The bathroom situation in China

so what they don't tell us in the orientation for study in China is that the toilets over here are a bit funky.  as a matter of fact majority of bathroom don't have toilet seats - there's a low lying hole type toilet which you just squat over.  There's a technique and everything, something our parents never taught us, you've got to squat with your heels on the ground, instead of all your weight on the balls of your feet.  You should try it!!!  it's amazing the stability one attains in this wonderful position.  as a matter of fact you can see chinese squatting out on the street (they don't poo on the street by the way), just hanging out talking on the cel phone or to another girl that's squatting there too - peculiar stuff.

an odd thing is that there is absolutely NO toilet paper anywhere you go - people carry it around and stuff.  can be an issue at times.  last weekend I was at a club, waiting to go to the bathroom and the poo stalls didn't even have doors, but the funny thing was this guy was staring at me while taking a shit, very intimidating.  he made some motion, and then offered me toilet paper, figuring I was an unprepared foreigner.  the communal environment over here is very open.

in the second week of school (after all standard topics of conversation had been exhausted) people primarily talked about how well their bowels were working- seriously a major topic of discussion.  constipation, diarrhea, anything in between. the food is so greasy and heavy it works the internal systems.  everyone knows how long it's been since your last poo.  maybe i'm exaggerating a bit, ok, but we just about had a party when my buddy down the hall finally cleared his system after a week long stint of stagnation.  the things one takes for granted in the modern west.

i've finally got the situation under control though, buy a bunch of fruit, watermelons by the dozen ($.50 a watermelon), minimizing on the baozi and jiaozi greasy but yummy dumpling things.  you've got to be seriously conscious about diet and stuff - at least food is cheaper than water over here.  oh yeah this weekend i bought a 600ml (quart) bottle of beer for one sixth of a dollar.  no kidding.........   it's a key ingredient to destroy those germs, they say.