You will find short stories on this site. Most are autobiographical. Some are fiction.

SAUDI TOILET ETIQUETTE

First a definition: The thobe is the white ankle length, long sleeved, shirt commonly worn by Saudi men in Saudi Arabia.

I had commented to one of my students at King Faisal University that, “It must be difficult, in this dusty desert climate, to keep your white thobes clean. “Yes.” He replied. “The thobe must always be spotless. One time I saw that I had dirt on my thobe. It was a small spot of dirt, but I was concerned that one of the other students would see it and think that it may be “something else.” I had to skip class and drive home to put on a clean thobe.”

Later in the conversation about cleanliness, he said, “Are you aware that we Saudis consider Americans to be dirty people.” “Why is that?” I asked. “Americans use toilet paper. Toilet paper doesn’t work. I lived in the United States for a year. I know from experience that I doesn’t get you clean.” “Ah” I replied. “You are right.”

Upon arrival in Saudi Arabia and before I used a Saudi toilet for the first time, I was told how to wash my anus with water. “Squirt the water first then as the water is running, use the flat part of the fingers on your left hand to wash until you are clean.” I was told.

There is a source of water for washing in every Saudi toilet. The source of water may vary. In the common public toilets one would be likely to find a cold water faucet and a plastic bucket resembling a small garden watering can with a long slender spout the diameter of a straw. These are often straight, making it difficult to get the water where it needs to be. In nicer toilets, such as at our university, the water was delivered from something resembling a stainless steel kitchen sprayer. The valve was on the end of a flexible stainless hose and from the valve extended an eight inch tube with a bend and a sprayer head at the end. Another benefit was that the water was warm. Another important aspect of this hygiene is that Saudis use floor toilets set into the concrete floor slab so that any water spilled or shot outside of the toilet will run down into it. The water sources are always mounted on the left hand side of the stall as you face the toilet. That is so when you are using it, you will reach for the sprayer with your right hand. Leaving your left hand free to do the dirty work.

I asked my student “What do the Bedouins use in the desert where water is scarce?” “Sand.” was his one word reply. When I looked confused, he explained. “You can scoop up sand and use it just like water. I didn’t ask about how they would wash after using sand. I also did not ask the broader question about left handed people. But I suspect that left handedness, in children, is rigorously suppressed.

Now you understand why it is so important in Saudi Arabia that one always eats with his right hand while hiding his left hand, out of view, behind him. By the way Saudis don’t use eating utensils not even knives and yet they can devour a whole goat, with rice, using one hand.

If I am asked “How did the experience of living in Saudi Arabia for six years change your life? I would answer: There are many aspects of my life that have changed. One is the way I think about the influence of cultures on their people. I have come to understand how vastly different daily life can be in divergent cultures, and yet despite those great differences, human nature remains the same. All people share the same common human personality traits. Only the degree of expression of those traits vary.

That experience also changed the way I do things. For example, having lived in Saudi Arabia for six years, I am no longer comfortable with the inadequate job done by toilet paper. So after I use it, which is always done with my left hand, I wipe with a damp athletic sock until completely clean. I keep a stack of warn but clean athletic socks in a box on the back of the toilet. They are used once, rinsed and washed.