From a married American woman... to you

A little break from our trip to Iraq for a bit of cultural education from Istanbul

I bought some slacks to attend the Alliance of Civilizations conference, which was held April 6 and 7 in Istanbul. They didn't come tailored, nor did the store in which I bought them HAVE a tailor. Nonetheless, I completed my purchase and went home. The next day, I went to a tailor nearby my apartment, deciding to stay and hang out because the entire process would take less than an hour. However, before I could take out my wallet to pay the tailor, he asked me (I'm pretty sure) if I liked Barack Obama. I replied that I did and that I even voted for the guy. He seemed to like that answer a lot because he proceeded to shake my hand quite vigorously and make me a cup of coffee while I waited.

A few minutes after I sat down to wait, he sprinted (as well as old men can sprint) outside the store to bring in this woman walking along the road. He began to speak rapidly in Turkish to her - she responded to him, turned to me, and said, "Hi. So you like Barack Obama?" In shock, I stammered that I did and that I hoped she did too. The conversation got much less awkward, but much more personal after that.

Sarah has been in Turkey for 5 years, is almost 27, and is married to the owner of a local cell phone store. She studied abroad here with Georgetown, got a Fullbright to come back, and then got her M.A. from Bogazici University (the same one I'm attending). Some things I learned during our hour and a half chit-chat in the tailor's shoppe. (remember? I like spelling things in a fun way!) We discussed the benefits of a squat toilet, as opposed to a western toilet; seemingly controlling husbands; cultural anthropology; and our career goals. I will only talk about the first two in this posting. If you want to know more about the latter two, send me an email or call my cell on skype - from Turkey - 0506 994 49 84.

I'm willing to bet that the majority, if not all of you reading this post feel that western toilets are much more civilized and sanitary and provide a more pleasant experience overall. Sarah was once 100% convinced that western were simply the right way to go, but has since made all efforts to convert to squat toilets. Her husband was 100% convinced that squatters were more appropriate. While I'm not completely converted, because I do having the ability to be lazy during my bathroom duties, I am definitely more in touch with the sentiments of the majority of the world's population - who all use squat toilets.

Why? You might ask. I'm almost positive that reasons 3 and 4 would be the ones you'd immediately guess, but not numbers 1 or 2.

Reasons for and against using a squat toilet as opposed to a western toilet (wikipedia):

• More sanitary

Think about everything that touches a western toilet. (Booty, upper thighs, your hands when you flush) Now think about everything that touches a squat toilet. (Soles of your feet...soles of your feet...ummm...soles of your feet) Ok. Now that we've got the basics out of the way, I'll delve into a slightly more uncomfortable subject. Skip the rest of this reason if you want to. I'm goin' in! Think about how you get clean using a western toilet - toilet paper. What does that do? It moves things around, but doesn't really wash anything off. Now think about how the majority of the world cleans itself using a squat toilet. Hand and water. Once you get over the idea of doing that (which you'd think wouldn't be too difficult since we do it in the shower every day - the only difference being that we've got water flowing all over our bodies, instead of our hand only), you'll feel like you are much more clean when you leave the bathroom - after washing your hands of course - just like normal.

Now I can understand not wanting to use your hand to clean yourself. I don't think I'd really be down with that - we're simply not accustomed to that idea. When I was in Dubai, there was a different system. There were both western and squat toilets, but instead of using toilet paper or your hand with some water on it, they put a hose with a special nozzle to the side of the toilet so that you can shoot a gentle stream of water when cleaning yourself. I think this is the best of both worlds. You use water to make sure that you're clean, but you don't have to use your hand! Fantastic. I'm sold. But wait, there's more.

• Better for your digestive tract
  
• Easier maintenance and less water usage
  
• Less costly to install (initially)
  

I think this post has gone on long enough. Until next time... the equivalent of Las Vegas in Iraq