To Pee or Not to Pee; That is the Question

Okay, culture shock number 4. I thought there was a really strange smell in front of my building when we moved in to a temporary flat in Prague 2 a month or so ago. I started putting two and two together when I came home from my daily grocery store trek and there was a homeless man camped out on the door step of our building. I couldn’t get in so I proceeded to gingerly poke at his shoe with my tip-toe as to not get to close to him. No luck. The kids were really starting to freak out, so I tried to enlist some street repair workers that were lying down cobble about 50 yards away. They just laughed at my dilemma and went back to what they were doing. “Hmmm, what next?” I pondered. Oh, yeah; my husband was inside the flat and I could just throw small stones at the window and he’ll save me. 30 minutes later and several annoyed next-door neighbor’s later I realized that I could use my cell phone to call my husband. Dah! My rescuer saved me from the smelly man, yeah. Okay, that is the end of the story, right? Well, not exactly. The man came back every day for about a week, but luckily someone else had to confront him. He was gone, and so was the stink – NOT. The smell seemed to be getting worse. It must be the construction site in front of the building with a well hidden portable potty behind the barriers, I thought. The next day I observed one of the workers go behind the barrier as I was hanging out the window staring at passersby…as we European’s do (wink) and to my surprise, he went behind the barrier to pee...on the ground! Yes, this is the Czech version of a Porta-potty. Gross, yes, but not the end. Next that day in broad daylight was a man just walking down the street and decided that the tree looked good and took a whiz right there. Holy cow! My last shock was when we were in downtown Prague sitting having coffee in the town square when a three year old was instructed by her mother to go over to the drain rail in the side of the street to relieve herself. She, without hesitation, pulled down her tighty-whities, squatted and did her business with thousands of people bearing witness.
Even in Babylonian times people understood the need for proper disposal of human wastes; but I’m not convinced that in Prague that concept is fully understood. It is quite surprising the incredible benevolence with which the Czechs tolerate urination in public places which apparently applies to young children and adult men. Some would say this tollerance is a result of the male dominated society here, while others could argue it is the pints the Czech men are downing. Naw, too complicated; they just needs new leash laws :)