Bucket Shower

The water heater broke, so we have no hot water in the house.

After three days without taking a shower, I needed to do something.

Hibba took a pot of water, and let it sit on the stove until it was nearly boiling. "Come, I'll show you how to do this."

The first time an Arab lead me by the hand towards the bathroom with "how-to" pedagogique intentions involved Fezzeh, Rachel Cannon and my 60+ year old host mom, pulling down her pants quite unexpectedly to show us how to use the bidet/hose-tp substitute.

Hibba's instruction was a little less graphic. She poured the pot of water into a bucket (bathrooms here all have at least three or four buckets), showed me how to take a small kettle-like bucket, mix the cold tap water in, and use it for an "olden-days" shower. She was cracking up. Mithl il arab min ZAMAAAAN!!! "Like the Arabs used to do a loooooooong time ago!"

For some reason, it was just...hilarious. I didn't feel gross, or disgusted, or shocked. The situation was funny more than anything. I'm not sure how clean I got, but at least smell better.

I LOVE this place.