For most of my friends back home, going to the bathroom does not elicit major emotions. Showering, use of the toilet, and many other mundane tasks are things that just happen because they are part of the day. There is nothing extraordinary about it.
The Way Things Were
Here, for a long time, this simple action has been a significant ordeal. Living upstairs in a dormitory with toilets downstairs meant that we needed to get down there for all of the normal bathroom things. With the building in which we were living still under construction, our first method of getting down there required the use of a ladder, built from spare planks of wood.
Using a ladder was a novel way of accessing the different levels of our building, and on reflection was a better method than the stairs which came along next. This was because the stairs were built on the outside of the building, requiring us to brave the elements on every sojourn. Pouring rain, freezing temperatures, and mud everywhere all helped to dampen our desire to use the bathroom too often.
On top of all of this, we needed to grope around in the dark during the night for two keys which would first unlock the door at the top of the stairs, being very noisy and difficult to open, and then unlock the second door underneath the stairs to get into the lower level of the building. This door was very difficult to close without slamming and waking up everyone above it.
Our Own Bathroom
So when we moved into our current little house, it was an absolute wonder to have a bathroom, even though it was only a toilet and we needed to fill up buckets of water to flush it. Over time our little bathroom has evolved, from just a toilet to a toilet with a seat on it, and then a toilet that is fastened to the floor and sealed to prevent the odors floating through the house. Things were looking great.
We found a hand basin in the garbage at one point and rescued it to put in our evolving bathroom. The cracks in the basin didn't leak and the tap still worked, so it quickly found a home on the wall. Then we decided to get more serious about our little room. Walking over to the building during the middle of winter for a shower was not a wonderful experience, and we had water here, so there seemed to be no reason why we could not have a shower here too. It did not take long before we had
put in a shower too.
A Few Remaining Problems
Now, with what we all consider to be a very classy shower, a toilet that flushed, and a hand basin, we had a bathroom. No more journeys across the yard for a shower, no more unlocking of multiple doors to access the toilet. Life had become pretty comfortable, except for a few problems still.
Our bathroom floor had holes and lumps all over it, letting the water pool from our shower. After cleaning the water from our shower, we discovered that our toilet also leaked water onto the floor. By this time too its cistern did not work any more so we had to reach in and lift the plunger for it to flush, waiting until the water had gone before replacing the plunger back over the hole.
So no matter what we did, water remained on the floor of the bathroom, even if we cleaned and dried it every shower. Additionally, a reddish sand continually collected on our feet when we were in the bathroom, obviously coming from the floor and the walls. At this point we decided to go the extra mile.
The New Classy Bathroom
Now our bathroom sports painted walls, the paint stopping any of the sand from the walls appearing any more, and a tiled floor. The tiled floor actually drains the water from the shower into the drainhole. Now this may not be startling to many people, but after living with a shower in which the floor seemed to drain the water away from the drain hole, this is just a delight. In fact the first time I ran the shower, I simply stood there and stared at the water as it all went down the drain. It was like a little miracle taking place.
When we walk into our bathroom now, with the smooth tiled floor, finally dry, it feels a million dollars. Using our new ceramic toilet cistern - in place of the old plastic one - and it flushes without effort by simply pressing the button on top, it seems like magic. Looking at the floor and seeing it dry even after a day or two, with no more stepping around pools of water, breathes relief into our beings. Seeing how wonderful the whole thing looks, is comfort to our eyes.
Yes. We are certainly living comfortably with our newly evolved classy bathroom. And what a pleasure it is too.