OK, here it is, as requested, the post with the awesome Eastern toilets.  I’ve used so many of them, I’m a pro!  I know, TMI, Tell More Info, right!?  So, we live in a pretty big city.  As far as places for foreigners to live, it’s pretty okay here.  I mean, I have monster sized feet apparently, but I can buy clothes here.  I thought I’d be like a super white Amazon woman, but it’s not so bad.  We have a good subway and bus system.  We even have Starbucks, McDonalds and KFC.  But everything over here is just a little (or a lot) different than at home.  My Starbucks card doesn’t work here.  KFC serves a weird rice volcano looking thing…it’s NOT appealing.  Restaurants may or may not serve tea with your food, and if they don’t, there probably isn’t another option.  I guess eating AND drinking isn’t necessarily a package deal like I’d always thought.  Also, it’s ok to bring your IPad into a nice restaurant and set it up and watch a movie at your table whilst you eat.  I don’t know how that would go over in the States; I’ve never seen anyone try it.

Anyway, TOILETS!  Yep, they’re different here!  A LOT different.  There are a few western toilets around…another reason to love Starbucks!

I can’t afford the coffee, but that doesn’t stop me from using their bathrooms anyway.

But mostly they look like this.

Your basic, most common Chinese bathroom stall.

Thank you, JoAnn!!!

“Ummm…Where’s the toilet paper?”  A good question.  It had better be in your backpack or you are going to be very sad.  That’s why I think of JoAnn every time I have to go.  (How do you feel about that, JoAnn?)  These handy-dandy little travel rolls that she gave us before we left have been VERY much appreciated!

The other thing you should have in your backpack is soap or hand sanitizer, because there probably isn’t any of that either.

So now you’re getting the idea…the bathroom is really just a hole in the floor.  And it’s probably a pretty gross hole.  The good news is that they aren’t really that hard to use.  I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but the road trips my family used to take to Alaska, which took a week (each way) and included several days on the Alaska Highway driving through the Yukon Territory and Alaska, where real bathrooms were few and far between gave me some really useful life skills!  Because now that we’re in China, these babies are no sweat!  I mean, at least a bear won’t eat me, right!?  Plus, your rear-end never actually has to touch anything.

There is one other thing, and this is the really gross part, you can’t flush your toilet paper.  EWWWW!!!  Think about that for just a minute.  The plumbing here is, sadly, not designed to accommodate paper products of any sort.  So now you’ve conducted your business and you’ve got to just leave the wad sitting right on top of the, probably very full, trashcan.  Gives a whole new meaning to the term “waste paper basket” doesn’t it?

But seriously, this is information you need should you ever find yourself on this side of the world.  Because when you decide you’ve gotta go, particularly if it’s an urgent situation, you need to consider some things first, before you assume the position.  You can’t just run into the stall and assume everything you need will be there.  Do you have your supply of TP in your daypack?  Believe me, it’s a HUGE bummer when you realize that you switched bags and forgot to put your toilet paper roll in your current bag.  Don’t worry though, you’ll probably only make that mistake once.  Now I have a roll in every bag!  Also, you need to consider just how bad this episode is going to be.  Because the hook for your bag is up rather high on the door and you’re down pretty low, so if you didn’t get a big enough wad, you can’t easily reach for more.

The other day I discovered another thing to think about ahead of time.  I was pretty excited when I found that all of the Jillian Michaels workout videos that I love so much are posted on youku.com (the Chinese YouTube)!  So I did the 30 Day Shred for the first time in a while.  I was feeling pretty good about myself.  Now we walk all over the place here everyday.  But those muscles are not the same ones you use for squatting.  The ones Jillian makes you use for jump squats are though!  BTW:  Using a squatty potty when you’re sore from your workout is NOT as much fun.

OK, well it’s Monday, so that means it’s Badminton day.  Here are some more potty pictures for you to enjoy.  I’ve gotta go grab my racket (that’s right, I own my very own badminton racket now) and walk through the typhoon rain to the courts.  Good thing I also own a sun umbrella AND a rain umbrella.

Our Home Turf…don’t worry, we also have a Western potty.

OOOOHHH! Nice! IN-STALL toilet paper! I was so excited!!

 Next on Chilling In China…Andre’ and Ginger teach our Chinese friends how to play Settlers!!!!  That’s right, it took four weeks, but Andre’ found a nerd game store!  Told ya, our city rocks!!

And the instructions are only in Chinese, which we feel may be helpful in explaining the details.