Without a Trace (Notes on Toilet Paper)
I guess I knew restrooms in other countries would not be the same as those here in the states, but needless to
say, I was not prepared.
Two stories come to mind...
It was my 2nd day in Cairo and through a strange situation I can't exactly remember, I was invited to a wedding
celebration by 2 middle aged Egyptian men. The next night they picked me up and began driving. After about 20
minutes and with the lights of Cairo fading into the night, I saw the headlines in my home town "US woman sold into slavery." I was beginning to worry and needed to get to a bathroom, quick.
After another 10 minutes or so, we turned a corner and there it was. The whole street was blocked off and there was music and lights and a wedding party just like they said. The first of my worries was over. Now I just had to make it to a toilet. Not speaking Arabic, I
motioned as well as I could that I needed a WC. One of the women grabbed me and took me into her 1000-year old house, up the stairwell and into a 2' x 2' room with a hole in the floor. I began to stress, I mean there was a hole 4
inches in diameter in the floor and my aim wasn't that good. I had no toiletpaper,
no sink, no paper money. No, I left my
journal in the car. Maybe no one would have noticed if the hem of my dress was a couple inches shorter. A few
minutes later, the woman in the Boui Boui pushed aside the curtain and handed me a bowl of warm water she had
heated on the stove. Without it, I'd have been in there all night!
After 2 years of traveling, I learned my lesson. I was pretty good at hoarding tp. Staying at the $4 a night joints and stocking upon the toilet paper at The Intercontinental. I had just returned to the states and was at my parents' place. I caught sight of the full roll of cottony soft toilet roll and began to wrap it around my hand, again and again until I had such a huge wad it almost didn't fit in my pocket. I was so happy. What a find! I was so proud until I remembered I had just stolen tp from my Mom's bathroom.
-Stewart
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