(Behind this partial wall was our bathroom for most of the month.)
Back story: At the beginning of the race we had to have a vulnerability night with our teams and talk about our false selves. A false self is basically a front you put on so that people won’t know the real you. Sometimes you don’t even realize you have a false self because you convince yourself it is who you are.
Well, the false self I realized that I was portraying was that I, and I quote, “I just don’t poop”.
When living in community as close as you do on the World Race this false self will quickly go “down the toilet”.
No, but really. My team was going around saying, “I struggle with wanting people to always think I am happy” and “I put on a front that I am extremely Intelligent”. Then there is me. “I struggle with the thought of people knowing that I poop”. HAHAHAHA!
Here it is, I am human. Even though I have admitted this to not only myself but also my teams (and now you random reader) I still struggle with it. In Madagascar I had to take my phone into the bathroom to play music fearing that people would hear me. I am not sure where this fear stems from but I’m still working through it.
So, going into my month in India with a bathroom that really didn’t have full walls around it, I panicked a little. I really had to overcome my fear and just be a comfortable with being a real human. Especially in India where the food is destined to mess up your tummy.
(As I am writing this I had to run to the bathroom in the coffee shop I am in. I will spare you the gory details but basically the water is off soooooo—- YEAH.)
Long story short, My false self is forever exposed.
We had the honor of being able to bless our ministry host with enough money to build an extra bathroom outside. We lived in a boys home so there are normally about 14 people that live in that house and used the one bathroom. When teams come that will add up to 8 more people. So thats over 20 people using one bathroom. This was the finished project. We had the honor, and privilege, to be there for the “ribbon cutting” and break it in for our last week.
Here is a photo of the inside and all her new, clean glory. Look! Even a cute pink squatty. Honestly, I miss using a squatty. Words I never thought I would say in my life.
(Photo credit goes to Brant Copen because I really slipped on my responsibilities and forgot to grab a photo of this beaut.)
Ok. This is the best squat-a-blog experience I have had all year. This is what this blog was created for. India. Train. Squatties. Which is really just a metal hole in the train where you defecate right onto the train track. WHAAATTTT. See what I mean? A squat-a-blog dream come true. I’m reminded of that Outcast song “Roses really smell like ooooh pooh-pooh” because any where close to the train system smells a little rank. We pooped in a hole that went straight onto the train tracks, while the birds on the rafters in the train station pooped right on my shoulder (during a serious team meeting. “ARE YOU SERIOUS”).
Thanks for reading. I love you people that follow along with these slightly nasty (really gross) blogs. You are my kind of people.
XOXO,
EM
