altbau toilets
altbau: the name they give to the old style Berlin apartments. There are 2 big-huge rooms up front, and a few in the back that are smaller. The ceilings are 12 feet high (which makes for high drapery costs), and the echo is quite lasting. Altbau means, I think, "was built a looong time ago", like before wiring standards, heated water, etc. We have 1 or 2 outlets in each room, into which we plug, you guessed it, an extention cord into which we plug in gobs of appliances. There is a real market here for little nails with half round plastic dinges that you use to nail your various extention cords to the toe molding. The electric wires are about a hair's width, but at least they carry 220 Volts, so they don't need as much current to do the job. Of course the down side of this is that it is a very much more fatal zap.
So, the toilets. It was one of the first things I noticed after coming here. The newer apartments have normal western style toilets; you know, you do your business, and it all falls innocuously into a little pool of water, perhaps with a little splash. But the altbau ones are different. There is a platform onto which your "business" falls - and stays for the duration of your time in there until you flush. I commented on this to Jackie. I said that these are possibly the greatest engineering minds of all time, and they couldn't figure out to make a proper toilet? What gives? She says to me: Maybe they wanted it that way. And it struck me - yes, that's done by design. My guess is that earlier (when these beasts were first built) people were more interested in their "output". They must have wanted to smell it, and stand, turn, and take it all in. There is likely alot one can learn from the color, consistency, smell, of ones movement. Not just that, when you pee into there the color will tell you things: are you properly hydrated? Have you had too much asparagus lately? And, its not a hazard to the young ones. There's no way they could get their little heads stuck into the drain plug in one of these creations. Its really genius once you get used to the smell, and the real need to use the toilet wand after EVERY trip.
So, the toilets. It was one of the first things I noticed after coming here. The newer apartments have normal western style toilets; you know, you do your business, and it all falls innocuously into a little pool of water, perhaps with a little splash. But the altbau ones are different. There is a platform onto which your "business" falls - and stays for the duration of your time in there until you flush. I commented on this to Jackie. I said that these are possibly the greatest engineering minds of all time, and they couldn't figure out to make a proper toilet? What gives? She says to me: Maybe they wanted it that way. And it struck me - yes, that's done by design. My guess is that earlier (when these beasts were first built) people were more interested in their "output". They must have wanted to smell it, and stand, turn, and take it all in. There is likely alot one can learn from the color, consistency, smell, of ones movement. Not just that, when you pee into there the color will tell you things: are you properly hydrated? Have you had too much asparagus lately? And, its not a hazard to the young ones. There's no way they could get their little heads stuck into the drain plug in one of these creations. Its really genius once you get used to the smell, and the real need to use the toilet wand after EVERY trip.
posted by jackie and fritz at 1:37 PM
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