Future visitors of Estonia, please take note of a few simple rules in order to avoid ackwardness and mishaps when your new friends invite you to their home for a Saturday evening saun:
1. Bring your own towel, shampoo, and soap.
2. Always rinse off in the outer sauna/pesemis tuba (washing) room. Especially feet.
3. Upon initially entereing the sauna, try not to act surprised that the room is about 10 times as hot as any välismaa (foreign) saun you have ever been in, even the one at camp where you poured all that water on the rocks.
4. Don’t forget to pour some cold water on the wood before sitting down, so you don’t burn your bum.
5. Take off all jewellery, again to avoid burns.
6. Apply saunamett (sauna honey) generously to your whole body. Keep breathing. Contrary to what you might assume, your lungs are probably not singed yet.
7. Don’t feel embarrased that you’re not sitting on the top step with everyone else. They already assume you’re a foreign sissy but they’re much too polite to say anything.
8. When everyone goes outside the first time to sit outside/jump in the water/roll in the snow, just follow along. It's ok to scream a little. Actually it's encouraged, I think.
9. When whipping yourself with the kasevits (birch tree whip), don’t forget the souls of your feet.
10. During shower/outside breaks, you can drink beer.
11. If other people, or you, spontaneously stop talking and quickly fall asleep for 10-minute intervals during the post-sauna feasts and festivities, it's ok.
12. Afterwards, don’t be surprised if you feel dirty after getting out of the shower. Compared to the post-sauna state, you are.
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