Old Man Morgan

Living in a foreign country – multiple countries, many years – introduces a person to many new and different things. People need to be open minded and careful not to prematurely draw conclusions or to judge a situation from their home country perspective. Refer to below case in point.

In the USA when people use the bathroom the “cleaning mechanism” is a piece of toilet paper. People are pretty sensitive to this – in more ways than one. It all started with the outhouse and use of the Sears Catalog (do they still exist?) and has evolved to triple ply, Charmin with fragrance. Try as one might … catalog, Charmin, and/or sandpaper can only do so much. Neverthless, American follow this approach. And, as I said, they are pretty sensitive to the overall quality of the paper – they want it SOFT !!!!

A common complaint among expat women is the absence of “American Style Toilet Paper”. Now I could go on and on about perhaps their being ensitive” in certain areas …. but that is not the point of my message / blog. Let’s just say that expat women love to assail, complain, and beat to death the fact that Charmin-like TP is not readily available in countries such as Indonesia.

Now, fast forward to Indonesians. Indonesians, like many Asian countries, tend to rely on water to clean themselves after using the toilet. For the most simple arrangements, there is a “splash of water” from a bucket. For the more modern arrangements, there is a hose and nosil. There are many positives to this wet approach and in reality, I think the cleaning effectiveness is higher than the use of “dry paper”. The fundamental issue is that people don’t like to put their panties over their wet bodies … so they look for something to dry themselves with.

Now, again, fast forward. From my perspective – Indonesian toilet paper is designed as more of a “drying towel” than a “wiping towel”. Its stronger, sturdier, and will not fall apart immediately upon getting wet. Ponder – one splash of water on Charmin and it disintegrates. Thus, given Asains propensity to use water … it would only be natural to have a stronger, less soft toilet paper. Thus, one should lightly pat their “wet areas” with stronger TP than to rub profusely … just imagine the gazillion little pieces of TP stuck everywhere.

Perhaps American women should quit complaining about the quality of the toilet paper and embrace a more effective cleaning process. This would be hygenically better, its better for the environment, and it saves money.

Bottomline (no pun intended, actually it is intended) ….. Indonesian toilet has been designed “fit for purpose”. American women just need to deal with it.

Ciao ciao. GBU.