Ignorant Historian

I suppose you want to hear more about Turkey, don’t you?  I haven’t been meaning to drag my feet, but it’s hard to know what I should say.  As I alluded to yesterday, I’ve been highly emotional lately (partly trip related, partly personal, partly interpersonal), which sends me into a contemplative melancholy mood.  Nothing wrong with that, it just doesn’t lend itself to retellings of grand adventures.

Please let me know if there are specific things you want to hear about.  I won’t be going through the trip day by day, but rather thematically.  I hope to do a post on the food, a post on Ephesus (maybe), a post of a very Turkish situation we found ourselves in, and a post on an emotional afternoon (what I was referring to yesterday…didn’t want to do two emotional posts back-to-back).  And of course, I’ll be posting about the toilets, which is today’s topic.

I got a kick out of all the comments you guys left about the squaty potties.  I did visit the toilet at that place again, but they’ve remodeled (I don’t know if I should call replacing a outhouse with a 4-toilet structure “remodeling”) so my first squatty potty is no longer in existence.

So, for you squaty potty virgins out there, this is what they look like (I have no idea why the cover is falling off the TP…many won’t even have TP though):

Is that intimidating?  I got to walk 3 of my teammates through their first experience when we were out shopping.  There was only one stall so I felt bad because a Turkish lady came up who clearly really had to go.  There was also anther lady waiting in line who really wanted to talk to us as she kept saying, “Turkce? Turkce?” (“Turkish” in Turkish) over and over again.  I think they all found our excitement and concern over using the squatty potty humorous, as well they ought.

So here’s how one uses a squaty potty:

1.  Place your feet on either side of the hole (where those grips are…keeps you from slipping, I suppose), face towards the left in this picture (usually it’s the door).

2.  Pull your pants down to around your ankles.  I like to put them down as far as they can go…don’t want to take any chances.

3.  Do the Asian squat, with your rear down low behind your heels.

4.  Make sure your pants are completely out of the way (this would be MUCH easier in a skirt, but I’ve never been wearing one), and do your business!

5.  Clean up (always carry Kleenex with you in case there isn’t TP!) and flush if it’s a modern one (usually a chain on the wall).

So now…are there any more questions?  I feel like I talk WAY too much about toilets on this blog!