The Pakistani Embassy

At AGCHO there is a special bathroom reserved for foreign counterparts and guests. This is done because from what I hear the bathrooms for their employees are pretty gross...now I have never dared to enter one, but one of my co-workers who has ventured into the Afghan mens restroom informed me it was only a hole in the floor. Walking around AGCHO it is not uncommon to see water leaking into the hallways from the bathrooms or being tracked out. Sooo since most foreigners would consider those bathroom conditions unusable, they have special accomodations for them, we (the Americans) share it with a group of Japanese guys. My predecessors have dubbed it the Pakistani Embassy since it is such a nice place!

We have a key that we use to open the door as it is kept locked (so only the special people can use it), It reminds me of an old skeleton key. When you walk in immediately to the left are four dirty sinks (the Japanese clean their floor mops out in the sink and dump their coffee grinds down the drain), two of which actually work I think, the other two drain to the floor as the hoses have been disconnected. Luckily there is a handy floor drain for such things! If you continue on to the back of the restroom there are four stalls, each individually doored with actual toilets. A few things to note, the door frames are made of solid wood and are exactly 5'10, it REALLY hurts when you hit your head on it as you walk through! Three of the four stalls have broken toilet seats, so there is only one that I can actually use seeing as I am a woman. It is not uncommon to see water draining from several of the stalls to the floor drain as the toilets leak. Overall the bathroom is disgusting by our standards, but its better then a hole in the floor!

Now keep that picture in mind, I just wanted to give you a little background and a visual for the stories I am about to tell.

Story One

As I mentioned earlier we share the Pakistani Embassy with the Japanese, so one day I am going into the Embassy and a Japanese guy follows me in, I go into the one stall that I can use and he goes into whichever stall he decided to use. Seeing as he is a guy, he finished first washed his hands and left, as I was exiting my stall and heading to the sink, he was locking me into the bathroom. Apparently he had forgotten that I let him in to the bathroom in the first place! Luckily, my key also works from the inside.

Story Two

On this day I went to the embassy only to find that the door was unlocked, so I headed back towards the stalls only to come face to face, or face to back with a Japanese guy standing in one of the stalls with the door wide open! I quickly reversed direction and waited by the sinks until he had finished and I could comfortably enter my stall. I was happy to see that that Japanese guy did not lock me into the bathroom when he left.

Story three does not take place in the Pakistani Embassy, but in one of the Connex bathrooms back on base that is designated as unisex. It still seems weird to walk out and see guys at the sinks.

Story Three

I go to use the facilities, and you know how you get into a routine and generally use the same stall...well the door to the stall I like to use was closed but I always check to see if it is open anways. In the back of my head I had a feeling someone was in there...but I tried anyways, so I push down on the handle and to my surprise it turns, so I'm like ok and begin to open the door, only to see a uniform through the crack standing up facing the toilet...I quickly close the door and move on to the next stall and remain inside until the other party had vacated the bathroom without washing his hands...seriously though...what is it with guys and not locking the stall doors?

So although these stories take place in a more "personal" place, I get a laugh out of them every time I think about it so I thought I would share the laughs and adventures.