Aah, squat toilets

Squat toilets. Not so bad. I have only encountered them, mostly in Asia. Mostly in China. There are places with “Western” toilets, yes, and some places you can choose, but if you get out into the city, into the places where mostly Chinese people live, you will mostly find squat toilets. No problem right? Well, yes and no. First you have to pull back your clothes so you don’t accidently pee on them. Yes, I have already experienced this a couple of times, and when you do it, whelp, I guess I just have to own it. Then the move itself is a very deep squat. The hardest was when I arrived in China and you have to do a medical examination, with a squat toilet. So you have your stuff, you have to pull back your clothes, balance while holding a test tube that you pee into. No problem, but then getting back up is of challenge. I actually lost my balance and had to touch the disgusting floor with my hand. Gross. But, I had my cup of urine intact. In one of these adventures my right knee got sore. It has been sore most of my time in China. Then, somehow my left knee got injured. I was babying it a bit. Until I had to squat down one day and pick up something at school and it hurt so bad I felt nauseous. So I went to the doctor and got a MRI and they said I had a “meniscus problem” and “don’t work so much” and also, always in China, “lose some weight.” I guess there is a whole strategy to squat toilets. Here is one: how to use a squat toilet. Also, mostly they are free, I only had to pay for one in Cambodia at the Central Market, it was $1000 real, which is almost nothing. But there, was a whole bidet system with running water and a bucket and you would scoop out the water and I guess clean the bits and the toilet. I did neither, but the patrons before me had a lot of splashing.