A Charlie Brown Christmas

So, since being back from my trip, not too much has been going on. This is just a Christmas edition posting so it won’t be too long.

Christmas here is not celebrated on December 25th like it is in the states but is celebrated on January 6th. In all honestly, my family didn’t know about our Christmas in the States and if came as a shock to them when i told them. From New Years till their Christmas, there is just a huge party going on. Honestly, for about six days. I think I already mentioned this. People go to everyone else’s house and eat and talk about whatever else. Well, since the death of my host father three years ago, my host mom really didn’t pay much attention to the holidays. However this year, they got out their Christmas decorations. My host mom says that its for the little baby, but I like to think that she got them out for me. I mean really, the baby isn’t going to know the difference.

So, we got the tree out. I know right now you are probably thinking of an 8 footer that scrapes the ceiling and you need a step ladder to step on to put the star on the top. Well, what we had was a barely three foot tree that frankly looked like crap. It was the Charlie Brown tree. However, the first thing we did was put lights on it. Its amazing how simple lights on a tree are, and its even more amazing how those lights just totally absorb your attention. In reality you are staring at a tree with lights on it. I mean you don’t just stand at a traffic intersection staring at those lights right? (Well maybe you do). Anyway, there is something really magical about it.

After the lights, we put up the seven ornaments that we had. Since Mom and Dad sent over some ornaments, I added my two to the tree and the family totally flipped out with excitement. The funny part about this was I was sitting down and my sister was putting up all the decorations and she kept asking me why I wasn’t helping. So I got up and tried to help. I am not making this up... every ornament that I put on the tree, she took off and said “here’s a better place for this”. Not a single ornament that I put on the tree is in its original place. The best part about this was that she had no idea that she was doing that.

So after the tree was decorated, it was beautiful, just like Charlie Brown’s. (Actually Charlie Brown’s tree still looked like crap, but ours didn’t). The little decorations that we had on the little tree that we had was good enough. This would be my first tree in two years and that made me happy. Tonight, we are having a Christmas party with some of the other volunteers. Last year, I spent Christmas in Korea spending it with people from Australia, Ireland, Kansas, Michigan, Virginia, and Korea. Who would have thought... And while I was in Korea, I would have never imagined that I would be spending this years Christmas with the people that I am about to spend it with. Its very interesting.

Thats not to say that I won’t miss the Moravian Love Feasts, Meatball night, and other traditions, but I guess this just gives me a deeper appreciation of those things. I’m looking forward to my first Christmas back but am thankful that I am here to spend it with the people that I am going to spend it with.

Merry Christmas. Drink some egg nog for me.

Until next time...

sour cream, chips, and a trip

So this week was a continuation of our break due to the Flu Pandemic here. Its been great. Hector, Pat and I decided that we were going to go to the southern part of Armenia to see some of the sights down there and to see some friends. We left on Tuesday and went down to Sisian and hung out with Ben. We threw the football around and we just walked around. We went to the Sisian stonehenge and walked around there. Actually what we did was just take pictures. I was really disappointed in the place because I thought it was going to be like the Stonehenge in England. It wasn’t. It was some stones in a row about 3 feet high with holes in them. Nothing really that impressive in my opinion. They are really old though. This is where I lost my telephone.

So about that. We got back to Sisian and I realized that I had lost my phone. Now, those of you that know me know that I don’t really lose things because I am paranoid about that kind of thing. So we called the taxi and we actually went to back to the Stonehenge place and I looked around in the snow for my phone, but to no avail. Honestly, I wasn’t really that bummed because the phone was old and didn’t really work that well. So we leave Sisian and we go to Goris. Goris is beautiful. We went over a ledge and the whole city is in this bowl. Its so pretty there. We got there and met up with some of the other volunteers. I found a viva-cell store which is one of their telecommunication companies here, and I asked them to cancel my numbers.

Yeah, the second I get out of the store, Hector tells me that my phone called his phone. Apparently a guy found my phone and called Hector because it was the last person I had called when I had the phone. So here I am with my phone now but without a number since I just cancelled them. Well, the vivacell people were really nice and after cancelling my number, they put my old number on the new cards. I have two phone numbers. One for the city and one for the village because its cheaper to have one for each place. If I use my village number in the city its much more expensive. Anyway, they actually cancelled someone else’s number because mine still works the same. There is someone out there with a phone card that just stopped working. I feel bad about that...

So anyway, everything with the phone is alright. Got everything squared away with the help of the people from vivacell.

While in Goris, there is Tatev. Its a monestary that dates back about 1000 years. Its still in excellent condition so we went there and looked around. It was really beautiful and I wish I had some pictures to show. The only way out there is by Taxi and its about ten dollars per person, so we got a taxi and we went out there for the morning. It was really nice. You have to go down into a valley and then come back up the other side to get to Tatev. Its funny because when you get there, you see this really big crane there right in front of the church. Apparently it has been there since the 1930s and there are people now that are protesting the removal of this crane because it has been there for such a long time, they say its now a historical monument. Yeah, you are right, it does not make any sense. So all my pictures do not have the crane, but if you buy any postcards, they all have this red crane in the middle of the pictures. Kind of kills the beauty of the picture.

Anyway, we got back and what do I do... I drop my camera on the pavement. Fortunately I had a UV filter on the lens because the 5 dollar UV filter shattered... the lens did not. This has been one hell of a trip so far. So Tatev was gorgeous.

Also, on the way back, there is this really nice gazebo that is placed at the edge of this peninsula in the mountains. By peninsula, I mean a gazebo on this path and on three sides there are just sheer cliffs. It is really nice. The interesting this about this is that all these old buildings are in line with each other. This gazebo, Tatev and three other structures are in a row with huge bells on them and back in the day they used this as a warning signal, kind of like in Lord of the Rings where they make the fires on top of the mountains. Maybe you can relate. Anyway, it is pretty interesting.

So, one of the greatest things about Peace Corps are the volunteers. We are spread out all over the country so no matter where you go, there will be a volunteer pretty close by. Its great. The first night we stayed at Brian's house because there was no room at Pat and Meaghan's. So Brian let us stay there. It was funny because everyone said that Brian's house was really cold. Hector and I laughed because we are from the Martuni region where its wicked cold. We had no problems at his house. I snored so loud that Brian got up, and moved to the other room and just slept on the floor. He was really nice to let us stay there.

Then, Patrick and Meaghan let us stay at their place for a while and it was great. Meaghan made this really good ramen soup thing for dinner and the following morning she made eggs and pancakes. PANCAKES. I know most of you in the states are like "oh pancakes" but people... I am in Armenia and Pancakes are a novelty here. Its fantastic. They were so good. We just hung out and saw Goris. It was great. This is probably the prettiest city I have seen in Armenia so far. Anyway, I know I have written about it before but the camaraderie here is unparallel. Its just great. These are people with the same cause but from different backgrounds so you can talk for hours about stuff and its so interesting.

Another great thing about Goris, is the Shwarma that they have here. It was delicious. It is bread, pork, mayonnaise, hot sauce, and cilantro. It was really really good. I like Mayo.

This morning, we went over to see Chris. He is working with a local TV studio making a show. Basically the show is about two puppets and the puppets interview people from different places. So since volunteers have been to different places and from different places, they come down to Goris and get interviewed. Hector was interviewed about LA because he is from there. Its a pretty good idea. The show is for little kids but is all in English.

Anyway, I really wish that I could put up some pictures because the places were really pretty. Im sorry if this blog seems spacey or is not how it normally sounds but I am battling a whole bunch of people talking and its hard to pay attention, but anyway, it was a great time.

Four more days of school, then vacation. Its actually three weeks from today and we will be going on our trip to India. Holy crap time is clipping along.

Until next time... and I will try to pay more attention.

Flu and Milking

So things have been great and let me tell you why. Well, its been great for me, maybe the little kiddies won’t agree. So, the Minister of Health of Armenia closed school because of the problems with children catching the flu. About a fourth of my school, which consists of about 450 kids, were at home because they “caught” the flu, or some similar sickness. Now, it is hard to gauge if the kids actually had the flu or they just wanted to stay at school. I know when I got back from my conference, my brother went up to spend about a week and a half with my sister in the other city and I was told to tell anyone who asked that my brother was home, sick. So the statistics are a little skewed I suppose. Anyway, from December 8th to December 20th, I don’t have school. When school does start back up, I will only have four days of classes before the winter break begins. So effectively for the months of December and January, I will work a total of sixteen days. Wow.

It has been great too. The wednesday after the announcement of the schools being closed, in all of Armenia, some of us went to Vardenis, which is a city about thirty minutes from here by car. There was a library opening and since we didn’t have much else to do, some of us went. It was funny because we were supposed to meet in Martuni at 10:30. The buses that came through my village were full so I walked the hour and a half to Martuni on the road. The PTO from Peace Corps was also going to come and I called him and told him “if you see an American walking on the road, pick him up.” Yeah, so the second I got the city, after walking ninety minutes, guess who pulls up next to him (i’ll give you a hint, it was the PTO). I said “you’ve got to be kidding me”. (He wasn’t kidding, he really showed up right when I walked to the city). It was kind of funny. Anyway, we all piled into the car and off we went. The opening was great. There was a little party afterwards and then after, we went to the opening of a kindergarten. Same deal. The man at the table just kept pouring more and more cognac. I mean you can’t say no, can you? So after that, we went to Vanessa’s house for a little while and Vincent made lunch. Some chicken thing with olives. Then we went back. Good fun.

This weekend, we had the AIDS/HIV poster contest. Students from all over Armenia submitted posters to win a prize and the poster had to do something with AIDS. So, this gathering was on Saturday. My host Dad from my first village called me on Monday and asked why it had been two months since I had visited, so I decided that I would go and visit. Well holy crap...

When I left Martuni, the city closest to me, I told the marshutni driver that I wanted to stop close to Charentsavan, near the police station because my first families house is a kilometer from the highway and I could just walk. Well, we passed that road, and so i made my way through the crowded marshutni and tapped the driver on the shoulder and I asked him, “do you remember that you were supposed to stop?” and he said “yeah, I remember.” By the way, he gave me a really funny look when I asked him that like he was thinking “oh, shit, I forgot.” Yeah, so he drove to Charentsavan and dropped me off and he said this was the stop, I looked at him in the meanest look I could. Anyway, I walked to Charentsavan which was about an hour walk and waited went to the bus depot. I asked a bunch of people if the bus to Hrazdan went through my village, where I needed to go. From one man, I got this answer “Yes, crossroads”. I thought to myself, “what the hell does that mean?”. Another man told me to just sit on the bus because it was going to go to my village. So that’s what I did. Well, the second the bus got back on the highway, I knew something was wrong. We went to this other village and then I finally decided to talk to my host Dad. He told me to give the phone to someone else. I got to Hrazdan and the lady started yelling at me to get off the bus. I didn’t know where I was but she said that a marshutni would come and pick me up. So that’s what I did, I got off the bus and waited by the corner. So here was this American bundled up because it was snowing and really windy. I waited there for 45 minutes. That sucked. Finally a man driving a car, saw a poor sap standing at the corner of the road (the poor sap would be me) and asked me where I was going. At that point I didn’t care as long as I could sit somewhere warm for a little bit). I told him my village and he gave me a ride there. I got to my first village four and a half hours after I left. It should have taken two hours at the most. That was great.

So I got to my village and I hung out with my first family. It was a lot of fun. They thought I was staying the whole weekend, even though I told my host Dad that I had a meeting the following day. They killed two chickens on my behalf so I couldn’t just run out the door the following morning. So I stayed a while, got on the bus to Charentsavan but the bus from Charentsavan to Yerevan never came so I just got in a shared taxi and off i went. I got to the office with thirty minutes to spare. We had our poster contest and it went really well. Two of the organizations that I invited actually came so I was really happy about that.

After the poster contest, Hector and I went over to Ashley’s house and spent the night there. She is so nice to let us stay there. She is fun to hang out with too. Sunday morning I had to wake up at 7 to make it back to my village because my nephew had his first two teeth break through his gums. They celebrate that. Much like the Koreans celebrate the first 100 days of the babies life. So, here its the teeth, in Korea its a different story. So let me explain the Korea thing. Mom, you can correct me if I am wrong.

So, back in the day, Korea had tough times and babies didn’t really live past the first 100 days, so now, as part of tradition and for fun, a new born who has lived 100 days gets a party. Lots of food and whatever. After the eating, the baby gets objects like a pencil, candy, money, etc. placed in front of them and the baby gets to chose. I chose a pencil. That meant I was supposed to be smart. (Well, now we know the credibility of the Korean tradition). Anyway, today my nephew did the same thing, but instead of the 100 days thing, it is because he has teeth. Interesting.

Now, here is the weirdest part. About ten people came and of course my nephew was the center of attention. A neighbor came with her baby who is younger by three months. After eating it was the baby feeding time. Well talk about awkward. My host sister, who is 20 and this other girl who is 18 or 19 (and they both have babies), lifted up their shirts without hesitation and let the babies go to town. I let out a “holy shit” because that’s just awkward. I mean really, out in the open. I saw one baby go to town, and then I just stared at the ceiling. I stared at the ceiling all the way to my room. I haven’t been around babies that much so I don’t know the correct protocol, but is that normal, just for new mommy’s to whip out their boobs like that? I think not... So that was that. This upcoming week I am planning on going to Goris, a town in the south. Should be pretty nice. We’ll see.

The weather is still cold but I think I am starting to get used to it. I made a documentary and I sent one home and one to TJ’s house to be shown at meatball night. If anyone else would like a copy of my life here, let me know and I will send you a CD. Ok, thats all I got. Two more weeks till Christmas... YIKES
Oh, and Jon, getting off the phone with me after 5 minutes of conversation to eat your burrito is not ok...

Until next time...

Another Interesting Weekend

I know this is a bit unorthodox and I usually write every week or at least try to, but I had to write about my weekend because it was that interesting. So, if you are reading this one, make sure you read the one that I wrote four days ago too, because that ones a doozy too.

But before I talk about this past weekend, I forgot to mention what I did last Wednesday. I went to Terri’s school. I was pretty excited to go because some of the teachers at her school always stop me in the road and ask why I haven’t been there yet. I usually respond with “ who are you”. So finally I make my way out to the school. Its really nice. It was renovated last year so the structure of the building looks very good. However, I think there was some kind of compensation. Here’s why. I walked into the teacher’s lounge and they all just stared at me. How fantastic. No one said a word to me. The bell finally rang and I went with Terri and her counterpart out of there to their class. When I walked in the kids just looked at me. Terri and her counterpart started the class by letting me introduce myself and letting them ask me questions, all in English. Crickets. So that was what it was like for pretty much all three classes that I went to. It was really strange how in the same village, their personalities are so different from those at my school. You may be saying “well its because you’re new to the school”, yeah, Terri said that this is how the faculty and the kids are everyday to her, pretty much. So, with that said, I am really happy I am at my school. I feel bad for Terri now and can understand better what she is going through. We’re not going to even talk about her counterpart. I mean, she was nice to me...

So, on to the meat of this blog. So on Sunday I was supposed to go to Yerevan to have a meeting with American Council about training HIV/AIDS stuff to the Alumni there. I decided that I didn’t want to go because the guy I was corresponding with wasn’t going to be there either and they have meetings every month and I didn’t have all my information together anyway. So. that was that. Hector called me on Friday and told me that the “get together” was the next day and that his mom had spent the day cooking a bunch of stuff. This was news to me because I thought the previous weekend when we had talked about it, we were doing just that, talking about it. No set plans. So let me say again that when you go to Hector’s house it is like preparing for a marathon. Maybe not, I don’t know. I have never run a marathon and never plan to. Anyway, I need about a week to mentally ready my mind and my stomach for this kind of ordeal. I didn’t have that time to ready myself. Anyway, since Hector’s mom had made all this food and stuff, I had to go.

I didn’t want to walk this time since no one was going to be with me so I decided that I would wait and take the bus. So at 2:30 I left my house to go to the store to buy some things and then went to the bus stop. Nick texted me and asked where I was and told him I was at the bus stop which right after he informed me that the bus was just passing the last house of my village headed toward Hector’s village. Great. It was a really pretty day and I started my trek out to his house. It was about 3 in the afternoon. It wasn’t freezing cold, there were a few clouds in the sky and a some wind. It was beautiful again out there. This time, it was just me so all I could hear were my footsteps and the wind blowing over my ears. It was really nice. I enjoyed my walk. Then when I got to the village limits of Hector’s village, Pat calls and tells me that he is coming and he will pick me up in my village in the taxi he is in. I quickly inform him that I had already walked the distance to Hector’s house and to be honest, Im glad I did. So, Pat, Nick, Hector and his family started the food marathon. We ate for a good four hours or so. Then we played all sorts of games and by 10:00 I was really tired so I went up to Hector’s room.

We ended up just talking about stuff until 1am. It was good to catch up with those guys.

The next morning, we ate, more food. We actually had baby chickens, or “chicks” for breakfast. Talk about really tender meet. Very good.

So this is where things get a little off track. Hector’s mom came over and asked if any of us knew how to kill and skin a rabbit. Good thing I was a boy scout because I learned that stuff. So they asked Hector if he would kill the rabbit. This was really weird because they kill cattle and pigs and sheep all the time to eat. I didn’t understand why they had so much trouble killing the rabbit, until... I found out that the rabbit was the little boys pet. I don’t know why, but the family wanted to eat the little kids pet but they didn’t want to kill it. So, Pat and Hector killed the rabbit. I couldn’t watch the killing. I could hear the rabbit screaming... and then silence. It was a horrible high pitched squeal. It was horrible too because they “sharpened” the knife but Hector had to pretty much saw at the neck. Well anyway, after that, we had to skin it. I helped out with this part but that was weird too. They cut off the head. I had to grab the throat and try to pull everything out. The weird and most disgusting part was the fact that the rabbit was still warm. I took me a while to get over that part but when I did, we got the skin off. How interesting. Its funny because in America I probably wouldn’t have done this but here, it happens all the time. Its a way of life here. They butcher the cow right next to the school and polyclinic. So I guess I have just become used to it? Don’t really know the right words to use.

Anyway, two hours later, we ate Thumper. The meat was really tough. Good, but tough. Soon after that, Pat and I walked back. Again it was really nice and it went a lot faster because the road is sloped slightly downhill. I got back and hung out with my Grandmother and Mom until the rest of the family came back.

The house is warm once again and will stay warm until New Years. Thank God.

Until next time...

waving is the same as saying Hi

So this week has been pretty normal. I really like being in my village. Although I was freezing my butt off, I guess I have just dealt with it. It is fine now. I use my little heater that Peace Corps gave me. Let me tell you how. So, in the morning, I get out of my bed, which is warm now thanks to the addition of my sleeping bag. I usually sleep with some fleece pants on and a long T-shirt. So when I get out of bed, the room is still pretty cold. There is ice on the windows, inside and out, and I can see my breath. I run over to my little heater and turn it on. Then as it is sort of heating up my room, I get my long underwear out and put it over the heater for about fifteen seconds to warm them up and put them on. I do that with the rest of my clothes and then put on my huge down coat. The same thing happens at night. My heater cord isn’t long enough to reach my bed so I have to jump into my bed and freeze for 5 min to heat it up. After that, its fine. All attempts to look “fashionable” or at least not look stupid have flown out the door. There is one, and one thing only that I concentrate on... keeping my body heat close to my body. I drink tea about 4 times a day. Its amazing how much warmer you can feel after drinking tea or eating hot soup. There is still snow on the group.

As I say this, today was the first day that I have been able to wear just my fleece with nothing else. I wouldn’t say its warm, but I got a chance to open my window and get some fresh air in my room. Also, I did my laundry. First time in about two and a half weeks. I had a good amount of clothes to wash and I prepared myself for it. As I started, my mom came in and asked “do you want to use the machine washer”. I looked at her with a look of “what the hell are you talking about... a “machine washer”. So apparently this whole time the family had a machine washer. Now I have heard through other volunteers that Peace Corps tells the family to make the volunteer hand wash everything for the first four months. Well, I certainly did that. The fact that there was a machine washer was like making a fire with flint and steel for months and then being given a lighter. My clothes were so much cleaner. The whites actually looked white, and not this weird grey/green color. I don’t think I should mention how dirty the water looked. Here’s a clue... black.

So, there is this lady at the culture house who is the librarian and she called me and asked me if I wanted to come to her house. I didn’t really want to go and told her that I had work to do. She kept badgering me, so I eventually gave up and I went. It was an interesting experience. When I got there I found out that there was a table with place settings for ten people. It was a party. So while the Librarian was preparing everything, I was left in the living room with the sister. The sister was Deaf and Mute. Well this was perfect because I don’t know Armenian anyway. Ok, thats not true, I think I have a pretty good mastery of the language now. All I have to do now is learn the vocabulary and learn the village language, or the village slang. Anyway, we somehow communicated. That is one of the greatest feelings in the world to be able to communicate with someone in that way. Hand gestures, facial expressions, etc. It reminded me of the time I was working at Dorthea Dix Mental Hospital. There was a lady there named Vicky who was deaf and mute. Somehow we managed to talk to each other for about 45 min. I remembered the sign language that I had learned when I was a cub scout years ago. It was great. So, with all that said, I will conclude this paragraph with this thought... language is overrated... (that is a joke).

I love my village. I don’t know how to specify one thing but I don’t really like to leave. I was going to go to Yerevan this weekend, but I decided against it. There was a meeting with American Council this Sunday, but the guy I was corresponding with wasn’t going to be there, so I decided that I didn’t want to make the two hour journey there and two hours back. I completely dreaded it. I am not really looking forward to going to my meeting this upcoming weekend but I actually have an active role in that one so I have to go, but I am really turned off by that whole idea. I think the big reason was the week that I was in Yerevan for the All-Vol conference. Everyday I was sick with either some cold or a stomach thing with 9 hours of conferences everyday for 6 days. I mean really who would like the city after all that?

There’s only 3 more weeks of school left before this semester is finished. Didn’t we just start?

Here’s a funny story. So my Grandmother here really wants me to get married. She saw a picture of Ani and assumed she was my girlfriend and she keeps asking me when we were going to get married. I frankly reply with a stern, “we’re not”. So she takes this to mean that I don’t like Ani which then she says, “well I know other girls and Ill bring them over to the house to meet you”. Can we say “awkward”. I know she is doing it out of good intention and it really is funny because she has this whole scheme in her head. This is what she says. “You can meet a nice Armenian girl, get married and then your parents will have to come here and we can meet them”. I looked at her laughing in my head because I can just hear my Dad saying, “yeah, we’ll see you two after the wedding when you get back to the states... we have dogs to take care of”.

Now this isn’t the first time this has happened. I don’t know. Maybe i already said this story before, but its worth repeating because its really awkward. I went to the post office to see if I had a package. I have a friend that works there so I usually stay in there and talk for a little while. Well, the older lady in there is really nice and she looks at me and she asks me if I am married. I said no. Then she asks me if I want to marry her daughter. I say no thank you. Little did I know that her daughter was sitting on the other side of the room. Then she tells me that she is sitting “over there” and points at her. Her daughter is just smiling at me. I mean really. What do you do in that situation? I told her that I had a girlfriend in America, which she responds with “that’s ok, she is over there”. She laughed as she was saying that, but you could tell there was some truth behind what she was saying. Oh the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer.

My little brother has been up in Ijevan for the last week where my sister lives with her husband and her little son, or my nephew. They are coming back tomorrow. I am excited for two reasons. One; they are coming back and I actually miss my brother. Two; because the baby will be here, that means the heater will be on fulltime and the house will be really warm. They are staying until New years. Thank God. That means that I will be warm for the next month and then I will leave soon thereafter to go to Dubai and India. Both places that don’t have snow or freezing temperatures.

I am leaving in about thirty minutes to go to Hector’s house. Oh Crap. I haven’t eaten at all today in order to prepare myself for the ingestion of 40 pounds of food.

Last thing that I want to say. This might be a little gross but maybe a bit entertaining if you want to read this. So, this week, there has been no water. They are fixing pipes or something. The water comes on for an hour a day. I usually usually use the indoor bathroom which looks like any bathroom back in the states. Well... no water... no flush. So I have to go out and use the outhouse. The thing about it is back in my first village there was an outhouse but with a chair with a hole cut out. So it was basically like a toilet. Well, the one here... there is no chair. There is just a hole. You have to squat. Well I have never done that before. So I went in there and stood there looking at this hole trying to figure out how to do my deed. I mean if you drop trou then you crap into your pants. Also guy’s thingy’s are not as close to the exit hole as girl’s thingy’s to that presents another problem. So I squatted, then stood up learning as I went along. So this is what I learned. 1) you do not pull your pants all the way down. 2) you squat with your heels touching the ground. 3) Guys have to tuck their thingy between their legs. If you don’t pee will go everywhere including on your underwear.

I guess I can’t leave here saying that Peace Corps taught me nothing... Don’t worry. I am a pro at it now... That’s all I got. I don’t even care anymore if the water turns on because everytime I go to the bathroom its like an adventure.

Until next time...