MENA WCs

[Krissy! 0]

And me too! Uggggggggg

Here's ONE of the many WC stories I have: The first trip to Morocco I got the nastiest cold. I asked my husband if there was some cold medicine we could get. We stopped at a pharmacy and the all-knowing pharmacist gives me these huge amoxicillin horse pills. I was so miserable I proceeded to take them against better judgement. Fast forward about 8 hours later as we are coming home to my husband's friend's house. I am DYING to use a bathroom after a 2 hour car trip. My husband says go ahead with his friend to get into the house so I can go quickly while he gets the bags from the car.

As humbly and calmly as I can be I patiently wait for him to show me the WC. As soon as the door closes, I scope out the situation. Porcelain square with hole (and the ever so convenient foot placement rectangles with the slanted raised lines to prevent slippage-whatever), water bucket under faucet. Turn on faucet to mask any embarassing 'sounds'. Assume the position and I think my husband was able to hear me by the car let alone his friend who was standing on the other side of the 1/4" door with big cracks all around it. Add to that the acoustically sound design of the WC. The running water in the bucket did nothing for me sound wise.

Did I mention I was in high heels, still had on my long winter coat (where to hang it in the WC?)? After fishing out of my pockets what I had left of a packet of kleenexes, I was left wondering what to do. Do I walk out and pretend that nothing happened? Or do I walk out and say Please excuse me, I'm so sorry? Or more to my liking, run screaming as far from his friend as I could? And what to tell my husband? What will his friend say to him (such as I think you should think twice about marrying this one?)?

I decided to walk out as if nothing happened while thinking to myself he should be thankful that I made it to the bathroom.

Thanks to the horse pills, I spent the next 2 weeks of my trip with constant bathroom escapades just like the one above, an 8 hour plane ride on my way home, and several trips to the doctor for my digestive extremes who thought I must have contracted some kind of god-awful parasite or disease from going to such a country as Morocco.

It turned out that I was given too strong an antibiotic and hadn't contracted any exotic diseases. Thanks God.

:rofl:

Thanks for the great laugh. And thanks god.

I have some stories, but I rather not share

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I wonder how elderly people deal with the squat toilets.

I swear I got such a great gluts workout while I was over there.

I've wondered the same thing about the elderly or infirm. I'm overweight, so it wasn't terribly easy for me, but I could feel what a good workout it was. Not sure we could market that here though.

Ok, maybe TMI, but when I was in Morocco I had some digestive issues. There were times when I just said, "fukc it" and i just sat myself right down on the hole. Of course, I made sure to wash myself accordingly. Maybe that's what the elderly and handicapped do.

Oh, yeah, been there too!

And me too! Uggggggggg

Here's ONE of the many WC stories I have: The first trip to Morocco I got the nastiest cold. I asked my husband if there was some cold medicine we could get. We stopped at a pharmacy and the all-knowing pharmacist gives me these huge amoxicillin horse pills. I was so miserable I proceeded to take them against better judgement. Fast forward about 8 hours later as we are coming home to my husband's friend's house. I am DYING to use a bathroom after a 2 hour car trip. My husband says go ahead with his friend to get into the house so I can go quickly while he gets the bags from the car.

As humbly and calmly as I can be I patiently wait for him to show me the WC. As soon as the door closes, I scope out the situation. Porcelain square with hole (and the ever so convenient foot placement rectangles with the slanted raised lines to prevent slippage-whatever), water bucket under faucet. Turn on faucet to mask any embarassing 'sounds'. Assume the position and I think my husband was able to hear me by the car let alone his friend who was standing on the other side of the 1/4" door with big cracks all around it. Add to that the acoustically sound design of the WC. The running water in the bucket did nothing for me sound wise.

Did I mention I was in high heels, still had on my long winter coat (where to hang it in the WC?)? After fishing out of my pockets what I had left of a packet of kleenexes, I was left wondering what to do. Do I walk out and pretend that nothing happened? Or do I walk out and say Please excuse me, I'm so sorry? Or more to my liking, run screaming as far from his friend as I could? And what to tell my husband? What will his friend say to him (such as I think you should think twice about marrying this one?)?

I decided to walk out as if nothing happened while thinking to myself he should be thankful that I made it to the bathroom.

Thanks to the horse pills, I spent the next 2 weeks of my trip with constant bathroom escapades just like the one above, an 8 hour plane ride on my way home, and several trips to the doctor for my digestive extremes who thought I must have contracted some kind of god-awful parasite or disease from going to such a country as Morocco.

It turned out that I was given too strong an antibiotic and hadn't contracted any exotic diseases. Thanks God.

I'm sorry you had an awful experience but your story is hillarious!

[nu7015 0]

Sorry if that was TMI. As I was writing it felt as if I was reliving it all over again. Must be some unresolved trauma I still carry.

I did tell my husband and he proceeded to console me by saying, Honey, it's a normal tings (tings=things). I knew for sure he hadn't heard me. Again, thanks God.

[Donna A 4]

in syria one of the apts we had only had a american toilet plus a butt wash station or whatever its called sitting next to the toilet but the other one we stayed at had one bathroom for the squatter which smelled so bad i hated walking past it and had a regular toilet in the other. his parents houses i think only had the american toilet but no seat on it. it seamed like every place else we went had squatters with a hose to wash up with. i know i had to take the box of tissues from the resturants in with me. i just couldnt imagine using a hose and walking out dry. i would have had to strip down to keep from getting my clothes wet.

[amal 4]

Hubsters house had the turkish toilet in 1 room and a western toilet /shower in the other room. They neglected to tell me that the western toilet didn't flush without special magic tricks being performed on it woopsie

the bathroom in our flat had a western toilet and it wasn't till like the 3rd day that I realized the knob on the top of the back part was the flusher and u had to pull it up for it to work.... The rest of the bathroom is what I like to call "the shower story"

and for your entertainment..... here it is...

The Shower Story

I get to Jordan and reeeeally want to take a shower ASAP. We get up

to our flat and of course get a grand tour. Hallway, living room,

bedroom. Kitchen is off the hallway and what seems to be a closet is

just off the kitchen. NO, it's not a closet..that 5X5 room is the bathroom.

Western toilet (no flush handle- properly learned how to work the dang

thing on my 3rd day there) against the back wall, Water heater directly

to the left, funky 1ft X 1ft square on the floor (with drain) in front of

the water heater, sink which extends to the edge of strange 1ft X 1ft

square on the floor, strangely placed hole on the floor beneath the sink,

squeegee(u know, one of those car window washing squeegees with the long

handles). I notice there are no windows in this bathroom and find it odd

that they would have a squeegee in there. I put the squeegee in a cabinet

in the kitchen and decide to ask him about that later.

I do, however, ask about strange square thing on the floor and find out that

this is the shower. ahaaa.. That metal thing sticking out from the wall

about 4 feet up must be the shower head.... Seriously, Where's the shower....

I'm 5'7 and fairly sure I'm a little bigger than 1ft X 1ft and it doesn't

take quantum physics to figure out that a 4ft shower head vs 5'7" woman = problems.

Ok, take my clothes, big fluffy beach towel, and showering supplies

to the bathroom. No cabinets... OK so I can put the clothes on the

toilet...No problem. I hang the beach towel on the door handle

making sure to be extra careful that it doesn't fall off.

OOOOOk.. Now realizing that the time has come for the 1 on 1 match

with the shower head for dwarfs, I notice that there is no shower curtain.

How is this going to work? I'll be extra still and everything should be ok.

I turn the water on and it trickles out with slightly more pressure than you

would wash a newborn baby with. This must be why it is safe not to

have a shower curtain. Ok, I can do this.

I work up a decent lather to my hair and suddenly the water turns to

ice. I begin to panic and quickly start scrubbing as fast as my arms

can scrub. My teeth are chattering and I have a massive case of goosebumps

but somehow manage to get all the suds off before becoming a solid ice

cube. I turn the water off and stand there for a moment like a deer in

headlights wondering just what the heck happened and thanking God that

it was finally over. I regain my composure and decide it is time to attempt

to dry off. I take 1 step to my right and realize that the shower was very

warm compared to the lake of frosty water that accumulated on the floor.

Apparently when u take an ice shower and there is no shower curtain, it is

not really possible stand still and keep things dry outside the boundaries

of the shower square.

At this point I have decided to stand on the edge of the tiny shower square,

grab my towel and dry off. I reach behind me at the doorknob and grab a bare

handle. I close my eyes and grab again .. still bare. I do a balancing act and

turn around to find that my towel has fallen to the floor and is officially

soaked. I decide that I can just put my clothes on over my wet self (since any

form of warmth is better than standing naked on an ice lake) and what do I see?

My clothes somehow jumped off of the toilet seat and were soaked clear through.

Here I am, in all my nekkedness, ice soaked clothes AND towel, an inch of ice water

on the floor and no idea what to do next. Then I remember that odd hole in the floor

under the sink. I have no idea what it is for (to them) but for Amal it is gonna be

a water drain. I use my soaked towel and start pushing the water towards the hole.

It seems to drain just fine and I finally get enough of the floor dried off that my

feet can handle stepping on it without sending cold pricklies thru my feet and up

my spine. I call for hubster to get me some dry clothes (no need for a towel since

I air dried while cleaning the bathroom floor).

Later that night I told him about what exactly happened and we were having a good

laugh about it. I mentioned that they need a device to make the job of cleaning-up

the floor easier. Hubsterleaves the room and comes back with the window squeegee.

He says "habeebti". I look at him. He holds the squeegee like a broom and pushes

it and says"use it as this". I was mortified! That would explain why it was in the

bathroom to begin with!

We still laugh about the squeegee incident to this day. Sometimes he even calls me Mrs.Squeegee.

amal

Edited June 15, 2008 by amal

[Alhamdulillah 0]

We still laugh about the squeegee incident to this day. Sometimes he even calls me Mrs.Squeegee.

amal

The bathroom in our apt in egypt was a normal bathroom but we got the same tiny hot water heater as you and I NEVER had a proper shower the entire three weeks I was there. Also, even though it was a normal bathtub/shower, it apparently wasn't all that important for them to have a full shower curtain so it only came about half way over and half way down and everything would get soaked in there when we'd shower. We learned to just leave our stuff outside of the door lol.

[Henia 11]

We still laugh about the squeegee incident to this day. Sometimes he even calls me Mrs.Squeegee.

amal

The bathroom in our apt in egypt was a normal bathroom but we got the same tiny hot water heater as you and I NEVER had a proper shower the entire three weeks I was there. Also, even though it was a normal bathtub/shower, it apparently wasn't all that important for them to have a full shower curtain so it only came about half way over and half way down and everything would get soaked in there when we'd shower. We learned to just leave our stuff outside of the door lol.

I have been in Algeria for 2 years. I have not had a proper bathing experience in 2 years! Still waiting for our bathroom is be ready!

But I do love it how small rats and huge cockroaches can easily come up from the Turkish style toliets ... I never use our downstairs WC (Turkish style) to the WC at night ... actually I never go to any one of our WCs at night alone!

[Alhamdulillah 0]

small rats and huge cockroaches can easily come up from the Turkish style toliets

OMG I would NEVER go again! I'd have to hold it for the rest of my time there!!!

[nunyab 0]

Squat style in family's home in Morocco. I remember the pink TP too! There was a hose thingie there for cleaning as well.

His aunt and uncle had a regular toilet bowl. I much prefer that on, well you know, certain bathroom occasions.

This is such a funny thread... no joKe my husband thinks i am weird for having a bathroom obsession... I learned quickly to carry wipes with me everywhere and hand sanitizer and tissues. That pink toilet paper awww what a memory. All sit down toilets in Casablanca but who would want to sit on some of those... i'll show you a pic of a toilet on the train to marakesh if interested.... horrible. Found the best public toilet at ...of all places..... McDonalds. I was so happy i came out excited and had to tell my husband... his reply? Hamdolah she found her toilet. lol.

The family all have the sit down kind and a hose for washing or I requested a bowl and tp was dispensed in a garbage can next to the toilet.

oooohhh gotta run all this talking nature is calling lol

[nunyab 0]

I wonder how elderly people deal with the squat toilets.

I swear I got such a great gluts workout while I was over there.

I've wondered the same thing about the elderly or infirm. I'm overweight, so it wasn't terribly easy for me, but I could feel what a good workout it was. Not sure we could market that here though.

Ok, maybe TMI, but when I was in Morocco I had some digestive issues. There were times when I just said, "fukc it" and i just sat myself right down on the hole. Of course, I made sure to wash myself accordingly. Maybe that's what the elderly and handicapped do.

Oh, yeah, been there too!

And me too! Uggggggggg

Here's ONE of the many WC stories I have: The first trip to Morocco I got the nastiest cold. I asked my husband if there was some cold medicine we could get. We stopped at a pharmacy and the all-knowing pharmacist gives me these huge amoxicillin horse pills. I was so miserable I proceeded to take them against better judgement. Fast forward about 8 hours later as we are coming home to my husband's friend's house. I am DYING to use a bathroom after a 2 hour car trip. My husband says go ahead with his friend to get into the house so I can go quickly while he gets the bags from the car.

As humbly and calmly as I can be I patiently wait for him to show me the WC. As soon as the door closes, I scope out the situation. Porcelain square with hole (and the ever so convenient foot placement rectangles with the slanted raised lines to prevent slippage-whatever), water bucket under faucet. Turn on faucet to mask any embarassing 'sounds'. Assume the position and I think my husband was able to hear me by the car let alone his friend who was standing on the other side of the 1/4" door with big cracks all around it. Add to that the acoustically sound design of the WC. The running water in the bucket did nothing for me sound wise.

Did I mention I was in high heels, still had on my long winter coat (where to hang it in the WC?)? After fishing out of my pockets what I had left of a packet of kleenexes, I was left wondering what to do. Do I walk out and pretend that nothing happened? Or do I walk out and say Please excuse me, I'm so sorry? Or more to my liking, run screaming as far from his friend as I could? And what to tell my husband? What will his friend say to him (such as I think you should think twice about marrying this one?)?

I decided to walk out as if nothing happened while thinking to myself he should be thankful that I made it to the bathroom.

Thanks to the horse pills, I spent the next 2 weeks of my trip with constant bathroom escapades just like the one above, an 8 hour plane ride on my way home, and several trips to the doctor for my digestive extremes who thought I must have contracted some kind of god-awful parasite or disease from going to such a country as Morocco.

It turned out that I was given too strong an antibiotic and hadn't contracted any exotic diseases. Thanks God.

I'm sorry you had an awful experience but your story is hillarious!

That story was awesome!!!! sorry it happend to you but i so could understand what you were experiencing...

[Henia 11]

Squat style in family's home in Morocco. I remember the pink TP too! There was a hose thingie there for cleaning as well.

His aunt and uncle had a regular toilet bowl. I much prefer that on, well you know, certain bathroom occasions.

This is such a funny thread... no joKe my husband thinks i am weird for having a bathroom obsession... I learned quickly to carry wipes with me everywhere and hand sanitizer and tissues. That pink toilet paper awww what a memory. All sit down toilets in Casablanca but who would want to sit on some of those... i'll show you a pic of a toilet on the train to marakesh if interested.... horrible. Found the best public toilet at ...of all places..... McDonalds. I was so happy i came out excited and had to tell my husband... his reply? Hamdolah she found her toilet. lol.

The family all have the sit down kind and a hose for washing or I requested a bowl and tp was dispensed in a garbage can next to the toilet.

oooohhh gotta run all this talking nature is calling lol

Actually, only time I ever go into McDonald's is when I am traveling ... as I know for sure, no matter where I am ... Europe, MENA, Asia ... the WC will be clean and operating!

I have seen some very nasty WCs ... in the hospitals here ... ironicaly funny since in a hospital you would except cleaniness! Nope not here!

Also I just 'loved' it when I see little boys and grown men pissing out, visible to all in public here!

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Squat style in family's home in Morocco. I remember the pink TP too! There was a hose thingie there for cleaning as well.

His aunt and uncle had a regular toilet bowl. I much prefer that on, well you know, certain bathroom occasions.

This is such a funny thread... no joKe my husband thinks i am weird for having a bathroom obsession... I learned quickly to carry wipes with me everywhere and hand sanitizer and tissues. That pink toilet paper awww what a memory. All sit down toilets in Casablanca but who would want to sit on some of those... i'll show you a pic of a toilet on the train to marakesh if interested.... horrible. Found the best public toilet at ...of all places..... McDonalds. I was so happy i came out excited and had to tell my husband... his reply? Hamdolah she found her toilet. lol.

The family all have the sit down kind and a hose for washing or I requested a bowl and tp was dispensed in a garbage can next to the toilet.

oooohhh gotta run all this talking nature is calling lol

Actually, only time I ever go into McDonald's is when I am traveling ... as I know for sure, no matter where I am ... Europe, MENA, Asia ... the WC will be clean and operating!

I have seen some very nasty WCs ... in the hospitals here ... ironicaly funny since in a hospital you would except cleaniness! Nope not here!

Also I just 'loved' it when I see little boys and grown men pissing out, visible to all in public here! :wacko:

this is everywhere in Morocco, i guess they think they are invisiable with backs turned like your not seeing the spot of the wall and i saw this near the courts everywhere and i did see a few women, with the women being more between towns and not right in town. The first time i went to see Ahmed we left casa airport hadnt gone far and this was my first HELLO, he pulled to the side of the road then slighlty away from the car and......... i always tell him my first memories of morocco were all the rocks and him on the side of the road

[Henia 11]

Squat style in family's home in Morocco. I remember the pink TP too! There was a hose thingie there for cleaning as well.

His aunt and uncle had a regular toilet bowl. I much prefer that on, well you know, certain bathroom occasions.

This is such a funny thread... no joKe my husband thinks i am weird for having a bathroom obsession... I learned quickly to carry wipes with me everywhere and hand sanitizer and tissues. That pink toilet paper awww what a memory. All sit down toilets in Casablanca but who would want to sit on some of those... i'll show you a pic of a toilet on the train to marakesh if interested.... horrible. Found the best public toilet at ...of all places..... McDonalds. I was so happy i came out excited and had to tell my husband... his reply? Hamdolah she found her toilet. lol.

The family all have the sit down kind and a hose for washing or I requested a bowl and tp was dispensed in a garbage can next to the toilet.

oooohhh gotta run all this talking nature is calling lol

Actually, only time I ever go into McDonald's is when I am traveling ... as I know for sure, no matter where I am ... Europe, MENA, Asia ... the WC will be clean and operating!

I have seen some very nasty WCs ... in the hospitals here ... ironicaly funny since in a hospital you would except cleaniness! Nope not here!

Also I just 'loved' it when I see little boys and grown men pissing out, visible to all in public here! :wacko:

this is everywhere in Morocco, i guess they think they are invisiable with backs turned like your not seeing the spot of the wall and i saw this near the courts everywhere and i did see a few women, with the women being more between towns and not right in town. The first time i went to see Ahmed we left casa airport hadnt gone far and this was my first HELLO, he pulled to the side of the road then slighlty away from the car and......... i always tell him my first memories of morocco were all the rocks and him on the side of the road

[amal 4]

Squat style in family's home in Morocco. I remember the pink TP too! There was a hose thingie there for cleaning as well.

His aunt and uncle had a regular toilet bowl. I much prefer that on, well you know, certain bathroom occasions.

This is such a funny thread... no joKe my husband thinks i am weird for having a bathroom obsession... I learned quickly to carry wipes with me everywhere and hand sanitizer and tissues. That pink toilet paper awww what a memory. All sit down toilets in Casablanca but who would want to sit on some of those... i'll show you a pic of a toilet on the train to marakesh if interested.... horrible. Found the best public toilet at ...of all places..... McDonalds. I was so happy i came out excited and had to tell my husband... his reply? Hamdolah she found her toilet. lol.

The family all have the sit down kind and a hose for washing or I requested a bowl and tp was dispensed in a garbage can next to the toilet.

oooohhh gotta run all this talking nature is calling lol

Actually, only time I ever go into McDonald's is when I am traveling ... as I know for sure, no matter where I am ... Europe, MENA, Asia ... the WC will be clean and operating!

I have seen some very nasty WCs ... in the hospitals here ... ironicaly funny since in a hospital you would except cleaniness! Nope not here!

Also I just 'loved' it when I see little boys and grown men pissing out, visible to all in public here! :wacko:

this is everywhere in Morocco, i guess they think they are invisiable with backs turned like your not seeing the spot of the wall and i saw this near the courts everywhere and i did see a few women, with the women being more between towns and not right in town. The first time i went to see Ahmed we left casa airport hadnt gone far and this was my first HELLO, he pulled to the side of the road then slighlty away from the car and......... i always tell him my first memories of morocco were all the rocks and him on the side of the road