Believe it or not, I've gotten to the point of cultural acclimation where I seldom if ever notice the unpleasantries of the shelf toilet any more.  When I first moved to Europe, I was disgusted by the "inspection shelf" which keeps one's fecal matter in the open air until one's business is finished -- only to be dramatically (and not always neatly) dislodged from the shelf by the blast of water released at the flush of the toilet... But over time, actually living in a house with a shelf toilet, I've become more-or-less accustomed to the shelf.

And earlier this week, I actually felt privileged to have such a toilet in my home.  Because I thought I was going to finally be able to use the inspection shelf!  Because we actually needed to inspect some fecal matter... Because my daughter swallowed a 20 eurocent coin (such a clichéed thing for a three-year-old to do, isn't it?).

But here's what stinks (you like that pun, there?):  the inspection shelf is located in the back part of the toilet bowl.  And the bottom of a three-year-old sitting upon an adult-sized toilet automatically positions itself toward the front of the toilet bowl!  So when my little girl poops, I have to reach down the significantly narrowed hole of the shelf-toilet (not nearly as open as the standard reservoir-type American toilet), and pull whatever fecal matter I can feel with my fingers (I can't see, because the hole is about the width of an adult arm) out onto the inspection shelf for, well, inspection.  Isn't that a lovely image?  Still no coin discovered, in case you were wondering...

So I am renewed in my disgust for the "inspection shelf" (although I realize that it has more to do with water conservation than with actual fecal inspection).  And I am forced back upon that classic intercultural conundrum comparing the bests and worsts of both worlds... And do you know what I think about that?

I think it's just stinky.