Just one of those things...

I've learned to roll with the punches. That is to say that for the past year, I have come to understand that sometimes awkward things happen and you just have to try to laugh and move on. In fact, I've learned there are a great deal of these “moments” in which my patience is tried and my commitment to the Peace Corps is questioned. So after a year's worth of practice, I have trained myself to try and see the comical side of any frustrating situation.

I bring this up because I have had requests from friends and family to tell these embarrassing stories. Those who know me best recognize that it is not always in my nature to wax poetically about the rolling hills or golden sunsets, but instead to get myself into ridiculous situations and haphazardly find my way out.

That being said, I can finally admit I bathed in pee water last month.

It was a hot afternoon, and I had just taken my dog Chissy for a walk through the various paths in my village. Hot and sweaty, I decided it was time for my afternoon bucket bath. I filled my bucket with cool water, wrapped a towel around my waist, and walked outside to my casa de banho (an open-roofed, reed enclosure where I bathe) which is about 20 feet from my house. Once inside, I took off my towel, placed the bucket of water on a platform about thigh-high, wet my face and hair and grabbed the soap. I lathered up the soap and washed my hair and face, naturally closing my eyes so as to not get soap in them.

It was around this time that I realized that I had to urinate. I hadn't peed since getting back from the walk and figured that now was as good a time as any. We all pee in the shower, and I couldn't see how this situation was any different. So as I aimed for the corner and relaxed, I could hear my stream of urine hitting the concrete slab that I was standing on and continued to go about washing my face.

While I was scrubbing my face, having turned slightly to put the soap up on the wooden plank I fashioned into a shelf, something changed. The pitter patter of urine hitting concrete changed to a deep gurgle. I'm not sure how much time had passed but as I finished soaping up my face I realized I had forgotten to keep aiming for the corner and was indeed peeing in my bathwater.

This, in case you were wondering, is one of those situations that seem only to happen to me.

So....what's a boy to do? I'm naked, my hair and face is soapy and thus my eyes shut, and getting fresh water would require more effort and burning soapy eyes than I was ready for. So, realizing my lack of options, I decided to chalk it up to one of “those moments” try to grin and proceeded to wash my face and hair with the pee water.

Not being one for any type of watersport, I was less than amused. However, what struck me most afterwards was how little the situation bothered me. A year ago when I first joined Peace Corps, I would get into a huffy anytime that I was faced with a less-than-hygienic situation. Now, things just don't seem to bother me as much any more.

I told this story to other volunteers and they all agreed, although most found my story disturbingly funny. Living here we realize that we will never be as clean or smell as nice, our safety will never be as protected or ensured and our food will never be as properly prepared as it had back home. Our life here gives up a certain level of comfort in exchange for the ability to see, to some degree, the world as it is for billions of other people. And while it is possible to take certain precautions regarding health and safety, you soon realize that as Americans we can sometimes be too careful, to the point of being obsessive, over how we protect ourselves from unseen germs or potential threats.

Sometimes you eat the food from a kitchen that doesn't look “up to code” putting your fears momentarily aside. Sometimes you ride in the back of a pickup truck due to lack of other options despite there not being proper seat belts or safety standards. And sometime you are forced to bathe in pee water, knowing that the thought of what you are doing is probably tougher on you than the act itself.