BEFORE I took the clothes off, lady!') Once things got started, it was fine and I quickly got used to the sensation of being roughly scraped and scrubbed with salt. The lady also massaged me, which hurt quite a lot! Twenty minutes later it was over and I was sent off to take a shower. The experience wasn't nearly as bad as I'd always expected it to be - and I'm quite pleased with myself for having the confidence to go for it.

Once upon a time...there was an SAP Project Manager

Once upon a time, in a land far far away...a young girl was offered a job. The job was difficult and challenging, but also interesting. The girl was inexperienced and unqualified for this job. But the men that hired her were not concerned about these small factors. They, one in particular, were simply concerned with escaping from that land far away and going home to the fatherland. So they handed her the job on a silver platter. The girl was very excited about the new challenge she faced, her attitude was positive and she was determined to do well. However, her lack of experience did not stand her in good stead. The man who was her superior was rather a strange fellow. He did not like to talk much and he was always busy. He seemed to disapprove of the girl right from the start, rarely offering her anything but criticism. He had an unusual habit of humming to himself when she tried to ask him questions. The girl strived to do her best, but she never seemed able to meet the mysterious expectations of her enigmatic superior. Another man, an outsider, was kind to the girl and did his best to advise and support her. But it was not enough. Two months after she started, when the trial period ended, the girl was out. The girl was quite surprised and rather disappointed, because she had been working hard as best she knew how, using her initiative and trying to cope with such a distinct lack of guidance. She liked her colleagues and her working environment, also she found the daily work interesting and motivating. The girl was sad to leave, but, being an imaginative and strong-minded person, accepted the situation and immediately set to work on plan B. She viewed the short-lived time at this job as a valuable learning experience, proof that taking a risk is still worth doing even if it doesn't work out. What is life without the excitement of challenging ourselves?