The bathroom story

People who have lived in other countries warned me that it can take a year or more to get acclimated to all the nuances of a culture and country so different from your own.  And in the meantime we would probably make a lot of dumb mistakes while building new "muscle memory", if you will, for a new culture.  This has proved to be absolutely correct (I lost my wallet within 2 weeks of moving here because I wasn't used to shopping with no car and carrying everything in a stroller everywhere we went.)

But my favorite thing that's happened like this so far was this past spring, on a day trip to Haifa and Tel Aviv.

Let me first say something about bathrooms here that is pertinent to the rest of the story.  At least half or more of the public restrooms that I've been in here are co-ed.  I think this is a more European thing, but I'm not sure?  Basically it's one large bathroom, with sinks and mirrors in the common area that you first walk into, and then tiny individual rooms with full doors where the toilets are.  It has been a weird adjustment for me, it is disconcerting to walk into a restroom where men are standing at the sink washing their hands, but I'm getting more used to it.

So, back to our trip to Tel Aviv.

We spent the day on the coast with friends, exploring new areas, and as often happens on these excursions when relying on public transit, by the end of the day we were all exhausted and ready for our beds long before we would ever reach them.  It was almost 8PM before we reached the spot in TA where we planned to have dinner, and not surprisingly, all the children were at their wits end.  We quickly got a table and ordered, then Josh took Peter outside to walk around, while I took Amos to the bathroom (leaving our two oldest at the table with friends).  After rapidly winding my way through tables and around a few corners I spotted it, and as I quickly pushed through the door with a dancing little boy trailing behind me I once again thought to myself how weird it is to see a man in the bathroom.

A few minutes later I settled Amos into the booth and it was my turn to go to the bathroom.  While sitting on the toilet a minute later I was thinking about the whole "using the same bathroom as men" issue, when I remembered seeing the urinal when I walked in a minute ago.  "Weird", was my first thought, followed quickly by a burning horror.

I was in the mens restroom.  For the second time in 5 minutes or less. 

I was momentarily paralyzed (what if another man walked in and started using the urinal before I could get out?!) but snapped out of it and managed to sneak out in record time.  (I didn't wash my hands, it was an emergency, ok?  I used sanitizer back at the table.)

For the rest of the night I could not stop thinking about the man who was in the bathroom the first time I blew in and what he must have been thinking.  "Weird Americans." It's what I assume most people are thinking whenever I make a blunder here, and there is a strange comfort in feeling a sense of anonymity here.