Squat Toilets aka Squatters

Now that I've finally mastered the squatter, or at least to the best of my ability, I feel it is time to write about them. Disclaimer: you may not actually want to read this blog entry...

When I first stepped off the plane in Beijing with a desire to pee, I encountered my first squat toilet in the airport. My thought at the time was "Fuck! I hate these!" but of course I managed to pee and move on to claim my luggage. My next encounter with squat toilets was the public toilets off of nanluogu xiang (the bar street I live off of) that night when Andi and I realized we needed to pee after having 5 drinks in a bar. This was further unpleasant because a) it's a public bathroom and b) public bathrooms don't come with toilet paper. This is when I realized why we'd been given a pocket-size toilet paper pack in our welcome kit. To answer your obvious question: my hotel bathroom does have a western toilet, as they are referred to here.
Upon arriving at the office the following Tuesday, Avril showed me around and explained that the office toilets too are squatters, though there is a toilet paper dispenser on the wall when you walk in, and the toilets, soap, sink, and hand dryer are all automatic; basically, it's a completely modern bathroom cleaned multiple times a day, but still with squat toilets.
From this point on, I knew I'd need to get used to them because going an entire work day (9-6) without peeing is just unrealistic. I spent a good half an hour or so my second day here researching the best way to use squat toilets online, which was only really helpful in informing me that the groves on the edge of the toilet are actually for your feet, and that "Likely as not, you won't have to use one," which is 100% false.
The following weekend in Shanghai, I got into a long discussion with two of the guys on the Ultimate team about how exactly to go about using them, and I was even given a squatting position demonstration. Since then I've managed to figure it out, though I more than ever think it's so unfair that guys have aim.
Most of the guys on my trip have avoided using them to some extent, which is totally unfair. One of my favorite comments though is when one of the guys said he "threw his back out squatting".
If you'd actually like to read more about how to squat/deal with the situation, here's a good article for you: http://gochina.about.com/od/tripplanning/ht/How2_Squat.htm