gabinetto

Firstly, I would like to stress the contrast of difficulty to prior learned, latin based languages as opposed to Italian. It’s usually toilette, toaletă, at least something indicative. How do you go from that to gabinetto? Does the “etto” part hint at it being smaller than usual? What’s a gabine?

To me, Italian is significantly more challenging than Romanian or French. This may be due to mixing up the similarities in the languages. The pronunciation is not fluid, forcing that full “italiano” feel. Also, Italian is a phonetic language. Needless to say, my skill is sub par despite the compliment the gelato cashier gave me for walking in, with a huge smile, saying buongiorno.

Why americans don’t bother learning simple phrases in a land they’re visiting or staying at will always phase me. It ain’t yo land or yo home or yo couch. Learn things. Be proactive in understanding the cultural differences( they don’t really smile here but my goal is to change the world so if I make anyone uncomfortable by smiling so much, don’t worry. you’ll adjust).

Okay, so the title is toilet. I’m going to talk about the toilet. A few of you understand why this is such a necessary topic. The rest of you think you know.

To the rest of you, bless your heart and judge on.

If we’ve been corresponding via the video, you’ve probably seen my apartment. If you haven’t, the following will have to suffice.

Our bathroom is known as a “wet bathroom”. I was visiting a friend’s apartment, earlier today, and she mentioned how much she wanted a “wet bathroom”. I can’t imagine why; she has a tub #rare. A “wet bathroom” is a bathroom that is always wet due to a small area cramming in all that is necessary. Our toilet and shower head are two feet from each other. There is no barrier save for a curtain. We have a bidet but that’s where we leave the mop. We only use the mop for the bathroom because it is a wet bathroom. It is always wet.

Besides the proximity to the shower, our toilet is special. You may hear about those fancy, Japanese toilets with  heated seats and music, etc. Nah, not as cool as ours. When you flush, which you do by pushing a button on the wall, the heavens pour out blessings. I call it a built in cleansing mechanism.

You see, the water tank is directly above the toilet. It’s old. Actually, most everything is old seeing as Florence is a renaissance city which many of the original features. That’s besides the point. The water tank is old. When flushed, it leaks a good amount. This causes the toilet area to get wet. And then the bathroom stays wet, hence the term “wet bathroom”.

I have always been especially thankful for toilets. They are a modern day luxury( that I have always been blessed to have but never took for granted). While China may own much of the US debt, they still don’t have as many toilets per capita. India may have all the IT and science kids but a recent study shows that the country has more cell phones than toilets.

Which leads me to my next point; why in the world is such a commonality considered a taboo topic, especially in the US?

We all go. Go where? Go poo, duh. What, are you embarrassed about having waste? You didn’t look embarrassed while you were eating. Your body isn’t embarrassed when it has energy to function properly. You know what is embarrassing? It’s embarrassing when someone is so hungry that they can’t function.

Consider the alternative to doing the #2. It’s constipation or malnourishment.

clogged waste= sad face

 

My point is that I have always perceived that I was thankful for the toilet but somehow, God managed to increase my gratitude and appreciation for such a novelty. That’s correct. You may consider your tech, clothing, or junk as novelty but I consider something a little more valuable to my lifestyle as such.

PS The Kohler Numi is my dream toilet, just in case you’re curious.