The Mundane Becomes Exciting?

***explicit content. do not read while eating. :)****

Naomi was right. Living abroad DOES make the mundane, everyday, humdrum activities of life interesting. For instance, a simple trip down a few blocks to my guesthouse would have been a snooze in LA. (Maybe. Depends on what part of LA.) But in Phnom Penh, it was a crazy experience that led to a great story!

Another example: using the "toilet." Bathrooms here might contain either
1. a "Western toilet"
2. same toilet with toilet paper
3. same toilet with toilet paper to be used and thrown away, NOT flushed
4. same toilet with toilet paper AND a bum-gun (flexible bidet)
5. NONE of the above
6. ALL of the above
7. a combination of one or more of the above

For today, I am going to focus on option #5. I've known about "squatter" toilets for some time, ever since my roommate went to China one summer, but I have successfully avoided using one up until this stage of my life.

{For those of you unfamiliar with playing catcher while using the loo, a squatter toilet is basically a hole in the ground where you do your business.)

Yesterday, there was no avoiding it. I HAD to go. You KNOW I tried to hold it... but nature was calling. Oh, was it calling.

I was at CCF's community center building near the trashdump -- fairly modern, simple facilities except for the whole restroom situation.

I took a deep breath, repeated that "When in Rome" garbage, and went in to survey the conditions.

Dark. Damp. Ants everywhere. A porcelain-lined hole on a ledge about 2 feet from the ground. A square pit of some sort. A green plastic pot. (Oh man, I NEED to put a picture here!) I'd sort of listened to the children doing their business and after the inevitable tinkle or grunting (#1 or #2), I always heard scooping and pouring of water.

So I was seriously doing the pee-pee dance, hopping from foot to foot, while I contemplated how to use this thing.



Oh shoot... I have to run.... more on this later.... :) Or maybe not.. maybe best to imagination.