I have been pondering toilets a lot lately. I think that's because my stomach has been a mess, and I have been building quite an intimate relationship with them, but whatever...
So - as most people know (and I'm sure I wrote this before), many toilets here are squatters. Personally, I prefer the squatter over the toilet. I'm not a great peer when squatting over a full toilet - my quads get tired. You never have to clean the seat, and you can just relax and let it go.
The only problem I have found is that the sqatter permits/promotes a small amount of splash on the lower legs. It's sort of like when you run the faucet over the wrong side of the spoon, and it all bounces all over the place? Yes - but it's pee, and it's on your work clothes...
I asked a friend about this, and she suggested that maybe we should turn around and pee the other direction? I'll get back to this point.
Well today, while spending a few hours on the ponder pot, I pondered about putting something that would guard your legs from getting the splash, and I realized that I invented the toilet! I thought - well, if we were just a bit farther off the ground, then the splash wouldn't bother us, and maybe there could be a guard, and in my head, I literally built a toilet. (Remember when I invented the library?)
Well, getting back to the reverse direction toilet sitting...I was on the bus going home tonight (I couldn't stomach standing on the MRT), and I saw a commercial about how it's colorectal cancer awareness month. There was a commercial for free screening - all it takes is a dip! I SWEAR that on this ad there was a picture of a person sitting on the toilet BACKWARDS (from how I/we do it)!!! I just went to the website, but I can't find that picture anywhere, and now I'm wondering if people just go to the bathroom backwards (from what I know...) in Asia? in Singapore? What is going on here? This is shaking my reality!!
4 comments:
"...shaking your reality" Hey, that's why you're living abroad!
Keep up the good work(?) of exposing all of us to your discoveries of new and different "realities". You live it; we read it.
Thankfully, I've never had to do the squatting thing. But you made me curious. I found this animation, which may help. Or maybe try this book. :)
Those are HILARIOUS links!!! Which Matthew is this? At least in Japan they seem to have a splash guard...
After my posting, my friend who is living in India contacted me and let me know that she also doesn't know which way is forward, and she sort of goes back and forth - so to speak. She brought up some good points about why each way is better.
I do have to say, though, that probably 90% of public toilets in Singapore are full toilets, so it's not like we're living in REAL Asia or anything. :)
It's Matt Bietz!
P.S. I love your blog!
Post a Comment