I was out in a small village helping a tiny church. We were all living in one big room separated by mosquito nets. The house was up on stilts because that province tends to flood. You also have to know that in Cambodia when you are out in the village there is no electricity. The only electricity they have is a car battery that they hook up jumper cables to so they can light a light bulb or a TV. At night you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Also, me being the brilliant person I am, didn’t even bring a flashlight on this little adventure. One night, in the middle of the night, I had to desperately go to the bathroom it was so bad I could no longer hold it. I decided to take a chance and try to make it to the bathroom. I managed to find my way out of the mosquito net easily enough but the squatty potty was all the way down the stairs, and under the house. Easier said than done, right? So I crawled towards where I thought the door was but I misjudged it. Not only where it was but how far away it was. I smacked my head so hard on the wall I was sure I must have woken someone up. With my head throbbing I stood up feeling along the wall trying to find the doorway. Finally I found it. I went to walk through and my foot caught on something and I fell flat on my face. I just laid there for a second trying not to laugh at myself, as I’m face down in the pitch black. Then I remembered in the villages they don’t have doors so they put a little ledge on the bottom of the door to try to stop bugs. Well you would think at this point I would give up and go back to bed but no, I really had to go bad. So I started crawling again feeling for the stairs. Right before I got to the stairs I knocked over a stack of pots with a really loud clanging racket. I tried to stack them back up but without the sense of sight it was a little difficult. Finally I got to the stairs. I made it down the stairs easy enough. For those of you who know me that’s a miracle! I have broken my foot falling down the stairs and not in the pitch black. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I remembered that this is where the villager’s park their motos and bikes. I remembered there being a forest of them. It was impossible to get to the bathroom, if I had only remembered that when I started this whole thing, I wouldn’t have tried this in the first place. There was nothing to do but carefully feel around the bikes in a desperate attempt to get to the bathroom. I was doing good for a second but then, all of a sudden one bike went down I cringed, then another went and then another, each bike tumbling into another until all were down with a crash. There was nothing I could do after that but continue my quest to reach the bathroom. Finally I made it into the bathroom, which was also difficult, it was a squatty potty in the dark, need I say more? On the way back up I had a couple of bumps and bruises but nothing too bad. The scary part was I was not absolutely sure I made it back into the right mosquito net. The one next to mine was the boy’s. I just keep picturing myself waking up the next morning next to my leader, Garth. It didn’t happen, thank goodness, although that would have made this story even funnier. The next morning I told my friend what had happened the night before and do you know what her responds was, “oh I have a flashlight!”
