For those of you who have ventured to the European planet or
beyond you may have encountered a door marked “WC” standing for “Water
Closet”. My
British friends love making fun of me for saying “Bathroom”. “Is there actually a bath in that
public toilet??” Well no…but who
wants to say I’m going to the toilet?
And to say loo would just be posing. So how do we get water closet from all of this. Well, I have a theory. In many of these water closets one will
find a shower with no walls and a drain not only in the shower but also in the
middle of the floor. Thus, when
one showers in said water closet in becomes…well…full of water.
So after traveling through time to get to Ethiopia I found
myself standing in such a water closet.
Oh goody. My first shower
was lukewarm at best, but I thought, psh!
I’ve played this game before.
When I lived in Saaaamoa the water in my “shower” was arguably the
coldest water on the island, so I used to go on a run or chase pigs around or
do something to work up a sweat before I hopped into the frigid cement
box. So I tried something similar
the next night, except with very limited space. This time I did a bunch of sit-ups and push-ups (I don’t
know if you heard me in there, but I did over a thousand) and then skipped into
the water closet congratulating myself on how smart I was.
In my particular water closet, the shower head is connected
to a box that is connected to a wall outlet. After stepping into the water closet the box starting making
noise. Weird. Thought I, but continued enjoying my
semi-lukewarm shower…until it was no longer semi-lukewarm but scalding hot. Apparently said box is a water heater
that was not working the day before.
You can turn it off, but then the water is ice cold. So, boiling hot or ice bath are our
choices here. At least we have
choices right?
My next WC adventure came yesterday at the hospital. I have started a new project which
involves collecting data from a book that is located in the emergency OR
and is not allowed to leave the OR. This means that I spent the last 2 days sitting on a wooden bench in a side room of
the OR hunched over this book and listening to…well…let’s keep it light shall
we?
On my first day I had to use the bathroom/loo/toilet/wc
and I asked one of my new friends where I should go. “Yes, come with me.”
Sure why not. I followed
him out into the Emergency Department which is scattered with scared faces
eagerly looking towards my white coat like I know something. My buddy showed me to a locked door in
the corner of the ED. He unlocked
it to reveal a pitch black room with the sound of running water coming from…somewhere. “You have light on your cell phone?” Umm I think so? “Good there is no light. And I can only lock the door from the
outside, so knock when you are done” and then a slight shove and I was standing
in darkness in a water closet in a hospital in Ethiopia. My we have come a long way from Vegas haven't we?
After fumbling with my phone, I found the flashlight option
only to discover the running water sound was coming from a hose above a squat
toilet. Squat toilets. You again. I won’t go into the details, but its just not pretty. At any rate, my buddy didn’t leave me
and I was able to get out with a sigh of relief. Needless to say, I have been dehydrating myself during the
day (besides the coffee of course) only to sprint into my hotel at night to use
my WC after a long day on the wooden bench. Guess I am out of shape with adapting to my
surroundings. Then again, its only
the first week…
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