Ablu-what?

Much to my surprise, there are no bathrooms or showers here at the ISAF HQ compound. There are, however, many doors marked 'Ablutions," which I think is an Afghan word meaning closet. I hope to find a bathroom or shower sometime soon, because it's been a week and I'm starting to get desperate.

Kidding! Of course I know that ablution is a fancy European word for bathroom. Sadly, they used up all the fancy when they named the thing and had no fancy left for the inside. Let me tell you about that.

From what I can tell, the shower stalls are cleaned often, but let's just say they're not exactly thoroughly cleaned. The result is not terrible, but if this was a hotel, you'd definitely ask for a different room. The shower curtains have long since outlived their useful life (the word "ew" comes to mind). The floors of the shower stalls appear to have been specially treated to minimize friction, and I know that if I get injured over here, it'll be because I slipped and fell in the shower.

Actually, I've moved to the second floor now, where the shower floors have sufficient texture to prevent any falls. Not sure why the first floor showers aren't the same way, but I feel safer already. Now I only have to fear the water. I'm not kidding when I say you can boil a chicken in those showers. This culinary feat is made possible not just because the water is so dang hot, but also because the drain is pretty slow. By the end of my 2-minute shower, I'm up to my ankles in hot water. The other main danger is bumping up against the water control lever, which can instantly transform a comfortable shower into an ice bath or a sudden scald.

Then there's the, um, let's call them "the other stalls," which have quirks of their own. For starters, they're just the coziest little spaces you ever did see. When I sit down in the restroom to, ahem, have a rest, my toes stick out from under the door. Did I mention there's not a lot of space in there? There are guys around here much taller and larger than I am and I don't know how they do it. These facilities are really helping my posture, because if I don't sit up straight, I'll be resting my cheek & forehead on the stall door. Not knowing what else has been previously rested against that door, I make sure I sit up very straight indeed.

One final quirk is that we keep the shower section's door open all the time, to help with air flow (it's a long, narrow, 8x18 space, just like our dorms). The mirrors fog up quickly if more than one or two showers are going, but keeping the doors open helps. I guess that's just one more reason the dorms are segregated by gender.

I think that's all I have to say about that.