Friday, June 20, 2008

Toilets

I know that some of you were confused with my comment regarding "NZ toilets". And I found it funny that I had forgotten that it's a bit difficult for Americans/Canadians to imagine anyone uses anything else! Haha. Well, sorry to bust your bubble North America! :) Actually, the most common toilet in the world is the Squatti. Which I will not be discussing. But if curiosity gets the better of you, Wikipedia had an article. So anyways. I was sitting here and thought, maybe they aren't that different. I turned around to Havalah, who only left the US two weeks ago and asked her if they were - and she concurs! Definitely different!

Major differences:

American Toilets: Made all of porcelain, minus the random wooden or vinyl seat base.
NZ Toilets: Base is porcelain, seat, lid, and tank are most often made from plastic. The newest ones are looking more like US toilets, but anything less than 5-10 years old is still a lot of plastic.

American Toilets: Tank connected at the back.
NZ Toilets: The older kind are mounted on the wall for gravity's help in flushing.

American Toilets: Flush hole is at the back, water flushes from all sides.
NZ Toilets: Flush hole in closer to the front - so that when you walk in the bathroom you don't see the hole if the lid is up. Water flushes from the front primarily.

American Toilets: Flush handle to the side of the tank, plastic or metal.
NZ Toilets: Buttons on the top or front of tank. One for a little flush, one for a "larger" flush.

American Toilets: Seat is usually pretty round
NZ Toilets: Seat is more oval shaped, quite long

American Toilets: If you want to lean back you can
NZ Toilets: You can't really lean back, you feel like you're going to fall off - probably because of a longer seat and a plastic lid.

So there you go. Not entirely different, but definitely some differences. If you want a laugh, check out the Japanese Bidet. That's hoot!

- Don't worry, I'll keep blogging even though Havie's here. :) Even though I have talk to much in the last 48 hours that I'd forgotten how much I COULD talk. Hello 1am....

7 comments:

  1. Actually, when I saw the picture, the only thing that stood out to me was the shape of the part that connects the seat/lid part with the tank. Other than that, it looks pretty standard to our toilets here in Texas.

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  2. oh the memories - I lived in Japan for a year - I remember soon after I got to Japan, I wrote a letter home to my friends describing some of the differences I was encountering - who knew you could write so much about the humble toilet! Squat toilets were pretty standard - my first and only attempt at skiing ended with my leg in plaster - still in Japan - home of the squat toilet. Enough said.

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  3. Another difference I noticed when I first traveled to the USA, was that the toilet bowls are already filled with water...I thought it was blocked :)

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  4. another beautiful angel cele baby
    http://www.adianagrace.com/
    :(
    Thoughts and prayers are with you
    Hugs xoxoxo

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  5. that's funny... I had never really thought about toilets being different. I know the kind you are talking about though and I like the way they look more.

    blogging about toilets... fun! :)

    brittany

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  6. I have just spent the last 20 minutes reading about toilets and Toilet paper in different countries. I love Wilkepedia they have everything things I would never thought to have looked up.
    Anyway off to clean my house. Maybe I will start with my toilet haha. It does need it. By the way I thought your house looked good the other day in your improptu photos. My house is a disaster as usual and I can't imagine taking photos and putting the on my blog right now.
    Enjoy your time with your sister.
    Rachel in PA

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  7. Don't forget that NZ toilets often have two buttons. Each controlling the water capacity depending on what gift you just gave the sewers...

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