Amusement Park Blues, Brest Belarus
It’s raining (a portent of things to come). I love rain. I bought the book Mary Poppins today and just read Maureen the first chapter. Now she is singing “Do(e) a deer…”
We drove to the Polish border this morning. It’s hard for Belarussians to get a visa to go to Poland. Things are so much cheaper in Poland, too.
It’s a Hole
We had a rough experience today. We had to use the restroom facilities in the park. It cost 1,000 rubles which isn’t much because somebody needs to pay for the toilet paper. There was a roll of toilet paper there. One roll. We took some while the “toilet paper control lady” looked on, then walked to the bathrooms. Maureen was shocked. I had a sudden flashback to Sochi, Russia. The “toilet” was a hole in the ground. She had to plant both feet on each side of the hole and straddle. There were two places for the feet with treads. Gee thanks for the treads, wouldn’t wanna slip and fall into the hole now.
Allow me to pause here and share this thought:
When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.
Clifton Fadiman
Ahhhh….yeah. I can see how the first part of that is true.
Anyway, she wouldn’t do it without me holding her. So I held her. She peed on the floor between my legs in front of the hole. All the pee drained out from under the cubicle door. It splashed on my ankles. What a disgusting experience. Maureen was afraid that she smelled of urine afterward. I assured her that she did not. There was no flushing; just a hole in the ground. You don’t sit, you crouch. You put the toilet paper in a wastebasket. I just watched President Lukashenko on TV. This is the man responsible for me peeing in a hole. It must be a lot easier for men.
Afterward, mini golf had a calming effect.
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