at the bath

Well, I went to the Turkish bath last week, and I am so glad that I
did. It was amazing. It takes about 2 hours to go through the
routine: first I sat in the hottest sauna on earth, I'm certain of
it. The entire room (which is more like a gallery of rooms) is made
of marble, and it has the traditional dome doorways--w/o doors, and
ceilings that are cathedral-like. The whole place is in a mist from
the sauna, and is dark, except for small lights here and there which
are colored. So periodically thin shafts of colored light beams--in
various primary colors-- cut through the mist like little lasers. While
in the sauna, I was brought a large slush drink made from the
petals of a particular flower. Then to the jacuzzi--again, the
hottest in the world. I was there with two of the archaeologists from
ACOR--one Italian and one from the States--and they were both wimps
and wouldn't get in because it was so hot, while my philosophy was
--when in a Turkish bath in Amman, do as the Turks do. But because
they only sat on the edge w/ their toes in, the women brought over a
hose with cold water and put it in for them. Then I was taken to a
table made of a slab of marble, and was scrubbed over my entire body.
(I had not idea that I had so much skin that could be exfoliated!) They
used a mitt made of course fabric--I think a kind of jute, and rubbed
away (everywhere!). It was actually just this side of being painful. I
never screamed, but I winced a lot. Then, on the same table I was
washed w/ massive amounts of soap, and had buckets of warm water
poured over me. Now mind you, Jordan is very water poor. I have
heard from more than one person that it has the least amount of water
per capitia of any country in the world. Regardless, we at ACOR have
been instructed (because of the water shortages) to take "navy showers"
--rinse, turn of water, soap, rinse, the end--two and a half minutes.
Which I have been doing, not necessarily out of a sense of duty
(although there is some of that) but mainly because
there is no water pressure on the sixth floor (where I am) i.e.a navy
shower is the only possible shower one can take! So, essentially, the
Turkish bath was the only real bath I've had here. OK, so next, I
went to a different marble slab table and had hot olive oil rubbed
everywhere--ahhhh--even in my hair, per my request (my hair is pretty
dry and wild here and I always feel as though everyone stares at it;
maybe its because I'm one of the few--the Christians--who doesn't wear a
hijjab, but maybe it's because most older people--men and women--die
their hair. Anyway, my hair got a nice treatment too. Then came the
actual massage for an hour. . . . ok, I 'm awake again with the hair washed, and
off to the shower to wash (myself this time).
My masseur was from the Philippines, and of course, I had to have a conversation (she spoke
English fairly well). She asked me what I was doing here and I told
her of my project. Her first response was--"Why aren't you doing a
documentary of the Philipino workers here? they have it worse that the
Iraqis." And she went on to tell me her story, how she worked for three
years, basically as an indentured slave for a rich Jordanian family,
and how the father and sons also used her as a sex slave. And how the
wife beat her and terribly misused her because all the men were raping
her. It was a horrific story (OK, not very conducive for relaxing
during a massage). But she was giving me statistics about how this
practice is very pervasive. There are over 25,000 Philipinos and
Malaysians who work under these conditions. She said that as soon
as she got here, she was told that she would not receive any money for
3 months because she owed the family the money they used to pay for
her visa and travel papers. . . .
She is 28, with four children and a husband back in the Philippines.
Her mother,48, is also working here. She got out of her situation
3 months ago, and has sense been working at bath.
After the baths, we went and at in a lounge area with a big aquarium w/ Arabic fish in it, and
couches with long pillows everywhere, and we were served either coffee
or tea. We went fairly early in the morning, so
when the three of us were finished with our treatments, no one else
was in the bath, and all the masseuses came into the lounge with us for
drinks. So, I told the women that I could read coffee cups (as
Meysoon had taught me. They wereall thrilled! One young Arabic woman even
decided to break her Ramadan fast so that I could read hers.
So we all had the tiny cups of thick Turkish coffee, turned our cups upside
down after we drank the coffee, and let the thick remains drip out.
Then I look at the patterns left from he sludge, and read them. Of
course, I'm really reading people here--and I'm rather good at it, if I say so myself. I
told the woman who gave me the massage that all of her relatives, women in her family who have
died, are supporting her, they know of her suffering and are
supporting her in ways she perhaps cannot realize, but she is being
watched and cared for--and she insisted that it as so! I told her
that one of her children--I think it was her son, I said--would do well
financially, and even though for a time he would not think of his
family, to help them out financially, finally he would do the right
thing (she grabbed her heart). I told her that she needed to be
careful of pornography, (she had told me that she had an Arabic
boyfriend here who was a real slob--wouldn't work, who bad-mouthed
her, etc.) that several men in her life would be involved in pornography
and she had to always keep her eyes open and be on guard. (She shook
her head "yes.") I told her that even though she was in a loveless
marriage, if she was careful about not hanging out with slobs, she
would be married again, and this one would be for love (big smile).
And I told her that there would be a time in her life when there would
be a drastic change in her life. And her life would be as different
as light from dark, when that change occurred--she would be living a
completely different life. (she said "I think that change has already
occurred"). Well, she was thrilled and everyone laughed and chattered
and congratulated her. (Of course anyone paying attention to what she
had said during my massage would be able to read her the exact same fortune)
And that's
when the Muslim girl broke her fast to have me read her cup. (I had
been told that this young girl had just been engaged last week.) So I
told her, that there are really two marriages for her--the one is the
union which is socially sanctioned--and that is going well (I' d
assumed her marriage was arranged); the other is inside the sanctioned
marriage, and she s very lucky here--for that is a marriage of
love--yes, there would be love in her marriage! (She almost wept she
was so thrilled) (And maybe I'm helping her to create just such a
marriage--maybe her thinking it will be so will help her to be loving
toward her husband and she'll actually create the loving marriage
herself--right?! So I don't need to feel too guilty--right? . . .
right!?) I also told her she would have three children--right in a
row! (Her eyes got big and everyone laughed.) We went on and on. I
had a ball, and I think I gave the women a bit of pleasure, at least
they had a long break and drank a lot of coffee.