Taking a whiz

Yes, peeing. Pretty simple, right? you walk in, flip on the light switch, have a seat, do your business, wipe it clean, flush, wash and go. Easy.

Oh, but wait! Not in Mauritania!
First you have to find the makaresh, or satela, which could be sitting anywhere in the yard: by the cooking fire, under the sleeping platform, behind the door, next to the garden, on the corner of the porch, under the tree, or leaning against the water cannery, but never near the actual bathroom it self. Once found it is usually guaranteed to be empty. So its back to the water cannery.

At the water cannery there are 2 to choose from: one with river water and one with well water. The well water is strictly for drinking, and river water is literally for everything else, so don't dip into the wrong one. So you grab this plastic, 1-liter, handled "pot" and dip it into the river water cannery. Oh, but only use your right hand to hold the pot because the left is dirty (more on that to come ;). Pour the water from the pot into the teapot-shaped satela. I've been yelled at several times for doing this wrong:

you have to have to have to pour the water away from the cannery's opening. Not over it. The satela is after all dirty from going into the douche/bathroom, and if water drips from it into the cannery then the cannery is dirty too.

Ok, so you have your water. Make sure you have shoes on! Walk over to the bathroom, be careful because the door doesn't actually close all the way: I've been walked in on a few times... Try to close the door as securely as possible, walk over to the hole. Time to go, right? Nope, not yet! Since the door doesn't really close, and people have accidentally come in, its best to consider which way to face: if you face the door, everyone will see your junk. If you face the wall, they'll just see your back and knees poking out. But the hole is best reached if you face the door. So if it's #1 (peeing) face the wall! But if you have some real business to attend to, you'll have to really close the door as tightly as possible!!

Once you're in position, aim well! And remember that anything that doesn't make it in the hole, you're responsible for. Once you're relieved, use that pot of water! Right hand in back, pouring (but don't get your clothes wet), left hand in front for the balance (remember you're squatting over a hole, you don't want to fall over). When all is clean, stand up, still wet (we don't really wear underwear, that would be a natural nursery for diseases), and hopefully there's still some water left after your escapades, because I still like to use soap to wash my hand.

Usually there's this little scrap of soap up on the wall of the roofless toilet room, but it is a little taller than me, so I have to reach up, feel around, and try to find the little bugger. Then wash my left hand with just my left hand, so that my right hand can pour out the water. I usually do this over the hole so that any thing that may still need to go down the hole goes down. Put the soap back up on the wall, open the door, you and your wet behind are finished!

Deposit satela wherever you think the next seeker will most likely not find it, and go some place where either 1) your butt will dry while you sit down, 2) you can stand if the fabric of your skirt/pants/etc. doesn't show wetness, or 3)go for a walk

Hopefully you're not sick and you don't have to face the people that heard your explosive diarrhea and/or gas as it erupted into the echoing hole.

I realized that I have had to learn a lot of patience with my self as I learn how to do everything over again: talk, walk, greet, stand, sit, lay down, sleep, eat, drink, bathe, address people, cook, clean, sweep, read, write, do my hair, wear my clothes, sew, buy clothes, go to the market, shake hands, answer the phone, count, pay rent, fend off marriage proposals, joke, laugh, visit friends, make friends, know people, and yes, even pee.