November 15th, 2010 - Feel like a challenge?

It’s kind of funny how the little things back home that you never really even think about or appreciate start to matter when you are here.  As our weather starts to get chilly, one of the things that I’m really missing is indoor plumbing.  If I get anything out of this experience, I’m going to get home and starting appreciating the little things in life. 

 

Granted, I’m only two generations removed from outhouses, but I’ve never LIVED without indoor plumbing.  If you have to use the bathroom you walk a few feet and instantly you can do your business.  I remember my grandfather telling me stories of his childhood and having to use outhouses.  It seemed like ancient history to me, but here I am, 8000 miles from home getting to experience a similar situation.

We do not have “outhouses” in the old sense with the hole in the ground, but a modern twist on them.  Our latrines are these standalone building with toilets, sinks, and showers.  Some of the units are in shipping containers stacked on top of each other, where the bottom is the toilets and sinks while the top houses showers and sinks.  We also have some single level units.  Then there are some strategically placed port-o-potties sprinkled throughout the FOB.  

In the office, we are fortunate enough to have a latrine across the street.  In our rooms, the closest latrine is about 100-125 meters away (longer than a football field).  That means that in the middle of the night to use the restroom I have to get up, put on my socks, put on my shoes, put on my shoulder holster and pistol, and grab a flashlight.  I then have to walk the 100 meters or so to the restroom and then walk 100 meters back to the room.  

The other day, I added up the distance walked to the restrooms and it added up to about 1200 meters a day, which means that I’m walking three quarters of a mile a day to shave, brush my teeth, use the restroom, and shower.  Over my roughly 300 days here that equates to 225 miles to use the restroom.  

A few weeks ago, as I talked to my wife on Skype, I proposed a challenge to her.  The challenge was to sleep in her closet for a week to simulate my room.  Then, when she wanted to get ready in the morning, shower, and use the restroom during the night, she would have to walk down the road to the neighbors to use the restroom.  After some thought, I’m sure that the neighbors wouldn’t be happy with her knocking on their door in the middle of the night so I asked her to walk halfway to the neighbors and then come back home to use the restroom, and then when she was done she would have to walk halfway there again and then come back.  

Of course she thought that I was out of my mind proposing such a crazy idea and would do no such thing.  If anyone out there is interested in this challenge, I’d be interested to see how it works out for you.