# Strange things I have to adapt to in a new country **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659 "2005-11-05T15:32:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/61 "2005-11-10T02:16:05Z")
> [@Mellivora capensis](#): > > **Imasquare,** I can’t seem to find Sydey on the map. Can you give me some co-ordinates? > > 😛 Straaaaya maaate. The laaaaand of Oz, mate. ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/62 "2005-11-10T08:10:20Z")
**Cunctator** 😃 **Imasquare** , ahem…check the spelling of your location, mate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ILovCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e99b99/32.png) [@ILovCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ILovCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/63 "2005-11-12T17:12:37Z")
> [@gouda](#): > > Basically, it doesn’t _feel_ very clean. Maybe I’m wiping wrong… who knows?! I haven’t had much practice for sure… > > TMI WARNING!!! > > To give an analogy, imagine wiping a bit of crap off your arm with TP. Mixed up with all the hair (yes, I’m a bit hairy down there). I’d _much_ rather spray it off with water than dry wipe it. > > Cup and hand is nasty, no doubt… but it does _feel_ cleaner. Besides, you’re washing your hands right after anyway, before you touch anything else. And like I said, it’s not all that damp down there after you’re done. Whatever dampness left is clean water, nothing else. That’s not nasty! Thank you for answering my question. Now I want a bidet in my bathroom. There used to be available here in the USA _Kleenex_ brand mildly moist tissue in roll form. Does anyone remember? Know how to obtain some? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/64 "2005-11-12T19:39:35Z")
The crap ledge on German toilets. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/65 "2005-11-12T20:55:48Z")
> [@C3](#): > > I thought of something else - > > What’s up with a separate room for the toilet? On our main level, we have a bathroom that has a sink, a bathtub, and a shower. Right next to it is a little, tiny room with just a toilet (and I do mean tiny - you have to actually stand over the toilet in order to close the door). You have to walk out into the hallway to get to the toilet from the bathroom. It’s not like this everywhere, though. Upstairs, we have a normal bathroom that has a sink, shower and a toilet all in one room. The separate room thing seems like such a waste of space. The only conclusion I’ve been able to come to is it’s so we can make sure our guests wash their hands after using the toilet. That’s only in about 50% of houses in Australia. Might be a little more, might be a little less. If you’ve ever just settled in to the first few seconds of a long, luxuriating hot shower, and you have a seven year old boy bashing on the door saying, “I WANNA HAVE A POOOOOOO!! NO… I MEAN RIGHT NOWWWWW!!!”, then you’ll see the plus side of this arrangement. _However_, I prefer the US-style houses myself. I don’t want everybody to know I’m using the crapper. When it’s installed in the bathroom, then I could be doing anything in there, but when you’re in that toilet room, then you’re in that toilet room. Eh, I’m just uptight. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/66 "2005-11-12T20:59:03Z")
Another thing that isn’t necessarily difficult to adapt to, but remains strange and unfamiliar is the insistence on putting bathroom and kitchen lightswitches outside of the rooms themselves. I guess there is some sort of “water and electricity don’t mix” reasoning here but it was definitely annoying the first hundred times I walked down the hall, past the switch and into the bathroom, only to remember that I had forgotten to turn the light on and have to go back down the hall to turn it on. ---
**Author:** ![Bike\_Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Bike\_Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bike_Rider)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/67 "2005-11-12T21:49:10Z")
> [@chaoticbear](#): > > The crap ledge on German toilets. I heard about the seemingly mythical “inspection shelf” (the name I heard, although I like yours better) soon after I first came to Germany, but never saw one until about a year later. When I finally found one at a beer garden in the former east Berlin, I came out, grabbed my camera from the table and ran back to the restroom without explanation to the people at the table. Probably made for a couple of minutes of interesting speculation. Unfortunately I’m traveling and the pic is on the home computer and not online so I can’t link to it, but here’s a pic I found online: Inspection shelf ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/68 "2005-11-12T22:50:20Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > The separation is to allow one person to have a bath/shower and another to use the toilet at the same time. Besides, who wants to have toilet smells in the bathroom? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/69 "2005-11-12T22:57:49Z")
> [@velvetjones](#): > > That’s what I’ve never understood about using a bidet either. OK, now I’ve washed my undercarriage and it’s all clean, it’s also all wet. How are we to dry ourselves in these circumstances? With a towel? With what do you wash your “undercarriage” after a shower? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/70 "2005-11-12T23:04:54Z")
> [@John F](#): > > And…how do you _ **know** _ it’s clean? And how do you know it’s clean after having used TP? Actually, how_can_ it be clean using only TP? If you had dirty hands, would rubbing them with a piece of paper be enough? I think our habbit of only using TP is objectively disgusting… ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/71 "2005-11-12T23:12:10Z")
One more to add before I go to bed: duvets. I never had a duvet when I lived in the States, and never really understood them; I always just bought comforters. Here, comforters appear to be non-existent, or at least rather rare, so I’m stuck with a duvet. And it drives me absolutely insane. Every morning I have to straighten out the duvet inner because it inevitably ends up at the bottom of the cover. I have considered safety pins, but I’m pretty sure that would just result in a shredded duvet, and at 80 dollars a pop, that’s not a risk I’m eager to take. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/72 "2005-11-13T01:44:38Z")
> [@C3](#): > > I’m in the same situation as you and I think we have the same dryer! I have my mom send me packages of Bounce :). Seriously, I do. Would it sadden you to know that Bounce used to be available in Oz? I suppose it didn’t sell well enough because it lasted only a short while in the supermarket. I can’t recall how I first found out about the product but a friend was going on a trip to the US so I cajoled her into buying me some while she was there. Carted the stuff around in her luggage for six weeks. 🆒 I prefer to use the dryer than the clothesline because it gets me out of a lot of ironing. :lazy icon: ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/73 "2005-11-13T06:13:08Z")
And, in case anyone’s interested, our dryer broke this weekend (well, I ran into it with the car and it stopped working…I swear it was making wierd noises before that). **jabiru** , it doesn’t surprise me at all that Bounce didn’t sell well here. I swear, if they had tried it, they’d have been converted. My husband now understands the value of having jeans that aren’t crunchy and soft, fluffy towels, so there are at least three of us here in Oz who appreciate the Bounce. Do you know how to fix dryers? I’d trade my extra box of 150 sheets! ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/74 "2005-11-14T05:46:31Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > (Procter & Gamble - Bounce and Kimberly Clark - Snuggle) You’re lucky I don’t work for Kimberly Clark – if I did, I’d be taking you to court and/or the Pit. 😛 'Tis [Unilever](http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml02/02105.html) that’s responsible for the scourge that is Snuggle. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/75 "2005-11-14T06:31:10Z")
> [@ILovCoffee](#): > > Thank you for answering my question. > Now I want a bidet in my bathroom. Glad to be of assistance 🙂 I’ll add that you don’t really need a bidet. Some commodes come fitted with a small pipe at the rear, that directs a jet of water at your crack. A tap allows you to regulate the pressure. I’ve used this on occasion, but I still prefer the hand shower - greater accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![PinkShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/76d3ee/32.png) [@PinkShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/76 "2005-11-14T10:49:59Z")
Can someone tell me what’s an inspection shelf that they have in Germany? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659/77 "2005-11-14T16:03:47Z")
If you go look at that link that’s above, it’s basically a ledge that your crap drops onto, so that when you stand up, but before you flush, you can look at your crap and say “Mein Gott! Zwei Kilogram!” or whatever, and then flush it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-i-have-to-adapt-to-in-a-new-country/329659.md?page=3)