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Aug 28, 2023·edited Aug 28, 2023

I had never heard of The Big Bath House! I will have to find this book, as well as several other unfamiliar titles. I would have very much appreciated exposure to this concept before traveling to mainland China for 3 weeks during college (1986.)

Our group had days assigned for a trip to the bath house, which was several blocks from our location. We all walked over in the 103° desert heat for our weekly showers. Since I went to public school and was required to take gang showers for swim class, it was not a completely alien concept to me. However, our dozen and a half American ladies, aside from about a third of us who were Chinese Americans, really stood out in the bath house! There were crowds of women of all ages, shapes, and sizes, all talking in very animated Chinese. They were all at their ease, but it was definitely one of the cultural adjustments I needed to make.

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