Tuesday, March 21, 2006

So you think that things are the same here...

One of the things that is truly unimaginable until you live here is how different life can be on another continent. Take, for instance, the bathroom. This looks like a fairly ordinary bathroom in many ways, but believe me, just about everything about this bathroom is different from what we were used to. You're going to want to click on the picture to enlarge it. Some of the differences are very subtle.
The presence of the bidet is the most obvious difference. We have not used the bidet even once - and we have no intention of using it. Nobody we know uses theirs, but they are common in houses of average quality and better. Some use theirs to store toilet paper in, others actually plant flowers in theirs. The color of the toilets is another thing...it's different, but in other ways. Take a look at the drain hole between the bidet and the toilet. You're thinking, "It's a drain in case the toilet overflows," right? Wrong! It would serve this purpose, but that's not why it's there. In North American homes, you might have noticed that nearly every home has a small black pipe (or pipes) extending out of the roof. These exist to carry the foul odor from the toilet outside the house, while allowing the toilet to have air for flushing. This hole does the same thing. It's an air vent, and it allows the foul smells to enter the room right where the toilet is. In fact all of the water from the sink and the shower also pass through this vent. You can see and hear the water running by as you brush your teeth. Let's just say that the North American way is better. Next is the little waste basket near the toilet. "That's where you put your tissues, right?" Wrong! That's where you put your toilet paper after it's been used! Most homes don't have plumbing hardy enough to handle getting toilet paper out to the sewage drains, so people put their waste paper in the trash (always with a lid.) There's also the issue of no tank or flush handle on the toilet. In Brazil, the water comes from large water tanks in the attic or on the roof. The flush "handle" is actually a large button on the wall above the toilet that simply allows the water from above to pass through. Moving on to the things you can't see in the picture...most sinks have only one handle to turn water on--and it's cold water only. Only the rich can afford to have hot water, and nobody I know has hot water on-demand like North Americans take for granted. Our home is truly wonderful. We have a hot water heater (a rarity) but we can only afford to run it for 4 hours a day. Fortunately, we also have a solar panel which heats our water, so we have loads of hot water on sunny days, and just enough for showers, laundry and washing on cloudy days. We are also very blessed to have both hot and cold water taps in each shower stall. Most people only have cold water and they use an aparatus that literally heats the water as it passes over the coils for showers. Of course, this means that water pressure is minimal, because if you turn up the water pressure, the water temperature goes down because the coils can't heat all the water that fast. Washing machines only wash in cold water as well. Rod MacLean will appreciate this one. In Brazil they do not use traps. All pipes run straight, adding to the foul odors that we often are treated to in the bathroom. There are some very modern places where I've seen with traps, but they are truly a rarity here.