Ok, so here's a story from today, which I thought I'd share just cause it shows little things about being in a new culture/country that make simple tasks/problems a little tricky to solve and give vacations/trips/adventures their charm.
Problem - a plugged up toilet. I was the last one to use it and flush it, so it was my mess that we had to get rid of, but it wasn't me that plugged it. I'm hoping it was just the beans that's given me a bad case of something and not the water... If it's the water, I'm in for a long 3 months, or I'll just have to not drink from the tap. If it's the beans, it should be gone soon cause we finished those off today. Shirley made them, very tasty, but she didn't soak them overnight... does that cause them to give a bad case of the runs?)
Solution #1 - I look in all the bathrooms and the laundry room/cleaning closet for a plunger.
Culture opinion developed - I really don't understand how people survive without a plunger in the house. Do all Costa Riquenos live without a plunger? I don't understand that. Okay, so gotta move on to...
Solution #2 - go to the store MegaSuper to buy a plunger. Joe, Mel, and Lily accompany me.
New Problem - Can't find a plunger...
Solution #1 - Keep looking. After walking up and down the cleaning and bathroom isles twice, Joseph spots it on the bottom shelf: the bottom of a plunger and bottom only.
Problem: Incomplete plunger.
Solution #1 - Joe offers to step on it at home. haha, he's just joking. Maybe Mel can push it with her hand. They're being silly now. We wonder: do they just sell the bottom part? It's with other bottoms of things like broom bottoms and dusting pan bottoms (their dustpans are attached to handles like you'd see at a theme park) I look at the handles, they are all long. Am I supposed to buy a long handle for a plunger? That's weird.
Culture opinion developed - Can't these people just sell an item ready to go? Are they so tight on store space that they have to keep things chopped up and separated like this, or is it so they can charge me for two different things? What gives?
Solution #2 - After much deliberation and trying but not succeeding at finding the prices of the different handles (varying in length and type: wood/plastic) we decide to just buy the bottom of the plunger and use our dustpan's handle at home, hoping it's the right size in diameter to screw on tight enough to be able to flush the toilet. At the register, after ringing me up, the cashier lady sends someone to go get me the handle to the plunger. I didn't see it there in the isle, maybe they keep it somewhere else, or I'm just blind.
Costa Rican Culture opinion of Americans developed: these silly American tourists, don't they know how to find plunger handles? Were they just going to go home without a handle? What were they planning to use? How do they survive?
In the car, Melodie assembles the plunger. It's ready to go when we are home. I go in to the stinky bathroom. I try to plunge. Nothing. I try to plunge again, it just swishes disgusting water around. Repeat, repeat, repeat...
Culture opinion developed - AAHH!! Don't these people have decent plungers here? What kind of cheap material is this thing made of? I couldn't see what was happening under the surface of the toilet water for it was too murky and non-transparent. In my frustration I just keep shoving it in harder and harder, until it surprises me and all goes down and away. I flush the toilet to get it all rinsed off... FINALLY!!! THESE COSTA RICANS ARE LUCKY THAT THIS PLUNGER FLUSHED MY TOILET OR THEY WOULD HAVE ALL BEEN IN BIG TROUBLE!!!
I fiddle around with the plunger in the clear water to try and puzzle together what had been going on in there. Appears the toilets here in our home have oval holes, and the plunger is a circle, so it wasn't sealing all the way around during my first attempts. When I pushed it harder and deeper it was finally able to get 'er done. Lesson learned. Our toilets have oval holes.
And now this rental home has a plunger.
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