But alas, my mind is distracted thinking about squatters.
Yes, that's right. The Chinese commode. Why on earth am I thinking about all my Chinese memories connected to them? Beats me. But here we go.
First encounter was in a public building somewhere in Hong Kong. I love the way my friend Amanda captioned it:
"Sit."
"Or Squat. Why should this even be a choice?"
And I miss them. Yes, I miss them. Almost every time I go. I'd install one in my own home, if it weren't for the $1000 price tag I've found for it.
Hong Kong was a nice mix of East and West when it came to things like relieving yourself. And sometimes I'd see funny things like shoeprints on the toilet seat, and know that some poor Chinese soul got stuck with a sit stall and, not knowing what to do with it, climbed up on it to squat.
It's this exact scenario that has me stuck in reminiscences. There was one time at the end of the semester I spent over there, that we gave an end-of-the-year performance with our students to show off the English they had learned. It was in a building (who's function I forget but perhaps a hotel?) that catered to Westerners. The full realization of this hit me as I escorted my troop of eight four-year-olds into the bathroom only to find Western toilets and no squatters. I read the questions in their faces that they couldn't communicate through their limited English. (Because in a preschool class that largely focuses on crafts, snacks, games, etc., our bathroom vocabulary focused simply on asking permission to go, rather than the full functions of it all.) I gave the boys a quick tutorial, then turned to my girls. I really felt there was no better way to handle the situation than to tell them I'd hold them while they squatted. It was a bit pathetic, and I knew I was only perpetuating the cringe-worthy epidemic we found all throughout the country of muddy shoeprints on toilet seats, but I really didn't want to deal with teaching 3 four-year-old girls the proper usage.
Here was my first apartment bathroom:
Public school bathroom without stall doors:
There's another school bathroom picture somewhere, but I can't find it. That bathroom just had an angled trough for a squatter, with stall dividers, and again, no doors. There was one time teaching that I really had to go and that was the closest one. Holy cow, I was so terrified students would come in!
This is Lisa:
She's a darling. All of the kids had this cute way of asking, "Please, can I have the baffaloom?" But somehow Lisa learned correct grammar and always asked, "Please, may I go to the baffaloom?" She had a slightly high-pitched voice and I could never say no to her. I did once because there were only 5 minutes left in class, but her eyes welled up with tears and I let her go anyway. Never said no again.
And here's Lucas, who isn't talking about the bathroom until the end 3 seconds of the video:
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