My Favorite Sandals Are Now My Potty Shoes

I am not censoring what I write here because I want it to be an accurate description of my experience at SEARCH. However, warning: this post is about using the potty.

The first time I needed to use the squat toilet I walked over to the bathroom, contemplated going, then turned and walked back to my bedroom. This process must have repeated itself about three or four times. It wasn't helping that I really needed to go, but I knew that even if there wasn't an immediate need, there eventually would be. I knew this wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when. There were no other options. So, I worked up the nerve to go.

To describe the squat toilet, it is not just a hole in the ground, or a hole in the floor. Rather, it is like a sink, or a white ceramic basin, placed into the ground. Although you can't sit back and relax as you could on a Western commode, it is not as primitive as one may think. Further, I'm not even sure if calling it primitive is fair, given that more people in the world probably use a squat toilet or no toilet than a Western commode toilet.

I'm not sure if there are any tricks to using the squat toilet. I bet someone somewhere has posted some advice online, but I came up with my own routine. First off, if I was going to be stuck in a little room inches from four walls while using the bathroom, I was going to be completely sure that there were no bugs that would eat me alive, except for maybe an ant or a little spider. Thus, the first time I went into the squat toilet room, and every time since, I do what I call "checking the corners". I took at the four corners of the ceiling and I look at the four corners of the floor. I make sure there is nothing lurking in the shadows. I do a quick scan of the walls and the window sill, and if it looks safe I go in.

My next strategy is to take the toilet paper I will need before I start my activities. You never know, those few seconds I'm saving myself could mean the difference between an assault by a creepy crawly that ends in the tragic death of that creepy crawly (or more likely a tragic scream by yours truly) or getting out unscathed and unharmed. I choose the latter. A nice bonus of taking the toilet paper before hand, which I became aware of during my very first trip, was that you can conveniently use it to mask your nose while going about your business. We are not allowed to throw the toilet paper into the squat toilet, so you use as little as possible, and roll it up and throw it in the waste basket near the sinks (which is an open area that is aired well) when you are done.

The hardest thing for me to come to grips with during my first trip to the squat toilet was, like I mentioned in an earlier post, the fact that the floor was filthy. I was under the impression that the brownish residue I saw in and around the squat toilet basin was poopy water. During my first use of the toilet, I was consumed with the fact that my favorite sandals were touching this poopy water. I feared that my skin was being infected by this poopy water. I was tortured by the idea that once I was done I would track this poopy water back to my bedroom. I was frozen by the possibility that if I left my sandals on, this poopy water would be deposited all over my bedroom floor. With no suitcase in site, and the new outdoorsy sandals I had bought for the trip inside that suitcase, I cut my losses and had no choice but to let my fancy summer sandals become my potty shoes.

For those of you who have not cried out "too much information!" I will proceed to tell you that I fortunately did not need to do a #2 until 5pm the next day, which means I had an entire 24 hour period to psyche myself up for that. In the end, I'll just say, when you have to go bad enough, and there are no other options, you will just go. That was my strategy. Thus, on Thursday afternoon when the need became great, I acted like superwoman, I put on those potty shoes, and I strode to the squat toilet with my head held high. When I emerged I felt like a newly potty-trained baby! I was very proud of myself.

Update: The story above describes my first experiences with the squat toilet, but there are a few things that have allowed me to adjust rather quickly:

First and foremost, that "poopy water"...yeah, I realized rather quickly that it was just the brown and red sand that people were tracking in on their shoes. I feel horrible for thinking that there was fecal matter on the floor around the toilet basin. Unless others are completely inconsiderate, I highly doubt that anything is landing anywhere other than inside the basin. Thus, I guess those potty shoes are not as infected as I first believed them to be. Still, I wouldn't take them to bed with me.

Second, now that I have used the squat toilet two or three times a day for the last seven days, I feel that I find it normal. It turns out that squatting to use the bathroom is not all that bad. In fact, it actually feels more natural. And if you have good balance, you end up not touching anything. (The other Americans and I here had a whole discussion too that the alignment of your body when using a squat toilet makes it easier and more healthy, and besides, don't all women squat in public restrooms anyway?) I have come to realize that it is not the squatting that makes the bathroom scary. It is pure and simple the fact that the bathrooms are buggy and you are stuck in a little room while doing your business. In that regard, the squat toilet is no worse than an outhouse or a porta-potty. And although those may not be ideal toilet spaces for those of us used to our spic-n-span, air conditioned, fluffy carpeted, sterile bathrooms, when you have to go you just go.

Similarly, while I will not make an entire post about the showers, I've become pretty accustomed to them. Taking a shower has become my favorite part of the day, and the fact that hot water is in limited supply does not really matter. I love the cool water because it is the only time of day I feel refreshed. In an earlier post I said that you have to fill a large bucket and then scoop from the large bucket with a smaller bucket, but it turns out that some of the shower heads actually do work, so you can stand under the shower head. We try to conserve water though, so my main strategy is to just fill up the small liquid-measuring-cup type bucket and pour the water onto myself straight from there. It works out.

Third, I have been very lucky in that I have not gotten an upset stomach in the week that I have been here, and further I have never had to go in for a #2 more than once a day, which makes the whole situation completely tolerable. I have come to learn about a few coveted Western commodes, in case the situation ever gets too bad.

In writing this post, I became really curious to see if in fact anyone had posted some advice on the web. I googled "squat toilet tricks" and lo and behold I am not the first person to strategize in these little rooms. Here is the website I like the best: http://johnnyvagabond.com/featured/how-to-use-a-squat-toilet-in-5-easy-steps/