Compare and Contrast: Water Closet Edition

Here is a list of some ways that Korean washrooms are different from ones way way back in Canada.

1) Many home bathrooms don't really have a bathtub or shower area, but instead you'll just find a shower nozzle sticking out of the wall and a drain in the middle of the floor. It took me a while, but I'm finally used to having the toilet and everything else getting soaked when I shower.

2) Public washrooms sometimes don't have toilet paper in the individual stalls. Instead it's kept on a dispensing roll on the wall of the bathroom, or even outside the bathroom completely. This can be hazardous to those not familiar with that setup. I break out in a sweat if I encounter an empty cardboard tube, but to find nothing at all is just puzzling. Wouldn't you begin to question the situation entirely? I can imagine a stunned man running his hands along the bare stall walls. Is this a restroom? Oh Jesus, have I just defecated in a janitor's sink?

Also, I figure the reason for that placement is to save from wasting paper and money. Just take what you need and that's all, right? But wouldn't most people take a lot just in case? That's not something you want to miscalculate and then crab-walk out into the hall to rectify. Pun intended.

3) I noticed a few public washrooms don't have a liquid soap dispensers, but instead have a clump of soap impaled on a metal rod sticking out of the wall. That's not a bad idea or anything, but if you have my childish sense of humour you'll understand why I crack up watching someone 'manhandle' a slippery phallic mass on a pole to soap their hands.

4) I've found a few washrooms with hand dryers that actually work. That's a big deal. I hate those hand dryers stuck up on the wall wheezing out cool air that does nothing. They're always placed high on the wall so as you "dry" your hands water dribbles up your arms getting your sleeves wet. Damn it. But anyway, there are excellent ones here mounted on the wall at waist level. You dunk your hands into them and they blast the water off in a few seconds. I'd like to get one for my house. I'd use it all the time to dry dishes.

5) Although I've never used them, many public washrooms have "hole in the floor" style toilets you squat over. I'm not worried about my aim, my legs giving out, or slipping on a wet floor (well, actually, I'd worry about all those things) but I think I'll just avoid using them completely. It's just a bit too 'lost in the woods' for my liking.

I find it interesting that washrooms will sometimes offer both standard and squatter toilets. Do some people prefer to squat? Is it a like a challenge; a test of physical efficiency? The way some Koreans exercise, I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe the standard toilets are intended for the handicapped?

How weak I must look walking into a "Sitter" with an armful of toilet paper.