To squat or to sit? This is the question.

Across Asia we often encounter these signs;

     Westerners think they are funny and don't understand why they are nessesary.  Well my friends, I have a story for you.

     When we were in Thailand we went on a day trip to some nearby islands.  It was beautiful, breathtaking and relaxing.  Then we went to lunch.  There were many tour groups stopped at this particular resort for lunch.  Because it was Chinese National Holiday there were many Chinese people visiting Thailand.   At this particular spot multiple tour groups were stopping for lunch so we encountered large herds of Chinese tourists.

     Now, living in China I realize that I have made a choice to live here and for the most part try to accept their culture and know that I am the outsider.  I get frustrated and realize that I am making generalizations when culture shock is at it worst but when I leave my apartment in China I expect to be smacked in the face with Chinese culture.  I wasn't expecting this in Thailand.  I mean, I left China for a break from China.

     So anyway, back to my story.  I went to wait in line for the bathroom and right outside of the bathroom, in the dining room, a woman had propped her 6-8 year old daughter over the trashcan to use as a toilet.  I am not sure if you know this but 6-8 year old girls don't have the best of aim in ideal situations so you can imagine the mess that was made IN THE DINING ROOM.

    Okay, okay, that is one Chinese person of Billions I get it....deep breathe...patience....count to ten....
So I continue waiting in line for the bathroom and it is taking a really long time.  All of the women before me are Chinese.  I can't figure out what they must be doing in the bathroom that is taking so long.  Some of the women are wearing one-piece swimming suits but still, that cannot explain why everyone is in there for 5+ minutes.     I am hungry and I have to pee, my patience is wearing thin.

     My turn finally comes I turn into the stall and there are two sand footprints on top of the toilet seat.  A perfectly good toilet seat has now been polluted by an unknown number of feet.  I feel rage enter my body and I say out loud "What?" Two things are going through my head at this point.

1.  If you find the need to crawl onto a toilet because you think it is just too dirty to sit on, then please for the love, clean the sand off for the next person.

2.  Realize that this toilet is not built into the ground for a reason. It has a seat, sit on it...or even squat over the seat, but don't stand on the seat!

     By the time I make it back to Sara, Kristina and Matt I am fully enraged.  At first I cannot explain my reaction but after talking it through with me impromptu counselors, I realized that I had left my patience for China in China and that I was not prepared to have to deal with some of the 'annoyances' in Thailand because I was in fact, IN THAILAND. 

This time culture shock took me by surprise.