It senses fear, part I: the squatty potty

The little room. Kamar kecil. There's the toilet, several inches from the ground, and there's that big basin of water, usually overflown with water from the faucet above it. You enter, shoeless, into what feels like a shower, the tiles often wet. Theres no sink, there's no toilet paper. This is kamar mandi.

First, let's talk about doing your business. Last week, I walked into a training session and was greeted with, "So.. how have you been pooping?" Peace Corps trainees are really, really (like really) open about our bathroom habits, and sharing our mutual struggle of our business has made adjusting to the small room much easier. Going into Peace Corps, I knew the squatty potty would take some getting used to, and I was right! However, it's really no big deal, in fact, this way of "going" is actually much more natural, and better for your health.

Like most parts of the world, squat toilets in Indonesia are the way things get done. Americans fear the hole in the ground, and it was a bit intimidating upon arrival. Which way do you face, though? What the heck is that little pail for? WHERE IS THE TP??!

The first thing I had to wrap my head around is that 99% of the time, there's no toilet paper. In lieu of this beloved product, you have soap, water and your left hand. Already more sustainable! You have your soap, and you have the gayung, or a small pail used to scoop the water out of the basin adjacent to the toilet. You finish your business, you grab your gayung, and you clean yourself. Et voila. When things get a bit more solid, you utilize that good ol' left hand, you grab your soap, you clean, and you rinse with the gayung in your right hand. Easy peasy. Also, think about it-- if you stepped in a pile of poop barefoot, you wouldn't wipe it off with toilet paper, you'd use soap and water. At least I would?

Because the left hand is reserved for this important duty, it's viewed as the unclean hand in Indonesian culture. Don't you dare hand something to your Ibu (or anyone) with your left hand, you sicko! Don't prepare food with that hand or use in any interaction in general, as it is not polite. Lefties are struggling over here.

More often than not, you flush on your own... automated flushers are a luxury, and manual flushing is an acquired skill. When you have to flush a more solid load, you have to flush real well to make sure things stay where they should be. Not included in this description is the cramping/lost feeling you may get in your feet after squatting for too long, but alas! Squatting speeds up the process, so you aren't squatting there for too long. Also, what's one to do about pants? That's up to choice, and while some are still getting accustomed to the porcelain hole in the ground, pants have been completely taken off. Have I made you uncomfortable yet? Good, because I'll probably talk about diarrhea in another post, because statistically, 100% of volunteers get it.

I hope this post has set a clearer picture for people and dispelled some misconceptions. Maybe this information will be useful for your next visit to Asia, but more than anything, I hope to draw a better picture of using the bathroom because hey! everyone does it. I was hesitant before arriving, but now I'm all in. This may be because I'm still in the honeymoon phase, and everything, even the act of peeing differently, is new and exciting. But for now, I'm for it. Next post: the sacred mandi.

Not as intimidating as it looks...