Water on the Toilet Seat
So let's put this disclaimer out there for the squeamish: This post will contain some frivolous observations on toilets and bathroom habits/etiquette. There may also be photos of the toilets themselves, but rest assured, no photos of the toilet being used. I mean, I do need to keep this blog fairly professional! One more thing to put out there is that most of Indonesia does not use toilet paper. This is a heads up I didn't get until the third day here.
So, the first cultural observation aside from how people dress, occurred in the Japan airport. We discovered it in the bathroom (I DID warn you!). There on the side of the toilet were all these BUTTONS (no, I didn't push any, but one of our cohort provided us with info)....
So apparently the music is for your bathroom habits and modesty, the music will cover the tinkle, tinkle sounds (complete with volume control). Then there is front washing and back washing that according to another cohort member, can be surprisingly forceful! Oh my!
As if that wasn't enough of a novelty and surprise, we discovered squat toilets.
To be fair, we had been informed about the "squat" toilets here, but until yesterday, we hadn't experienced anything but modified Western toilets.
Dewi warned even with the western style, the lack of Western-like plumbing may mean the toilet works differently (no lever flusher here...pour only). Due to the pouring (and sometimes scrubbing of the bowl) to flush, the toilet seat may be wet. A wet toilet seat never ceases to weird me out.
For reference, the floor (and walls) may also be wet with standing puddles of water. However, the bathroom is clean smelling and well kept because everyone does their part and LIBERALLY uses clean water (usually from a hose type faucet with a bucket under it) to rinse everything in the bathroom after each use!
Attire is very important in Indonesia. As a Muslim country, women almost always wear long skirts or pants, long sleeves, etc. This is an important fact to note because wearing pants and using a squat toilet is not suggested - at least not by me! It takes a feat of maneuvering that sort of reminds one of a game of Twister. I guess what is so tricky is that the bathroom floor is wet (from scooping water to flush) so keeping your pants out of the way, off the wet floor, AND balancing on your feet while you squat over the basin gets tricky! You can read more about it here but I warn you, this reading might not be for the faint of heart!
There comes a time in every person's life that the thing you're trying to avoid becomes, well, unavoidable! Four cups of coffee and two bottles of water brought my day of reckoning into focus. While visiting the primary school today, several of us felt the bloat of our full bladders and where shown the door to the toilet. As one of us stepped inside, the rest of us line up outside the door to wait our turn.
I knew something was amiss when the first of us went in and didn't return in a timely manner. Oh how I wish I'd have taken a picture when she came out! I couldn't quite figure out the look on her face and asked if she was ok as the second in line closed the door. She mumbled something and we were distracted by a photo session with the admin of the school. As we finished and I headed toward the bathroom door, one of the girls stopped me. She tried to warn me of the experience I was about to have but couldn't bring herself to say the words out loud. After a brief struggle she simple said "Oh you'll find out" without a hint of a smile. Bewildered, but in bad need of a bladder break, I hurried toward the toilet...
I'm not sure what frightened me the most, the Chucky doll from yesterday or this..... I really wanted to just say forget it, but my bladder sensed it was near a toilet and insisted I was going to have to figure this thing out. Yeah, I'll spare you the details, let's just suffice it to say it took me forever to come out too! I believe the girls and I have an unspoken pact not to discuss this....ever!
BUT, I don't think I mind water on the toilet seat anymore!
Update: I'm getting better at this! Not so bad once you have skills!
