Bathroom Culture Shock.

  So far, I haven't gone through much culture shock: Hugs and kisses from my host mom when I come home and leave the house, my host mom constantly putting more food on my plate or calling the situation "haraam", forbidden, for not wanting to eat, walking a distance to school, people driving like there's no lanes (because there are none), majority of the people talking/yelling friendly at each other everywhere……All things I get/see back home or at School.

But the biggest difference was Jordanian bathroom etiquette:

Toilet:
1. Go
2. (optional) Use water-spray-thingy, if the option is there, connected to the toilet to wash yourself (especially for #2, you'll see why later).
3. Use the Toilet paper
4. DO NOT flush the toilet paper down the toilet!
5. put used toilet paper in the garbage.
6. If there is a nob that protrudes out of the top of the toilet, pull it up to flush….Don't push down, it's not a button. (learned this one the hard way).

Washing your hands:
1. Wet hands, turn off water (Jordan has rationed water supply).
2. Use soap to suds up your hands
3. Turn on water again to rinse hands.

Showering:
1. Turn on shower, Wet your body.
2. Turn off the water! Don't leave it running!
3. Scrub and suds up your body/hair
4. Turn water on, Rinse your body


 Learned a lot of these things the hard way, except how to shower. Thankfully, my friend Liz lived in Amman for 4 months and gave me a heads up on that one. But what I wasn't expecting was that the shower curtain is like a mesh-like fabric, so when you take a shower, you need to take of the shower head and point it directly on your body so the water doesn't get alllllll over the floor…which I DID learn the hard way, but cleaned it up right after so its ok.

 I took a shower without my glasses on, so I'm basically legally blind at this point. Didn't realize that there was water ALL over the floor and that there is no drain on the floor of the bathroom. So, I had to use my two towels to pick up the water off the floor.

And by accident, since I didn't know about it until we talked at school, I flushed the toilet paper down the toilet. Just a habit I guess, Lol!


     So if you ever visit Jordan…now you know!!
          Love and miss you guys,
                                                  Cori