Toilet Experiences during a Pilgrimage

One small place that a pilgrim never fails to look for anywhere he goes is the toilet, more popularly known in the Philippines as comfort room or simply C.R.. Of course in the Philippines everyone will agree with me that the C.R.'s are not generally comfortable. Public toilets are usually stinking and more often than not, littered with all kinds of dirty objects.

In the Middle East and the European countries, C.R.'s are marked W.C., meaning Water Closet. Sometimes you will see TUVALET or TUVALETLER. Aside from those, there are additional male and female symbols. These symbols though are not always easy to understand. Like the 'triangle' and the 'circle' at Bethany. No one could decipher which is which until I ventured to explain that the triangle was more likely the shape of the female urinary organ to which everybody had a good laugh.

At Tel-Aviv I saw one marked only with a lady's shoe and the other with that of the disabled wheel chair as if implying that all males are disable. In Istanbul the male toilet was marked BAY or BAYLAR and that of the female BAYAN or BAYANLAR.

At Restoro Margheretta in Colle Don Bosco the signs were OUTIMO (?) and DONNE while somewhere else I found yet another one signed with CADINE and ERKEK. Thinking that CADINE was for male because it sounded like cadet I entered it and tried to relieve myself but halfway in the midstream two ladies entered shouting invectives while explaining to me that the place was only for women. I was caught in a predicament and got confused on how to react. So, I instinctively faced them while still holding "mine" and unconsciously explained, "yes, this is for women". The two ladies ran away very fast.

Well, signs could sometimes be really confusing but what I noticed among the toilets that I have entered was that generally they were clean and not stinking.

There are always plenty of tissue papers and endless water supply. Many are flushing automatically and one who enters really feels relieved and comforted.

In connection with toilets are garbage which are supposed to be products of progress but how a country disposes its garbage can say much about the country.

Aside from some scattered garbage on our way to Mt. Carmel and a few also along the roads to Nazareth, files of garbage are a rarity and a surprise to us Filipinos.

Before I end up this anecdotes about toilets let me tell you about this thrilling experience that happened at Asisi.

As usual we looked for Tuvalet to relieve ourselves and as usual too, there were more women and so the female side has longer queue than that of the male. Two English ladies discovered that there were vacant seats at the male toilet. They bravely transferred and used the vacant holes. Other ladies followed. I was already washing my hands in one corner when I heard the commotion. I was greatly amused so I started singing "The more we are together...the happier are we..." Imagine the fun when almost everybody joined my singing.

On another occasion the guide was explaining that people in European countries don't urinate on open areas like around trees at the highway. Just at that very moment one of our companions spotted a man at one side of a big tree who just finished urinating and was giggling. She kindly pointed the scene to the guide. The guide of course quickly looked and smilingly announced that the man we just was the Philippine Ambassador to that country.

Well, some toilets stink and others stink more but in as far as our pilgrimage was concered our toilet experiences were mostly interesting and unforgettable.