Awkward Moment #5842

While I have running water in my house, I’ve gotten used to the fact that everywhere else I go, doesn’t have it. Therefore, I know to always procure a bucket of water prior to going. Laura and I are staying with a friend of hers in Owerri in a really nice apartment. I used to automatically think that would then imply running water. I’m no longer so naïve. Therefore, when I saw the bathroom without any buckets I got nervous. How was I going to flush?! I decided to wait until we came back to avoid the embarrassment of asking for water and someone having to go fetch it. However, when I returned, I saw some buckets and a 50L jug of water in the hall, so I figured that was to be used. I awkwardly poured water from the ridiculously heavy jug into a bucket to bring with me to the bathroom.

You can imagine how sheepish I felt when I realized that there was running water, and I could simply flush the toilet. I was really hoping that no one would see me putting the bucket back in the hallway, but there was no such luck. I decided to simply play it off as being an ignorant “onye ocha” (white person in Igbo…the predominant language of this new area). All you can do is laugh! 