Toilegami

Or, the ancient Chinese art of toilet-paper folding.

Here's something that makes no sense to me about the Chinese: they don't flush their toilet paper. Ever. There are little trashcans next to the can filled with bits of pee and poo paper. Besides the stink, there's the ick factor of seeing someone else's poo bits on the paper in the can.

In our staff meeting, the question of poo paper in the staff restroom came up. The Chinese principal was asked if one ever flushes toilet paper and her immediate response was, "Of course not."

Of course not? Really? Why not? It seems like a no-brainer to me. You have pipes that can handle poo and specially-designed paper that disintigrates easily... why NOT flush it?

So, when using a restroom, you have to try to fold and crush and hide the various things stuck to your paper before throwing them in the trash can. I thought it was pretty bad until one of the boys pointed out that he was staring at the trash can the entire time he was peeing. I guess that's the price you pay for standing up to pee...

Which brings me to another point. The bathrooms around here stink. I've heard from one fairly reputable source that the Chinese never got the memo about putting s-bends in the pipes to keep the methane from seeping back up into the room. So, all the bathrooms stink a bit, and some of them stink quite a lot. I refuse to use bathrooms in many places in the city. If the guy leaves the john and says, "That was interesting," you can be sure that I'm not even going near it. I will go home first. Or go to someone else's apartment. (Both things I have done.)

And then there's this: babies don't wear diapers. At all. Ever. They have clothes with a hole in the crotch, and when the kid starts peeing or pooping, you just hold them away from you and let it all come out. Seriously. I have witnessed these clothes. And little kids who are potty-training -- they just poop on the sidewalk. Yes, on the sidewalk at 6pm. The day after I heard a story about a man picking up his child's poo with a newspaper and THEN SETTING THE PAPER ON FIRE, I witnessed a 4-yr-old girl squatting on the sidewalk and taking a dump. Her father took a little packet of baggies (it looked like a travel pack of tissues) out of his pocket to pull out a baggie to pick it up. I guess taking your child for a walk is kind of like taking your dog for a walk?

I have seen two men taking leaks on the sidewalk in daylight. They had enough modesty to stand next to a building, but there was no doubt what was going on. 

Oh, and the toilets flush with "reclaimed" water. So the water is nasty. And I think they use the same water to water the lawn (which happens religiously around here). 

All of this leads me to believe that everything is coated with a thin layer of poo. Anyone want to come visit?