Turkish Bath

I walked into the turkish bath with my male professor and eight of my female classmates. 30 Lira flat fee at the door. The girls were all ushered thru a side door, while my professor and I were escorted into the front room, which seemed to be the main lounge. Along the sides of the room were personal locker rooms for each male. I was shown to my room and given a key for my door. Inside the locker room was a little 2'x6' bed, a side table with an ashtray, a small mirror, and a couple of hooks on the wall. One hook had a red patterned towel hanging from it and the rest of the hooks were empty. On the floor there were clean shower shoes. I took my clothes off, wrapped the towel around my waist and put on my shower shoes. At this point, I wasn't quite sure what to do. My professor was still in the locker room right next door to mine, and I hadn't seen him leave his room. So I thought I might need to wait there in the room for something to happen there. I laid down on the bed in my little red towel and shower shoes and waited. After a couple of minutes the attendant noticed me laying there and he laughed his ass off at me. He opened my door and pointed at a door and motioned for me to go thru. When I enter the room a blast of hot steam hits me in the face. It is easily 100 degrees inside. I stammer thru it and find a circular room with a large stone disc in the middle of the room. Along the perimeter is a step up to large stone bowls that sat underneath ornate faucets that poured scalding hot water. There were a couple of gentlemen laying flat on the stone disc in the middle of the room getting scrubbed down by other gentlemen. Everyone was wearing the same little red towel. For a moment I had a thought that each man that entered the bath had to scrub down the man in front or behind him. I've never scrubbed down another man. And I just don't think I have it in me to do it. I don't care what country I'm in. Luckily, my professor entered the room shortly after me and gave me the gist of what was about to happen. And we would not be scrubbing each other down. We both laid down on the stone disc and relaxed for about 20 minutes. After I worked up a serious sweat and was on the fringe of passing out, a turkish gentlemen with balding grey hair and a little red towel introduced himself to me and motioned for me to lay down on my stomach. He filled up a bucket of scalding hot water and dumped it on me. He then grabbed a wash cloth and somehow turned it into a huge bubble of soap suds. he began scrubbing my body forcefully and mechanically. Arms, back, and legs. My whole back side, then I flipped over and he did my front. Dead skin came off of me in large nasty brown chunks. There was so much of it that I think the scrubber was sort of disgusted. He grabbed another bucket of scalding hot water and dumped it over me. Next came the rub down. Arms, back, and legs. My face was pressed against the stone slab and he was working my arms and legs so aggressively that I yelped in pain over and over again. At one point, he put me in a sort of shoulder lock and pulled my elbow back across my back until yelped an octive higher than the regular yelp. When he was done he motioned for me to sit up and he dumped a bucket full of ice cold water over my body. I almost fainted. We washed me down one last time and motioned for me to get up and walk out of the room. On the other side was a towel room and bunch of toilets. I stumbled around in a daze and found myself in a private shower. There was shampoo and hand soap in there, so I took a cold shower. When I walked out of the shower there was another man in a little red towel waiting for me. He motioned me over towards him and he offered me a large dry towel. I tried to take it from him, but he wouldn't let me. He motioned for me come closer to him. When I did, he wrapped a clean, dry towel around my waist and draped another over my head. He gave me a smile and pointed toward the door. I walked out and found myself in the main lounge that I begun this little experience in. I found my locker room and changed into my clothes. I looked into the mirror and saw that my face was beat red and my eyes were so bloodshot that I couldn't see a difference from my beat red face. My body felt like silly puddy. I could barely stand up. It was the most intensely serene moment of my life. I floated out of the locker room and melted into a couch in the main room. I stared into space and swayed in the breeze. I danced on the clouds and swam in the sea. I drifted off into nothingness and materialized in the stillness. I drifted away.