Sweatin' with the Oldies

On Friday, I went camping with a few people from the medschool, about 45 minutes out of town; it was a native health pathways club thing. We set up, and slept in, a Blackfoot-style tipi, which was a fun, obviously. The only downside was that it was pretty darn cold overnight, quite a bit below zero. Happily, the sky was incredible; the best I'd seen since central Asia, all those years ago. As a few of us sat around the embers of a campfire with an elder, having her tell us the story of the wolf trail, I watched two shooting stars fly overhead.

In the morning, we got up at 6:30 to enter the sweat lodge. Sweat was a bit of an understatement; I can't remember being that hot in years. Perhaps the minibuses of İstanbul were a similar temperature? It was a great experience, and reminded me in many ways of a Mevlevi sema. Afterwards, we rinsed off in an ice-cold creek; my skin was all pruney for at least half the day.

As the evening set in, we were back at the hospital, and found that the clerkship schedules were out. I have to start setting the elective wheels in motion after this week's exams...