Farewell, Turkish Toilet!

30 September 2006

Today something miraculous happened. My day started normally; I went to class in the morning at 10:00 and returned to my host family’s house around 3:00. Normally when I come home, I greet Mama and Somiya and either go up to my room to rest or leave for the cyber or souk. Today, Mama and Somiya began talking to me excitedly about something. They were pointing a lot at the bathroom on the main floor and pointing upstairs saying “n-douche.” I had no clue. I asked them if they thought I needed a shower and they laughed. Then, they walked with me upstairs and opened the door to my bathroom.

In my bathroom, there was a man actually standing inside the Turkish toilet with a huge pile of rubble next to him. Mama and Somiya said some more things and I thought I got the point. Okay, I thought, so I can’t use the upstairs bathroom anymore. To be honest with you, I wasn’t even aware that there were two bathrooms on the main floor. I had thought it was odd that there was a sink on the wall at the bottom on the stairs and thought the small door next to it was probably a closet.

Then, I left to go to the cyber to check email and the souk to buy some food. When I returned home, I walked upstairs and there, believe it or not, was an actual flush toilet sitting where the man had been digging before! What a strange place Morocco is!

At breakfast tonight I will try to ask Mama if I can use this new household technology. I am really excited about the toilet, but I am feeling kind of spoiled. I know none of the other volunteers here in Boulmane have either a shower or a flushing toilet.

1 October 2006

The toilet situation got a little bit stranger today, if you can believe that. I entered the bathroom to find that a long hose had been hooked up to the faucet on the wall and was draped across the toilet seat. I had no idea what the purpose of this hose was, so I continued to use the downstairs Turkish toilet. After dinner tonight I asked my family about the toilet and the hose. Mama said that they had bought the toilet three years ago because her knees had been giving her trouble and they had only recently decided to install it. The purpose of the hose wasn’t as clear. I think we were supposed to use the hose to flush to toilet, but the hose has a hole in it and sprays water everywhere, so we removed the hose tonight. Now, to flush, I will fill the old bucket with water and pour it into the toilet. It’s basically like the Turkish toilet, but now I get to sit down!

Today was our first day without language instruction, so I had the whole day to spend with my host family, relax, and do whatever. It was great. I slept in late, took a bath (sitting on a teeny tiny stool on the floor next to the new toilet pouring buckets of water over my head) packed my bag, visited with other volunteers, played Frisbee with the neighbor kids, and best of all, got to talk with mom, dad, Megan and Sara!

Tomorrow we will leave Boulmane and travel back to Immouzer for more shots and technical training. I look forward to seeing my friends and sharing stories about our CBT sites and families. There are six of us, including our teacher, and I think we are taking only one grand taxi. This should be interesting. The grand taxis are just an average sized Mercedes (why they are all Mercedes, I’m not sure) with no seat belts and drivers who defy the definition of FAST. How will seven people plus luggage fit into one car? I guess tomorrow only knows.