Roosters, squatties, and cross-cultural prep
City located in Western China where roosters were run from the village squatty potty.
It was an emergency! I needed desperately to go to the bathroom and was frantically looking for the “squatty potty”, ducking down each street in an ancient city in the foothills of the Himalayas in western China where I was on assignment (The picture is the actual city). As I entered a very public toilet I heard the 20-something guy with whom I was backpacking shout, “Be sure to chase the roosters out before you go.”
“What?” I thought, totally perplexed. “That’s an odd thing to say.” I may have anticipated something like, “Be sure to close the door to keep the kids from staring at the white guy;” or “Don’t mind the flies, it’s like that everywhere;” or even, “Take a deep breath and hold it before you go in there.” But, “be sure to chase the roosters out before you go? Is he serious?”
Dead serious.
As I was about to straddle the porcelain trench, sure enough, I had to shoo the community roosters which were lurking about. He learned the hard way. Glad I got the tip! (And by the way, there was no door and the white guy drew a crowd, the flies really aren’t that bad everywhere – just squatty potties in remote villages, and I needed a respirator more than a deep breath.)
I was reminded of that story as I entered the cafeteria bathroom here at the facility in Virginia where our family is preparing to go overseas. Third stall to the right, open the door – BOOM – China flashback, minus the rooster. Here in the first world, in a building with perfectly good plumbing and three other “real” toilets, is a squatty. Now THAT is commitment to preparing people to live cross culturally! (Now if they’ll just teach us about bidets!)
This whole journey began most recently with a call back in November to see if we’d “be willing to throw some things in a crate and move back overseas.” Michelle and I lived in Panama before but frankly had settled into a nice little life in Middle Tennessee: Great church, great school for our daughter, great friends at work and plenty of affordable municipal golf courses nearby. Well, long story short, house is gone, job is gone, school is gone, clubs are crated – along with everything we didn’t sell (which isn’t much) – and we are eight weeks away from moving to Europe for only God knows how long.
So to document this journey, I decided to launch a blog, Travels With Me, so you could come along for the ride. I’ll take you places that I’ve been, places where we’re going and take you on trips with me to places across Europe and countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. However, not all trips will be to geographic places. Some journeys will be spiritual, as God continues to carry my family and me down a path that began years ago. Ultimately it is life’s spiritual journey that matters much more than the geographic.
So welcome. I plan to post frequently…and I’ll try to give advance warning if there are roosters ahead!