Jody,
I live in France, that means that the hygiene standards are totally different than anything that you have seen in N.A. since WWII...some people still have no indoor plumbing but go out onto their landing of their apartment to the 'Turkish hole in the ground" (granted there are less and less but still...), others have their 'powder room' in the entrance hall...which is fine acccept that there is no sink in there so you have to either cross the hall to wash your hand, go into the kitchen or pass the by the front door...and others look like a closet in the middle of the livingroom (living rooms are about 1/3 -1/4 of the size of N.A. ones)...so sound, smell and hygiene could be a major problem here (especially when I have to go at one of my sister-in-law's) but they are so 'uncomplexed' here compared to back home...they do not care...
They toot and hoot and burp and fart to their hearts' content...you see obese people on beaches in monokinis...relaxed and happy...they talk about their 'outputs' like we talk about sports...the best fart ever...they used to have (horror of horrors!) public toilets on the traffic islands in the middle of the streets...where your feet were showing...people when in, peed and came out...I never used one because of my complexes but everyone else did...
I was at another s-In-law's last night...no water, no privacy...no choice. I had to empty my pouch before hitting the highway home...maybe 20yrs ago I would have waited and put my pouch at risk...but after numerous painful revisions, I refuse to allow my complexes to destroy my body or pouch...life is too short to hurt myself uselessly for the sake of embarrassment or pride.
Sharon