How do you go?

In Sociology we have been discussing culture and how it varies from country to country. Something that really stood out to me was that there was an actual term for being outraged at someone from a different place doing something that you don't do. This term is ethnocentrism or when you feel your culture is right and are shocked by what others do. The way our teacher explained this concept to us was by giving us different examples of toilets from all around the world. Being used to our so called norm here in the U.S of sitting down. Something radically different from the way we do it here, would be public toilets in Japan. The entire toilet being in the floor and having to squat over it seems very strange to me. I was thinking when being told this, that these Japanese people were really weird because they wouldn't want to be comfortable doing such a common thing. The lesson the ethnocentrism sort of teaches is, to realize when you're doing it, and then learn to accept it or understand where they are coming from.

On the topic of toilets, I've only experienced a funky bathroom when I went back to Belarus to visit family. In the Belorussian airport, I had to go, after the long day spent on planes and connecting flights. Walking into the public restroom, it seemed similar to a restroom in the U.S. It had stalls and everything, but no urinals. Walking into the stall and closing the door behind you, you notice a kind of step onto a platform where the toilet is presented in front of you. Me being eight or nine years old, I was confused as hell. Then the shear lack of space between the door and step that you had to take to use the toilet. It was so strange, I had no clue what to do, and ended up leaving a confused eight year old with a full bladder. :(