Back by popular demand, I’ll continue off and on to post photos reflecting culture shock. Today’s topic is bathrooms. Oh yes, let’s look at photos of bathrooms. (caution, this post contains words and images some might find offensive.)
In America the majority of toilets are sit-‘n-shits.
There are a few port-a-potties (clean, contained, sheltered from the elements and peeping toms, and stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer).
There are also outhouses, essentially port-a-potties built from wood and without the hand sanitizer. And there are open fields, bushes, lakes, and patches of grass where, if you live in rural areas and are a five-year old boy or younger, are perfectly good places near which you might drop your pants and water the grass. I know because I’m related to boys who have done this and I’ve seen them do it.
In America, toilets flush for you, sometimes while you are still sitting on them. Water, soap, paper towels or dryers, all are turned on for you. Sometimes there are plastic sheets to put over the seat, sometimes there are little boxes on the doors so you can open the door without touching it.
Couches. In the bathroom. And decorations. In the bathroom. This is, to a Djiboutian, absurd. As is the fact that we have a magazine rack in the bathroom at our house. Imagine! Djiboutian bathrooms are often dark, damp, and the home of jinn, or mischievous devils. They are not places to linger or beautify.
In Djibouti we also have many sit-‘n-shits though they are a bit different. In homes there is no guarantee of toilet paper (what do you think your hand is for?) or hand sanitizer (just wipe with the left, eat and greet with the right). In restaurants there is no guarantee of toilet seats or running water (or paper or soap). In the airport there is no guarantee of a door (or paper, soap, seats, or running water). In the hospital there is no guarantee of privacy (I have carried my urine in a clear plastic cup, sloshing, past other patients, after using the toilet with no soap, paper, or running water).
In Djibouti we also have squatty potties. These are similar to port-a-potties minus the throne, toilet paper, water, sanitizer, and sometimes minus the walls and roof.
And we have the side of the road. Before races or simply whenever the need arises.
I would guess, conservatively, that I see a man urinating in places like this at least twice a week
Culture shock comes in when that American toilet flushes on me while I’m still on it and when the hot water flows down the drain in the shower. When our kids were younger and if we had time during layovers, we had to visit every single bathroom we passed, to see if they all had magic toilets and sinks and paper towel dispensers. We’ve also had to work with our family on when to flush and when not to flush and what to do with toilet paper. Some toilets can’t handle paper. In Djibouti we follow the general phrase:
If its yellow, let it mellow. If its brown, flush it down.
That doesn’t fly when visiting guests in America.
I’ll leave you with this image, from Denmark so not American, but clearly something that, if encountered after being in Djibouti, would absolutely induce culture shock.
How do you experience culture shock in bathrooms?
Culture Shock in Pictures: Grocery Shopping
Culture Shock in Pictures: Clothing
Culture Shock in Pictures: Scenery
Culture Shock in Pictures: Time
*porta potty image via Wikipedia
*floral bathroom image via Flickr
*outhouse image via Wikipedia
*lip urinal image via Wikipedia
*reading on toilet image via Flickr
Love it. It’s amazing how comfortable you become with dingy loos and outdoor spaces for numbers 1 and 2 after a short time in less developed countries. And though I love a nice comfy and clean bathroom, with reading material, I’m glad I’m still at ease dropping trou on the trail. 😀
What about Russia where they have pedestals all lined up together so that everyone can sit and s… the experience together!
This made me laugh – and remember. Thanks for sharing. I still experience culture shock in bathrooms when they flush while I’m in the middle…But am thankful for toilets that flush at all.
One of my funniest memories is using a Japanese style toilet (hole with two foot pads like your photo) on a moving train, in Winter. I had a heavy coat on and while it wasn’t very long, it was still a challenge to squat and keep it dry — not to mention keeping my pants from hitting the floor — all with only one hand because the other was holding on to the grab bar so I wouldn’t fall over from the bumping and rocking of the train. Fun!
Our five-year-old, who has spent most of his life in Nigeria, is scared every time by the electric hand dryers. And he has also come to recognize the difference between urinals that flush automatically and those that don’t…and he’ll choose the ones that don’t every time.
[…] what to do? There are some pay-to-use toilets of which I am, um, wary. I’m kind of a toilet snob, I guess. I prefer clean, smell-free, bug-free, stain-free, private, and I like to be able to wash […]
One Indonesian restaurant bathroom we experienced was a pit toilet and bucket for flushing (no toilet paper is the norm) and oh yes, an animal trap in one corner with some sort of carcass rotting in it! Not a place to linger indeed!
[…] Peeing from any level of squat regardless of the availability of toilet paper or hand sanitizer or bathroom stall doors or bathrooms. […]