The Stink Off

In Russia, during the summer time, the hot water is shut off to certain apartment buildings at different times during the summer so that maintenance can be performed on the hot water pipes. This leaves certain apartments without hot water for weeks. When I first arrived at my host family’s house in Russia, the hot water was turned off after two days. So, in order to make light of the situation, I and another student in my class had a competition to see who could go the longest without showering. I lasted a little over a week, however, the other student won only by four hours. On Saturday night, all of the students in our group went to a night club, and after dancing in a hot sweaty club all night, I couldn’t take it any more, and I begged one of the engineering students to let me use his shower. It was the best shower I had ever had in my life.