TMI

If you read this blog strictly to learn about monasteries and have an overly proper/prissy sense of what ought not to be mentioned, read no more.

But really, how curious are you about life without running water?

From what I have seen, there is little to no concept of handwashing, before or after eating, before or after handling livestock, before or after working outside, nor before or after using the 'facilities.'

Dish washing is done in a pot kept on the stove. After every meal, leftovers are scraped into the dog's bowl and dishes are washed in the pot of heated up dishwater.

People washing is done at intervals I am yet to determine. Suffice to say infrequently. However, heating water on a stove is no walk in the park, and if you're doing your washing in the back room, which is unheated, it is less than pleasant to be unclothed and dripping wet. Also, peasants have a strong fear against cold and draughts and having wet hair is considered a health hazard.

Outhouses are one of the joys of peasant life. Some yards might have more than one, as a new hole is dug as the need arises. Typically, the outhouse will be in the furthest back point of the yard. The throne has neat hole cut out on the bench. I rather worry about little Cristi getting up onto their seat, because it seems rather high up for me. A mistake in climbing up there would be rather traumatic for a little kid, I should think. In one house, I saw a multi-level bench had been made, with a lower place for a child. Cute. I've also found a lot of outhouses are located within the barn, and it seems doors are optional. All Western notions of bathroom luxury are completely foreign out in the countryside. Curiously enough, despite the obsession with a warm, draught-free living area, people seem completely unconcerned with the draughtiness of the outhouse, where one is forced to remove one's tights, long underwear, sweat pants, and work pants, unlike indoors. In some models that I have come across, it is possible to make eye contact through the walls of the structure. Toilet paper, old school notebooks or bills, and air seem to be interchangeable.

If it's dark enough out, and you really can't bear the thought of a visit to the throne, you can always drop trou in a corner of the yard, too. Au natural.